The Dalby Spook (audio story)

 was the second and final story in the audio anthology What Lies Inside?, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka and Hattie Morahan as Helen Sinclair.

Publisher's summary
After encountering Harry Price, the Doctor decides to solve an infamous case before the paranormal debunker can.

But Liv and Helen are more concerned for the girl at the centre of events. What is really going on at the remote Isle of Man farmhouse? And who is Gef, the talking mongoose?

Plot
The Doctor, Liv and Helen materialise on the Isle of Man after the psychic paper received a message containing coordinates. They visit the Douglas Gaiety Theatre and are surprised by Mister Timms' abilities when he asks for a Liv who arrived in a blue carriage, but the act is interrupted by Harry Price. Price labels him a fraud and claims that he gets his information from the manager of the Caledonian Hotel; the reason he has come to the Isle of Man, however, is to expose the talking mongoose Gef, known as the Dalby Spook.

Pretending to be working for The Times, the Doctor, Liv and Helen join Price in travelling to Doarlish Cashen to investigate Gef, although Liv is more interested in finding out how Mister Timms knew about her. Jim Irving tells the Doctor and Price how the family first became aware of Gef whilst Liv and Helen look around the house. They find that Jim's daughter Voirrey's bedroom is bare, contains an incubator and has a lock on the outside, worrying them. When Voirrey goes to make tea, the group hears a voice shouting and a chair moves seemingly by itself. Price is sceptical of the phenomena given that Voirrey is out of the room and Jim was touching the chair.

Price leaves, planning on returning the following day to expose Jim. The voice of Gef speaks again whilst Voirrey is in her bedroom and answers questions about complex mathematics and the destruction of the Penhaligon Nebula by a Dalek time reactor, but goes quiet when the Doctor asks it to say his name. After leaving, Liv and Helen tell the Doctor that they do not believe that the phenomena is alien or supernatural and that there is no point in returning tomorrow. They agree to come back, but Liv remains more interested in Mister Timms.

Jim is awoken in the night by Mister Timms, who arrives at his door in bad health and demands that he hands over Voirrey. In the morning, the Doctor goes upstairs, ostensibly to take photographs, whilst Price locks himself, Liv and Helen in a room with Voirrey and tries to tie her up with rope to ensure that there is no trickery. Voirrey screams and Liv and Helen are appalled by Price's treatment of her, but Jim tells her to do as Price says and agrees with him that Liv and Helen should leave.

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to convert sonic energy into psionic waves and speaks to Gef until he bites the device and scarpers. After finding Mister Timms outside with no memory, Liv and Helen take him home and return to the TARDIS with the Doctor. Mister Timms' state reminds Liv of the Infinite Warrior and makes her think that he has been possessed by something that wants to feed on Voirrey, leading the Doctor to wonder if they are dealing with a Psychevore. They remember that Gef said "Sleech", a possible contraction of "psychic leech".

Flattering him with what they claim is a preview of the article they are writing, the Doctor, Liv and Helen get back into Price's good books and return to the Irvings' house. Voirrey calls upon Gef to come and bites down on a wooden dowel. They hear the voice of Gef, claiming to be invisible, and Price is bitten. The Doctor manages to trap Gef in a jewellery box and leaves with Liv and Helen, who are unhappy with the Doctor's lack of concern for Voirrey. They open the box and Gef emerges; he was the one who sent the message as Voirrey is in danger from a Psychevore from the Dark Times.

The Doctor, Liv and Helen return to the house with Gef, who saves Voirrey from her possessed father. To catch Gef, the Sleech (which has a serpentine form) leaves Jim and gives chase, but Gef traps it in a box which the Doctor plans to leave on a dusty shelf in the TARDIS. Price gives a speech about the supposed hoax of the Dalby Spook and his disappointment that Mister Timms had not appeared in his spirit box as he said he would. The TARDIS materialises and Mister Timms takes a bow.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Liv - Nicola Walker
 * Helen Sinclair - Hattie Morahan
 * Voirrey Irving - Felicity Cant
 * Jim Irving - Richard Earl
 * Harry Price - Phillip Jackson
 * Mister Timms / Gef - Harry Myers

Worldbuilding

 * Helen loves the seaside because of toffee apples and donkey rides.
 * The Caledonian Hotel is in Douglas.
 * The Douglas Cab Company's carriages are all blue.
 * Harry Price is the founder of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research.
 * Gef is known as the Dalby Spook or the Talking Mongoose of Doarlish Cashen.
 * The Doctor mentions William Hope, Helen Duncan and Borley Rectory as hoaxes that Price exposed.
 * Helen claims that she, the Doctor and Liv work for The Times.
 * Voirrey says that Gef likes juggling nuts, especially hazelnuts.
 * Jim's wife is away with family. Voirrey has her temper.
 * Jim offers the Doctor brandy.
 * Voirrey's elder sister moved away.
 * Mona is a sheepdog.
 * The Penhaligon Nebula was destroyed by the implosion of a Dalek time reactor.
 * Psychevores are creatures of psionic energy who feed on the same.
 * The Doctor plans to trap Gef using a circle of mirrors, a trick that he picked up on Deva Loka.

Continuity

 * Voirrey reminds Helen of how she was treated by her father. (AUDIO: The Red Lady, Absent Friends)
 * Mister Timms' state reminds Liv of the Infinite Warriors. (AUDIO: Time's Horizon)
 * The Doctor plans to trap Gef using a circle of mirrors, a trick that he picked up on Deva Loka when he defeated the Mara. (TV: Kinda)