The Empire Man (audio story)

 was the sixty-eighth story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Jonathan Barnes.

Publisher's summary
Christmas Eve, and in a secret library underneath Buckingham Palace, Queen Victoria has invited her new prime minister to a very private tradition.

At one hour to midnight, the monarch insists on the telling of ghost stories. Stories of the supernatural, the alien, and the unsettling. Only this year, something else has got in.

We are not alone.

Plot
On Christmas Eve, Queen Victoria has Mr Castringham escort the newly-appointed Prime Minister along a hidden tunnel to a library beneath Buckingham Palace to share ghost stories with her. She tells him about how, when she was about six, she was looked after by Mrs Wickmere in the absence of her nanny and learnt from her about the evil reputation of Altring Wood, supposedly the site of a massacre at the hands of a Roman. Later, the young Queen ran from a tall and bony creature made of wood and moss into the arms of Mrs Wickmere, who was dismissed shortly after and never spoken of again.

Twenty years later, Queen Victoria returned to Altring Wood with Prince Albert and found it to be a pleasant place until Mrs Wickmere jumped in their way, warning the Queen of "the emperor's man", a term which she believes that the Prime Minister has heard before despite his denial. She tells him of a dream she had in which she and the scared creature were being chased and then asks Mr Castringham to tell a story of his own, which surprises the Prime Minister.

Mr Castringham recounts his stay as the only guest at the Slothful Warden in Angleson-next-Sea the previous winter. He went to ask Mrs Elm about the unique cabinet in his room when he found her in a sort of trance and promised that he would not bother her, later telling her only that he lost track of time after an encounter with a figure on the beach. He was awoken in the night by knocking from inside the cabinet and opened it, finding within an inhuman child which disappeared before Mrs Elm came to investigate. Before returning to London the next day, he learnt that the cabinet was an heirloom made from wood from Altring Wood.

The Prime Minister reluctantly tells his story of how, the previous summer, he felt compelled to purchase a Roman coin found in the roots of an oak tree in Altring Wood but claims that it is simply a coincidence. He elaborates on how he became attached to the coin and began to suffer nightmares of him burning a forest until he donated the coin to a museum in York, but Queen Victoria points out that he is holding the coin in his hand and commands the Empire Man inside his head to make itself known. She offers it a deal.

On Christmas Day, Queen Victoria and Mr Castringham reflect on how the Empire Man will now be serving as the country's Prime Minister in place of his host, an arrangement which the Queen orders Mr Castringham to keep from Torchwood.

Cast

 * Queen Victoria - Rowena Cooper
 * The Prime Minister - Richard David-Caine
 * Castringham - Hugh Fraser
 * Mrs Wickmere - Patience Tomlinson

Uncredited cast

 * Mrs Elm / Miss Archibald - Patience Tomlinson (BFX: The Empire Man)

Crew

 * Senior Producers - David Richardson and John Ainsworth
 * Additional themes - Ben Foster
 * Cover Art - Sean Longmore
 * Director - Lisa Bowerman
 * Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
 * Music - Blair Mowat
 * Producer - James Goss
 * Script Editor - David Winfield
 * Sound Design - Toby Hrycek-Robinson
 * Writer - Jonathan Barnes
 * Theme Music - Murray Gold

Worldbuilding

 * Mr Castringham gives the Prime Minister whisky.
 * Victoria's mother and Mr Conroy hoped to use her to gain power.
 * The Prime Minister wonders if Queen Victoria suffered from somnambulism.

Continuity
to be added