The Empress of Othernow

TARDIS Crew

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialising in London in 1969, following a collision with an unknown timeship. The Doctor and his companion Gwen, a historian from the 21st century find that they are in Londinium starport, and that London is ruled by Rome, in the person of the immortal God-Empress, who has ruled for 2,000 years. The pair are captured by Roman soldiers, armed with laser rifles, and are incarcerated behind a forcefield in the security suite. After interrogation, their captors become intrigued that they are listed as "most wanted" on the Roman computers.

The pair are rescued by rebels, British Celts who oppose the Romans. The rebels plan to use the Londinium starport laser defences to blow up the God-Empress's shuttle. Unfortunately, Rhiannon, one of the rebels, is actually a Roman agent, and betrays them. Siobhann, another rebel, (Bethan Pugh), sacrifices herself to enable Gwen and the remaining rebels, Rhodri and Cormac, to escape. The Doctor is left behind, apparently killed in the explosion.

The rebels hide in the tunnels around the starport, unsure what to do now their plan is destroyed. Gwen persuades them to go back to rescue the Doctor: she is confident that he is still alive, which of course he is. He is a captive of the Romans again. The God-Empress Livia herself arrives, and comes to gloat over him.

She clearly knows the Doctor, and she recounts how the TARDIS collided with a Cyberman timeship and knocked it into the past. She made the Cybermen partially cyberise her, and then she poisoned them with gold, using knowledge from the Doctor himself. He had travelled into the past, too, chasing the cybership, and she had him executed. She has ruled ever since. She has been waiting for him to arrive, to complete the course of time. After having her gloat, she leaves to inaugurate the new laser defence network, and tells the Doctor she'll be back to talk some more later.

The Doctor is spared this fate by the rebels and Gwen, who rescue him. They study the computer history database, and work out that the cybership is in 9AD. Rhodri remains behind to buy the others time, and the Doctor, Gwen and Cormac fight their way to the TARDIS, and flee back into the past. Livia is not worried, however.... she is confident that she knows what happened in 9 AD.....

The TARDIS arrives in ancient Rome; Cormac is suitably non-plussed at time travel. The trio meet Emperor Augustus, and learn that two silver Gods have arrived from Olympus in a flaming chariot. The Gods are, of course, two Cybermen . They are demanding worship and assistance. Augustus is happy to oblige. A friend of the Emperor, Maecenas, is more suspicious of these Gods, but Augustus is thoroughly impressed.

The Doctor, however, tries to interrogate the Cybermen about what they want, and comes to the conclusion that their timeship is incapacitated. Augustus is angry at his "insolence", and throws him out; only Gwen fluttering her eyes at Augustus persuades him not to throw the Doctor to the lions immediately. Augustus takes the Cybermen to see his court. Livia, First Lady of Rome, discusses with General Varus, her sidekick, how she can take control of the power of the Gods.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Gwen talk to Maecenas, looking for support against the cybermen. They tell him to get some gold dust, and he agrees. Cormac chats to Julia, Augustus's niece, and gains another ally. Livia becomes suspicious of the Doctor, as the Cybermen return. Maecenas, alarmed at the "Gods" and their intentions, tries to throw his gold dust over them. They react by killing him with their laser guns. The Doctor tries to stop this, revealing that he was behind the plot against the Gods. He and Gwen are arrested and flung into prison to await execution.

Cormac persuades Julia to help him to rescue them. Livia has by now worked out a lot about the "Gods", and also about the Doctor (mainly due to judicious eavesdropping). She comes to the cells and talks to the Doctor, offering to spare Gwen if the Doctor tells her all that he knows about the Cybermen. The Doctor refuses, telling Gwen that he cannot risk the damage to the timeline. Livia sweeps out, telling him he has little time.

Fortunately, Cormac and Julia turn up, and rescue the other two. The Doctor is by now very worried about the Cybermen, and what they intend. He insists that the group go to the Cybermen's workshop, where the Cybermen have built something from the bits of their wrecked timeship. A careful study of the cybertechnology reveals that the silver giants intend to generate a doubletalk time field so massive that it will fling the entire world through an unstable time vortex, destroying it, and thus saving their own world, Mondas, in the future.

Before the Doctor can do anything about this, Livia turns up. She has stolen a critical part of the cyber hardware, and bargains with the Cybermen for immortality in return for their gizmo. The Cybermen have used a cyber-control system on Livia's son, Tiberius; she is ruthless, and unworried about her son's wellbeing. The cybermen accede to her demands, intending to doublecross her later.

