Storm Warning (audio story)

 was the sixteenth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. Released in January 2001, this was the first audio story to feature Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, his first time reprising the role in a full cast story since the 1996 television movie, which was his first on-screen appearance as the Doctor.

Publisher's summary
October, 1930. His Majesty's Airship, the R101, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.

Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.

There's a storm coming. There's something unspeakable — something with wings, crawling across the stern. Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves. When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...

The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread.

Part 1
In the TARDIS, the Doctor tries to find the TARDIS manual in the library, but comes across Frankenstein and a signed first edition of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Suddenly, while in the time vortex, a time ship continually crashes. The Doctor watches and sees a flock of vortisaurs, but the Doctor pilots the TARDIS forward. He pilots the TARDIS out of the time loop, but the vortisaurs approach the TARDIS.

In October 1930, British airship R101 flies to Karachi. Onboard, Lieutenant-Colonel Frayling is worried about the designs from his design team by Lord Tamworth, Minister of the Air and that the speed of the R101 will compromise its worthiness. However, Tamworth refuses to explain the speed as well as the sealed compartments, including an unnamed passenger in cabin 43. Suspicious, Tamworth sends his valet, Rathbone, to check on the health of the passenger of cabin 43. As Rathbone heads for the deck, he runs into Chief Steward Weeks and orders a pot of coffee for later. Rathbone doesn’t notice that Weeks is escorting someone to the smoking room. It is then revealed that the person Weeks is escorting is a stowaway, who is impersonating Simon Murchford, who is still in Cardington. The stowaway is revealed to be Charlotte Pollard.

Frayling informs Tamworth that a storm is approaching, but Tamworth refuses to listen and continues the voyage and says that they will make their arrival in an hour. Suddenly, a sound is heard from the outside and the R101 shakes. Charley’s disguise is blown in the process and confesses to Frayling that she got Murchford drunk and decided to take his place on the R101 for the sake of adventure. Charley then breaks away and runs. Tamworth sends Weeks to kill her quietly to ensure the mission’s success just when Tamworth hears something outside of the airship.

The Doctor is onboard the R101 as well and hears breathing noises in cabin 43. He uses one of Conan Doyle’s stethoscopes to overhear Rathbone to shut his charge with an injection. Suddenly, Charley runs into the Doctor, who then helps her hide, delighted by the fact that he met a new friend. Weeks gives up looking for Charley and Charley decides to go with the Doctor, but is unsure about his eccentricity and the fact that he has met Lenin, Geronimo and Empres Alexandra. The Doctor then tells Charley that his time machine fell out of the airship and is trying to locate it, but Charley is skeptical. Charley then tells the Doctor that they are onboard the R101 and is now over northern France. Horrified, the Doctor remarks that if he remembers his history, the R101 will crash.

Meanwhile in cabin 43, Rathbone hears the scratching at the porthole and peeks through. Suddenly, something bursts through the door and grabs him.

Part 2
The Doctor and Charley hear Rathbone’s screams and rushes to investigate. Weeks arrives at the same time and all three see that Rathbone is being attacked by a vortisaur. The Doctor grabs Weeks’ coffee and throws it at the vortisaur, which then retreats. The Doctor deduces that the vortisaur was following the trail of the TARDIS’s emergency materialization. The Doctor then says that the vortisaur will be back as it tasted blood and wonders why the passenger (“he, she or it”) is sealed in a deep sea diver’s suit. Rathbone, pulls out a gun and forces the Doctor away and Charley speaks softly to the passenger, calming it. The Doctor and Weeks decide to search for the vortisaur, grabbing the passenger’s morphine. Charley remarks that she always wanted adventure, but not like this.

The Doctor and Weeks throw a table through a promenade window, shattering it and the R101 to tilt to port. The gap is now large for the vortisaur to get through and the Doctor cuts his arm with a glass shard to attract it. The vortisaur approaches calmly and licks the Doctor’s arm, tasting the time in his blood, much to Week’s astonishment. Weeks then knocks out the vortisaur with morphine and the Doctor decides that now he must get it back to its natural habitat, but that would mean getting back to the TARDIS. The Doctor and Weeks lock the vortisaur in the gallery and head to the lounge to find Tamworth.

Because of recent events, Frayling implores Tamworth to abort the flight, but Tamworth stubbornly refuses and threatens to have Frayling arrested if he tries anything to delay the mission. The Doctor then tells Tamworth that there’s a monster locked in the gallery and Tamworth is lead to believe that the Doctor is a spy. As the Doctor tries to explain himself, Tamworth says that he would be insulted if the Germans hadn’t snuck a spy onboard and have the Doctor executed to avoid word of the mission back home. The Doctor decides to play along that he is an agent of the Zeppelin Company and offers health to the passenger of cabin 43. Tamworth agrees and then tells Frayling that at 0030 hours, ascend to 5000 feet, which is three times higher than the R101 was designed for.

