'Short Trips': 'Christmas Dimension' (1 Part) by Rob Nisbet

At U.N.I.T. HQ, the Doctor makes Christmas dinner for Liz and Sergeant Benton using his latest technological inventions. A red flash in the sky outside heralds a thick snowfall, and then a hole in the sky appears above the U.N.I.T. barracks. The Doctor, Liz and Benton take Bessie to investigate. The hole is a portal to another dimension, out of which has fallen a large, dead, alien arachnid. A beam of light shines out from the hole, searching the area, which then pulls all metallic items into the portal – including Bessie. Leaving Liz to take a helicopter up to study the ‘Christmas Dimension’, the Doctor returns to his lab with Benton, only to learn that dinner has been ruined. Fetching his spare dimensional stabiliser from the TARDIS cellar, the Doctor connects it to his cooking inventions to make a device to stabilise the portal, and creates a smaller version above his bench. Meanwhile, Liz instructs her pilot to take their helicopter into the portal, then loses radio contact with HQ. Noting that there is both a dimensional and a temporal anomaly associated with the portal, the Doctor realises the hole is his fault: he created it with his laser when making cranberry sauce; the mini-portal now contains a tiny Bessie, the snow was created by the Doctor’s vegetable steamer, and the light and magnetism was him testing his newly-created rift. As the Doctor and Benton watch, a tiny helicopter containing Liz appears from the min-hole; the Doctor whispers instructions for them to grapple Bessie and head back through the portal… and outside, Liz, the helicopter and the Doctor’s car return, now back to their proper size. As the pilot leaves for his own Christmas Celebrations, the Doctor explains to Liz and Benton how the dead alien spider was actually a dust mite from the old dimensional stabiliser; he then reveals that he put a tiny piece of Benton’s turkey sandwich on Bessie’s back seat before it came back through the portal, providing them with a huge Christmas meal.

Stephen Critchlow (Narrator)

Directed by Lisa Bowerman

Release Date:
December 2016

Notes:

*Featuring the Third Doctor, Liz and Sergeant Benton

*A Big Finish Audio Production