Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks! (short story)

Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks! was a short story printed of Issue 28 TV Century 21, which tied in with the release of Dr. Who and the Daleks.

It was set in the direct continuity of the cover story Peaceful Thals Ambushed!, as an early and remarkable example of a depiction of in-universe media about the Doctor: the feature film was shown to exist in-universe as a fictionalised account of the real Thal-Dalek battle which had previously occurred on Skaro and been "reported upon" by the BBC. This notion would much later be picked up on by Steven Moffat in his The Day of the Doctor novelisation.

The story was also a crossover with the Thunderbirds series, being narrated in the first person by Penelope Creighton-Ward, a major character from that series. Lady Penelope had a regular comic serial within TV Century 21 to her name, much like the Daleks.

Summary
Lady Penelope tells Parker that the two of them are "going to have lunch with the Daleks". When Parker is understandably distraught at the idea, Penelope explains that she was merely using a turn of phrase, and that their appointment is actually with the stars of the recent horror film about the Daleks.

She goes over what she has already known about the stars: Roy Castle, Peter Cushing, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey. Parker, now very eager to get to the appointment, urges her not to delay any further.

The two make it to the place of their appointment, a "delightful little Italian restaurant" in Soho, where they are greeted by Castle and Linden. The Doctor himself, although invited, turns out to not have made it to the gathering, with Penelope speculating that he is "probably busy inventing something to defeat the Daleks once and for all"; however, she finds out the reason why the Doctor is portrayed by Cushing in the movie rather than the actor William Hartnell who previously portrayed him on television: Hartnell is too busy with the television series to return for the film.

Penelope finally questions both Castle and Roberta Tovey about working with the Daleks on set; although Tovey puts on a brave face, Penelope guesses that she must nevertheless have spent some sleepless night due to the experience, and Castle admits that he was more scared during the shooting than he ever was when he worked on an earlier horror film. Despite all this, Penelope still gets the sense that the actors all had "a jolly good time" making the film.

Characters

 * Penelope Creighton-Ward
 * Parker
 * Roy Castle
 * Peter Cushing
 * Jennie Linden
 * Roberta Tovey

Worldbuilding

 * Roberta Tovey read Physics for the Inquiring Mind by Eric M. Rogers, a book on "the Theory behind Tardis", to prepare for the role of Susan.
 * Penelope describes Parker as a snob.
 * Roy Castle has allegedly been called "Britain's Sammy Davis Jnr.". He previously appeared in a horror film, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.
 * Peter Cushing is "at home" in horror material such as Dracula and Frankenstein.
 * Jennie Linden has appeared in several TV series including Emergency Ward 10, Sherlock Holmes and The Avengers.
 * Roberta Tovey is 12 years old and lives in Shepherd's Bush.

Story notes

 * Although implicitly transferred to the futuristic 21st century, most of the biographical information about the actors is otherwise accurate. This implication also contradicts the earlier TV Comic story TV Terrors, which showed the franchise existing in the 20th century.
 * Additionally, the implication that the Peter Cushing movies were produced in the 21st century means that newer stories that depict Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, and the movies themselves existing the the 20th century create a hard-to-reconcile dating issue with LPItsotSnfDWatD.

Continuity

 * Dr. Who and the Daleks is a film based on the adventures of the real Dr. Who and stars Peter Cushing in the part. (PROSE: Peaceful Thals Ambushed!)