'Short Trips': 'A Room With No View' (1 Part) by David Bartlett

The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Peri to a disused Victorian house, inside a locked room with windows that look out onto nothing but blackness. In a chair by the fire they find the long-dead corpse of a man, its withered hands clasping a glass valve connected by wire to a strange machine comprised of mirrors, a crystal and a cylinder of green fluid. After Peri notices the decayed objects in the room have now all renewed, even a collection of dead butterflies coming back to life, she and the Doctor realise that they are both becoming older – somehow the room is feeding off them to restore itself. Identifying the machine as the cause, they watch as it increases in power, draining more of their lives to resurrect the dead man. As his body restores, the man identifies himself as Isaac Maxwell, and the machine as his ‘longevity generator’. After the Doctor tries to make Maxwell aware of the dangers of his device, the scientist explains he created it to save his wife Clarissa, who died from consumption. But Maxwell’s body only partially recovers, and instead he becomes feral, attacking Peri and taking more of her life force. When the Doctor intervenes Maxwell turns on him, absorbing the Time Lord’s power and energy. His life ebbing away, the Doctor orders Peri back to the TARDIS; as the girl touches the ship’s door time rewinds, restoring her youth. Peri tries to take the Doctor inside the ship, but Maxwell blocks their way, now seeing the TARDIS as his means to live forever. However, when Maxwell touches the ship it instead drains time from him, causing the man’s body to crumble into dust. With the Doctor’s body now returning to normal the room falls apart, and he and Peri only just get inside the TARDIS before the house disintegrates into nothingness…

Stephen Critchlow (Narrator)

Release Date:
September 2012

Notes:

*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Peri

*A Big Finish Audio Production