Phantasmagoria (audio story)

Phantasmagoria was the second story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Mark Gatiss and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

This meant that Mark Strickson became the first televised companion to reprise his role for Big Finish, as the preceding Big Finish audio, The Sirens of Time, was a companion-less adventure.

Publisher's summary
The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Turlough to the London of 1702 where a mysterious highwayman roams the streets, a local occultist has made contact with the dead and gentlemen of fashion are disappearing, only to find themselves in a chamber whose walls weep blood...

The time travellers become enmeshed in the hideous plans of Sir Nikolas Valentine, a gambler at the mysterious Diabola Club who always seems to have a winning hand...

Part Five
As the spirits begin to gather around the Doctor, Billy arrives on his horse and offers him a ride to safety. Whilst fleeing, he realises that the playing card bequeathed to him by Sir Nikolas is actually a biological storage device capable of absorbing the DNA imprint of anyone in contact with it. Arriving at Doctor Holywell's shop, the Doctor burns the playing card to prevent the spirits from following him, thus wiping the DNA stored and evading the ghasts.

He keeps the card safe for later as Hannah reenters the shop, wearing same pair of boots as Billy. The Doctor soon notices and leads her to confess that she is on Earth to hunt Carthok of Daodalus as he was responsible for the murder of her parents.

From a bush outside, Turlough and Jasper witness lights in the attic of Nikolas's house. Breaking in, they enter a room with blood-stained walls and a pungent smell of rotting flesh. They are caught wading through the human debris by Nikolas who emits an electric charge, immediately melting Jasper's weapon. He shackles them in the attic with the rest of the 'disappeared' men. After receiving the address from Poltrot, The Doctor and Hannah enter the house and are confronted by Valentine and reveal him to be Carthok. Hannah attempts to shoot him, but is overpowered and led into the chamber.

Valentine explains that he aims to harvest the minds of those he captures and use them to regenerate his crashed spaceship. He only reappears every 30 years and uses the stimulus of his victims to directly repair the craft. As Hannah threatens him again, he shoots her and shackles her inside the chamber. He then states that he needs only one more mind to repair the ship and sees it fit that Hannah, who has suffered his wrath before, should be the final sacrifice,

Dr Holywell observes the increasing lights from outside the house. He breaks down the door and arrives in the chamber, handing the Doctor his coat. He watches as Hannah begins to be possessed by the machine. The Doctor attempts to initiate a ruse by playing up the Wisden Almanack to be an object of great power. Intent on finding it, Valentine grabs the coat and begins to rummage through it. Quickly seeing the misconception, he throws it to the side but not before touching the wiped card with his bare hand. Without his realising, the card begins to download and store his biological data.

Hannah, now given the chance to escape the chamber, decides to stay on and urges every past victim of Sir Nikolas' to hone in on the card. The spirits begin to stir one last time, stronger and louder than ever before; the spirits of thousands of men, spanning centuries, are taking revenge on their executioner. The spirits overwhelm Valentine, pouring into his body until his skin becomes hollow and he crumples to the floor, dead.

Unable to save Hannah, the survivors flee the house as the spaceship explodes in a spectacular fashion. They say their goodbyes at Dr Holywell's home and leave the occulist as confused as before.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Turlough - Mark Strickson
 * Henry Gaunt - Nicholas Briggs
 * Quincy Flowers / Ned Cotton - David Walliams
 * Edmund Carteret - Jonathan Rigby
 * Jasper Jeake - Mark Gatiss
 * Poltrot / Major Billy Lovemore / Librarian - Jez Fielder
 * Sir Nikolas Valentine - David Ryall
 * Dr Samuel Holywell - Steven Wickham
 * Hannah Fry - Julia Dalkin

Continuity

 * Turlough enjoyed studying history at Brendon Public School on Earth in 1983. (TV: Mawdryn Undead)
 * The Doctor finds a cricket ball and a ball of string in his pocket. (TV: Four to Doomsday)
 * The Doctor tells Turlough that he has seen — and was very impressed by — a Type 70 TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time)
 * Turlough complains when he has to save Hannah, saying that "this really isn't me at all". He would later save Peri Brown, protesting "Earthlings". (TV: Planet of Fire)