Happy Christmas Doctors, Confidential

Unfinished Business, Doctor Who, Dr. Who, Chris Eccleston, Christopher Eccleston, Doctor who Fiction

Happy Christmas Doctors started when I was passing the self storage warehouse not far from where I live. The idea of a row of TARDISes inside the secure parking compound while the respective Doctors were at some joint mission or another was irresistible.

From there, the idea of a reunion of Doctors came to mind. I already did the reunion of companions some time ago. This was a twist on it. I had the Eighth Doctor collecting all his younger incarnations because he struck me as the most even tempered. He could calm the fears of the others.

Where to pick up each Doctor, and with which companion was the next puzzle, particularly when companions cross over regenerations. I decided that Seven and Mel would already be waiting at the car park, eating fish and chips from Blackpool. That seemed a marvellously incongruous thing for them to be doing. They are introduced to Six and Peri. Of course, the Sixth Doctor will meet Mel before his regeneration. Thus the conversation goes as follows….

“Doctor,” the Eighth Doctor said. “Let me introduce you to The Doctor and Mel. Mel, you know this Doctor, of course, but he hasn’t yet met you in his timeline. And this is Peri, who was with me when I became that version of me, just as you were there when he became him.”

The two girls share fish and chips and get to be friends, naturally.

The Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Tegan needing a break after their Sea Base experience is a re-used idea. It was the opening of the story Lady Astoria’s Jewel. This story fits as an alternative timeline to that one.

The Fourth Doctor had many companions. I’ve already featured Leela in a story and Sarah Jane and Harry come into a post-Christmas one. So I went for Romana II and the end of City of Death when the TARDIS was parked near the Eiffel Tower. A nice, peaceful setting to meet them in.

The Third Doctor was easy. The TARDIS would park up next to its earlier self in the laboratory at U.N.I.T. Headquarters. And then a whole group of companions could come along. The Brigadier, Yates, Benton, and good old Jo Grant! The image of that lab with the TARDIS in the corner and complication contraptions on the desk is so iconic.

And this is why the Eighth Doctor’s TARDIS is the best one. It has that lovely place for sitting and having tea that the others don’t.

The Second and First Doctors were a case of killing two birds with one stone. Materialising around the Second Doctor’s TARDIS while he, Jamie and Zoe were leaving Earth after the Cyberman invasion was a quick, easy stop. Then Eight materialises around the First Doctor’s TARDIS in Cornwall after the Smugglers adventure with Ben and Polly. And at last it is time to find out where they’re all going.

Where could all the Doctors meet for a Christmas reunion dinner? I thought of the SS Isle of Capri as seen in a lot of my stories and the Omicron Psi orbital restaurant as mentioned in a couple of stories. There was even Christmas Station which features in the Eleventh Doctor Christmas story this year. Platform One was the simplest of the choices. It only needed to be a background to the last part of the story, not playing any special part in it.

Nine, Ten and Eleven were already waiting. But then I decided to go further. The party was the idea of Doctors Twelve and Thirteen. I kept descriptions vague, though it was tempting to make one of them look like Bill Nighy, who would be my first choice for a future Doctor. Fans of New Lords of Time will notice that this is in a timeline where Nine has not met up with Susan. This is her reunion with all her grandfathers’ incarnations.

And there really is only one more thing to say – in the words of the Brigadier…

“Happy Christmas, doctors. Wonderful chaps, all of you.”