The Suffering was the seventh story of the fourth series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Jacqueline Rayner, narrated by Maureen O'Brien and Peter Purves and featured the First Doctor, Vicki Pallister and Steven Taylor.
Publisher's summary[]
The TARDIS materialises in England in the year 1912, a time of great social change. The Suffragette movement is lobbying for votes for women, and the skull of the so-called "missing link" has been discovered in Piltdown.
While Vicki falls victim to a strange influence, the Doctor and Steven investigate the fossilised remains. The Suffering has been unleashed. Can the travellers survive its rage?
Plot[]
An Unearthing (1)[]
Vicki and Steven, aboard the TARDIS, turn on a recording device. They have a story to tell, mainly at Vicki's insistence, who fears the return of an unknown entity. After discussing in a friendly tone how to tell it, they decide to divide the narrative into two parts, depending on who was present at the events. Steven begins, as he will tell the first part of the story, with Vicki intervening only at points where she has to repeat what she said on that occasion. The two then recall when the TARDIS, almost immediately after their encounter with the Monk, landed in what the Doctor claimed to be the trench of an alien world devastated by war.
Steven notices something among the debris and pulls it out: it is two pieces of a jawbone, which the pilot believes to be human, but which the Doctor recognises as belonging to a humanoid race, yes, but not human. Vicki tries to see for herself, but when the two men finally allow her to pick up the jawbone, she has some kind of seizure and faints with a scream of pain. Unable to explain what has happened, the two men try to seek help; climbing out of the pit, they realise that they are actually on Earth and that the TARDIS has landed in a gravel pit. The arrival of a horse-drawn carriage, which Steven stops to ask for help, removes any doubt about this. The travellers are then taken in by Thomas Arden, a wealthy local gentleman, at his home, while a servant is sent to fetch the local doctor. When the Doctor explains that he is a scientist, Harding concludes that he must have come here to meet Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist from the area who has found human remains in the nearby quarry. The Doctor lets him believe this and takes the opportunity to ask Harding for information about the time and place where they have landed, as well as the remains Dawson is said to have found in the quarry.
Meanwhile, Steven observes Vicki in her comatose state, noticing that her right hand seems to move in a spasm as if she were trying to grab something. Remembering that it all started with his discovery, the pilot takes out the two pieces of jawbone again, and immediately Vicki's hand reaches out to grab it, which Steven is quick to point out to the Doctor. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Constance, Harding's daughter, whom her father asks to stay and keep an eye on Vicki while Steven and the Doctor go to see Dawson. The daughter replies with some contempt that she supposes she is being asked to do this because she is a woman and this is her job, to which the Doctor replies that no, she is being asked to do it as a human being. Constance agrees, but her reaction leaves Steven surprised. Harding hastens to explain that his daughter shares the contemporary demands of the suffragettes and their call for women's suffrage, leaving Steven stunned (for him, a man of the future, it is perfectly normal for women to vote). The Doctor confirms that, yes, in the place where they have landed (England in 1912), women cannot vote, but urges him not to comment on the matter. The two then prepare to leave to visit Dawson, in a vintage car driven by the Doctor, but not before Steven has time to hear and see Vicki wake up and mention a voice that spoke to her.
On the way, the Doctor updates Steven on the Dawson fossil issue. The scientific community of the time is still debating Darwin's (recent) ideas on the evolution of man from apes, and a major topic of discussion at the moment is the lack of a fossil find that could be considered the “missing link” between man and ape, which would prove Darwin's theory. Dawson's findings in the local Piltdown quarry, where the TARDIS has landed, are considered important because they could provide this confirmation. The Doctor's reckless driving (he is not very good at driving safely) causes a newspaper of the time to hit Steven in the face, an accident that repeats itself when they arrive at Dawson's house (although in that case there is not even a breath of wind); in this second case, however, Steven also hears a female voice in his head that seems to remember and repeat events from Vicki's past. At Dawson's house (who is in London on business), the Doctor convinces the maid to let him use the archaeologist's tools, especially the microscope, to examine the jawbone they found; however, he does not have access to the study where the skull is kept, which no one is allowed to enter. The Doctor confirms that it is an extraterrestrial object – and as soon as he says this, Steven's mind is attacked by the angry voice of a woman who declares her hatred for all men and says she is looking for a woman to connect with in order to get her revenge.
The Piltdown Woman (2)[]
The Doctor rescues Steven, preventing the maid from coming to check if something is wrong, and when the pilot tells him what he heard, he concludes that they are dealing with a very powerful alien intelligence, which, however, needs a woman's body to regain a physical form and seems to harbour a deep hatred for all males. It has taken Vicki's memories and voice because she is the first woman on this planet to come into contact with it (Dawson and the quarry workers are, of course, all men); but if it were to find a compatible host, its power could pose a serious threat. There is no other choice, concludes the Doctor: he and Steven will have to steal the skull found by Dawson while he is away and replace it with something else, so at least history remains intact.
The two leave the house and return a few hours later, at night. With the help of the Doctor's unexpected skills as a burglar, they break into Dawson's study, where they find the skull. They are about to take it when Steven is attacked again by the entity: a wind rises in the room, the voice screams in his ears, and the commotion wakes the maid, who, arriving to see what is happening, is possessed by the entity. Steven takes the skull and jawbone and flees the house, running fast enough to exhaust the girl, so that the entity abandons her. After bringing the maid back into the house and reassuring her that nothing has happened, the Doctor and Steven drive to a nearby promontory, where the pilot tries to throw the pieces of the skeleton into the sea. The wind picks up again, the voice attacks him again, and Steven fights against the pain, but eventually manages to throw the pieces into the sea - but not without falling off the cliff himself and getting stuck on the precipice. The Doctor pulls him up using a rope and the car's engine. Steven would now like to return to Harding's house, pick up Vicki and leave, but the Doctor insists that no, they must find a replacement for Dawson – all the more so because a letter they found in Dawson's study informed them that another piece of the skull had been sent to the British Museum. The two then leave for London, after sending a telegram to Vicki to inform her: it is vital that she stays where she is, so as not to come into contact with the skull and the entity.
The Doctor's plan is simple: Steven will buy a human skull in a shop pretending to be a medical student, while the Doctor will retrieve the jawbone of a monkey (an orangutan) from the British Museum; once assembled, the two pieces will then be returned to Dawson's study, giving the impression that his discovery is still intact. Steven manages to buy a skeleton, albeit with a few hiccups along the way (he ends up buying an entire skeleton that he has to abandon on a double-decker tram), but when he meets the Doctor at the museum to complete the plan, the two receive a telegram: it is from Vicki, informing them that she has also left for London. Frightened, the two ask about the skull entrusted to one of the professors and discover that a girl has beaten them to it. At that moment, Steven hears the voice of the evil entity rejoicing because it is whole again, “free”, “complete”.
The Female of the Species (3)[]
Now it's Vicki's turn to tell her side of the story. She begins by going back to when she was still in bed at Harding's house, after Steven had returned upon hearing her scream. Vicki says she stayed in bed, feeling weak, assisted with varying degrees of goodwill by Constance, until the local doctor, Dr Forrester, arrived. He examines her (using instruments and techniques that seem primitive to her, a girl from the future) and eventually declares that she is perfectly fine, but recommends that she stay in bed to be on the safe side. Vicki would like to object (she feels fine), but when she tries to do so, a hostile voice, which sounds like her own, comes out of her mouth and attacks the doctor, making him stagger, with the clear intention of causing him pain. Frightened, Vicki decides to follow the doctor's advice and stay in bed. This leaves her, however, in the company of Constance, who begins to talk to her about her “cause”, namely the fight for women's suffrage; the girl talks about it in an agitated, almost fanatical tone, even going so far as to claim that all men are enemies of women in this struggle. The voice of hatred inside Vicki reacts happily to these statements, frightening the girl who, not knowing that it is an alien entity, is terrified at the idea that these are her own thoughts.
After a restless night in which she also dreams of Steven being attacked on the cliff, Vicki receives a telegram from the Doctor and Steven informing her of their trip to London, and without understanding that they are advising her not to move, she decides to join them. Constance offers to accompany her, leading her father to believe that Vicki intends to go to the British Museum because she is passionate about insects; in reality, Harding's daughter intends to participate in the next feminist protest rally and believes that Vicki is, like her, another supporter of women's suffrage. After collecting some stones at the station to use as weapons, the two women board the train to London and then head to the museum. On the way, they get caught up in a feminist protest, and the protesters, including Constance, start throwing stones at shop windows, attracting the attention of the police. The police intervene quite brutally, and one even attacks Vicki, dragging her away by her wrist and holding her tightly, ignoring her protests. The wave and voice of hatred is heard again in Vicki's head, and this time, driven by indignation at the violence she is witnessing, she uses that force to attack the policeman and leave, running towards the British Museum.
As soon as she enters the museum, Vicki also hears Steven's voice, who joyfully announces that he is whole again. She then finds her companions, who are asking the museum attendant if the woman who asked for the bones sent by Dawson before them was Vicki. The Doctor and Steven are delighted to see Vicki, of course (also because it means she is not the entity's new host), but they insist that she leaves - to no avail: Vicki retorts that she will stay exactly where she is. The three then head to Dawson's colleague's study where the skull is kept (on the way, Vicki is informed of what is happening), where they find Constance: she is the entity's new host, she has taken possession of the skull's bones. The Doctor asks her who she is, and the entity replies, telling of a distant planet where males – men – shared a collective mind from which women were excluded and kept in slavery. She had managed to enter the collective mind and use it to attack them, but they had discovered her and decided to punish her by creating another collective mind for women, so that she would feel the pain and humiliation of each of them. Eventually, however, this punishment backfired, because the woman had incited the others to rebellion, establishing a female-led regime where almost all the men had been massacred and were now treated like animals. Even killing her had been useless: her consciousness had survived the death of her physical body. In the end, however, the entity says, they must have found a way to defeat her, because they separated her from her last host body and sent her head to a distant world, another planet, very similar to his own in terms of the situation of men and women. And now, the entity says, her hatred will lead women to revolt and massacre men. “Constance” reaches out to Vicki, inviting her to join her; Steven steps forward to try to stop her, and is attacked in turn.
The Sharing (4)[]
As a result of the entity's attack, Vicki faints, temporarily saving Steven and the Doctor from its fury. When she wakes up, Constance has disappeared, and the three travellers are alone. Thanks to Vicki's memories, they realise that the entity in Constance's body intends to go to the suffragette rally to stir up hatred and turn the women against the men, as a veritable force of attack. The three head to the rally, where “Constance” speaks to the crowd and incites the women to attack the men, to make them suffer as they have suffered for so long. Using her psychic influence, “Constance” stirs up feelings of aggression and anger in the crowd of women, prompting them to attack the men present; Vicki herself is caught up in it. However, she manages to resist and comes up with a possible counterattack: if the psychic link is strong, then it can work in two directions, and Vicki can use it to counteract the hatred unleashed by “Constance” with her experiences of affection. if “Constance” leverages the many injustices suffered by women of the time, Vicki can leverage the positive male figures in her life (her father, the Doctor, Ian, Steven).
Pushing their way through the crowd, the three travellers reach “Constance”, but Vicki's attempt to counter her influence is thwarted: the entity overturns her memories, trying to highlight how all those men actually protected Vicki because they consider her weak. The trick almost works, and only with great effort does Vicki manage to resist the violent urge to attack the Doctor and Steven. However, her action has given the Doctor another idea. Through Steven (who, having come into contact with the bone, is also the only man in the women's telepathic circle), the Doctor forces the entity to think carefully about what has happened to her. If she really managed to lead a revolution on her planet, to enslave the men, how is it possible that the few remaining specimens were able to reverse the situation? No, says the Doctor, the reality is different: it was the women themselves, once free, who got rid of her, because after shaking off the tyranny of men, they had no intention of enduring that of a disembodied entity capable of taking possession of their bodies whenever it wanted. The revelation breaks the entity, which cannot contain its guilt, and breaks the psychic circle, freeing all the women present; the Doctor takes advantage of this to take the skull.
On the train back, the Doctor explains to Vicki, Steven and the rediscovered Constance what has happened, and how their replacement of Dawson's bones will one day lead to the Piltdown Man hoax. Constance understands many things about the Doctor, but refuses to ask him anything about his future, including whether women will one day win the battle for the vote. Vicki, however, has no qualms about asking once Constance is out of earshot, and the Doctor confirms that yes, women will get the right to vote in six years' time, in 1918, at least for some of them;[1] it will not be the end of the battles for gender equality, but it will be an important achievement. The three travellers then return to the TARDIS and set off again, taking the skull with them, which the Doctor intends to keep in a safe place. The reason Vicki and Steven are recording this story is that Vicki, who still seems to hear the entity's voice in her head, is afraid that it is still present; at which point, Steven invites her to touch his mind: if so, she will hear his thoughts. A reassured Vicki only notices that Steven needs a good haircut, which she will take care of immediately.
Cast[]
Characters[]
- First Doctor
- Vicki Pallister
- Steven Taylor
- Constance Arden
- Thomas Arden
- Drahvin
- Servant
- Forrest
Crew[]
- Cover Art - Simon Holub
- Director - Lisa Bowerman
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Music and Sound Design - Toby Hrycek-Robinson
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Justin Richards
- Writer - Jacqueline Rayner
Worldbuilding[]
- The Doctor describes himself as "a student of science and the wonders of the universe."
- Constance Arden is a suffragette.
- The Doctor claims that he has friends in the Knights Hospitallers.
- Steven was not aware that British women did not have the vote in 1912.
- Thomas Arden is an enthusiast of "the newfangled motorcar."
- Astra was established as an Earth colony at some point after the 23rd century.
- A diagnosticator is a 25th century medical device.
- Vicki considers 20th century medicine as being from the Stone Age.
- Constance refers to Herbert Asquith, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- Vicki learned much about the 20th century from Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright as well as from the history machines in her own time.
- Constance has never heard of the Beatles, the Concorde or the Millennium Dome. Vicki's apparent interest in beetles leads Constance to believe that she is a keen coleopterist.
- The late Queen Victoria did not support women's suffrage.
- The Suffering's home planet is in the Fourth Galaxy.
- The Doctor tells Vicki that it would be discovered that the Piltdown Man was not the missing link but a human cranium and a filed down ape jaw in 1953.
- In 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, certain British women over thirty gained the right to vote.
Notes[]
Textless cover art
- This audio drama was recorded on 2 and 6 October 2009 at the Moat Studios.
- This story was told from both Steven and Vicki's perspectives.
- This story is set between The Time Meddler and Galaxy 4.
Continuity[]
- Steven tells the Doctor that he has not eaten since 1066. (TV: The Time Meddler)
- Steven refers to his two years as a prisoner of the Mechonoids on their native planet Mechanus and his first encounter with the Doctor. (TV: The Chase)
- In her delirium, Vicki recalls that she and her father were to begin a new life on Astra before the UK-201 crash-landed on Dido in 2493 and the murder of her father by Bennett. (TV: The Rescue)
- The Doctor refers to his visit to Peking in 1289. (TV: Marco Polo)
- The Doctor uses the Aztec bracelet given to him by Cameca as an engagement present in Mexico during the 15th century to buy suits and top hats for himself and Steven. (TV: The Aztecs) However, it eventually re-entered his possession as the Seventh Doctor later wore it on the lapel of his cream linen suit. (PROSE: White Darkness) The Eighth Doctor would give it to his granddaughter Susan Foreman as a Christmas present. (AUDIO: Relative Dimensions)
- The Doctor describes his theft of the ape jaw "as easy as pie". (TV: The Five Doctors)
- Vicki refers to her appreciation for the Beatles' music. (TV: The Chase; AUDIO: 1963)
- Vicki recalls stowing away aboard a Dalek time machine, (TV: The Chase) becoming involved in the machinations of Roman emperors (TV: The Romans) and English kings (TV: The Crusade) and leading an uprising on a distant planet. (TV: The Space Museum)
- Vicki refers to her role in defeating the Daleks, (TV: The Chase) the Moroks (TV: The Space Museum) and the Monk. (TV: The Time Meddler)
- Vicki mentions her skill at cutting hair. (TV: Galaxy 4)
- The Doctor and Steven would return to London in 1762, (AUDIO: The Founding Fathers) February 1814, (AUDIO: Frostfire) 1966 (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond) and, later in their personal timelines, March 1965. (TV: The Massacre)
- The story that Constance tells whilst possessed by the skull fragment is implied to be the origin of the Drahvins. (TV: Galaxy 4)
External links[]
- Official The Suffering page at bigfinish.com
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