The Magic Mousetrap (audio story)
The Magic Mousetrap was the one hundred and twentieth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Matthew Sweet and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace and Philip Olivier as Hex.
Originally, this story was meant to feature Agatha Christie during the time of her disappearance in December 1926. These elements were written-out due to The Unicorn and the Wasp providing an alternative take on the same historical events.
Publisher's summary
Switzerland, 1926: the Doctor finds himself halfway up an Alpine mountainside, on his way to an exclusive sanatorium for the rich and famous run by the Viennese alienist Ludovic "Ludo" Comfort. In between bouts of electric shock therapy, Ludo's patients — including faded music hall turn Harry Randall, chess grandmaster Swapnil Khan and Lola Luna, darling of the Weimar cabaret scene — fill their time with endless rounds of Snap!, among other diversions.
But the Doctor soon suspects that someone's playing an altogether more sinister game. Someone with a score to settle...
Plot
Episode 1
Ludo Comfort, Swapnil Khan, Harry Randall and Mrs Kniddle are all in the middle of a game of Scrabble. When it comes to Harry, he places down the word 'TARDIS' on the board, claiming it's something 'you climb inside'. As the others scold him for cheating, he states that he feels some strange, mysterious pain at the back of his head. The others urge him to ignore the pain and they proceed into a game of Consequences.
The Doctor wakes up in a cable car that is halfway up a Swiss mountain. He is inside with Queenie Glasscock, who offers him some soup. As they converse, the Doctor reveals he's amnesiac, but learns from Queenie that he is headed to Halbrook Sanatorium. He only learns of his title through a ticket in one of his pockets.
As the others within the Sanatorium play a small game of Musical Chairs, the cable car stops outside. The Doctor and Queenie note that bizarrely, their isn't anyone to operate the stopping mechanism or open the door, and all of the other carriages are empty. Approaching the sanatorium, the Doctor is electrocuted by the doorknocker, which leaves him temporarily unconscious. Ludo, Harry and Mrs Kniddle tend to the Doctor, whilst Swapnil informs someone mysterious in the attic of the new arrivals. He is given instructions of what to do with the Doctor, stating that 'that will surely finish him off!'.
Downstairs, Swapnil reunites with Queenie, his daughter, and the patients see that the cable car has started up again, now carrying passengers Lola Luna and Herbert Randall. Ludo now goes up to the attic to speak to the unseen people. He is disturbed when Swapnil rushes up, telling him that Harry is having some sort of fit. Ludo and Mrs Kniddle take Harry off to the treatment room where he is administered shock therapy. The Doctor barges in and destroys the equipment, leaving Ludo enormously distressed. In his moment of triumph, he runs up to the attic to uncover what secret Ludo is hiding. Ludo tries to stop him, but the Doctor is let in by whoever is hiding there. He feels as if he recognises the figures, and they are in fact Ace and Hex. However, they suddenly speaks up with a mock posh accent, saying that they have absolutely no idea who the Doctor is...
Cast
- The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- Ace - Sophie Aldred
- Hex - Philip Olivier
- Ludovic Comfort - Paul Antony-Barber
- Lola Luna - Joan Walker
- Swapnil Khan - Nadim Sawalha
- Queenie Glasscock - Nadine Lewington
- Harry Randall - Andrew Fettes
- Herbert Randall - Andrew Dickens
References
to be added
Gallery
Original cover art
Notes
- This story features the first appearance of the Toymaker in a BBC-licensed audio play. He had appeared earlier in a charity audio version of The Nightmare Fair, and would return again in late 2009 for the official, Big Finish version of the same story. However, this was the first officially-licensed audio story using the Toymaker that was available for public purchase.
- This audio story was recorded on 5 & 7 November 2008 at The Moat Studios.
- This audio also included the first episode of The Three Companions "Polly's Story" by Marc Platt.
- Rob Davis did an illustrated preview of this story in DWM 407.
Continuity
- The Doctor wears a pair of question mark pyjamas. (PROSE: Question Mark Pyjamas)
- Ace tells Queenie that she knows from personal experience that "burning stuff never resolved anything." (TV: Ghost Light)
- Harry and Lola's song about the Doctor refers to his defeat of the Gods of Ragnarok. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
- The First Doctor visited the Celestial Toyroom, the domain of the Toymaker, in the company of Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker) In the interim, the Doctor encountered the Toymaker in Blackpool in 1986. (AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair) He would later return to the Toyroom in the company of Charley Pollard during his eighth incarnation, (AUDIO: Solitaire) and with Clara Oswald in his twelfth incarnation. (COMIC: Relative Dimensions)
- It is later revealed that the chess sets in the sanatorium were left there by Fenric. (AUDIO: Gods and Monsters)
- The Doctor states that the last time that he went to the dentist was 1881. (TV: The Gunfighters)
- Both the Toymaker and the Doctor remark on the trick of hiding the TARDIS inside someone's mind. (TV: Enlightenment)
External links
- Official The Magic Mousetrap page at bigfinish.com
- The Magic Mousetrap at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for The Magic Mousetrap at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
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