The Longest Night (audio story)

The Longest Night was the fourth story in the Big Finish UNIT audio series. It was written by Joseph Lidster.

Publisher's summary
"We interrupt this broadcast..."

Having survived a day at the seaside, Robert Dalton and Emily Chaudhry are enjoying a few pints... Having spent the day answering the phone and praying for some action, Will Hoffman is enjoying a night out... Having signed a controversial new European treaty, the Prime Minister is on his way back to Downing Street... Having survived yet another day, the people of Britain are settling down to eat dinner, stay in, go out, spend time with their friends...

"...we're receiving reports that..."

It's just another ordinary evening in the United Kingdom...

"...a bomb has exploded in central London..."

Plot
The Prime Minister makes a speech about the member states of the European Union signing the Euro-Combine Treaty, a speech which members of the public shout over with concerns about sovereignty. Major Kirby uses the speech as evidence of the Prime Minister being an enemy of the United Kingdom and declares that, with the help of ICIS, he and his supporters will "make Britain great again" and dispose of the enemy.

Lieutenant Hoffman is at the Vita Futura nightclub with Nisha Townsend on their second date when he notices a group of people trying to get away from one man. He tells Nisha to leave and goes to deal with the man, telling everybody to get down. The man shouts that he is doing what he is doing for his people and detonates an explosive. Hoffman survives the blast and watches as Sergeant Flemming arrives and shoots Nisha, telling his men that there must be no survivors.

Scott Christie reports on the Prime Minister's plans, the arrest of a Kosovan suspected of killing Chinese immigrants, a flu outbreak in the home counties and the explosion in Central London.

Colonel Chaudhry and Colonel Dalton are at the White Rabbit, expecting to be joined by Hoffman at some point, and play darts until Chaudhry sees Christie's news report. Hoffman calls Chaudhry and gives her and Dalton a description of the bomber, a Scotsman, as he runs away from Flemming's policemen. He is caught by Flemming and shot, but he ensures that he falls into the River Thames to keep Flemming from identifying him as UNIT.

Meena Cartwright, the Deputy Prime Minister, informs the Prime Minister that intelligence suggests that the bombing at the nightclub is unlikely to be an isolated incident. Soon enough, a woman detonates a bomb in Westminster tube station.

Dalton keeps Chaudhry from putting herself in danger by going after Flemming. She receives a call from Francis Currie and goes to meet him alone at Westminster Abbey as he claims to know who is behind the two bombings. Currie leads Chaudhry to a private area and attacks her, calling her a "murdering bitch". She kicks him in his genitalia and calls Dalton.

Using CCTV and the ID database, Dalton identifies the nightclub bomber as Marcus Hussey, a twenty-four-year-old of clean character. However, Christie reports that the bomber was a Muslim student called Abdul Malik Haseeb. Dalton answers the phone to Chaudhry and they agree that Currie and Hussey were likely brainwashed. Using Currie's car, Chaudhry transports him to UNIT HQ.

After giving a brief statement and refusing to answer any questions, the Prime Minister tells Meena that they need to get Kirby and keep the media under control. Kirby eventually arrives and the Prime Minister orders him to institute a media blackout; however, Kirby can only use the Broadcasting Act to stop the BBC, not ITN, Planet 3 or any other independent broadcasters. Kirby suggests putting ICIS in control, but Meena and the Prime Minister are against it. Later, Meena receives a phone call.

At UNIT HQ, Chaudhry and Dalton question Currie, who has no memory of calling Chaudhry nor attacking her. He starts to remember being called by somebody who told him he had to do something for his people. Dalton identifies the number that called him as belonging to a government helpline to help people give up smoking. Although Chaudhry is initially sceptical, Dalton and Currie deduce that somebody is manipulating people into calling such helplines to become sleeper agents to incite racial hatred.

Andrea Winnington receives a phone call from Kirby appealing to her xenophobia and asking her to do something for her people.

Tom reports from 10 Downing Street on the likelihood of martial law being declared. Meena exits Number 10 and claims to have received a phone call from a terrorist organisation who have kidnapped her husband and children. To save their lives, she shoots herself. A bomb is detonated in the television studio, killing Christie.

Dalton speculates that Kirby could be behind the brainwashing, but Chaudhry does not think that he is capable of three bomb attacks. When Dalton tells her about the fourth bombing, at Holloway Prison, she worries that Winnington could be on the loose and that ICIS could have some involvement. Dalton goes to speak with the Prime Minister and Chaudhry, starting to believe that Kirby must be involved somehow, remains with Currie and investigates the Major. She learns that he was discharged for allegedly abusing prisoners during the Iraq War but still managed to get a job as press secretary, possibly due to him being a distant relation of the King.

