The Wrong Side of History (audio story)
The Wrong Side of History was the third and final story in the audio anthology Purity Unbound, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Robert Valentine and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush, Ruth Madeley as Hebe Harrison, Cherylee Houston as Elise Kaplan, Toby Hadoke as Ron and Imogen Stubbs as Purity.
Publisher's summary
Mel, Hebe and Elise find themselves inside a plastic bubble-city in a distant future of humanity where robotic 'Purifiers' police the sickly populace. Purity rules this antiseptic nightmare from her high tower, and with the Doctor as her unwilling new helper, she can finally make everything...perfect.
Plot
Part one
Finding themselves in the bubble-like Atrium 10-70 in 2527, Mel and Elise surrender themselves to the Purifier robots and are taken to a holding area in solidified foam whilst the hidden Hebe looks on. Hebe saves Nil from the Purifiers when he is exposed to unfiltered air from the outside world and together they rescue Mel and Elise from an incinerator field before going with them to find Purity.
The Doctor and the TARDIS, for which he cannot find his key, is imprisoned in a temporal stasis void by Purity, who has become a computer tower holding the timelines in place. The Doctor finds Patricia inside of the tower and is given back his key when he agrees to hook her up to the TARDIS's psycho-telemetric circuits to help her maintain control of reality, but Purity uses this to search for an iteration of reality which she deems perfect and unwittingly frees Khavûl, Silkreth and their soldiers.
Part two
The Doctor escapes by threatening Silkreth's life with a stick of rock and Khavûl commands Purity to bend to his will to reshape time, but he finds that the Doctor has taken the chronoplasmic generator link. The Doctor runs into Mel, who was separated from Hebe and Elise by a door after a wounded Nil sacrificed himself, and tricks Khavûl into putting the link back and summoning the Chronomancers. Patricia is freed from Vallon's time-suit and the Chronomancers sentence Khavûl and his soldiers to non-existence, Silkreth having apparently been killed by the Purifiers.
History begins to unravel and the Doctor tells Mel, Hebe and Elise to get into the TARDIS whilst he comforts the dying Patricia, holding her hand per her request and listening to her apology before she dies. He pilots the TARDIS to Sheffield in Hebe's time and is followed by the vengeful Silkreth, whose Time-Suit Ron short-circuits with information he gained from a letter sent by Evelyn. The Doctor reads the letter, in which Evelyn explains that she found a letter written by Patricia in a priest hole telling her how to save his life.
The Doctor and Mel return to the TARDIS with Hebe, who realises how dangerous travelling with them is but wants to help them keep putting things right. The TARDIS leaves with the three travellers aboard once more.
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
- Hebe Harrison - Ruth Madeley
- Purity / Patricia McBride / Purifiers - Imogen Stubbs
- Elise Kaplan - Cherylee Houston
- Havash Khavûl - Matthew Brenher
- Silkreth / Silkreth's Time-Suit - Victoria Jeffrey
- Nil / Chronomancer - Jake Wardle
- Ron - Toby Hadoke
Crew
to be added
Worldbuilding
- Hebe is reminded of the Eden Project.
- Nil's brother was scheduled to be "purified" due to a supposed heart defect.
- Purity uses incinerator fields.
- Tarek and Gamish serve Khavûl.
- The Doctor pretends to hold Silkreth hostage with a stick of rock.
- The Doctor uses Venusian aikido.
Notes
to be added
Continuity
- Elise remembers Ron's death. (AUDIO: Girl in a Bubble)
- The Doctor took Patricia to 2527. (AUDIO: Chronomancer)
- Elise ran Khavûl over in Sheffield. (AUDIO: Chronomancer)
- Hebe is from an alternative timeline, given the real Hebe's memories by the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Girl in a Bubble)
External links
- Official The Wrong Side of History page at bigfinish.com
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