Patient Zero (audio story)

Patient Zero was the one hundred and twenty-fourth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard.

This story also concluded the story arc regarding the viruses from the Amethyst Viral Containment Station, which began with AUDIO: Urgent Calls. However, the consequences of this story carry into AUDIO: To the Death.

This story featured the first appearance of the Dalek Time Controller.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

Finally, the Sixth Doctor challenges Charlotte Pollard to tell him the truth. Who is she really? What is she doing in the TARDIS?

To discover the answers, the Doctor must travel back in time, beyond all known civilisations to the vast, mysterious Amethyst Viral Containment Station. But answers lie within the TARDIS too. Someone who has been there a long, long time...

Meanwhile, the Daleks have travelled back in time on their own mission, to bring them the ultimate victory they crave. But it is a mission so complex and delicate that even they know they must beware the web of time...

Who is Patient Zero? What has happened to Charley? And why have the legendary Viyrans been summoned?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The Doctor - Colin Baker
• Charley Pollard - India Fisher
• Fratalin - Michael Maloney
• Mila - Jess Robinson
• Etheron/The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Daleks[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The Dalek Time Controller is a Dalek that directs Dalek strategies involving time travel, while preventing its destabilisation.
• The Dalek Time Squad Leader holds the Doctor hostage.

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Mila is the first person that the Daleks infected with their Virus 7001.

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The Viyrans are tasked with a mission of peace: the destruction of biological weapons.

Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

• 

  Original cover art

• 

  Textless cover art

• 

  Illustration by Brian Williamson from DWM 411

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The cliffhanger at the conclusion of part four goes straight into AUDIO: Paper Cuts.
• This audio release also included the fifth episode of The Three Companions "The Brigadier's Story".
• This story had the working title of Victory of the Daleks but had to be changed because of the television story of the same name.
• This audio drama was recorded on 16 and 18 March 2009 at the Moat Studios.
• This story was originally released on CD and download on 22 August 2009.^[1]
• This story is set between The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The Doctor places Charley in the Zero Room to stabilise her condition. (TV: Castrovalva et al.)
• Mila has been in the TARDIS since the Daleks were chasing the Doctor through time. (TV: The Chase)
• Mila refers to previous Dalek stories TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks.
• Whilst analysing the Doctor's identity, the Dalek Time Controller replays the Daleks' past and future encounters with their archenemy. (AUDIO: Renaissance of the Daleks, The Apocalypse Element, The Genocide Machine and The Time of the Daleks)
• One of the viruses would make it to Earth. (AUDIO: Blue Forgotten Planet)
• The method used here to stop the Daleks from dematerialising Amethyst was similarly used to prevent the Captain from materialising Zanak around Earth at the end of the story. At the start the reverse happened as the Captain stopped the TARDIS from materialising on Calufrax. (TV: The Pirate Planet)
• The Dalek Time Controller survived and travelled back through the Time Vortex to the 22nd century where he was discovered by the Daleks of that era. The Doctor would later encounter him planning to use the Amethyst viruses on Earth, (AUDIO: To the Death) and would later also encounter him on Srangor, (AUDIO: X and the Daleks) in Montmartre, (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre) and on the Eye of Orion for his final battle. (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness)
• The viruses released from the Amethyst Viral Containment Station include a bio-engineered telephone virus, (AUDIO: Urgent Calls) a mutagenic virus (AUDIO: Mission of the Viyrans) and Virus 7001B which was sent back in time to the beginning of the universe and resulted in the creation of life itself. (AUDIO: The Viyran Solution)

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Official Patient Zero page at bigfinish.com
• Patient Zero at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Patient Zero at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide