1. Regrets

2.1 – REGRETS

FX: BBC Sounds Sting

ANNO You’re about to listen to series two of Doctor Who: Redacted. New episodes will be released weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the full series right now, first, on BBC Sounds.

Inquistive, investigative sounding bongs underneath the title reading and continuing into the first scene.

ANNO Doctor Who: Redacted. Episode One, Regrets. By Juno Dawson.

Scene 1.1

FX: Car door slams, footsteps and scuffling.

SHAWNA Excuse me? CLEO Mr Degsy?

ABBY We’re in Northampton investigating claims that a meat processing plant is serving something a bit more exotic than bacon. Mr Desgy-

SHAWNA What is in your sausages? DEGSY No comment.

CLEO We’re the Blue Box Files podcast. Mr Degsy, do your sausages contain extra-terrestrial DNA?

DEGSY Rubbish.

ABBY We’ve had your products tested, Mr Degsy, and they contain genetic matter unlike anything else on earth.

DEGSY No comment.

SHAWNA People have a right to know! DEGSY If you touch me, I’ll call the police.

ABBY Do you turn aliens into burgers, Mr Degsy? DEGSY This is private property! Go away!

SHAWNA We know the Blue Box was here last year!

Pause. Tense.

CLEO Have you seen her? Have you met the Doctor?

Scene 1.2 – INT. CONVENTION CENTRE. DAY

FX: There’s applause and a hub-bub of chatter at the National Podcast

Convention in Manchester. There’s a wail of feedback and the panel event gets underway.

WILDTRACK [generic excited podcast attendees]

RANI OK then! That clip could only be from our final guests of the afternoon. I’m Rani Chandra from Rani Takes On The World and I’m very pleased to be joined by the hosts of the brilliant Blue Box Files - Abby MacPhail, Shawna Thompson and Cleo Proctor!

FX: Applause

RANI Abby, let’s start with you.

ABBY Can I just say I’m a huge fan? Your episode on the Panama Papers was…chef’s kiss.

RANI You absolutely can. (SMILES) But let’s talk about The Blue Box Files. Introduce us to it.

ABBY Basically, it’s dedicated to uncovering the truth about an enigmatic cuboid shape which seems to appear at times of historical upheaval. Pompeii, it’s there; Titanic, it’s there. You name it, there’s sightings of a strange blue box. We even think what Scientists are calling the Redacted Virus is related. So many people suffered blackouts. Including us.

RANI Me too. Last year is a blur, to be honest. Now, Shawna, you’re the in-house sceptic, is that right?

SHAWNA That’s maybe a bit reductive, but OK. I’ve become less sceptical as the years have gone on, but I’m inclined to believe there is a conspiracy, it’s just not from outer space. At the moment, Abby and I are looking into this organisation called ‘Torchwood’; super secretive, super shady…but not alien.

CLEO Well, I do think it’s alien actually. There, I said it.

RANI Oh really? What do you think this Blue Box is?

Cleo pauses.

RANI Cleo?

CLEO I think…I think, I think the blue box is our guardian angel.

The tone on the panel changes.

WILDTRACK [quiet uncertainty] ABBY Cleo…

RANI Let’s go with that. How do you mean?

CLEO I think – like if there’s a blue box – it makes sense that there’s someone inside it you know. Keeping us all safe. They’re called The Doctor.

The audience chatter increases. Rani clears her throat.

RANI Right, OK. (NERVOUS) Maybe we should move on.

CLEO No, I’m for real. Would you believe me if I said she, or he actually, is a chic time traveller with two hearts and undiagnosed ADHD?

RANI [laughs] WILDTRACK [laughter]

SHAWNA Cleo is the comic relief, obviously.

CLEO (ANGRY) Thanks Shawna Thompson, but I also happen to know. Just because you girls don’t remember what happened last year, I do. And anyway, I’ve been researching my own case. Giant rats. In Docklands.

Another awkward silence.

WILDTRACK [throat clearing]

RANI OK, well this is weirdly tense. Let’s move it along. So! I was listening to your episode about killer shop dummies…

Fade out.

Scene 1.3 INT. GREENROOM.

