The Butcher of Brisbane (audio story)

Adopting the alias of Weng-Chiang, the 51st century war criminal Magnus Greel will one day arrive in Victorian London by Time Cabinet – only to meet his doom, his plans undone by the Time Lord known as the Doctor.

The Doctor never believed he'd meet Greel again. But when a TARDIS trip to companion Tegan's home town goes wrong, the Doctor ends up in the younger Greel's heyday – in a world on the brink of all-out war.

With the Doctor at the mercy of Greel's alien associate Findecker and his army of mutations, Tegan is about to learn just why they called Greel 'The Butcher of Brisbane'...

Plot

to be added

Cast

Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
Tegan - Janet Fielding
Turlough - Mark Strickson
Magnus Greel - Angus Wright
Dr Sa Yy Findecker - Rupert Frazer
Ingrid Bjarnsdottir/Stewardess - Felicity Duncan
Ragan Crezzen - Daniel Weyman
Sasha Dialfa/Kaori - Daisy Ashford
Eugene Duplessis/Chops/Guard/Reporter/Autovoice - John Banks
Mr Sin - Alex Mallinson

References

Magnus Greel is the Supreme Minister of Justice of the Supreme Alliance of Eastern States. Presiding over the Star Chamber, he sentences Ragan Crezzen (Prisoner 100742) to life imprisonment in a labour camp for the attempted murder of a government official, namely Dr. Sa Yy Findecker, whom he blames for the fate of his friend Sasha. However, he is immediately placed in Findecker's time chamber for experimentation.
The Doctor attempts to materialise the TARDIS in Tegan's father's sheep farm in Australia in June during the 1980s in order to witness the sheep shearing. However, the TARDIS encounters turbulence in the Time Vortex shortly before being struck by a Zigma energy beam, which begins to carve up its dimensions. The Doctor and Tegan remain in the TARDIS' console room while Nyssa and Turlough arrive in a frozen tundra in the early 51st century. However, the Doctor believes that they may have been lost in the vortex.
Shortly after Nyssa and Turlough's arrival, a portal opens up above them and a dessicated man falls to the ground. He recognises Nyssa and Turlough immediately, telling them that Findecker's time experiments resulted in him being thrown back in time three years. Although he appears to be an elderly man, he claims that he was only 23 years old than he was placed in the time chamber. He dies shortly after telling Nyssa and Turlough that all he wanted was to see Sasha's face one more time.
According to the Doctor, the 31st century was "all space cities and monorails."
The Doctor tells Tegan that the 51st century is "justly notorious" for using Zigma energy to conduct time travel experiments. Tegan recognises the lie of the land as Spring Hill in Brisbane.
While sheltering from the cold, Nyssa and Turlough are discovered by a woman named Sasha Dialfra, a member of the Earth Free Media, who offers them thermal blankets. She recognises the corpse of the man from the future as her friend Ragan, whose younger self is back at their base. She realises that he allowed himself to be a victim of Findecker's time experiments in order to prove his theory that the people appearing in the Brisbane Dead Zone are from the future. After being attacked by a mutated creature, the Doctor and Tegan are rescued by Sasha and the younger version of Ragan. However, the Doctor is captured by other mutated creatures in the employ of Findecker.
Earth Free Media's base, the Correspondence Club, is in close orbit above the Earth.

Notes

Angus Wright (Magnus Greel) previously played Mister Dread in SJA: The Vault of Secrets.
Felicity Duncan (Ingrid Bjarnsdottir) would later play Ikiria and Corporal Jean Mercer in CC: The Rings of Ikiria.
Daisy Ashford (Sasha Dialfa) previously played Lizzie Harcourt in BFA: The Renaissance Man. She is the daughter of Caroline John and Geoffrey Beevers.
This story is both a sequel and a prequel to DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
This audio drama was recorded on 19 and 20 January 2012.

Continuity

This is the second time that the Fifth Doctor has faced an old enemy in their early days. The first was Morbius in PDA: Warmonger. Both characters were first encountered by the Fourth Doctor and both were originally played by Michael Spice.
The Doctor tells Tegan that there was another Ice Age during the 51st century. (DW: The Ice Warriors)
The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan previously spent several days on holiday in Brisbane in 1983 after defeating Father Thane and the Elite on Florana. (BFA: The Elite, BFA: Hexagora) Later in his personal timeline, the Doctor would return to Brisbane on 22 September 2006 where he was unexpectedly reunited with Tegan, approximately 22 years after she had left the TARDIS following an encounter with the Daleks in London in 1984. (BFA: The Gathering)

External links

Official The Butcher of Brisbane page at bigfinish.com