The Sommerton Fetch (short story)

The Sommerton Fetch was the ninth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas. It was written by Peter Anghelides. It featured the Third Doctor and Jo Grant.

Summary
The Doctor and Jo are in the TARDIS when it hits a temporal wake. Jo is injured. The Doctor explains that someone is using a time twister, which causes havoc for other time travellers. He tracks the device to Shrewsbury in 1783.

Jo stays in the TARDIS to research this phenomenon while the Doctor tracks the user to Sommerton Manor. The time twister gets damaged, and the vortex sucks up the Doctor and Casimer, the teenage girl who is using the time twister. The TARDIS remains in 1783.

The Doctor and Casimer travel through time but not space, appearing in Shrewsbury in 1993, 1964 and 1973. Each time, they leave behind the legend of the Sommerton Fetch, based, as the Doctor thinks, on Casimer and her malfunctioning suit, which makes her look like a ghost.

Eventually the Doctor deduces that their travels through time are related to the state of Casimer's emotions. She is very upset and thinks she won't ever get back to her time of 2212. He convinces her to calm down and concentrate, and they end up back in 1783, where they retrieve the wreckage of the time twister. The Doctor brings Casimer back to her time. Jo then informs him that the Sommerton Fetch is the Doctor, not Casimer.

Characters

 * Third Doctor
 * Jo Grant
 * Casimer
 * Jonathan Kavanaugh
 * Robin Greenton
 * George Wells
 * Meredith
 * Jonathan
 * Zak
 * Eudora Deverington
 * William Deverington
 * Wrighton

Worldbuilding

 * The Time Lords disapprove of time twisters.
 * In 1783, the Doctor decides to pose as a doctor from Worcestershire.
 * In 1783, the servants are hanging mistletoe.
 * In 1993, carollers sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
 * In 1973, Sommerton Manor is a cottage hospital.
 * In 2212, Shrewsbury is called New Wroxeter and is located in Amwythig.

Continuity
to be added