The Meeting (short story)

The Meeting was the first short story of the Brief Encounter series in Doctor Who Magazine. It was not titled on its first publication in Doctor Who Magazine 167, but was given one for its reprint in Doctor Who Yearbook 1992.

	John Lucarotti
	First Doctor
	Auberge du Pont Romain, October
	John Lucarotti
	Colin Howard (Doctor Who Magazine 167) Paul Vyse (Doctor Who Yearbook 1992)
	DWM 167
	1 November 1990
	28 November 1990
Brief Encounter First printing
Next →	An Incident Concerning the Continual Bombardment of the Phobos Colony
Brief Encounter Second printing
← Previous	Fond Memories
Next →	Future Imperfect
Doctor Who Yearbook
Next →	Future Imperfect

You may be looking for the Titan comic story.

It was notable for writer John Lucarotti turning himself into a character, from whose point of view the story is told, in the Doctor Who universe.

Summary

Tucked into the Parisian inn known as L'Auberge du Pont Romain, John Lucarotti hopes for a glass of Médoc and a chance to soak up the inn's historic atmosphere. As he leans in to order his wine, he hears the voice of the First Doctor behind him. The Doctor reminds Lucarotti of the times they have shared together over glasses of wine. Lucarotti briefly indulges the Doctor before coming to his senses. He insists that the Doctor is fictional. The Doctor humours him by suggesting that the inn they are in is also fictional and mysteriously suggests that he can go wherever Lucarotti has been; maybe Lucarotti wants to go to Samarkand.

Lucarotti defers a decision on Samarkand to a later date, then closes his eyes. When he opens them, the Doctor has vanished. He tries to shake off the whole encounter as a figment of his imagination, then calls to the waiter for his bill. The waiter insists that the wine has been paid for by "the little old man with the long grey hair who just left". On hearing this, Lucarotti resolves to go to Samarkand and starts planning his trip.

Characters

• First Doctor
• John Lucarotti
• Waiter

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor mentions Gaston de Leran and Simon Duval.

Notes

• John Lucarotti starts the story by mentioning that he lives in France. This was true at the time.
• This was Lucarotti's final completed work before his death on 20 November 1994.
• In 2023, this story was unofficially adapted by William Tyson-Carlisle and released on YouTube. Stephen Noonan stars as the First Doctor, reprising the role which he had taken on with Big Finish Productions in 2022.

Continuity

• The Doctor discusses the events of TV: The Massacre ^[+]Loading...["The Massacre (TV story)"] with John Lucarotti, who had written that story.
• The Auberge du Pont Romain originates from TV: The Massacre ^[+]Loading...["The Massacre (TV story)"].
• Lucarotti tells the Doctor that "the Time Lords retired [him] ages ago", a reference to the retirement featured as a framing device for PROSE: The Massacre ^[+]Loading...["The Massacre (novelisation)"].
• The Doctor visited Samarkand in TV: Marco Polo ^[+]Loading...["Marco Polo (TV story)"], Lucarotti's first Doctor Who story.

External links

• "The Meeting" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide