Scream of the Daleks (audio story)

Scream of the Daleks was the second and final story in the audio anthology Sullivan and Cross - AWOL, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lisa McMullin and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan and Eleanor Crooks as Naomi Cross.

Publisher's summary
Halloween 1969. The Doctor, Harry and Naomi respond to a scream for rescue. They find that people have been dying on the same spot on this day across millennia.

But in their bid to stop the nightmare, the travellers have unleashed the Doctor’s old enemy. This may be one cry for help better left unanswered...

Part one
The Doctor decides to take Harry and Naomi to Aquilina, but the TARDIS picks up the sound of screams and they decide to go and help. They arrive near Chester in 1969 and flee from a demonic creature and ghosts before realising that they are at Shockstock, a Halloween festival. They help Cavan find Gilly, his sister, who has found a skeletal human hand in the woods. The Doctor feels that there is something malevolent in the air and uses his sonic screwdriver to locate other bones, dating back centuries.

The Doctor hurries to the TARDIS with Naomi and dematerialises before realising that Harry is not on board. He researches the area, learning that many unexplained deaths and disappearances have been reported on Halloween, and travels back three thousand years when the area was settled by Celts. He and Naomi join the Celts in their Samhain ritual and witness spectres of headless women and fire horses appear, after which they help a woman search for her daughter, Wynna, whom they find sleeping in the woods. They come across the remains of the first victim, reduced to bones despite having been killed recently, and return to the TARDIS.

Harry, Cavan and Gilly see a crack in the air which the other festival-goers crowd around. Harry believes that it is a breach in spacetime.

Arriving during the Romans' Feralia in 79 AD, Naomi sees a spectre of her deceased cousin. They find the skeleton of another victim and travel to All Saints' Day during the Dark Ages when the Catholic Church was in control and see a rift in spacetime open. Initially believing that fear is pouring out, the Doctor realises that it is hatred. A Dalek appears and, recognising the Doctor, fires its weapon.

Part two
The crack closes and the Dalek disappears, but the Doctor is sure that it will be back. He determines that the Daleks are stuck between universes somehow and that the crack is not wide enough for them to escape. In 1865, the crack opens and a Dalek shoots and kills a man and his girlfriend before demanding that the Doctor free them by opening the door. He and Naomi return to the TARDIS, the Doctor having reasoned that the Daleks have been projecting the Pathweb through the crack, making people hallucinate and drawing the Doctor out.

In 1969, the crack opens and a Dalek asks for the Doctor. Harry recognises the danger and manages to get everybody out of the woods by tricking them into thinking that the Beatles have come to perform. The crowd disperse when they realise the deception and many of the stragglers are exterminated when Daleks emerge through the crack. Harry, Cavan and Gilly hide under the stage before running from visions of spiders, sharks and monsters caused by the Pathweb.

Due to time distortion caused by the Daleks using the temporal energy of the TARDIS's visits throughout time, the Doctor and Naomi are unable to reach 1969 the usual way and instead go to 1432 and travel through the crack. The Doctor attracts the Daleks' attention and uses the telepathic circuits to tap into the psychic projections, causing them to fade away. He pilots the TARDIS into the crack and, once all of the Daleks have followed him, he disconnects the telepathic circuits and dematerialises, arriving on Earth fifty miles away and eight hours ago. He dresses as a Yeti whilst waiting and, once his past self has defeated the Daleks, he reveals himself to Harry and Naomi and heads back to the TARDIS with them.

Cast

 * The Doctor – Sylvester McCoy
 * Harry Sullivan – Christopher Naylor
 * Naomi Cross - Eleanor Crooks
 * Gilly – Carly Day
 * Cavan - Cameron Percival
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Uncredited

 * Newsreader - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding

 * Harry says that he fancies fish and chips.
 * The Doctor suggests going to Aquilina, an ocean planet with fish the size of skyscrapers.
 * Samhain is a festival to herald the dark part of the year. It is believed to be the time when the barrier between worlds is lifted.
 * Gilly saw 2001: A Space Odyssey three times. Cavan thought that it was boring and believes that the special effects were the best thing about it.
 * The Romans wear togas.
 * The Romans merged some of their traditions with that of the Celts, resulting in Feralia.
 * Naomi Cross's cousin died two years before she and Harry started travelling with the Fourth Doctor.
 * Naomi has heard of the Daleks.
 * The Daleks' temporal catalyst fails. They try turning it off and on again.
 * Gilly says that Harry is hardly Paul McCartney. Cavan says that he is not even Ringo, whom Harry deems a very competent drummer.
 * The Doctor mentions the Pathweb.
 * A Dalek vapourises a squirrel.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions the Robot Yeti. (TV: The Web of Fear)