Brian Melville

Brian Melville, known by the nickname "Ahab", was a professor of astronomy and scientist at the Copernicus Array radio telescope in Essex. A long-time friend of the Doctor, Melville met the Time Lord in 1958 while he was in a skiffle band, The Geeks. He subsequently became one of the few people who had the Doctor's phone number, and knew to call him in times of crisis.

In 2009, when the Mandragora Helix began causing stars to appear in Earth's skies as a prelude to an attempted takeover, Melville was working at the Copernicus Array. Realizing the danger, Melville alerted Prime Minister Aubrey Fairchild and the Tenth Doctor. Servants of the Mandragora, however, arrived at the radio telescope and forced Melville to move it into alignment with the entity's Chaos Bodies before killing him, although Melville was able to get his assistant, Miss Oladini, to safety. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)

Biography
In 1958, Brian Melville was a musician who had a skiffle band called The Geeks. In that year, he met the Doctor, who played washboard for the band. He intended to release an album which would have been produced by Joe Meek. Melville's surname led to him gaining the nickname "Ahab", which was more well known than his first name, with the Doctor never asking what his first name was at all. In the 1960s, Melville was a pop star.

Melville later became an astronomer, and gained the title of professor. By the 2000s, he worked at the Copernicus Array radio telescope in Essex as the Administrative Professor, typically taking night shifts despite his advanced age. He acquired an assistant, Miss Oladini, who was working on a short-term contract from the Lovelace Agency and had no interest in astronomy, having initially been studying mathematics. She made sure he had tea and chocolate bars, and he told her about his cat and his ailing mother, who was suffering from kidney ailments. Melville also told Miss Oladini his first name.

In May 2009, the Mandragora Helix, a threat from the ancient Dark Times, began moving to enact a long-brewing plot to take over the Earth, which began with its Chaos Bodies, which looked like stars, appearing in the sky. When the "stars" began to move, Melville received a report from the Clemenstry Observatory in Western Australia, prompting him to tell Miss Oladini that the new stars were chaotic and, "scientifically speaking" made "no sense". As more reports began to come in, Melville wondered if the astronomers in other countries had been drinking. He suggested that all that was needed was for "Minsk to offer us something daft", at which point another report from the Colossus there came in, which made Melville alert and curious.

Melville patched the photographs that had come in onto a big screen in his office, and used the software to overlay the photographs so they were aligned with each other, revealing a sinister, laughing face. After some shock, Melville began dialling the Prime Minister's office on a red telephone in his office, checking with Miss Oladini to see if she had signed the Official Secrets Act, which took some checking as she was startled and scared by the question, but she had. Melville explained to Miss Oladini that if she hadn't, both of them would be jailed for the rest of their lives.

Reaching Prime Minister Fairchild, Melville sent him the Code 18 image, explaining the situation and promising that he and Miss Oladini would stay put until they heard from the government again, and keep a communications lockdown. After confirming to Miss Oladini that he had indeed called the Prime Minister, Melville told her he thought they were in for a long night and asked her to check their supplies of tea and milk. Miss Oladini was turning to leave when she saw Melville pull out a mobile phone, which she hadn't known he had had, and asked Melville about the communications blackout. Melville responded that that was why he needed her to leave the room, so she couldn't be held responsible when he broke the promise, which was both treason and "professional suicide".

Miss Oladini left, but lingered outside the door. Melville dialled the Doctor's phone number and asked to speak to him. The TARDIS rerouted the phone call to Donna Noble's phone, as she was in a taxi with the Tenth Doctor on Prince Albert Drive. Donna answered and passed it to the Doctor, who explained what the TARDIS had done as she told him who was calling. The Doctor, already aware that the night's situation was the doing of the Mandragora Helix, took Melville's call and told him he could guess what the reason for the call was. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)

Personality
Even in his old age, Melville was a sharp and shrewd scientist. However, he acted like a sweet old man to Miss Oladini, enough so that she did not realize it was in part an act until the Mandragora crisis. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)