Snake Head (audio story)

Snake Head was the third story in the Big Finish UNIT audio series. It was written by Jonathan Clements.

Publisher's summary
A mobile phone call to the emergency services, a body found on Government land and an ancient burial site unearthed at an archaeological dig all point toward an odd mystery by the coast...

UNIT's new commander, Colonel Robert Dalton, and its political officer, Colonel Emily Chaudhry, investigate strange goings-on in Southend. What is out there on the beach? What happened to the recently found savaged body? And what of the man who's just been smuggled into the country?

Is this just a simple case for the local police or, as Chaudhry suspects, is there more to it than meets the eye...?

Plot
Kevin Lee receives a phone call from a distressed Sacha, but cannot understand him as he will not speak English. Sacha screams and the call ends.

Colonel Chaudhry and Colonel Dalton arrive at Southend to meet Dr Barney Hendrick. In his caravan, they discuss the ancient skeletons that he and his team have found, including that of a Saxon war leader, a war horse and several female slaves. He shows them where he found a beaten-up mobile phone belonging to a man whose remains washed up on MoD land at Foulness and draws their attention to the cockles.

Dr Hendrick gives a televised interview on The Place to Be with Leslie, discussing where the Saxon's skeleton will be displayed and when the beach will be cleared. He is asked questions received from the public by email, including one joking about the Saxon being an immigrant.

Chaudhry and Dalton go for food and discuss the unexplained deaths at the mud flats, believing that the dead were illegal immigrants employed to dig for cockles. Whilst Chaudhry believes that something has been disturbed by the dig and is now killing people, Dalton believes that it is a matter for the police. Chaudhry calls Lieutenant Hoffman, who sends her a sound file from the "loony file" for Essex Police of Sacha shouting "Vârkolak". He also passes on a request from Currie for a comment on a Chinese gang smuggling somebody into Tilbury Docks from Kosovo.

Chaudhry returns to Dr Hendrick, who speaks Albanian, and has him interpret Sacha's phone call. The call is the Lord's Prayer and a "Vârkolak" is an Albanian vampire who allegedly breaks the bones of children and sucks out their marrow. They are invisible to all but other Vârkolaks and Dhampir and one is only safe if they have an Orthodox priest or an imam in one's family. In Yugoslavia, fraudsters manipulate peasants' beliefs in Vârkolaks for monetary gain, pretending to be Dhampir. Dr Hendrick's description of a Vârkolak victim matches that of the man who washed up at Foulness.

Dalton goes to speak with the Kosovan, Goran Dhampir, who had previously attempted to enter the United Kingdom on Eurostar but lied about his convictions for fraud. Goran says that he is a hunter of Vârkolaks and claims to be ignorant of Kevin Lee, known to be a cockle racketeer.

to be completed

Cast

 * Colonel Emily Chaudhry - Siri O'Neal
 * Colonel Robert Dalton - Nicholas Deal
 * Dr Hendrick - Ian Brooker
 * Lieutenant Hoffman - Robert Curbishley
 * Kevin - Ian Hayles
 * Goran - Toby Longworth
 * Anni - Jane MacFarlane

Continuity

 * General Lethbridge-Stewart's introduction of the Silurian ambassador can be heard in the background at the beginning of the story. (AUDIO: The Coup)