'Short Trips': 'Past Tense' edited by Ian Farrington

Doctor Who began in 1963 with a remit to teach its audience about the past. One of the regular characters was a history teacher ­ and the intention was that the series would regularly explore bygone centuries, meet historical figures and interact with our ancestors.

Soon, the TARDIS was making visits to the Roman era, the time of the French Revolution and the pre-Cortez Aztec culture; the Doctor and his companions met cavemen, Marco Polo, Richard the Lionheart and Wyatt Earp.

But just as the Doctor is an alien visitor, so other interlopers from other worlds have found themselves in Earth's past ­ some with the intention of changing history.

Past Tense features seventeen tales set on Earth in days gone by. The Doctor finds himself and his fellow travellers in a variety of times and places: involved in international espionage with British and German spies, at the annexation of the Transvaal, watching an Ashes cricket match and mixing with the late-Sixteenth Century theatrical set.

Seeing history happen, learning about its nuances, trying to prevent its corruption, or simply enjoying its atmosphere, our heroes find themselves in exciting adventures wherever ­ or whenever ­ they go.

Past Tense is compiled and edited by Ian Farrington, who is one of the range editors of the Short Trips collection, as well as the editor of Big Finish's series of Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts books.

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'The Immortals' by Simon Guerrier

The TARDIS arrives in Eastern Europe at the start of the Eleventh Century, where the Doctor, Tegan, Adric and Nyssa come across a village under siege from a band of raiders. The village leader, Udilf, tells the travellers that their food supplies and women have been taken and eaten by their attackers, immortal creatures with misshapen features and imperviousness to arrows. Believing the raiders to be stranded aliens, the Doctor offers to help, and sets off with Adric to search for the creatures’ camp; meanwhile, Tegan and Nyssa stay behind to help the remaining women make armour and serve the men their food and drink. The Doctor and Adric soon meet the raiders, only to discover that they are in fact soldiers from Asia, whose unfamiliar features and clothing account for the villagers’ mistaken beliefs. Their leader, Czar U’thai, tells the Doctor that initially he and his men came to trade with the villagers, but soon decided to simply take what they desired; now that their way back home has been snowed in, they plan to take the villagers’ remaining supplies to see them through the winter. The Doctor and Adric manage to sneak out of the camp and return to the village, where they inform Udilf of U’thai’s plans; the Doctor and Nyssa offer to prepare fire bombs and oversee the digging of a trench around the village, while Tegan and Adric, against their companions’ wishes, help the men folk to make longbows. When the raiders attack a violent battle immediately begins; in the mêlée, Udilf is killed, but, with the aid of some fancy archery from the Doctor, the raiders are soon defeated. With U’thai now a prisoner, the villagers rescue their womenfolk and then decide to journey to Wales to build a new village. As the time travellers leave in the TARDIS, the Doctor has grave concerns over Adric’s actions, pointing out to the precocious boy that his invention of the longbow will cause countless deaths over the next five hundred years…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan

*Time placing: immediatly after the events of 'Castrovalva'

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'Far From Home' by Alison Lawson

In Crickhowell, Wales, in 1928, a gang of children are on their way to school when they suddenly encounter a strange man being chased by the local miller. After the man manages to evade his pursuer, two of the children, Tommy and his cousin Ralph, decide to follow him; the stranger introduces himself as the Doctor, and, to the boys’ amazement, confides in them that he is tracking a distress call sent by aliens. Tracing the signal to a bog, the Doctor finds an escape pod containing an injured Velderon, a small, blue creature with acidic skin. Noting that there was a second, vacant, seat in the pod, the Doctor becomes concerned that another creature is at large, and that the imminent rainfall will harm it; he entrusts the injured alien to Ralph, instructing him to head for the mill, where his own ship is located. The Doctor and Timmy set off to search for the missing Velderon, but when they finally find the frightened creature, its terror at seeing them causes it to fall into a well, where the combination of the water and the creature’s body chemistry results in a huge explosion. Saddened at the death of the creature, the Doctor and Timmy rejoin Ralph at the mill; the two boys distract the miller, enabling the Doctor to leave in the TARDIS, taking the injured alien back to its people.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

