The City and the Clock (audio story)

The City and the Clock was the first story in The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield box set Ruler of the Universe.

Publisher's summary
Bernice is on an archaeological dig for the mythical Apocalypse Clock. Can it really be the key to saving the universe? The ghosts of the planet have other ideas.

Plot
The Doctor returns to his duties as President of the Universe but soon leaves again when Benny calls, telling him that she is bored. He takes a commercial spacecraft to Merin where he sent Benny to find the Apocalypse Clock to save the universe and tries to leave after a brief conversation with her so that he can get back to his paperwork. She makes him stay, however, and takes him to the dig by hot air balloon.

A group of chanting traditionalist Merin led by Joto protest the unearthing of an ancient city due to their belief that the archaeologists have disturbed their earth gods and will bring destruction. Benny introduces the Doctor to their guide, Chamu, and gets him to help dig for the Clock, the existence of which the Doctor is sceptical despite having sent Benny here. Whilst they are able to detect that something is buried there, sometimes causing visions of the ancient dead, they cannot correctly identify what it is.

A hooded man claiming to represent the True Saviour asks Leonard, one of the Doctor's members of staff, if he is happy with the Doctor as President. Leonard is not interested in talking to him and leaves.

Benny sees what she initially believes is a vision of a walking skeleton telling her that the dead will return. She runs into Joto, who shows her that one of the Jeks has torn itself apart with its teeth and claws. She tells Chamu what she has seen and tries to tell the Doctor, but he is called away by work and she ends up demanding that he leaves when he prioritises a call about plumbing. Later, the Doctor returns to look for Benny and finds Chamu being chased by one of the dead.

Benny follows one of the dead towards the collapsed entrance to the Clock, which it is able to walk through. She accidentally causes a rockfall and gains entry. The Doctor joins her and they learn that the dead are planning on using the Clock to restore themselves to life, but the Doctor is hesitant to stop them and be responsible for wiping them out. Benny has fewer qualms and switches off the Clock.

The Doctor believes that the Clock could be used to create a buffer against entropy to save a portion of the universe but was never intended to resurrect individuals as it was trying to do with the Merin. He admits to Benny that he did not expect her to find anything here and only send her here for publicity. This angers her and calls him "Mr President", saying that he is not the Doctor anymore.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * The Doctor - David Warner
 * Chamu - Samantha Béart
 * Joto - Ben Arogundade
 * Leonard - Stephen Critchlow
 * Hood - Ben Crystal
 * Ebbis - Hattie Hayridge
 * Host - Guy Adams

Crew

 * Cover Art - Tom Webster
 * Director Scott Handcock
 * Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
 * Music and Sound Design - Steve Foxon
 * Producer & Script Editor - James Goss
 * Writer - Guy Adams

Worldbuilding

 * Karfel's Next Top Model is played on the Doctor's flight.
 * The Doctor gets a call from Kambler, the three-legged Oligarch of Kreesh.
 * The Doctor mentions the Golden Fleece.
 * The Doctor is using a data phone.
 * The Doctor namedrops Professor Quatermass.
 * Chamu makes coffee.
 * The Doctor tells Joto to stop with his "cultural appropriation twaddle".

Continuity

 * Benny mentions how the Doctor took her away from her son. (AUDIO: The Library in the Body)
 * The Doctor asks if he has the right to wipe out the dead, just as the Fourth Doctor wondered if he had the right to kill the Daleks. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)