The Circus of Doom (audio story)

The Circus of Doom is the third story in the Hornets' Nest arc, a series of five audio dramas featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor alongside Richard Franklin as Mike Yates.

Publisher's summary
The circus has come to town - and so has the Doctor! Watching the parade pass by in 1832, he finds the people of Blandford strangely drawn towards the garish big top. He knows something is terribly wrong. The only thing to do is pay a visit. Meanwhile Adam Farrow finds his sister caught up with the circus and its sinister ringmaster. What is behind Antonio's almost hypnotic power, and how is it connected with an event in the Doctor's future? Seized by clowns and forced into the centre of the ring, the Doctor encounters the fiercest of all circus acts. Yet something much more terrifying lurks in the wings - and the sound it makes is horribly familiar. Lives will be lost before the circus moves on - and the Doctor will face his own doom on the high wire.

Plot
Tracking down the Hornets, the Doctor finds himself in 1832, in a small town with a dark secret. A circus has come to town... only it's not the happy kind. This "Circus of Delights" is run by a man under the influence of the Hornets! The vile plot is to kill the entire town... and then move on to a bigger target... The Doctor must stop this act at once!

Cast

 * The Doctor - Tom Baker
 * Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * Sally - Susie Riddell
 * Dr Adam Farrow - Michael Maloney
 * Francesca - Jilly Bond
 * Antonio - Stephen Thorne
 * Old woman - Susan Jameson

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor is very fond of tigers.
 * The Doctor always imagined running away with the circus when he was a boy, but Gallifrey didn't get many circuses visiting.

Continuity

 * The Doctor would later encounter another sinister circus in his next incarnation, (AUDIO: Freakshow) and again in his seventh incarnation. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)