The Shoreditch Intervention (audio story)
The Shoreditch Intervention was the fourth and final story in the audio anthology Susan's War, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alan Barnes and featured Carole Ann Ford as Susan, Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks.
Publisher's summary
When Susan's TARDIS is intercepted, she is given a highly classified mission.
Earth, 1963 is a nexus point in the Time War, but the timelines must be negotiated carefully. Mods and rockers are not the only dangers on the streets of Shoreditch.
In Susan's past, the Daleks are waiting. But so is the Doctor!
Plot
Susan arrives on a planet that she was not expecting and meets Lehena, who says that she does not represent the disbanded Celestial Intervention Agency and whispers one of Susan's names to her. Lehena shows her that they are in the past of Arcadia and asks if she would avert the Time War if she could, saying that she and her grandfather were responsible for bringing it about in 1963.
Outside of a café in 1963, Franko teases JP about his motor scooter, despite Alex telling him not to, and accepts his challenge of a race. At the drop of Alex's scarf, the race begins.
Lehena tells Susan that her grandfather had returned for the Hand of Omega in a later incarnation and used it to destroy a version of Skaro, a massive escalation in the build-up to the Time War. She says that Susan could use a Time Ring to follow her younger self in the slipstream of the Doctor's TARDIS, tricking the time lock and allowing her to go to Earth.
Franco and JP taunt each other as they race and come to the attention of the police, who give chase.
Lehena gives Susan a Time Ring and a sonic wand of her grandfather's design and tasks her with convincing the Hand not to allow the Doctor to use it. Having put the Ring on, Susan disappears. Lehena shouts that it is okay to lower the hypnoscape and tells the Daleks that phase 1 of the operation is complete. The Daleks lock onto Susan's temporal trail.
Susan arrives in London and is almost hit by Franco and JP, so she uses her sonic wand to make JP's scooter fall apart. She leaves to avoid the police, who question JP. Franco manages to escape and returns to Alex at the café, ordering coffees and going to play pinball to establish an alibi.
to be completed
Cast
- Susan - Carole Ann Ford
- The Doctor - Paul McGann
- Alex / Lehena - Becky Wright
- JP / Rocker 2 - Tom Mahy
- Franko / Policeman - Louis Davison
- The Daleks / Fyodor / Rocker 1 - Nicholas Briggs
Uncredited
- The Doctor - David Bradley (BFX: The Shoreditch Intervention)
References
- Alex does not like cappuccinos as they go cold too quickly.
- Franko tells Chalky to put a sixpence in the jukebox.
- The Chiffons and Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' records have been replaced in the jukebox by the likes of Frank Ifield and Matt Monro, whose music Alex says one cannot dance to.
- Susan is given a Time Ring and a sonic wand of the Doctor's design.
- Alfredo works at the café.
- Daleks use a pulse sphere to bypass the time lock.
- The Daleks refer to the Eighth Doctor as the "current incarnation" of the Doctor.
- The Doctor recognises Dalek duplicates through blink rate.
- Lehena was left behind by the Celestial Intervention Agency.
Notes
- David Bradley's cameo was taken from another audio play and not specially recorded for this production. (BFX: The Shoreditch Intervention)
Continuity
- Susan is aware that the Celestial Intervention Agency was disbanded. (AUDIO: Assassins)
- Lehena knows Susan's true name, which is a "great state secret" only known by a select few. (PROSE: Birth of a Renegade)
- In a Dalek hypnoscape, Susan is brought to a garden with silver trees and an orange night sky, (TV: The Sensorites) in the city of Arcadia. (TV: Doomsday, The Day of the Doctor)
- Gallifrey, Skaro, and Earth are time locked during the Last Great Time War. (TV: The Stolen Earth, et al.)
- Susan and her Doctor were hiding in 1963 London (TV: An Unearthly Child) with a device, which a later Doctor retrieved and used to "wipe out one version of Skaro and its sun". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
- Susan refers to her last encounter with the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: All Hands on Deck)
- Susan space-time telegraphed the Doctor. (TV: Terror of the Zygons, et al.)
- A few weeks in the future, the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and the past Susan will leave Earth. (TV: An Unearthly Child, PROSE: A Long Night, Who Killed Kennedy)
- Susan kept a diary. (PROSE: Time and Relative)
- The Renegade Daleks used advanced robotization techniques. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, PROSE: What To Do If A Dalek Attacks You!, et al.)
- The Doctor claims he gave up his chameleon circuit to disguise the Hand of Omega's container, which is why his TARDIS became stuck as a police box. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
- The Doctor hid his secret diary in the lower compartment of the astral map. (TV: The Web Planet, et al.)
- The Doctor tricks Susan into his TARDIS and sends her away for safety. His future incarnations would also do the same for Rose (TV: The Parting of the Ways), Clara, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) and River Song. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
- An execution party of Special Weapons Daleks seemingly obliterates the Doctor, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) but he survives by teleporting at the moment he should die. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
- Information obtained from the Brancheerian Dalek agent has revealed the Daleks have a heightened interest in Earth. (AUDIO: The Uncertain Shore)
- The Lord President Eternal Rassilon has taken an interest in Susan and wishes to speak to her. (AUDIO: Havoc, et al.)
External links
- Official The Shoreditch Intervention page at bigfinish.com
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