Cormac intervenes to prevent Livia being cyberised, by smashing the cyberiser: the Cybermen shoot him dead. Livia is placed under cyber control, and forced to assist the Cybermen. Tiberius is left on guard while the Cybermen go to get the missing bits they need. While they are out of the chamber, the Doctor tries to break Tiberius's programming and enable him to get to the hardware. Gwen eventually knocks Tiberius out, and the Doctor starts to tamper with the timefield generator.

The Cybermen return, and capture him in mid-sabotage, but assume he could not have done any real damage. Augustus enters, to find out what is going on, and belatedly realises that he has been taken for a ride. The cybermen activate the time field generator; there is a rising roar from the system, and a gigantic explosion. The lights come back up: the cybermen are gone. The Doctor had reduced the area of effect of the time field, so that it only affected the Cybermen, not the entire world. In the ensuing relief and wonderment, the Doctor and Gwen sneak off quietly, knowing that history is back on track.....

Travel Log

The Vortex, dates inapplicable. The ship suffers a collision with another time ship.

Londinium, alternate Earth, 1969.

Ancient Rome, 9AD

Chronology

Since the Doctor is apocryphal, it's difficult to place this adventure (and perhaps pointless to try). It is set before The Sleepers in the Marsh. If we take it that Gwen is the same companion as Guin who accompanies the Merlin Doctor, then this would place Othernow as an adventure not long prior to this incarnation's regeneration into that other Doctor.

Duration

This adventure appears to take place over only a few days at most, perhaps even only a few hours.

Story Link

None

New Friends

1969

Siobhann, Rhodri and Cormac, members of the Celt resistance

9 AD

Maecenas, friend of the Emperor. Killed by the Cybermen.

Julia, the Emperor's niece

Old Friends

None

Foes

Both eras

Livia, the God Empress

1969

Rhiannon, a Roman spy within the Celt resistance

9AD

General Varus, Livia's sidekick in 9 AD

Cybermen

Behind The Scenes

Cast: The Doctor (Bob Pugh); Gwen (Rachel Greaves); Emperor Augustus (Jack Hyde); Livia (Maggie Redgrave); Rhiannon, (Ruth Cooper); Siobhann, (Bethan Pugh); Rhodri (Bob Kretowicz); Cormac (Andy Kibbey); Maecenas (Gerry Davison); General Varus (Adrian Rigelsford); Julia (Debbie Mather); Tiberius (Ivan Mahon); Adam Greaves, Paul Sweeney, Peter Vialls (Cybermen)

Writer: Peter Vialls

Director: Ruth Morgan

Other Crew: Christopher Hunnam, Bob Beattie, Karen Beattie (stage crew); Bob Wilson (sound engineer); Nick Thompson (incidental music composer and performer)

Format: Stage play

First performed: November 1994 (four times, performed in Huntingdon)

Other performances: AylCon2 (Birmingham, 1995)

Working Titles: Silver Legion

Comments: In 1994, Huntingdon Drama Club enjoyed it's 50th Anniversary, and put on a number of plays to celebrate this fact. One such play was The Empress of Othernow. Doctor Who was picked as a suitable subject because both Peter Vialls and John, the club's lighting director, were fans of the show, and because the stage crew wished to have a real challenge in the type of play presented for the Anniversary.

Peter Vialls, the writer, had previous writing credentials for gaming magazines, but not for plays. He ruled out using Daleks for copyright and size reasons, as they were too large to fit on the stage available to the club. Instead he went for the Cybermen as the main villains, and once the script had been completed wrote to the BBC for approval to use their characters in the play. This eventually came eight months prior to the planned dates of the performance.

The Cybermen costumes (Earthshock versions) were provided by Who Books, a company run by Alex Richards. As the play moved closer to performance dates, local press took interest because of the Doctor Who connection, culminating in Anglia Television sending a camera and reporter to cover the show. Public interest was massive too, with it playing to packed houses each night. It ended up being the Club's most financially successful production to that point, and so impressed Alex Richards of Who Books, that he asked the production to put on an extra show, at AylCon2, a Birmingham based Doctor Who convention happening the following February. Again it was a massive hit with those who watched it.

There is now a sequel planned for Autumn 2003, "The Sleepers in the Marsh".

Photos and plot synopsis from the show are copyright Peter Vialls, and used with permission. In fact, most of the above information is from his record of the production. Check out his page on the play.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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