FX: Abby, Shawna and Cleo enjoy catering backstage. Light background chatter with low music.

CLEO I’m sorry I derailed the panel, OK! But it’s true! I remember the Doctor, I can’t help it. I do!

Another awkward moment.

ABBY OK…

SHAWNA Sorry Cleo. It’s just…hard to remember stuff we don’t remember. But we believe you, we do!

CLEO You actually met her.

ABBY Yeah yeah, we believe you, we do!

CLEO Really? Because it doesn’t sound like it.

SHAWNA I think Rani provoked you deliberately to make you look unhinged. She’s jealous of the competition.

ABBY I think there’s room for more than one podcast about uncanny investigators out there. I thought she was super nice.

SHAWNA Not nice enough to hang around in the green room with the hoi polloi.

CLEO But guys, I think she remembered the Doctor! Didn’t you see her face when I said their name -

ABBY And she did say, any time we needed a hand, to just get in touch.

SHAWNA (OVER) Ooh Abz, that falafel wrap thing is stunning. Have you had a bit?

ABBY No no, is there any left?

CLEO (under breath) End of discussion, I guess. SHAWNA Have a bit of mine.

FX: Falafel broken off

SHAWNA Here you go (mild effort).

ABBY (eating) Oh my gosh, that’s divine!

There’s a pause.

ABBY What?

CLEO You two are sickening, you know that?

SHAWNA Sorry are we doing it again? I’ll put a pound in the jar.

ABBY Sorry, sorry sorry sorry!

CLEO I’m kidding, I’m kidding! It’s sweet. Young hearts, run free and all that. But, you know, Shawna maybe you could speed up the process by chewing it and spitting it directly into her mouth like a bird would.

FX: Shawna hurls a cushion across the greenroom.

SHAWNA (effort) Shut up!

I don’t know what’s happened to me. I’m sure I used to be cynical and bitter.

CLEO (sarcastic) And we all really miss that.

FX: Abby’s text alert sounds and she taps out a reply.

SHAWNA Is your mum OK?

ABBY Er aye – that’s just the new carer now. All is well.

CLEO And now you get to have your own place. SHAWNA Exactly!

CLEO Shackin’ up! That’s fast even by lesbian standards.

ABBY Ah ah excuse me!

CLEO Bi! Sorry! I know, don’t kill me! (PAUSE) Get a flat with a spare room. A Cleo annex I can retire to before I die alone.

SHAWNA (laughs)

ABBY Aw. You will meet someone.

CLEO Abs, the last guy I dated literally faked his own death to get out of a second date.

SHAWNA Oh. Wow. Bold move.

CLEO Anyway, as if I have time to date. Between my course and this case, I have zero time.

There’s a significant pause.

ABBY Is this the rats thing?

CLEO Yes. There was another attack yesterday – look.

FX: She gives them her phone.

SHAWNA (reading) ‘Third London Rat Attack – Family Dog Killed’. Man, that’s grim.

CLEO Watch this video…

Scene 1.4 – EXT. GARDEN

FX: We hear a news report play. Little musical sting like the BBC news app.

ESTHER I was on a work Zoom when suddenly Benj starts barking and barking, and that’s not like him at all. I ignored it for as long as a I could but…but then he stopped. I went out into the garden and that’s, that’s when I found him.

ESTHER He’d been mauled. Ripped to shreds. (TEARFUL PAUSE) I saw this long, thick tail vanish under the fence. It was a rat. I swear. I know what I saw.

Scene 1.5 – INT. CONVENTION CENTRE. DAY

FX: We return to Cleo, Abby and Shawna. Cleo stops the video.

CLEO See? So when are you coming to London? We need to get involved. If there’s trouble, it’s only a matter of time before the Doctor shows up.

Another loaded pause.

ABBY What makes you think it’s a Blue Box File? CLEO Hello? Killer rats?

SHAWNA No offence, but London is a very ratty city.

CLEO She described it as half-rat-half-gremlin. SHAWNA (laughs) Sorry…but come on!

CLEO I can’t believe, after everything we’ve been through, that I’m getting the Scully treatment. Rude.

ABBY Do you think maybe a part of you wants it to be the Blue Box?

There’s a pause.

CLEO No. Maybe. (Pause) Yeah. I guess. It’s different for you guys. You don’t remember everything that happened last year but I do. I…I miss her.

SHAWNA Miss who?

Another pause.

CLEO Doesn’t matter. FX: Cleo gets an alert on her phone.

CLEO

Oh my god!

SHAWNA

What is it?

ABBY

Is it about the case?

CLEO

What? No! I got a message from a guy.

Scene 1.6 – INT. TRAIN / EUSTON STATION. NIGHT

FX: Train door bings open onto bustling Euston station – passengers and wheelie luggage.

TRAIN VOICE Welcome to London Euston. This is our final destination. Please take all your belongings when you leave the train.

Scene 1.7 INT. BAR. NIGHT

FX: Crowded noisy bar. Music. Glasses. Voices. Laughter. Ed sets two wine glasses down on a table.

CLEO Thanks for this. I needed a drink. Cheers. I’m so glad you messaged.

ED Cheers.

FX: They clink.

CLEO So, Ed. Ed Hinge. Tell me about yourself. What do you do? ED Um, yeah. So like I said, I’m in IT.

CLEO My friend Shawna is too. No idea what that means, I just nod along.

ED Yeah, it’s pretty dull to tell you the…

He drifts off, looking around.

CLEO Are you OK?

ED Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. So what about you? What do you do?

CLEO Well I do a couple of shifts as an usher, but I’m actually at theatre school. I’m an actress…

ED What, sorry?

CLEO An actress. (Beat) Are you sure you’re OK? You’re acting like you got MI5 watching you or something? You being followed?

ED No! No, it’s just that I, um, I’ve never actually, you know… CLEO (deflating) Oh I get it. Don’t wanna be seen in public with a

trans woman.

ED It’s not that! I just, like, you know I’m straight and this is a big deal for me…

CLEO You know what, Ed, I can make this so easy for us both. (she downs her pinot in one gulp)

FX: Cleo puts the wine glass down, pushes back stool, stands.

CLEO Boy, bye.

Scene 1.8 INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE. NIGHT

FX: Train atmos

TRAIN VOICE The next station stop will be Carlisle. Please take all your belongings with you when you leave.

SHAWNA Is there another gin in a tin? ABBY Aye.

FX: She hands her a tin.

ABBY Do you think we ought to, you know, tone it down a bit around Cleo? I don’t want her to feel like a third wheel.

SHAWNA She said she was fine. (Beat) It’s not our fault that love radiates from us, is it?

ABBY Ha! Yes, that’s cute, but I don’t want her to get radiation sickness.

SHAWNA That’d explain the rat hunt.

ABBY Don’t. I feel bad, I do, but it’s just not a Blue Box File. There’s no evidence linking it to us. We’re better off focusing on Torchwood. I think it’s got legs.

SHAWNA So what do we know so far?

ABBY I’m so glad you asked, Ms Thompson.

FX: She taps away on a laptop.

SHAWNA Oh god. There’s a doc on the shared drive.

ABBY Of course there’s a doc on the shared drive. Look.

Pause as Shawna reads.

SHAWNA OK. Torchwood. Fill me in.

FX: Torchwood music sting!

ABBY Okay. All through blue box cases, there’s this one word that keeps coming up time and again, and it’s not “Doctor”. It’s Torchwood. I know because I set up an Alert.

SHAWNA

How many of those do you have set up now?

ABBY

I keep it to a sensible hundred.

SHAWNA

Torchwood like driftwood?

ABBY

No! It’s a place. A big old house in Aberdeenshire, AND they had a break in last night. There was a local news report which then promptly vanished…

SHAWNA

Shady.

ABBY

Might be really interesting to check it out, don’t you think?

SHAWNA

Oh, Abby, no…

ABBY

You’ve got the day off tomorrow!

SHAWNA

Abs…

ABBY

It’s only a three-hour drive!

SHAWNA

Only?! (Beat) It’s a good job I love you isn’t it?

Scene 1.9 – INT. CLEO FLAT. NIGHT

FX: We hear keys and the door close as Cleo arrives home. Quiet London streets beyond.

CLEO Hi honey, I’m home! (Beat) Oh I forgot; I live by myself. Alexa!

Play depressing music.

FX:Some mournful music begins and Cleo flops down on the sofa and kicks her shoes off. After a moment, she picks up her phone and begins a voicenote.

CLEO Hi Doctor. Me again. I know you gave me this number For Redacted Virus Emergencies Only but I’ve tried everything else and I’m getting worried – are you okay? Anyway. Just got back from a first date. You don’t need to buy a hat, look at it that way. (SIGHS)

CLEO Jordan and Floater are still off finding themselves in Bali so I’ve got the flat to myself for another month. It’s nice. Bit quiet. It’s weird. (Beat) I have a big day at college tomorrow.

Audition for our end-of-year showcase. Gotta do a Shakespeare monologue. Have you met Shakespeare? What was he like? Bet he was well clever. Did he have a mullet? (ANOTHER LONG SIGH)

CLEO Anyway. Let me know if you’re getting these little messages in bottles. You gotta get here. Giant rats! Giant mutant rats! If Abby and Shawna don’t believe me, I need your help.

Scene 1.10 – INT. THEATRE. DAY

FX: Echoing space. Theatre ambience.

CLEO (taking this seriously) “But man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he's most assured, his glassy essence, like an angry ape - ”

OLIVIA That’s great. Can I stop you there, Cleo?

FX: There’s some polite applause from her classmates.

CLEO Can I finish the monologue?

OLIVIA It’s OK, I’ve heard enough. That was good. Really good.

Um. I’m not sure I see you as Isabella myself.

CLEO No?

OLIVIA I’m, um, not sure it’s playing to your strengths. You’re so good at the lighter stuff, Cleo. Don’t worry, Shakespeare has plenty of comedy roles, we’ll find you a match for the showcase.

CLEO Thanks. (Beat) Can I ask why not Isabella? OLIVIA Isabella is a nun, for one thing.

CLEO What?

OLIVIA She’s also the object of Angelo’s obsessive lust. She has to be sweet, perfect and virtuous.

CLEO (dejected) OK. Got it. I’ll think of something else.

Scene 1.11 EXT. LONDON PARK. DAY

FX: We hear pigeons, children playing etc. Cleo is on the phone to Shawna.

CLEO Urgh I hate her. Getting strong Adult Human Female vibes if you catch my drift.

SHAWNA (D) Really? That sucks.

CLEO She might as well have just said ‘audition for King Lear or some other hairy man’ or what’s the one with the donkey on his head?

SHAWNA (D) That’s a question for my girlfriend I’m afraid. CLEO Maybe I should quit.

SHAWNA (D) Cleo no! You worked so hard to get on the course.

CLEO I know, but what’s the point? Even if I defy the odds and graduate, I’m like a gazillion pounds in debt and then there’s no trans roles to play. Unless Caitlyn: The Musical is secretly on its way.

SHAWNA (D) (Laughs) Now that I’d see.

FX: We hear some branches snap.

CLEO Ow!

SHAWNA (D) Cleo, what are you doing?

CLEO I’m in the park, looking for mutant rats? SHAWNA (D) I beg your pardon?

CLEO I attract rats all the time, how hard can it be? [beat] I’ve put down a bit of rat bait, and now I’m waiting. But a pigeon keeps eating my bait. Get lost you feathery little –

SHAWNA (D) Cleo, are you OK?

CLEO What? Yeah, of course I am. And maybe the Doctor will show up. I’ve been messaging her.

SHAWNA (D) Eh? What?

CLEO She said to keep in touch. So I did.

Silence.

CLEO Shawna? SHAWNA (D) I’m here.

CLEO You don’t believe me do you? SHAWNA (D) It’s not that…

CLEO Well when I have proof about these rats, maybe you’ll believe me then. It’s just a matter of patience. They’ll show up.

SHAWNA (D) The Doctor or the rats?

Scene 1.12 – INT. CAR. DAY

FX: Traffic noises. We join Abby and Shawna en route to Aberdeen

ABBY Cleo, just be careful. If you’re all alone in a park in London, it’s not rats you should be looking out for.

CLEO (D) I’m on it. I should be quiet really, I’m scaring the rats away. But enjoy scoping out wedding venues. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.

ABBY We’re not! Right stay safe. Ok bye, bye!

FX: Shawna ends the call.

SHAWNA (whines) Are we nearly there yet? I need a wee. ABBY Just twenty minutes

SHAWNA OK. Holdable. (Beat) She’s not letting this ‘Doctor’ thing drop, is she?

ABBY I don’t know what to say anymore.

SHAWNA Maybe she’s right. I remember so little of what happened last year, maybe we really did meet this Doctor woman and just forgot it. You think?

Abby struggles to accept Cleo’s version of events.

ABBY Oh, I just don’t know, Shawna. Maybe all the answers are in Torchwood House.

Scene 1.13 – INT. CLEO HOME. NIGHT

FX: Tired, Cleo settles in on sofa and starts recording.

CLEO Hello Blue Boxers, this is Cleo Proctor – the solo album years.

(Beat) Abby and Shawna are too busy picking out shades of Farrow & Ball to join me right now.

Pause.

Whatever these rats are, they weren’t feeling my tin of cat food. I dread to think what people thought I was doing in that hedge, but we move. I’m going full Abby research mode. I can do this all by myself if I need to.

FX: She gets out her laptop and types away.

CLEO OK, the news story says the woman who lost her dog is called Esther Daley and it says she’s on the Isle of Dogs…which is unfortunate given what happened to her dog.

FX: More typing.

Esther Daley, lives in London…let’s see. Yep, that’s her. Right then. I guess we slide into the old DMs…

Scene 1.14– EXT. TORCHWOOD ESTATE. DAY

FX: Rural nature vibes. Footsteps crunch through gravel as Abby and Shawna arrive at the estate last seen in Tooth and Claw.

SHAWNA Oh wow. It’s so pretty. (Beat) Do they do weddings? ABBY They do! But get that idea out of your head. Torchwood

has quite the history. Queen Victoria once stayed here, you know?

SHAWNA I did not know. Can we go inside?

ABBY Aye. Open To The Public. This way I think.

FX: They head inside.

Scene 1.15 – INT. TORCHWOOD HOUSE. DAY

FX: Grandfather clock ticking. Fusty mansion vibes. Abby and Shawna make their way through the house.

SHAWNA (Hushed) It’s giving haunted house. ABBY I would not want to spend the night here.

MORAG (from afar) In case the werewolves gobble you up? SHAWNA/ ABBY (gasp)

MORAG Sorry to give yous a fright. Couldn’t resist. I’m Morag Stewart.

Curator.

ABBY Werewolves?

FX: MORAG descends stairs to join them in the foyer.

MORAG Aye that’s the story. Did you not see our episode of Most Haunted?

SHAWNA No.

ABBY We’ve come about the break-in?

MORAG I’ve got the CCTV for you.

SHAWNA You have?

MORAG I’m sorry. Are yous not the police? SHAWNA (ABJECT HORROR) No!

ABBY Um no.

MORAG Oh I see. (FROWNS) Did Archie send you from “The Institute”?

SHAWNA N -

ABBY Aye. Aye he did.

MORAG About time! I’ve been calling and calling him! No answer! I’ve had to close the tea room. Nightmare. I’ve spent all day today trying to work out if anything was taken. So strange. A house full of priceless antiques and they tried to get into the cellars of all places.

SHAWNA The cellar?

MORAG Exactly! Yous lot cleared everything out years back so I don’t know what they were looking for.

SHAWNA So there was something worth stealing in the basement? MORAG I thought you said you were from the Institute?

ABBY Ms Stewart…

MORAG Och just Morag, please.

ABBY What’s the Torchwood Institute? I’m sorry. I don’t want to lie.

We’re from a podcast investigating Torchwood.

MORAG (Hesitant) I wouldn’t know anything about it. SHAWNA Wow, even I lie better than that.

MORAG I wouldn’t go asking too many questions about Torchwood if I were you. I’m just from the National Trust for Scotland. I make tea and scones, deary, I swear on my mother’s grave.