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'All Done With Mirrors' by Christopher Bav

When the Doctor decides to take Sarah on a visit to the theatre, the TARDIS arrives in Sixteenth Century London, on the stage of the Rose theatre, during a performance by the celebrated Christopher ‘Kip’ Marlowe. Moving the ship to the less conspicuous location of a timbre store in Deptford, the Doctor and Sarah, disguised as a young boy, set off for the theatres of the South Bank. However, on arriving back at the Rose, the two time travellers overhear a group of men plotting to kill Marlowe. After making a hasty exit, they then meet Edward ‘Ned’ Alleyn, who mistakes the Doctor for his friend, Marlowe; realising his mistake, he then invites the Doctor and Sarah to join him in a meal in a nearby pub. The Doctor tells Sarah that they have arrived in London on the night that Marlowe was reportedly murdered at the hands of secret servicemen, who had become concerned that the man’s plays were filled with anti-Protestant ethics. On leaving the pub they encounter Marlowe himself, on the shore of the Thames; the Doctor quickly wins the man’s confidence, and warns him of his imminent demise. After a grateful Marlowe takes his leave, the two travellers enter a public house, where the Doctor is again mistaken for Kip – but this time by one of the assassins. As Sarah flees, the Doctor is stabbed in the heart, and his body dumped into the Thames. But as a grief-stricken Sarah looks on, the Doctor promptly swims to the shore, showing her the copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare that was in his breast pocket, and which took the brunt of the knife’s blow. Meeting up with Marlowe once more, the Doctor reveals the man’s other identity: the bard himself, William Shakespeare. Now that he is believed to be dead, Kip vows to carry on his work as the bard; the Doctor and Sarah leave in the TARDIS, the Doctor having left his Complete Works with Shakespeare “in case he gets really stuck”…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Sarah

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'CHAOS' by Eric Saward

The Doctor wakes up to find himself trapped in a deep hole, apparently encased in a web of a substance called CHAOS, and very near death. He recalls being in the TARDIS with Tegan, when the ship was caught in a time corridor and then exploded. Confused, the Doctor then remembers the same events only this time he and Tegan followed the corridor to the tinclavic mines on the planet Raaga, where the prisoners of a Terileptil penal colony had managed to construct a rudimentary time travel device to enable them to escape. After the Doctor helped them perfect the device they tried to escape, only to by pursued and shot by Terileptil guards, while a panicking Doctor inadvertently killed a tramp. The Doctor then comes to, finding himself lying by a cash machine in New York watched over by a concerned Peri. When she tells him that he was mugged, the Doctor attributes his bad dreams to concussion; however, he is unaware that a CHAOS nanobot is inside his brain, seeding his unconscious thoughts with strange nightmares…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri

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'Ante Bellum' by Stephen Hatcher

After detecting a massive energy burst through the TARDIS sensors, the Doctor and Ace arrive in Constantinople in June 1914. Here they learn that a small, golden cup, recently unearthed at a nearby archaeological site, caused the power surge, resulting in the incineration of the excavation team and the surrounding area. The Doctor realises that the cup is in fact a camouflaged interstellar drive propulsion unit from a crashed Krivani exploration vehicle, and unless found in time, will become so unstable that it will destroy the planet. However, the cup has now fallen into the hands of Underwood and Fenton, two members of the British Secret Service who plan to use the device’s awesome powers to ensure that the British Empire will win the imminent war with Germany. The Doctor and Ace infiltrate the house where the cup is being kept and manage to escape with it, only for the local police force to capture the Doctor, while Ace is taken captive by Underwood and Fenton and subjected to interrogation. The Doctor is brought before the police chief and handed over into the custody of Herr Gerold Rösler of the German Embassy; the Time Lord convinces Rösler of the seriousness of the situation, and together they set about rescuing Ace so that the Doctor can then take the device away in the TARDIS so that it can be disposed of safely. The Doctor attends a rendezvous with Underwood, who demands that he agree to exchange the cup for Ace; meanwhile, Rösler breaks into the safehouse and rescues the Doctor’s companion. They then join the Doctor at the meeting, but a gun battle then breaks out between both sides; in the confusion, Rösler shoots the goblet, which explodes, killing the two secret servicemen. The Doctor and Ace hastily bid farewell to Rösler and leave in the TARDIS, only just managing to throw the cup into the Vortex in time for it to explode harmlessly.

