The Charge of the Night Brigade (audio story)
The Charge of the Night Brigade was the first story of The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written David Llewellyn, performed by Jacob Dudman and featured the Twelfth Doctor.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the rat-infested camps of the Crimea, Mary Seacole offers a vital service to the beleaguered troops, serving up rice pudding and treating the wounded at her 'British Hotel'.
Mary's no-nonsense attitude is tested by the Doctor's arrival. Together, they must deal with a strange infection not of this Earth...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Dr Henry Finch visits the British Hotel and takes Mary Seacole to the hospital to her advice with a patient, Corporal Roberts, who suffered a seizure immediately after being bitten by a rat and now refuses to eat. Mary returns to the hotel to get chicken broth and rice pudding and meets the Doctor, taking him with her for his opinion upon learning his name. Roberts says "sanctuary" in an inhuman voice before having another seizure and dying, a substance trickling from his mouth.
The Doctor and Mary return to the British Hotel, where the Doctor expresses his belief that Roberts was killed by an intelligent parasite capable of latching onto and controlling its victim's motor functions for a short time. They go to visit Dr Finch the next day and find him dead, having been analysing a sample of the substance when his test tube exploded and the substance entered him through a cut in his hand. He has carved the word "sanctuary" with a scalpel and replaced the sample with a test tube full of water.
The hotel's cook, Francis, is bitten by a rat and demands sanctuary. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to force the parasite out of Francis through his bite and contains it in a Kilner jar, saving Francis's life. The Doctor captures a rat and, giving Mary a set of instructions, allows himself to be bitten; Mary questions him, learning that the parasite is Grathnol Zavak, a Gralak from Yazgral, and uses the screwdriver to pull it out of him and catch it in another jar. The Doctor explains to Mary that Zavak was atomised and fired into the Void after a war, but his atoms have entered the clouds and rained down to Earth where they have been drunk by rats.
The Doctor and Mary go to Major George Beresford in Balaklava and tell him about Zavak, a story which he does not believe until they show him the jar and rats break into the room, arranging themselves into the form of a man before the Doctor gets rid of them with his sonic screwdriver. Beresford agrees to put up barricades and send out the ships to keep the rats from escaping. Hours later, an army of men made of rats march on the soldiers and the Doctor has the barricades set alight. When the Sun rises, the rats return to normal as the substance returns to its natural state and is washed away by the rain. The Doctor leaves without saying goodbye to Mary.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Narrator / The Doctor - Jacob Dudman
- Mary Seacole - Mandi Symonds
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The British Hotel is built on what Mary named Spring Hill.
- Mary serves chicken broth and rice pudding.
- The Doctor was trying to reach Padrivole Regency 12.
- 1855 is seventy years away from the discovery of penicillin.
- Dr Finch plans to give Roberts laudanum.
- The soldiers drink port.
- Francis is the British Hotel's cook. Mary promised his mother that she would keep him safe.
- The Doctor cheekily refers to Mary's British Hotel as a "café".
- Mary offers the Doctor tea and sponge cake.
- Burak is George Beresford's footman. He comes from Turkey.
- Beresford wears a monocle.
- Beresford drinks brandy.
- The Doctor calls his plan "Operation Ring of Fire", mainly because he "love[s] Johnny Cash".
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- In February 2019, writer David Llewellyn asked on Twitter if the Doctor had ever ridden a camel, before discovering the existence of that page on this very wiki. This was likely research for the reference he included in this story.[1]
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor misses having a hovercar. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
- The Doctor briefly expresses that he is indeed familiar with camels. (PROSE: The Book of Shadows, COMIC: Plague of the Black Scorpi, Egyptian Escapade, Minus Seven Wonders)
- The Doctor's next incarnation would meet Mary Seacole again in War of the Sontarans.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official The Charge of the Night Brigade page at bigfinish.com