ABBY OK. We know this house was private until 2007. What was it before that? I heard it was some sort of an archive facility…an archive of what exactly?

MORAG (PAUSE) Look. Any house this old is going to have some bloodstains under the rugs, know what I mean? (Sighs) You didn’t hear this from me, OK?

ABBY Ok of course.

MORAG You need to speak to an old fella called Archie Bell. That is, if you can get hold of him. I assumed he’d sent you.

ABBY OK. And where’s he?

MORAG Glasgow city centre, about three hours’ drive from here. SHAWNA You have got to be kidding.

Scene 1.16 – INT. CLEO BEDROOM. NIGHT

FX: Cleo records a voice message. Rustle of sheets.

CLEO Me again. It’s just gone 1 am and I can’t sleep.

My leg is doing that twitching thing.

She pauses.

CLEO Doctor, I don’t know where to start. I keep hitting these dead ends and I know that you’re all up in space and time and whatever, but if any of you happen to be in 2023, we need your help. There’s these rats that don’t look right, and I think the Prime Minister could be a cyborg and…you know what? I need you.

She takes a breath.

CLEO I know! I know you told me to stay here and sort my life out, but I don’t wanna be here anymore. It’s not fair. No-one else remembers what happened but me. What am I meant to do with that knowledge? After all that, how am I supposed to go to college, and go on dates with absolute wastemen, and eat vegan sausage rolls, and bingewatch every night? There’s a whole universe to explore, and I’m stuck on these three or four streets. You could…you could take me away from all this.

FX – A crackle of weird static. A man’s garbled voice can be heard – very briefly. Do we hear the phrase ‘Cleo Proctor?’

MAN/APEX Cleo Proctor!

CLEO Doctor? Doctor is that you?

FX: Cleo jabs some buttons on her phone.

CLEO Stupid thing! Was that you? OK. Doctor, if you can hear this, tomorrow I’m going in search of the rats. London Docklands. Meet me there. Don’t let me down. C’mon. Send me a sign!

FX: Cleo’s phone rings

CLEO Doctor! Finally!

ESTHER Hello, is that Cleo Proctor? I got your message

CLEO Doctor?!?

ESTHER My name’s Esther. You messaged. About the giant rats.

Scene 1.17 EXT. ESTHER’S HOUSE. DAY

FX: Flight from London City overhead. Patio door slides open and Esther brings Cleo a mug of tea to the garden.

ESTHER Oat milk and two sugars.

CLEO Thank you. And thanks again for fitting me in. ESTHER That’s OK. What did you say this was for again?

CLEO Blue Box Files. We’re actually legit now. Half a mil listeners and everything. Turns out there’s a lot of really paranoid people out there. Can’t say I blame them.

ESTHER And you look into…weird stuff?

CLEO The weirder the better. Oh – sorry, I didn’t mean. (Pause) I’m so sorry about your dog. It sounds pure horrific.

Esther is understandably very sad.

ESTHER He was my first dog, just a puppy when I got him. Eight years. He was my best friend.Yeah. And no-one seems to care. A rat the size of a child and no-one gives two hoots.

CLEO Well I care. (Beat) Can you show me where you saw it? ESTHER Sure, just at the bottom of the garden.

FX: The pair travel over the lawn and into the thicket.

ESTHER It was just here.

CLEO OK, and what happened after you saw it?

ESTHER There was just one of them. I know it sounds mad, but it was upright, on its hind legs. It was wet and pink and covered in patchy grey fur. Huge, sharp teeth, yellow eyes. Hideous.

CLEO Jesus…

ESTHER I only saw it for a split second and then it darted away.

Cleo takes all this in.

CLEO What do you think it was?

ESTHER It was a rat! Just a rat unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Its tail was like a snake.

FX: Cleo pushes further into the undergrowth.

ESTHER It ran into that hole in the fence. CLEO What’s on the other side?

ESTHER A wasteland really. It’s all derelict. You know Docklands was pretty much a dump until the 1990s. It used to be a port, but was in ruins for decades. Anything could have been growing here, living in the filth.

CLEO What, with all the bankers in Canary Wharf? Sounds about right.

FX: She crouches to see if she can fit in the gap.

ESTHER What are you doing?

CLEO I’m gonna go have a look around. See what I can see. It’s what the Doctor would do.

ESTHER Who?

CLEO Never mind. Listen; can I borrow this little garden fork thing?

Scene 1.18 – EXT. DOCKLAND. DAY

FX: Cleo crawls through the fence and finds herself on a wasteland. She stumbles to her feet. She starts a voice note.

CLEO Hello this is Cleo Proctor from the Blue Box Files. OK, I’m presently on wasteland in London Docklands in search of the mutant rats terrorising the capital.

FX: She pushes through shrubland.

I dunno if the police searched around here, but it stinks and it’s covered in junk. It’s basically a flytipping junkyard. If I was a giant rat, I’d choose this place too. There’s, like, an old boatyard or something…

FX: Cleo freezes. We hear a squeaking, a scuttering of little paws before a bit of corrugated iron clatters over.

OK, did you hear that? I don’t think I’m alone. Something just knocked some fencing over. (Beat) Doctor, if you’re up there, I’d really like to hear that weird TARDIS noise any second now…

FX: Instead, there’s a louder squeak and Cleo jumps.

(exclamation!) That was closer that time. I hope my phone picked that up. It’s just a rat. What’s the worst it can do?

Rabies, plague, mauling, fair point.

Everything seems quiet.

I’m gonna check out the boathouse and then I’m out of here.

Scene 1.19 INT. BOATHOUSE. DAY

FX: We hear a banging as Cleo kicks in a boarded-up window. It clatters open.

CLEO Urgh! Well that reeks.

FX: She slides through the narrow window on her tummy.

CLEO Hmph! Ow!

FX: She struggles to her feet.

CLEO (calls out) Hello? Anybody home?

FX: There’s no reply. She starts her voicenote again.

CLEO I’m inside the boathouse now. It’s like a workshop or something, but totally abandoned. I don’t think anyone’s been here for years.

FX: She wanders the hall. Footsteps echo. A pigeon in the rafters.

CLEO Nothing to see here. Wild goose chase. Wild rat -

FX: There’s a wooden groan as the trapdoor she’s standing on breaks with a loud splintering noise. Cleo screams as she plummets through the floor and lands messily in the cellar.

CLEO Ow! Ow! (Coughing) (She recovers) Oh my god!

FX: She coughs and dusts herself off. Her phone broke in the fall.

CLEO Not my phone! (She tries to turn it on) As if….come

on….come on. No way! That was brand new! Damn it!

FX: She stops when she hears little feet scampering.

CLEO OK…what was that?

FX: We hear some light squeaking.

CLEO Please be a cat. I can hear you! I’m not tryin’ to hurt you yeah?

FX: More feet, more squeaking. Then rasping, dribbling.

CLEO Oh my god…what the hell?

FX: The snarling gets louder as the rats skulk out of the darkness.

CLEO No way…this can’t be real.

FX: The squeaking, rasping intensifies.

CLEO Please stop! Stop! Stay away!

FX: More and more rats pour into the cellar.

I said get back! (Effort as)

FX: Cleo wields garden fork, scrape against concrete

FX: We hear a wet smush as she stabs one with the garden fork. The rat shrieks in pain.

CLEO Just leave me alone…

FX: The rats swarm around her. Cleo screams as they bear down on her.

CLEO HELP ME Doctor!

The music builds into a threatening synth and ends abruptly with a distortion. Before building into a gleefully Whovian, alien symphony of synths and electric keyboard that cuts off into piano that continues under the rest of the credits.

END CREDITS Doctor Who: Redacted. Episode One, Regrets by Juno Dawson. Starring Charlie Craggs as Cleo Proctor, Lois Chimimba Abby Mcphail, Holly Quin-Ankrah Shawna Thompson, Anjli Mohindra Rani Chandra, Maggie Service Morag, Teri Ann Bobby-Baxter Esther and Sam Stafford as Ed. Directed by Bethany Weimers, Producer James Goss, Sound design by Rob Harvey, Original Composition by David Devereux. A BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.