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace

*Time placing: author Stephen Hatcher tells me that "it was my intention for the story to happen during the early days of the Virgin NAs, certainly after the 'Timewyrm' books and probably after the 'Cats Cradle' ones, but before 'Nightshade' - when Ace and the Doctor were still getting on OK. By then, Ace will have met Nazis in 'Silver Nemesis', 'Colditz' and 'Timewyrm Exodus', (and non-German ones in 'Remembrance of the Daleks')". Although a reference is made to the Doctor's white linen suit, which doesn't appear in the novels until 'White Darkness', I'm going with what Steve suggests - who's to say that the Doctor didn't try it on before then?!

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'The Thief of Sherwood' (6 Parts) Story Code 'I' by Godfrey Porter (Jonathan Morris)

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan to the dungeons of an apparently deserted Nottingham Castle. While the Doctor and Barbara leave to explore the surrounding countryside, Ian and Susan find a young prisoner named Marion; but as they attempt to free the woman from her chains, the suddenly find themselves face-to-face with the Sheriff of Nottingham’s men and immediately taken prisoner; the two travellers are then brought before the Sherrif, who gloats that his trap to capture Robin Hood has been successful. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Barbara meet the real Robin Hood and his band of outlaws - and are amazed to find that Robin is Ian’s exact double. However, the outlaw is far from being his legendary self, and is merely a selfish thief who steals for his own gains. The Doctor manages to convince Robin to help rescue his two friends, but the attempt to enter the castle goes wrong, and a sword thrust from one of the Sherrif’s men kills Robin. Susan is condemned to death, but the Doctor poses as the priest charged with giving her the last rites, and is able to get her to safety. Ian takes Robin’s place, and gives away all the outlaws ill-gotten gains to the local villagers, thereby ensuring that the legend of a good-hearted Robin Hood lives on. The time travellers then leave Sherwood for the safety of the TARDIS.

William Hartnell (Dr Who), William Russell (Ian Chesterton / Robin Hood), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Archie Duncan (Little John), Ronald Hines (Will Scarlet), Frank Thornton (Sheriff of Nottingham), Anneke Wills (Maid Marion), Milton Johns (Peddler), Carl Bernard (Villager), Ivor Colin (Man-at-arms)

Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Patrick Whitfield

TX:
'The Outlaws' - 19th September, 1964 @ 5.15pm - 5.40pm
'The Thief of Sherwood' - 26th September, 1964
'The Alchemist' - 3rd October, 1964
'Errand of Mercy' - 10th October, 1964
'Ransom' - 17th October, 1964
'A Guest For the Gallows' - 24th October, 1964

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan

*This is a fictional account of a fictional story, recounted in the style of spoof 'Radio Times', 'Doctor Who Weekly' and 'Doctor Who Monthly' articles.