Currie calls a colleague, George, and has him look up stories about Kirby or ICIS which were kept from being published. He finds that, two years ago, Planet 3 were kept from reporting that Kirby had an affair with his personal assistant in the 1980s and had an illegitimate daughter: Winnington. As ICIS was being set up at the time, the government sought an injunction to protect Kirby and, by extension, ICIS from scandal. Chaudhry leaves Dalton a voice message and is confronted by Winnington, who reveals that Dalton has been brainwashed and left the door open for her.

Winnington gives Chaudhry her gun and tries to goad her into shooting her. She fires, but Currie gets in the way to keep her from committing murder and is shot through the wrist. Chaudhry takes Winnington away and tells her that her father brainwashed her into letting herself die to take down UNIT.

Kirby shows the Prime Minister evidence of racially-motivated violence across the country, trying to persuade him to sign the forms to put ICIS in charge without honouring the Euro-Combine Treaty. Dalton arrives and tells the Prime Minister that martial law is the only option. The Prime Minister signs the forms and Dalton prepares to shoot him for his people whilst Kirby makes a call and inquires about Brimmicombe-Wood. Using Winnington as a hostage, Chaudhry pushes her way into Downing Street and orders Kirby to stop Dalton from killing the Prime Minister. Kirby, however, does not care about Winnington's life.

ICIS go onto the streets and break up crowds by mowing people down with bullets. One soldier kills a journalist.

Chaudhry charges Kirby with murder and tries to persuade Dalton to put his gun down and break the conditioning by singing "London's Burning". Winnington is disgusted with her father because of what she has seen outside and how he was willing to allow her to die for their beliefs. Dalton breaks the conditioning and Chaudhry records Kirby's confession for Currie to air for the public, hoping that the public realising that they were manipulated would calm them down. Kirby reveals that he has a bomb ready to detonate and, with the Prime Minister having already left, Chaudhry and Winnington flee.

Winnington hits Chaudhry over the head before exiting the building, leaving her to die. The bomb detonates and Kirby and Dalton are killed. Big Ben tolls and Winnington tells the Prime Minister's aide that the soldiers from UNIT are dead.

Cast

 * Colonel Emily Chaudhry - Siri O'Neal
 * Colonel Robert Dalton - Nicholas Deal
 * Scott Christie - Scott Andrews
 * Andrea Winnington - Sara Carver
 * Lieutenant Hoffman - Robert Curbishley
 * Nisha Townsend - Georgina Field
 * Francis Currie - Michael Hobbs
 * PM's Aide - Harry Myers
 * Prime Minister - Steffan Rhodri
 * Meena Cartwright - Vineeta Rishi
 * Major Philip Kirby - Johnson Willis

Continuity

 * Albion Hospital from TV: Aliens of London is mentioned as being overwhelmed with injured people.
 * The Prime Minister mentions the terrorist attacks on Windsor and Oxford a month earlier as a reason for signing the Euro-Combine Treaty. These were temporal accidents caused by ICIS. (AUDIO: Time Heals)
 * Chaudhry and Dalton mention that they were fighting vampires only a couple of hours earlier. (AUDIO: Snake Head)
 * One speaker refers to the military action in Syria as a potential motive for the attacks. (AUDIO: Time Heals)
 * The Kosovan asylum seeker arrested in Southend is likely Goran. (AUDIO: Snake Head)
 * The flu outbreak in the home counties turns out to be an alien virus. (AUDIO: The Wasting)
 * Colonel Chaudhry refers to the sleeper agents' brainwashing as "a John Smith situation", referring to UNIT cases involving the Doctor. In response, Colonel Dalton refers to window shop dummies coming to life. (TV: Spearhead from Space)
 * Francis Currie has left the BBC and been hired as the front line reporter for Planet 3. Sarah Jane Smith had previously worked for the television news network as an undercover journalist, exposing corruption by companies and officials in high places. (AUDIO: Comeback)
 * Chaudry and Dalton were at the White Rabbit. (AUDIO: The Harvest, A Death in the Family)
 * Chaudhry remarks that Dalton would have liked Brimmicombe-Wood. Their fathers had been friends. (PROSE: Project: Valhalla)
 * The Deputy Prime Minister, Meena Cartwright, commits suicide under pressure from ICIS. This begins a period of political disarray, that continues with the murder of the Prime Minister at some point later. (TV: World War Three)
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart attended Colonel Dalton's funeral. (AUDIO: The Wasting)