Prisoners of the Lake (audio story)

Prisoners of the Lake was the first story in The Third Doctor Adventures.

Publisher's summary
Captain Mike Yates is investigating the disappearance of artefacts from an archaeological site deep below Dunstanton Lake. It's hardly a job for UNIT. But when the team discover a mysterious ancient structure buried deep underwater, all that changes.

When chief archaeologist Freda Mattingly ventures inside, she soon realises that her skills do not begin to equip her to deal with what she finds. As an ancient menace begins to stir the Doctor, Jo Grant and Mike Yates must dive down to the lake bed and discover the secrets hidden there. Secrets that could mean the end of all life on Earth...

Part one
Director Pennard takes Captain Mike Yates through a walkway that leads to a building in the middle of Dunstanton Lake. Pennard made his feelings clear, by stating that no-one asked for Yates to come, but the latter replies that he was ordered because of valuable missing artifacts. The Director replies he doesn't think they were stolen, but wrongly catalogued. Then, Mike tells him there was a vague report about what some divers found, and the Director replies that is because they are not sure what they have found.

Meanwhile, Leader Archaeologist Freda Mattingly is coordinating the divers when Pennard and Yates arrive. The latter is presented to Freda, who says they have found something unlike anything that has been discovered before. She says it is a building at the bottom of the lake, and that the divers are installing an airlock in its door to get in. Freda explains that the building, or whatever it is, must be ancient, from a time when the lake was dry land.

When the divers finish with the airlock, the Leader Archaeologist starts to descend with a diving suit with a lift that goes from Diving Control to the bed of the lake, alone.

As soon as she gets there, Freda starts to open the airlock and the entrance to the building itself. She enters the structure, and notices that the rocks are fluorescent, and that she doesn't need her torch. When Mattingly tries to communicate with Dive Control and nobody responds, she deduces that the rocks may be interfering with the signal, and starts to make a sound record to show when she returns.

To be continued

Part two
to be added

Part three
to be added

Part four
to be added

Cast

 * Narrator/The Doctor - Tim Treloar
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * Freda Mattingly - Carolyn Seymour
 * Johnny Repford/Director Pennard/Statue/The Prosecutor - Robbie Stevens
 * Chief Dastron/Lieutenant Macintyre/UNIT Operative/Archaeologist - John Banks

Continuity

 * The Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Mike Yates and UNIT previously encountered another animated stone statue at Devil's End, called Bok. (TV: The Daemons) The Weeping Angels were another race of stone statues, who became animated when they were not being observed. (TV: Blink, et al.)