Graham Dilley Saves the World (short story)

Graham Dilley Saves the World was the eighth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Past Tense. It was written by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett. It featured the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem.

Summary
Having escaped incarceration at the hands of the insane monarch of Edinburgh in the early 2000s, the Doctor, Peri and Erimem reach the safety of the TARDIS. Puzzled that things in modern-day Britain should not be as they have just witnessed, the Doctor realises that history has diverged; he traces the disruption back to an event in 1981: a game of cricket at the Third Test of the Ashes Series in Leeds.

Watching a television transmission, the Doctor is stunned to watch Graham Dilley fumble a catch that history records he caught, the Doctor’s concern increases when the object of Dilly’s distraction is then shown on camera: his former companion Tegan, standing up in the crowd, directly in Dilley’s eye line. Reading from the TARDIS databanks, the Doctor tells Peri and Erimem that after England was defeated by Australia, gangs of angry supporters began to riot, and the fighting quickly escalated out of control; martial law was introduced in an effort to quell the violence, but the demonstrations and riots resulted in deaths on both sides, and things finally came to a head when an assassination attempt at the royal wedding resulted in the deaths of Prince Charles, Lady Diana, and several heads of state.

Within ten years, law and order had completely broken down… The Doctor takes the TARDIS back in time to the start of the test match, a time that he had previously visited with Tegan and Turlough. The Doctor instructs Peri and Erimem to find Tegan before she can distract Dilley, and to make sure that they avoid his earlier self and Turlough in case a paradox is caused by meeting them earlier than they really did.

The two girls set off, and manage to reach Tegan just before the batsman hits the ball that Dilley will catch / miss. However, an argument immediately breaks out between the three girls and two members of the audience; realising that Dilley will still be distracted, Peri inadvertently causes Tegan to shout at Dilley to pay attention, and the player catches the ball. Pleased that history is back on course, Peri and Erimem head off for a drink with Tegan; they return to the TARDIS some time later, both extremely drunk - much to the Doctor’s disapproval.

Characters

 * Fifth Doctor
 * Peri
 * Erimem
 * Tegan Jovanka
 * Turlough
 * Graham Dilley
 * Brian
 * William Jenkins-Wells
 * Pregnant woman

Continuity

 * The Doctor is worried about the Blinovitch Limitation Effect if he meets his younger self (TV: Mawdryn Undead).
 * Peri recalls Turlough saving her life (TV: Planet of Fire).
 * The Doctor has met several members of the England cricket team (PROSE: Goth Opera).