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'Come Friendly Bombs…' by Dave Owen

Jo asks the Doctor to take her back in time to Aldermaston, 1960, so that she can take part in the famous rally for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Arriving amongst the throng of enthusiastic demonstrators marching to Trafalgar Square over the Bank Holiday weekend, they soon meet Bernard Helmann, a tutor in philosophy at Oxford. While the Doctor and Bernard enjoy their highbrow conversation, Jo meets one of the campaign leaders, a woman named Joan, whose husband was killed some years ago during the Blitz. Enjoying her new friend’s company, Jo soon comes to understand the horror that the superbombs can cause, and she implores the Doctor to travel back in time to prevent Oppenheimer from inventing the atomic bomb. However, the Doctor refuses, explaining that history must be allowed to take its course. The two friends fall out, and it is a couple of days before they speak again; arriving at Trafalgar Square, the Doctor finally explains to Jo that the bombs themselves are not evil, merely the use that they are put to - with time, mankind will learn morality and responsibility; the atomic bomb is necessary thing, as it will enable mankind to defend itself against the Cybermen when they attack Earth in the future. Satisfied, Jo goes on to enjoy the rest of the demonstration - unaware that some years ago, it was the Doctor himself who entered Oppenheimer’s laboratory and altered the scientist’s equations, thereby ensuring that the atomic bomb was created, and making certain that history stayed on its correct course…

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and Jo

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'Graham Dilley Saves the World' by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett

Having escaped incarceration at the hands of the insane monarch of Edinburgh in the early 2000s, the Doctor, Peri and Erimem reach the safety of the TARDIS. Puzzled that things in modern-day Britain should not be as they have just witnessed, the Doctor realises that history has diverged; he traces the disruption back to an event in 1981: a game of cricket at the Third Test of the Ashes Series in Leeds. Watching a television transmission, the Doctor is stunned to watch Graham Dilley fumble a catch that history records he caught; the Time Lord’s concern increases when the object of Dilly’s distraction is then shown on camera: his former companion Tegan, standing up in the crowd, directly in Dilley’s eye line. Reading from the TARDIS databanks, the Doctor tells Peri and Erimem that after England was defeated by Australia, gangs of angry supporters began to riot, and the fighting quickly escalated out of control; martial law was introduced in an effort to quell the violence, but the demonstrations and riots resulted in deaths on both sides, and things finally came to a head when an assassination attempt at the royal wedding resulted in the deaths of Prince Charles, Lady Diana, and several heads of state. Within ten years, law and order had completely broken down… The Doctor takes the TARDIS back in time to the start of the test match, a time that he had previously visited with Tegan and Turlough. The Doctor instructs Peri and Erimem to find Tegan before she can distract Dilley, and to make sure that they avoid his earlier self and Turlough in case a paradox is caused by meeting them earlier than they really did. The two girls set off, and manage to reach Tegan just before the batsman hits the ball that Dilley will catch / miss. However, an argument immediately breaks out between the three girls and two members of the audience; realising that Dilley will still be distracted, Peri inadvertently causes Tegan to shout at Dilley to pay attention, and the player catches the ball. Pleased that history is back on course, Peri and Erimem head off for a drink with Tegan; they return to the TARDIS some time later, both extremely drunk - much to the Doctor’s disapproval…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem, and the Fifth Doctor Tegan and Turlough

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'Bide-a-Wee' by Anthony Keetch

The Doctor and Susan are staying at the seaside village of Keelmouth, in 1933. While Susan heads off with a group of children and their dog - possibly the self-styled adventures calling themselves The Famous Five - the Doctor enjoys the peace and quite of the sleepy town. However, the atmosphere at Mrs Hutchings’ boarding house is soon disrupted by the arrival of a mixed-race family, the residents looking on disfavourably as they are joined Mr and Mrs Atkins and their half-cast son, Craig. After the formidable Miss Lancaster leaves the boarding house in a fit of temper, the Doctor notices that the Atkinses are behaving rather oddly, and that Craig makes anachronistic references to Game Boys and pizza. The old man confronts his fellow guest, Mr. Prentice, who is in fact another member of the Doctor’s own race; Prentice enjoyed the tranquillity of Keelmouth so much that he used his advanced technology to keep the boarding house and its immediate surroundings in 1933, while outside it is now 1999. When Prentice refuses to restore the house to its correct time, the Doctor convinces Craig to pretend to have whooping cough, forcing Prentice to turn off the time field so that the boy can receive the modern-day cure. While the residents are returned to their correct time, the Atkinses are sent back to 1999; Susan then returns to join the Doctor, and together they set off for the late Twentieth Century…

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor and Susan

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'Mortlake' by Mark Wright

When the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Evelyn to the hamlet of Mortlake, London, in 1568, the Doctor immediately sets off to find Doctor John Dee, an eminent scientist of the day and patron to Queen Elizabeth, whom history has since overlooked. Dee is pleased to meet a fellow scientist, and eagerly shows the Doctor around his laboratory; however, the Doctor becomes concerned on learning that Dee has located and copied an edition of the Steganographia, an arcane text that he plans to use to summon up members of the spirit world as a way to achieve instantaneous communication. Despite the Doctor’s warnings, Dee attempts to summon up such a spirit, only to faint into unconsciousness as a huge, hideous monster appears before him. However, the Doctor tells Evelyn that the Steganographia is actually a communication device used by the people of Sintra; anyone using the book can use it to open up sub-space and call forth an avatar, who will then accept a message to deliver on their behalf. The Doctor has had a pen-pal on Sintra for several centuries, and knows the hideous creature as Padiel, a rather mischievous avatar; he then sends the creature back to his friend with his latest missive. When Dee comes to, the Doctor tells him that the book was a failure, and later ensures that the book is replaced with a version containing harmless text. Returning to London in the present day, Evelyn is angered by the fact that the only thing that acknowledges Dee’s achievements is a block of flats named after him; but then the Doctor gives her a book that he picked up in 2006: a biography of the Sixteenth-Century scientist – written by Evelyn herself…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn

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'White Man's Burden' by John Binns

Arriving in Praetoria, in the Transvaal, on the 11th April, 1877, the Doctor and Turlough are surprised when the ceremony at which the annexation of the country into the British Empire fail to occur. Suspecting it to be the work of the Master, the Doctor is puzzled to learn that no-one has seen anyone answering to his old enemy’s description. The Doctor and Turlough attempt to gain an audience with the British Special Commissioner, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, but are unable to see the busy man until the next day; however, they do meet Shepstone’s assistant, Henry Rider Haggard, who finds them a place to stay the night, in rooms over a restaurant. Over a meal and drinks, Haggard confesses that he believes in the idea of annexation, but that Shepstone has recently changed his mind, for reasons unknown. After Turlough retires for the night, the Doctor forges an alternate speech for Shepstone, which Haggard arranges to be substituted for the real document to be read out by Shepstone the next day. Unknown to the Doctor and Turlough, those responsible for influencing Shepstone’s decision are none other that Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, two of the Doctor’s former travelling companions; while the Doctor lay suffering from a fever back in the TARDIS, looked after by Vicki, the two school-teachers posed as a commissioner and his wife, and attempted to change history for what they saw as a the greater good. However, the next day they can only watch on in dismay as the Doctor’s subsequent machinations ensure that history follows its due course…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Turlough, and the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki

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'Of the Mermaid and Jupiter' by Ian Mond and Danny Heap

