Catch-1782 (audio story)

 was the sixty-eighth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Alison Lawson and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

It was the third team-up between the the Sixth Doctor and Mel characters since their turn on television. It was notable for providing the first substantial details about Mel's family and general back story in performed Doctor Who. It was also unusual for not having a "villain" per se, and no real alien presence at all. Because of this, and its setting in 2003 and 1782, it was a "pure historical", even at the time of its release. The main "enemy" in the piece is actually the concept of the Grandfather Paradox and the Doctor's efforts to retrieve Mel from her family's past history without causing damage to Mel's personal timeline.

Publisher's summary
When the Doctor and Mel visit the National Foundation for Scientific Research as it celebrates its centenary, Mel expects only to be able to catch up with her uncle. She doesn't expect to meet her own ancestors...

What is buried in the grounds of the Foundation?

What secret has Henry Hallam kept from his descendants for three hundred years?

Can Mel escape her own past?

Visiting your relatives can sometimes be trying, but surely it should never be this difficult?

Part one
The Doctor acquires a letter sent to Mel from her uncle, Dr John Hallam, in which he invites her to the National Foundation for Scientific Research's centenary celebration in 2003 Berkshire, on the way to which the Doctor hears a voice calling for help through a kink in time. A keen historian, John shows the Doctor and Mel around Hallam House, which his father leased to the Foundation, and tells them how many claim to have seen the ghost of the mysterious Eleanor Hallam. The Doctor initially wonders if the phenomena is related to the kink in time, but rules it out.

Whilst the Doctor talks to Professor David Munro, an old friend and the director of the Foundation, Mel learns from her uncle how the time capsule that the Foundation is burying is made of a new and unique alloy and goes to his study to look at his notes on the family history. David finds an object whilst burying the canister and the Doctor and John take it to the laboratory for analysis, discovering that it is an 18th century box containing the prototype canister which, impossibly, is in John's study. Mel and the canister in the study are relocated by a time disturbance and the Doctor enters the TARDIS, finding that there has been an explosion in the control room.

Part two
The Doctor deduces that the new alloy, created by the Foundation from elements supplied by the Space Agency, was activated by its proximity to the TARDIS and sent Mel back in time, but the TARDIS attempted to warn her with its telepathic circuits. He and John look through the notes on the Hallam family and head off in the TARDIS to find Mel upon learning that the mysterious Eleanor arrived at Hallam Hall exactly 222 years earlier during a period which Henry Hallam tore from his journal.

Mel finds herself in 1781 and is taken by the housekeeper, Mrs McGregor, to the master of Hallam Hall, Henry. She claims to be a member of his late wife's sewing circle and forgets her name and home, vaguely remembering a doctor and collapsing on her way to the study to be saved by him. Dr Michael Wallace suspects that she might be attempting to exploit Henry's charity but diagnoses her with a concussion and suggests that they humour her by taking her to the study as she keeps asking. There, Mel says that she is in the wrong time and that she needs to go home.

Part three
Mel becomes hysterical and is sedated by Michael after rejecting Henry's offer to stay in the hall as a guest since she doesn't know where she is. The Doctor and John land and go searching for her. Some time has passed since Mel's arrival and it is now June 1782, and Dr Michael comes frequently to check on her. He and Henry have a chat in which he suggests he have her committed to an asylum as he suspects that someone "dumped" her on Henry and she is taking advantage of his kind nature but he refuses, saying that in her moments of lucidity she is a clam and charming woman. They go to check on her. The Doctor and John, meanwhile, arrive and are greeted by McGregor who takes them to meet Henry. The two discover the Doctor has medical expertise and ask him for a second opinion of their "patient". John and McGregor chat over a cup of tea and she explains that she lost her husband and the death of her mistress, Henry's wife, brought the two closer, perhaps more than appropriate for a master and servant. McGregor explains that their relationship was disrupted six months ago with the arrival of a certain "Eleanor". The Doctor meanwhile goes to see the patient "Nel" (Henry believes this to be Mel's name after a misunderstanding) and discovers it is Mel. He "plays along" pretending not to know her, deeply upsetting her and meets with Henry and Dr Wallace afterwards, explaining that he thinks he can help, but discovers they have been giving Mel laudanum to sedate her.

