Upstairs (audio story)

Upstairs
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Vicki, Steven
Main enemy:	The time fungus
Main setting:	10 Downing Street attic, various times inc. July 1900
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Mat Coward
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Richard Fox & Lauren Yason
Sound:	Richard Fox & Lauren Yason
Cover by:	Anthony Lamb
Release details
Release number:	8.03
Release date:	12 September 2013
Format:	2 Episode on 1 CD
Production code:	BFPDWCC71
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-085-5
The Companion Chronicles
← Previous	The Alchemists
Next →	Ghost in the Machine

Upstairs was the the third story of the eighth series in The Companion Chronicles audio range. It was produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Mat Coward and featured Vicki Pallister and Steven Taylor.

Publisher's summary

When the TARDIS lands in a dilapidated attic, the Doctor, Vicki and Steven discover they are on Earth, in London... in Number 10 Downing Street.

However alien forces are at play here, affecting the very fabric of the building... and adjusting the very essence of history itself.

Plot

Dust and Death (1)

to be added

Dust and Empire (2)

to be added

Cast

• Vicki Pallister - Maureen O'Brien
• Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
• Bartholomew - Maureen O'Brien (BFX: Upstairs)
• Maids - Maureen O'Brien (BFX: Upstairs)

Characters

• First Doctor
• Vicki Pallister
• Steven Taylor
• Bartholomew
• Maids
• Time fungus

Worldbuilding

• After seeing seven chair legs in the attic, Vicki wonders if there were wooden androids in Victorian London.
• Vicki refers to her former travelling companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.
• 10 Downing Street was badly built on shallow foundations by a crooked speculator, Sir George Downing, in the 1680s.
• The Doctor tells Steven and Vicki that William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, died at the age of 46 in the early 19th century while Steven reads that another Prime Minister, George Canning, died in office in 1827.
• That morning, Steven ate bacon and eggs from the TARDIS's food machine.
• The food machine rearranges molecular deconstructed fungus into whatever delicacy was ordered.
• Lord Salisbury was the Prime Minister in July 1900. He allowed his nephew Arthur Balfour to use 10 Downing Street.
• The Doctor knows a Comanche war-cry.
• The Doctor tells Mr Bartholomew that "Lord Steven" is a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
• The Doctor tells Steven and Vicki that every empire in the history of the galaxy has eventually collapsed.

Textless cover art

Notes

• This story was recorded on 28 February 2013 at the Moat Studios.
• This story is told from Steven and Vicki's perspective.
• This story was originally released on CD and download. It is now available as a download only.

Continuity

• Vicki recalls being rescued from Dido by the Doctor, Ian and Barbara. (TV: The Rescue)
• During his ninth incarnation, the Doctor once again visited 10 Downing Street in March 2006. (TV: Aliens of London)

External links

• Official Upstairs page at bigfinish.com