The Living Wax (short story)


 *  was the only short story in the 1977 Doctor Who Winter Special. Moreover, it was the only original narrative in the entire publication and the only one to use the Fourth Doctor and Leela — the team featured on the special's cover.

Summary
The Fourth Doctor and Leela arrive in Victorian era London near a waxwork museum. Inside, Leela is spooked by the wax dummies. Eventually she and the Doctor discover that the dummies are actually Linktons, a humanoid species made of wax. The Doctor explains that they can teleport vast, inter-galactic distances with their gold-powered technology. Leela attacks that technology with her knife. It sparks, starts a fire and melts the invading Linktons. Once again, Leela's warrior instincts prove unexpectedly useful to the Doctor.

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Leela
 * Linktons
 * A London policeman

Continuity
to be added

Timeline
This story is a conundrum inasmuch as dating is concerned. Leela is depicted as wholly unfamiliar with the Victorian era London surroundings, which she wouldn't be, were this set after TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang. However, Talons also seems to be her first visit to this time period, which it wouldn't be, if she'd already experienced The Living Wax. It is thus impossible to assert definitively which story came first, making dating essentially impossible.

It's probably better simply to consider this a tale that happens to alternative versions of our heroes — versions who never experienced the events of Talons. On the other hand, one could assert that this story takes place before Talons, but that Leela has her short-term memory wiped in an unrecorded story between the two.