The Doctor returns to cabin 43 and informs Charley (who he calls “Fraulein”) that their cover is blown. Charley then plays along and the passenger seems to suffer some sort of anxiety and is conveying itself to Charley and Tamworth. They feel lightheaded as the air pressure is changing from the R101’s ascent. The Doctor realizes that the passenger is sensitive to this and could die, just when Rathbone pulls a gun to Charley’s head. The Doctor removes the passenger’s helmet and it’s revealed to be not human. Rathbone is thrown off as the passenger’s real appearance while Charley takes a liking to it because it reminds her of the dolphins when she went to Regent’s Park Zoo. The alien senses Charley’s compassion and speaks her name softly. Suddenly, an alarm goes off; they have reached the rendezvous. Tamworth informs the Doctor and Charley to escort the passenger to the lounge. Rathbone tries to object, but Tamworth’s in charge now. The Doctor and Charley wrap the passenger in a blanket and take it to a chair while Rathbone watches over.

Tamworth enters the lounge and announces the VIPs and explains that the passengers are selected as the best of the British to represent their country as ambassadors to another power. Suddenly, a bright light flashes outside the window and something lowers from the sky. It is then revealed to be an alien ship.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Charley Pollard - India Fisher
 * Lord Tamworth - Gareth Thomas
 * Lt-Col Frayling - Nicholas Pegg
 * Rathbone - Barnaby Edwards
 * Chief Steward Weeks - Hylton Collins
 * Triskele - Helen Goldwyn

The Doctor

 * The Doctor finds a signed first edition of the Agatha Christie novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on board his TARDIS. He played Tiddlywinks with Tsarina Alexandra and later with Vladimir Lenin on an overnight train from Switzerland to Petrograd. He has also met Geronimo.
 * The Doctor states that he learnt to ride Vortisaurs bareback at the Academy.

Continuity

 * According to AUDIO: Terror Firma, the Eighth Doctor had numerous adventures prior to this story. During this time, he travelled with siblings Samson and Gemma Griffin as well as Mary Shelley (AUDIO: Mary's Story, et al)
 * Although this story depicts the Doctor's first supposed meeting with Charley, it is later revealed that, earlier in his personal timeline, she had not only met but became a companion of the Sixth Doctor (AUDIO: The Condemned to AUDIO: Blue Forgotten Planet). The fact that Doctor does not recognise her later in his timeline was due to his memories of travelling with Charley being supplanted by fabricated memories of travelling with Mila. (AUDIO: Blue Forgotten Planet) Still earlier, in an alternative timeline, the Fourth Doctor met both his eighth incarnation and Charley while he was travelling with Leela. On that occasion, he was very impressed by Charley, telling her that he considered her to be very clever. However, he lost all memory of this encounter when the proper timeline was restored. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)
 * The Vortisaur known as Ramsay stays in the TARDIS until AUDIO: Minuet in Hell.
 * In the far future, radio broadcasts concerning the launch of the R101 could be accessed via the Gogglebox inside the Moon. (AUDIO: The Reaping, AUDIO: The Gathering)
 * The Doctor recalls his encounter with Mary Shelley and Lord Byron near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)
 * The Doctor finds a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which is missing its last page. This would later be revealed to have been a birthday present from his former companion Samson Griffin. (AUDIO: Terror Firma)
 * The Doctor mentions that he was onboard the RMS Lusitania when it sank on 7 May 1915. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time)
 * In an alternative timeline in which the Nazis won World War II, an alternative version of the Eighth Doctor likewise used the alias "Johann Schmidt." (AUDIO: Colditz, AUDIO: Klein's Story)
 * The Doctor compares the R101 to the Sandminer Storm Mine 4 (TV: The Robots of Death) and the Hyperion III (TV: Terror of the Vervoids).
 * The Doctor mentions that he was in South Africa during the Second Boer War and met several Afrikaans. (PROSE: Players)
 * Charley would later tell the Doctor that she stowed away on the R101 in order to meet a young man named Alex Grayle in the Singapore Hilton on New Year's Eve 1930. (AUDIO: Seasons of Fear)
 * At the time that she boarded the R101, Charley was attending a finishing school run by Miss Lime. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * The R101 was launched from the Cardington airbase. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * Suffering from survivor's guilt after the crash of the R101, Simon Murchford later became an Anglican minister in the hopes of reconciling his guilt. (AUDIO: The Next Life) He succeeded Reverend Matthew Townsend as the Cardington airbase's chaplain following his death in 1951. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * Charley would later be haunted by the expression on Rathbone's face as he fell from the R101 to his death. Although he was the first of many people who attempted to kill her, she was eventually unable to even remember his name. (AUDIO: The Next Life)
 * The Pollards' cook Edith Thompson was the only person who knew that Charley intended to stowaway aboard the R101 and helped her to prepare for the adventure. (AUDIO: The Fall of the House of Pollard)
 * Lord Richard Pollard spent years researching the R101 and can name everyone onboard from Lord Tamworth to "the lowliest cabin boy." Several letters mentioned a rendezvous with a foreign power but he was never able to get to the bottom of it. (AUDIO: The Fall of the House of Pollard)