The Peterloo Massacre (audio story)

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The Peterloo Massacre was the two hundred and tenth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Paul Magrs and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa.

Publisher's summary

"They say there'll be thousands pouring into Manchester tomorrow. From all over the county, north and south. It'll be a piece of history. People will remember this!"

Lost in the smog of the Industrial Revolution, the TARDIS crashes four miles south of Manchester, in the grounds of Hurley Hall – a grand mansion belonging to a local factory owner, a proudly self-made man. But while Hurley dreams of growing richer still on the wealth of secret knowledge locked up in the Doctor's time and space machine, his servants hope only for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. His young maid Cathy, for instance, whom Nyssa learns is looking forward to joining the working people's march to St Peter's Field, in the heart of the city. There'll be speeches and banners and music. It'll be like one big jamboree...

Or so she thinks. For the city's establishment have called in their own private militia, to control the crowd. One of the darkest days in Manchester's history is about to unfold – and the Doctor, Nyssa and Jovanka are right in the thick of it.

Plot

Part one

The TARDIS, carrying the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa, gets taken off course after a heavy dose of smog interferes with its systems during travel and crash-lands near Manchester. They are found by Cathy Roberts, William Hurley and his father Hurley. Cathy discusses the event with her father Roberts and he forbids her from going to the protest tomorrow, citing behaviour like this is leading her to strange and dangerous situations. After getting some rest, they wake up and meet industrialist and engineer Mr. Hurley, who learns about the TARDIS (which he is told is a ship) and gets some men to bring it back to his estate, interested in it for his own ends though. The TARDIS is heavily damaged and the Doctor informs Tegan and Nyssa privately that the self-repair will take a day before they're ready to go. Hurley offers the Doctor a tour of his factory who, intrigued, agrees and brings Tegan along while he asks Nyssa to stay with the TARDIS in case it needs some assistance in its self-repair. Inside the factory they learn Hurley is employing children and one of them gets injured and trapped in one of the machines, and the Doctor, ignoring Hurley's warning, goes down to the factory floor to save him. Cathy meets Nyssa but is told off by Mrs. Hurley who then introduces herself to Nyssa.

The Doctor manages to save the boy much to Hurley's annoyance and attempts to treat him despite Hurley's insults and indifference, preferring to simply dismiss him. Tegan volunteers to head into town to look for medical supplies for the Doctor since Mr. Hurley doesn't keep them around for his employees and she is unwillingly accompanied by William Hurley while the Doctor says that he and Mr. Hurley need to discuss the way his factory is run. Mrs. Hurley finds out about the march that Cathy intends to go on tomorrow and dismisses her and while Nyssa tries to defend her and calm the situation, Mrs. Hurley kicks her out as well. The Doctor, in his discussion with Hurley, discovers the chronometer was badly damaged and that they're not in the time he thought, but are in 1819, on the eve of a very dark day in history...

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

References

Notes

  • This story was recorded on 6 and 7 July 2015 at The Moat Studios.
  • The Doctor sprains his ankle, a reference to the cliché that companions would frequently twist their ankles in the classic series. Here, it is the Doctor who suffers this fate. The Eighth Doctor also sprained his ankle in Magrs' 1998 novel The Scarlet Empress.
  • This story was originally released on CD and download.

Continuity

External links