The Doctor and Benny board the sea vessel Mermaid as it leaves Sydney harbour in October 1829. But the Doctor’s desire to experience a relaxing ocean cruise is soon disrupted when a storm hits, and as the Mermaid goes down, the crew and passengers are forced to abandon ship. Luckily everyone survives, and, having reached the safety of a rocky outcrop, they are soon rescued by the Swiftsure. But while the passengers and crew of the Mermaid marvel and their luck, the Swiftsure hits some rocks that night, and promptly sinks. Once again all hands escape unharmed, and are rescued by the Governor Ready. Benny becomes suspicious, especially when she discovers the Doctor setting fire to the ship’s hold; she realises that it was he who arranged for the previous ‘accidents’ encountered by the other vessels. Everyone abandons ship once more, and are soon picked up by the Australian Government cutter Comet. A furious Benny tries to confront the Doctor, but the manipulative Time Lord instead manages to persuade her to help introduce a quick-acting ‘dry rot’ to the ship’s timbers, and, as fighting breaks out between the crew of the Comet and the ‘jinxed Mermaid crew, the vessel sinks in a storm. Some hours later, the combined passengers and crews are rescued by the Jupiter. As Benny angrily faces the Doctor once more, she learns that a dying woman named Sarah Rickley is travelling abroad the Jupiter; the woman once came to the Doctor’s aid, and so in return he has contrived for her to be reunited with her estranged son, Peter, who is a member of the Mermaid’s crew. Satisfied that, thanks to his actions, Sarah will now find the will to live, the Doctor is taken aback by Benny’s observation that he could have achieved the same objective merely by using the TARDIS…

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Benny

*Time-placing: Benny has travelled so many different worlds with the Doctor; however, the Doctor is still very manipulative and secretive, so this probably takes place during his early travels with Bernice

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'The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up' by Nev Fountain

Coming across a swineheard’s hut in the Ninth Century, in what will later become England, the Doctor encounters King Alfred hiding amongst the pigs. The monarch is in disguise so that he can spy on his Viking enemies, but his doubts are causing him to question whether to or not give up the fight. The Doctor tells Alfred that he is a wizard with knowledge of the future, and convinces the King that he should not give up the fight. The King vows to carry on his mission to free his people and unite the country – only to find that the Doctor has stolen the cakes that he was supposed to be looking after for the swineheard’s wife. While Alfred is forced to tell the angry woman that he burnt the cakes and threw them away, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS, and attempts to hide his latest feast from the health-conscious Melanie. However, the Doctor’s next foray to find food takes him to a very famous supper…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Melanie

*Time-placing: Melanie is attempting to get the Doctor fit, so this probably takes place around the time of 'Terror of the Vervoids'

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'All Done With Mirrors' by Nicholas Briggs

While the nation is held spellbound watching the exploits of astronaut Neil Armstrong as he makes the first Moon landing, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe relax in the sun at Compton Bay, on the Isle of Wight. Leaving his friends playing in the sand, the Doctor goes to buy some ice cream from a nearby van and meets a young boy; concerned that the child has sneaked out of his house to play without telling his parents, the Doctor tells the boy to back home. However, as the boy leaves, he is hit by a car, and his legs smashed beyond repair. Wracked with guilt and remorse, the Doctor heads straight for the TARDIS; reaching a decision, he gathers his companions and then spends the next few months attempting to pilot the time ship back to just before he met the boy, so that he can change history. Eventually arriving four hours previously, the Doctor resolutely stays on the beach with Jamie and Zoe, and is relieved when the time of the original accident passes without incident. He is then elated to see the boy and his parents arrive on the beach for a barbecue. The Doctor leaves, resolving never to cross paths with the boy again – although he does drop in to see the child one last time, just to make sure he is alright, and to dispel his fear of bath nights.

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe

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'To Kill a Nandi Bear' by Paul Williams

