Council of War (audio story)

An alien incursion in the town hall leads them on a journey to a terrible future — where Margery discovers how she changed a world, and the life of a whole civilisation hangs in the balance...

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Cast

Uncredited cast

Documentary narrator - Lisa Bowerman

Crew

Cover Art - Anthony Lamb
Director - Lisa Bowerman
Executive Producer - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music and Sound Design - Simon Robinson
Producer - David Richardson
Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
Writers - Simon Barnard and Paul Morris

References

Margery Phipps, a member of the Harmony Party, was the first woman to elected to the Kettering Town Council. She is a feminist, a vegetarian and an environmentalist.
Overnight, the Doctor builds a time disturbance sensor for Benton to use to detect "ghosts" in Kettering.
Benton goes undercover as an independent councillor in the Burton Latimer Ward in investigate the disappearance of Beryl Umbridge.
Ted Fields dresses as Father Christmas.
Margery describes Benton as handsome in a "mail order catalogue sort of way" and claims that he resembles James Bond, "not the new one, the one before him but without the Australian accent."
UNIT believes that the "ghosts" are time travellers from the future.
Benton describes Margery as "a Bolshie women's libber."
Margery refers to Marks & Spencer.
Margery's favourite flowers are gladioli.
In 1992, Margery became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and negotiated a "deep and lasting" peace treaty between nations. Her book Love is All You Need was still a bestseller 500 years later. The people of Valiador adopted her philosophy and renamed the planet "Kettering" in her honour. Kettering became renowned for its pacifism. However, this left the planet open to invasion by a species of strip miners called the Blatherians, who sold much of the population into slavery, ten years earlier. Margery was taken from her own time to be placed on trial for her role in leading to Kettering's devastation. Mr Sparks is her defence attorney.
The Blatherians resemble giant cockroaches.
UNIT was succeeded by the United Galactic Intelligence Taskforce (UGIT).

Notes

This marks the first time that John Levene has portrayed the role of Sgt. Benton since the video Wartime in 1987.
This audio drama was recorded on 10 August 2012 at the Moat Studios.
This story was originally released on CD and download. It is now available as a download only.
This story is told from Benton's perspective.

Continuity

Benton mentions that Mike Yates was brainwashed by BOSS in Llanfairfach, Wales and that Jo Grant has left UNIT to travel up the Amazon with Professor Clifford Jones. (TV: The Green Death)
Benton states that the Doctor does not believe in ghosts. (TV: Doctor Who)
Benton mentions that he hasn't worn his dinner jacket since 1968, a reference to TV: The Invasion, when he and Corporal Jack Tracy went undercover to locate the Second Doctor.
Benton refers to fighting the Cybermen (TV: The Invasion) and the Axons. (TV: The Claws of Axos)
Benton tells Margery that time travellers from the future have been mistaken for ghosts before. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
When Benton asks Margery if she is going to comment that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, she states, "Well, it's a bit obvious, isn't it?" (TV: The Three Doctors)
Benton tells Margery that he had to postpone their date because London is being attacked by dinosaurs. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
By the 2010s, Benton and Margery were married and owned a pub called the White Hart. (AUDIO: Call to Arms)

External links

Official Council of War page at bigfinish.com