Reegan
Reegan was a criminal whom General George Carrington hired.
Biography
Reegan was born in Ireland and began his criminal career robbing banks for the Irish Republican Army. Once the IRA found out that he was keeping more of the stolen money than he was donating to the Cause, he fled to escape being killed. He went on to spend much of his life in the United States and other countries, making money through kidnapping, extortion and murder. (PROSE: The Ambassadors of Death)
General George Carrington hired Reegan to kidnap the alien ambassadors and have Professor Heldorf look after them before using them to kill, making them appear to be a threat. After Heldorf died, Reegan replaced him with Dr Lennox and also had his men kidnap Liz Shaw. Realising that Dr Bruno Taltalian was a liability, he tricked him into killing himself with a bomb which he hoped would also kill the Third Doctor.
Reegan had the aliens kill a number of UNIT soldiers and caused a malfunction at Space Control to prevent the relaunch of Recovery 7. He eventually decided that he would rather use the aliens in his own robberies and kidnapped the Doctor to help him communicate with them, later offering him a partnership. Feigning continued loyalty to Carrington, he stole isotopes for him and was arrested by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Hoping for clemency, he suggested they use the aliens to defeat Carrington. (TV: The Ambassadors of Death)
Behind the scenes
- The production text on the Ambassadors of Death DVD revealed that Reegan and his gang were originally meant to be Irish, and suggests it was changed after the Troubles started in early January 1969: "all in all, it might not have been the best moment to show Irish hoodlums planning to deploy a powerful new weapon." The backstory was eventually used in the novelisation.