He requests a private audience which they grant. Once alone with Mel, the Doctor profusely apologises, explaining that the alloy canister had damaged the TARDIS console and was interfering with the navigation. He further explains that before he can remove her from the premises, he first has to find and destroy the alloy canister as it is extremely dangerous and asks her to just hold on a bit longer, although he notices that Mel seems to be slightly disoriented and occasionally slips into calling herself "Eleanor". The Doctor discusses the possibility of taking Mel away for treatment (under the guise of getting her out of Hallam hall carefully so as not to damage Mel's personal time-line as they do not know what happens in 1782 due to the missing diary page) with Henry and Dr. Wallace but over the course of the conversation it is revealed that Henry has fallen in love with Mel, which worries the Doctor and disgusts Dr. Wallace, as Henry begins acting irrationally, suspecting them of staging the whole visit so that they can have Mel committed to an asylum, and swiftly kicks them out. While leaving they are rejoined by John and the Doctor makes a plan to try and get Mel out. Mel is visited by McGregor and she asks her to stay and talk. She seems sane at first to McGregor but when she tries to explain that she is a time traveller and has been displaced through time, McGregor laughs and claims that they have been through this before and Mel must be in one of her strange fits again. Henry then enters and when Mel asks about the Doctor, Henry explains he has banished him and Dr. Wallace both from the hall suspecting them of wanting to have her committed. Mel is distraught and is not sure which memories she can trust anymore. The Doctor and John explain the situation to Dr. Wallace, surprising John himself, but the Doctor then reveals that they may have to leave Mel here to live out the rest of her life less they interfere and damage her personal timeline as she has now become part of the history...

Part four
Mel inquires about Eleanor Hallam and discovers she might be the very one. Henry proposes marriage to her and she tries to turn him down but he seems to be slightly unhinged and threatens her under the guise of telling her to think it over. The Doctor theorises that Henry, having not taken the time to heal after losing his wife and suddenly devoting his efforts and energy to helping Mel, has become unhinged under the stress and would explain his current behaviour. The three of them hatch a plan, both to rescue Mel and to bury the unstable canister that brought Mel back in time. McGregor is summoned by Henry and asked to deliver a letter to Dr. Wallace relieving him of duty to Mel but over the course of their conversation learns he is to marry Mel, making her distraught, and politely expresses her concern to Henry who tells her it's unfounded and calming down from his rage asks her to go about her duties.

The Doctor and John sneak inside Hallam hall and find McGregor crying, explaining she had hoped to marry Henry and they assure her that they have come to take Mel/ Eleanor home so that she can and she gladly agrees to help them. The Doctor detours to Henry's studies where they find the canister but he is met by Henry and thrown out with a final warning. John meanwhile gets Mel out with the help of McGregor. As they are fleeing, McGregor tries to give Melanie a dress but Mel refuses, saying McGregor should have it and wear it to confess to Henry. McGregor then offers Mel a sewing box that belonged to the previous mistress. They find the Doctor who is with Wallace as he has just dug the hole to bury the canister. The Doctor realises they need a box and John recognises that the sewing box McGregor gave Melanie is the one they need to use to bury the canister. They prepare to, however, Mel points out a problem, since if she leaves Eleanor Hallam will cease to exist and so she won't be recorded in the notes of her uncle John so that on reading the notes she won't be thinking about Eleanor Hallam when the TARDIS ends up interacting with the canister sending her back in the first place, but she doesn't want to stay and live out the remainder of Eleanor Hallam's life until her recorded death in 1811. The Doctor discovers a loop-hole, realising that Eleanor Hallam's "life", as recorded by Henry, is a fiction and her "death" is merely symbolic since no proper record of her death, or a body, was ever recorded. Thus Mel can return to the present. Doctor Wallace says he will go visit Henry as they are friends and Mel reminds him that he has an ally in McGregor. They take off, with Mel still weary about where she belongs but relieved to be leaving. McGregor confesses to Henry and explains that the people who visited earlier were Mel's "family" here to take her home. Henry is distraught and refuses to believe her, going so far as to attack her but is found in time by Dr. Wallace who reels him off her. Henry breaks down as he cries Jane's name over and over as Wallace realises the Doctor was right and he still hasn't recovered from the death of wife. Dr. Wallace and McGregor agree to take care of him as per the Doctor's instructions to help him get better.

The Doctor, Mel and John arrive back in the house in 2003 and the Doctor instructs John to dismantle the capsule lest it cause any more harm. They realise that the woman in the painting they saw earlier, the "Eleanor" there was actually McGregor and reckon that they had a happy ending after all, and Henry must have removed the pages of 1782 from his diary lest anyone find out about him suffering his mental instability at that time. Then, reluctantly, but at Mel's behest, the Doctor joins Mel and John back downstairs to attend the remainder of the celebration.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
 * Dr John Hallam - Derek Benfield
 * Dr Wallace - Michael Chance
 * Henry Hallam - Keith Drinkel
 * Professor David Munro - Ian Fairburn
 * Rachel - Rhiannon Meades
 * Mrs McGregor - Jillie Meers

Continuity

 * During her childhood, Mel often visited the museum with her uncle John. (AUDIO: The Wrong Doctors)
 * Gallifrey is mentioned to be in Ireland. (TV: The Hand of Fear)
 * The Doctor claims to be a doctor of "practically everything", including medicine. (TV: The Moonbase, Spearhead from Space, The God Complex et al.)