The Emerald Tiger (audio story)

The Emerald Tiger was the one hundred and fifty-ninth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Barnaby Edwards and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

Publisher's summary

 * Tiger, tiger, burning bright
 * In the forests of the night

Calcutta, 1926. The Doctor and his companions join an expedition to locate the fabled emerald tiger — a legendary marvel shrouded in myth and mystery. They must journey to an unexplored lost world filled with wonder and wickedness.

But at the centre of this terra incognita, something is stirring. Something with emerald eyes, diamond-sharp claws and a heart of darkness.

Part one
In 1908 Adela Forster attempts to escape from some unseen threat with her son Jonathan Forster, however he is taken by the unseen threat and she barely manages to escape.

The TARDIS materialises in 1926 on a train platform and has brought the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa to Calcutta, India, on the Doctor's insistence they watch the famous cricket match between All India and Marylebone Cricket Club. Before they can go to the match, however, Nyssa is attacked and bitten by Kimball, a chauffeur and friend of Professor Narayan, after she tries to calm him down while he makes a commotion on the platform and in the meantime the Doctor sends Tegan to gets medical supplies from the TARDIS so they can help him as he realises the man has been infected with what appears to be rabies. It is too late though when he is shot and killed by Major Cyril Haggard arrogantly claiming to an appalled Doctor that he was taking care of the situation and saving their lives before he boards the train. The Doctor believes Nyssa has been infected with rabies but if he can treat it quick enough she should be fine while he tries to bring Nyssa back to consciousness. Professor Narayan explains the situation while a delirious Nyssa slowly comes to and Tegan bumps into a mysterious man and later finds the TARDIS gone from where they had left it, and returns to inform the Doctor. They spot it on the train which is leaving the station, so the Doctor instructs Tegan and Turlough to get aboard and remove it or at least get the medical supplies at the next station and that he and Nyssa will follow them on the next train.

Aboard the train, Major Haggard finds and confronts Adela Forster, claiming he is taking over the train despite her attempts to throw him off, claiming she rented out the entire train. Tegan and Turlough, meanwhile, find themselves locked in a cage with a dangerous tiger. The Doctor, Nyssa and Professor Narayan drive Professor Narayan's Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost after the train when suddenly Nyssa tells the Doctor she's seeing double, except that she can both see them chasing the train but she can also see Tegan and Turlough in front of her, screams that the tiger with the emerald eyes is going to kill them, grabs control of the wheel in an attempt to catch up with the train and save them but the car ends up careering out of control...

Part two
to be continued...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
 * Tegan - Janet Fielding
 * Turlough - Mark Strickson
 * Lady Adela Forster - Cherie Lunghi
 * Professor Narayan - Sam Dastor
 * Shardul Khan/Announcer/Train Guard - Vincent Ebrahim
 * Major Cyril Haggard - Neil Stacy
 * Dawon - Vineeta Rishi
 * Djahn/Lord Edgar Forster - Gwilym Lee
 * Colonel Burroughs/Kimball - Trevor Cooper
 * Jonathan Forster - Benedict Briggs

Continuity

 * Lord Edgar Forster refers to Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle. The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe would later meet him on the Galápagos Islands on 19 September 1835. (AUDIO: Bloodtide)
 * This is the third time that the TARDIS has materialised on the platform of a train station during the 1920s. (AUDIO: The Mouthless Dead; TV: Black Orchid)
 * The Doctor remarks to Turlough that he must speak to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart about the lack of emphasis placed on sport during his education at Brendon Public School in the early 1980s. (TV: Mawdryn Undead)
 * Nyssa refers to the Doctor playing cricket at Cranleigh Hall on 11 June 1925. (TV: Black Orchid)
 * The Doctor refers to Sir Isaac Newton. He and Nyssa previously encountered him in the Tower of London in the late 17th century. (AUDIO: Summer)
 * Tegan once again uses "Rabbits!" as an expletive. (TV: Logopolis, Earthshock)
 * Tegan was previously cornered by a tiger in a fairground menagerie in England in the 1920s. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors)
 * Tegan refers to Harry Houdini, whom she met in England in the 1920s. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors)
 * Dawon mentions Nyssa's children Neeka and Adric Traken. (AUDIO: Winter, Heroes of Sontar, Prisoners of Fate)
 * Nyssa refers to the outbreak of Richter's Syndrome on Terminus. (AUDIO: Cobwebs)
 * Nyssa's appearance is reverted to that of her younger self at the time that she left the TARDIS crew. (TV: Terminus) Tegan jokes that she has saved her husband Lasarti a great deal of money on plastic surgery. (AUDIO: Winter)
 * The Tenth Doctor would later fly a hot air balloon over London on 24 December 1851. However, on that occasion, he claimed never to have done so before. (TV: The Next Doctor) The memory loss which he suffered following his fifth regeneration may account for the fact that he did not remember this incident. (AUDIO: The Reaping, The Gathering, Peri and the Piscon Paradox)
 * During his tenth incarnation, the Doctor would later return to Calcutta in 1947 in the company of Donna Noble. On that occasion, they met Mohandas Gandhi. (PROSE: Ghosts of India)
 * During their thirteenth incarnation, along with Ryan, Graham, and Yaz, would also land during the British Raj in 1947. (TV: Demons of the Punjab)