The TARDIS materialises in what will become Malawi in South Africa, many centuries in Earth’s past. The Doctor, Sarah and Harry leave to explore, and soon discover the dead body of a tribesman, his corpse partially eaten by wild animals. The three travellers are then captured by the rest of the tribe, whose chief accuse them of the death of his fellow tribesman, Mposi. When the tribe’s shaman accuses them of summoning a legendary beast called a dupa, otherwise known as a Nandi Bear, to kill Mposi, the Doctor agrees to prove his and his companions’ innocence by tracking the creature and slaying it. Later, while talking to the chief, the Doctor learns that the man accepts that Mposi most likely fell to his death after drinking too much at his daughter’s wedding; however, it is the shaman who wields the real power over the tribe, and so the travellers must prove themselves to him instead. The next morning, the Doctor and Sarah lead the tribe in the hunt, and it is not long before they encounter a ‘dupa’ – in fact Harry wearing a monkey suit from the TARDIS. The mob gives chase, and Harry leads them to the TARDIS, taking refuge inside; the Doctor and Sarah promise the chief that they will deal with the creature, and are allowed to enter the ship. As the TARDIS promptly disappears, the shaman realises that the chief deliberately allowed the trio to escape, and he kills him for his betrayal to the tribe.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry

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'Fixing a Hole' by Samantha Baker

Following the events surrounding Jimmy Saville, Gareth Jenkins and the Sontarans, the Doctor once again finds himself travelling with Tegan. However, feelings between the two are strained, with Tegan bemoaning the fact that her attempts to get her life in order were once again disrupted after being ‘kidnapped’ and brought aboard the TARDIS. The time ship’s time-alignment field is damaged by an explosion, and the Doctor is forced to land the vessel in order for it to carry out self-repairs. Exploring their surroundings, the Doctor and Tegan find themselves in a snowy wasteland, realising that they are on Earth when they find the broken down remains of an old burger van. Taking shelter, the Doctor reassures Tegan that she is strong enough to get her life back on track, and is pleasantly surprised to learn that she has now met someone. Stepping outside, the Doctor reveals that they have in fact arrived at Heathrow airport at the exact moment of Tegan’s abduction; as the Doctor looks on, Tegan sets off to continue her new life without him…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Tegan

*A sequel to 'A Fix With Sontarans', this story cannot be considered as canon

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'That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World While Looking For a Dress' by Joseph Lidster

Polly Wright now controls the successful record company GEZ, thanks to a scandal involving her former boss, a distraught Take That fan, an orange and a piglet. As one of society’s hottest starlets, Polly attends high profile events, rubs shoulders with the most popular celebrities, and brings in shedloads of money. But while attending a celebrity funeral, she is surprised to encounter a seemingly omnipotent alien being, who sends her back in time to find a dress to wear at a forthcoming New Year’s Eve party. Polly finds herself in a cell with the legendary Maid Marion – her exact double - and then meets Ian, Susan, and Ian’s double, Robin Hood. Then, when the Doctor arrives, Polly meets another version of Susan, and then finds herself in the seaside resort of Keelmouth, just as the Doctor is confronted by an angry man named Prentice. The villain vows vengeance on the Doctor, and sends a beam of energy that transports his granddaughter Susan into the past. Polly continues to jump through time, disrupting events as she goes; after arriving in Colditz during World War II and encountering Ace, she then finds herself at a pivotal cricket match, where a previous version of herself and her then husband get into an argument with Peri, Erimem and Tegan. Distracted by the confusion, Graham Dilley drops the catch that history notes he made and then, when two versions of the Fifth Doctor appear and inadvertently come into contact with each other, the resulting Blinovitch Limitation Effect causes an energy release that threatens to consume the universe. Once again Polly time jumps, and joins Bernice Summerfield for a drink. Finally, Polly comes face-to-face with the Time Lords; they inform her that she has been manipulated by the alien ‘goddess’ into altering Earth’s history, and go on to tell Polly that they will use one of their agents to rectify events, ensuring that the Web of Time is restored. Some time later, after the agent has carried out his assignment, the operative – actually the Second Doctor – and his companion, Jamie, are reunited with Polly, who has just met her old friend and fellow TARDIS traveller, Ben Jackson. As the five of them celebrate, Ben and Polly admit that they love each other, sealing their future together with a passionate kiss…

Notes:
*Featuring Polly; the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan; the Second Doctor and Jamie; the Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem and Tegan; and Benny

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Publication Date:
April 2004


Notes:
*Published by Big Finish