The Incherton Incident

First Doctor Adventures #2.2

Released: 16 February 2023

Listened: 3/3/23

This four-parter, by Nick Briggs, is set in 1947, in an isolated seacoast town, because Nick Briggs likes both those things. Unfortunately, as a result of a collision in the Vortex, a spaceship has crashed into Incherton and killed a lot of people. In First-Doctor style, it takes quite a while for the Doctor and listeners to figure out what the heck is going on, during which time the Doctor and Dodo are separated, and both of them end up getting shot, although they aren’t badly hurt. Much of the story involves early Cold War politics, with the British army trying to claim alien tech for their own, an American spy claiming that allies should share technology, and a Soviet spy that everybody assumes must be somewhere (see if you can spot them; it’s not actually very hard). There’s something deeper going on here, though, as the aliens are time-travelers looking to arrest the Doctor for things he hasn’t done yet. There are hints that his crime relates to enabling humanity throughout their history, allowing them to become a major power in the universe eventually. We’re not really sure, though, because the First Doctor just assumes it’s all a misunderstanding. There are some pretty heavy-handed parallels about the line between fanaticism and patriotism, but it’s hard not to default to assuming the post-WWII English are the “good guys.” The Doctor has a lengthy speech at the end of the story laying out his purpose in traveling, which seems a bit odd to just drop in at the end here, but it leads to a cliffhanger.