Matryoshka (audio story)
Matryoshka was the third story of the thirteenth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Aurora Fearnley and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan and Eleanor Crooks as Naomi Cross.
Publisher's summary
When a strange force drags the TARDIS to Earth, it's clear that the Doctor, Harry and Naomi are up against an incredibly powerful being. And when they encounter Lord Pearson, inventor of games and toys, searching for his vanished daughter... it becomes clear exactly who that being might be. Hide and seek is one of the simplest games devised by man... but in the hands of The Toymaker... it may also become the deadliest.
Plot
Part one
Too busy to play hide and seek with his daughter, Etta, board game manufacturer Lord Pearson gives her a ouija board to occupy herself with and she hears a voice which agrees to play with her. The TARDIS arrives nearby a year later, brought by an unknown force, and the Doctor, Harry and Naomi join spiritualist Madame Bisset in visiting the Pearsons' house to find out what happened to Etta, who vanished whilst playing hide and seek with the voice. Whilst Harry is sceptical of mediums, the Doctor knows that a small percentage have genuine abilities and is not willing to immediately assume that Madame Bisset is a con artist. The group use the ouija board, which spells out a riddle, and Madame Bisset passes out.
Believing that the riddle is directing them to Etta's favourite toy, Lord Pearson leads Harry and Naomi to the attic to find her matryoshka and Madame Bisset gives the Doctor permission to hypnotise her to find out what force made contact with her. She is taken over by the Toymaker, who brought the TARDIS here and wants revenge for a future defeat at the Doctor's hands, just as he expected. In the attic, Naomi realises that they are playing a board game based on the house in which the players have to find items in each room and a fire suddenly starts, forcing her to climb out of the window using the curtains and into Etta's bedroom on the floor below. Naomi finds the matryoshka on Etta's bed and feels compelled to open it, after which the fire disappears.
The Doctor refuses to play the Toymaker's games or surrender himself to save his friends and have Etta freed, not trusting that the Toymaker would do so, and demonstrates that he is able to control Madame Bisset's movements thanks to his hypnosis. As a result of the game continuing, Harry, Naomi and Lord Pearson receive another riddle apparently referring to a ship in a bottle in the wine cellar. Harry and Lord Pearson start smashing bottles in order to find it, which is complicated when the wine from the smashed bottles starts to rise inexplicably. Meanwhile, the Doctor takes the Toymaker into a secret passage in search of Etta, only for the Toymaker to leave Madame Bisset's body as marbles rain down and a spiked ball rolls towards them.
Part two
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Naomi Cross - Eleanor Crooks
- Harry Sullivan - Christopher Naylor
- Madame Bisset / The Toymaker - Annette Badland
- Etta Pearson - Venice Van Someren
- Lord Charles Pearson - Robbie Stevens
Crew
to be added
Worldbuilding
- Lord Pearson told Etta that they would play hide and seek.
- Lord Pearson received a ouija board from France.
- Approximately 0.713% of mediums are signal translators capable of picking up alien signals, according to the Doctor.
- Naomi does not know what Wi-Fi is.
- Pearsons manufacture games.
- Harry does not like poems.
- Pestorians are closely related to aphids.
- Madame Bisset has synaesthesia.
- Elizabeth Pearson died in childbirth.
- Naomi references being ankle-deep in merlot.
Notes
to be added
Continuity
to be added
External links
- Official Matryoshka page at bigfinish.com
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