The Whispering Forest (audio story)

 was the one hundred and thirty-seventh story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Stephen Cole and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

It was the second Big Finish audio story in the 2010 Fifth Doctor season. It continued a series of stories starring Davison, Sutton, Fielding and Strickson, who were reunited as a TARDIS team for their first new Doctor Who stories since 1983.

Publisher's summary
The TARDIS arrives in alien woodlands, where a small group of humans hold tight against the menace of the Takers — strange creatures who come by night to spirit away members of their settlement.

But if there's one thing that the inhabitants of Purity Bay fear more than the Takers, it's the dirt and disease spread by strangers. Strangers like the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa...

The fanatical Sister Mertil and her hygiene-obsessed acolytes are victims of a terrible corruption — but not in the way they think. Only the whispering forest knows the truth...

Part one
Set to seek out mentions of Richter's Syndrome so that Nyssa's cure can be tested, the TARDIS lands on Chodor and the Doctor and Tegan go to investigate the cry of a man being taken deeper into the forest. They are taken captive by Seksa and taken to Purity Bay, learning on the way about how the Takers kidnap those who become frail and that Seksa's father, Anulf, is missing.

Turlough and Nyssa, having fallen behind after leaving the TARDIS, run away from whispers which Nyssa feels being pushed into her mind by Shades. Because of Turlough's red hair, Mertil believes that he is a Taker and tries to capture him, but he and Nyssa run and are forced to wade and swim across a stinking river. Mertil's people hit Turlough with a stone and Nyssa gets his unconscious body to safety.

Impressed by the Doctor's title, Seksa decides to introduce him and Tegan to her germ-obsessed people as their saviours. The two of them enter the rest centre, the guards of which were apparently drugged by the Takers, and see advanced technology on the walls. Mertil finds them before Seksa is ready and orders Jestan to kill the Doctor by repeatedly shocking him with a Cardax defibrillator.

Part two
to be added

Part three
to be added

Part four
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
 * Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
 * Turlough - Mark Strickson
 * Seksa - Hayley Atwell
 * Mertil / Woman - Sue Wallace
 * Jestan / Man / Taker - Paul Shelley
 * Hervey / Taker / Demi-Taker - Harry Melling
 * Anulf / Taker - Lennox Greaves
 * Antan / Taker - Aneurin Barnard

Continuity

 * A green crescent moon is the universal symbol for medical care. (TV: New Earth, Gridlock)
 * Tegan is concerned that the Mara is still inside of her. (TV: Kinda, Snakedance)
 * The Mara taunts the Doctor by saying Chodor is too green for him, which is what he said about Deva Loka. (TV: Kinda)
 * The events of this story lead directly into AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake.