Lies
Prior to her secret assignment to join the Doctor in his search for the Key to Time, inquisitive Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar wanders into the long-abandoned vaults beneath the Capitol on Gallifrey. Before she is discovered there by a concerned Cardinal Braxiatel, Romana hears a voice speaking to her, offering a promise of future power and demanding that she keep this chance encounter a secret. And the voice says a word: Imperiatrix.
Many hundreds of years (and one regeneration) later, President Romana of the High Council of Time Lords is instituting sweeping changes to Gallifreyan society. For the first time ever, students from the various time-aware powers are being admitted to Gallifrey’s august Academy. Capital punishment and even most forms of imprisonment have been abolished. But one prisoner remains: Andred, the former head of the Chancellery Guard (and Leela’s husband), awaits trial for the crimes he committed in the persona of Free Time agent Torvald. He insists that he is no longer Torvald, but he also refuses to divulge Free Time’s secrets to anyone who asks.
Distraught over the revelation that Andred is alive, but now an enemy of the Time Lords, Leela and her K-9 unit wander into the vaults. The voice that once spoke to Romana speaks to Leela, and then she disappears without a trace. K-9 summons help from Romana’s K-9, and when Romana visits the vaults again for the first time in many years, she finds Leela alive and well, believing that the voice is that of a ghostly spirit. The voice remembers Romana as well, and even introduces her to her first incarnation. But in whatever form Romana takes, the voice knows her by another name: Imperiatrix, a dark legend of a female President of the Time Lords who, with the help of her alien bodyguard, sought to declare war on all of time and space from her home base on Gallifrey.
written by Gary Russell
directed by Gary Russell
music by David DarlingtonCast: Lalla Ward (President Romana), Louise Jameson (Leela), John Leeson (K9), Mary Tamm (Romana), Lynda Bellingham (Inquisitor Prime Darkel), Miles Richardson (Cardinal Braxiatel), Sean Carlsen (Coordinator Narvin), Andy Coleman (Commander Torvald), Ian Hallard (Castellan Wynter), Trevor Littledale (The Archivist), Barbara Longman (Pandora)
Notes: Apparently the office of Castellan is not the singular position that it seemed to be in TV Doctor Who; there are numerous references to there being more than one Castellan in office simultaneously (unless it is customary to refer to retired past Castellans by that title without adding “former,” as in the case of former American Presidents). Maxil is among the Castellans mentioned; though he is only mentioned and doesn’t appear, that character, last seen in the 1983 Doctor Who story Arc Of Infinity, was played by future Doctor Colin Baker.
Timeline: all of the Gallifrey audios take place sometime after the Doctor Who audio Zagreus.
Curious about the Doctor’s frequent mentions of how traveling with Evelyn Smythe calmed him down, Melanie talks him into paying her a visit. Three years after the invasion of VilĂ g, Evelyn - who left the Doctor’s company some time ago - is now married to Rossiter, who heads up the new global government. But all is not well even in the wake of the invasion of which the Doctor and Evelyn tried to warn everyone on their earlier visit; the leftover alien technology has become a subject of intense controversy, with Evelyn heading up an effort to have it studied and exploited for the benefits it could bring. The most vocal opponent of this viewpoint is Rossiter’s daughter, Sophia, who leads a faction that wants the alien technology destroyed. But mere moments after the Doctor and Melanie appear at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the attack, it appears that some of Sophia’s opponents are more prepared to take action than others. When the first shots ring out, the Doctor and Evelyn both think it’s an attempt on Rossiter’s life, but when the Doctor rushes to help Rossiter, Evelyn and Melanie are kidnapped. The Doctor and Rossiter set out to track them down and rescue them, and find that the Doctor’s companions, past and present, aren’t the only ones who need help.
In the wake of Colonel Dalton’s death in the London incident, Colonel Chaudhry is on the mend, having only just come out of a two-week coma. Lethbridge-Stewart comes out of retirement yet again to try to inspire Chaudhry to fight back against ICIS once and for all - and to offer his help. But before they can put their plans for ICIS into action, UNIT is assigned to look into a virus that is quickly spreading around the world. Initially displaying flu-like symptoms, the disease eventually leaves its victims in a violent, zombie-like state. Lethbridge-Stewart calls in some old favors and has the virus analyzed, discovering that it’s a devastating, alien-engineered bioweapon that attacks and alters its victims at the genetic level. Persistent reporter Francis Currie comes to Chaudhry with videotape he and his cameraman have just filmed, showing armed soldiers in UNIT uniform killing victims of the plague in cold blood. But while Currie has brought this copy of the tape to UNIT, his cameraman has put it on the air - and the Army moves in to arrest UNIT, according to a carefully orchestrated ICIS plan. ICIS wants nothing less than to sieze control of the British government and institute a foreign policy steeped in xenophobia. Chaudhry and Lethbridge-Stewart find that they have friends they didn’t know they have - and enemies who have been watching from just over their shoulders all along.
Lt. Hoffman is caught in the middle of a terrorist bombing of a pub in London, but lives long enough to call Colonel Dalton and identify the attackers who sweep through the rubble, murdering survivors, as Scottish. Other attacks follow, and the media quickly dubs the night “Britain’s 9/11.” As Colonel Chaudhry races to meet reporter Francis Currie, who calls her claiming to know who’s behind the rapidly escalating series of attacks, Dalton listens as reports emerge in the news media about Muslim attackers - not Scottish. More suicide bombings take place, and Major Kirby of ICIS puts pressure on the Prime Minister to put Britain under martial law - and to put ICIS in charge. When Chaudhry meets Francis Currie, she’s amazed when the reporter tries to strangle her. She incapacitates him and finds that he’s under some form of mind control - and increasingly, it appears that all of the incidents involve similar mind control, all seemingly triggered by random phone calls from “help lines.” But Chaudhry and Dalton soon find that the trail leads to ICIS itself - and that even UNIT’s finest aren’t immune to the mind control.