With inexplicable electrical problems keeping the lighthouse from maintaining a steady beam, a foolhardy ship crashes against the island rocks. Four shaken and discontent survivors join the people inside where the Doctor surmises they're all being carefully scrutinized, a prelude to an attack.
HORROR OF FANG ROCK BY: TERRANCE DICKS Part Two Running time: 24:10 [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Too late, she's struck. LEELA: They will all die, then. REUBEN: If there's any survivors, we'll find them on the east crag. [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Keep that siren going, mister. Hey, Vince! Bring that DOCTOR: (to Leela) Keep that siren going. [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Bring that rope, mister. REUBEN (OOV.): Bring that rope! [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Ahoy! VINCE: She's on again now. REUBEN: Damned electricity. Wouldn't happen with oil. Ahoy! DOCTOR: No, I don't suppose it would. It seems to need electricity. [SCENE_BREAK] PALMERDALE: Why did it take you so long? We were nearly killed on those rocks! VINCE: You'll be all right, sir. Come over to the stove and dry yourself out. REUBEN: We was going to throw. No cause for jumping like that. SKINSALE: Oh, his Lordship was anxious to get ashore. REUBEN: See to the young lady, Vince. PALMERDALE: Oh, get me a brandy. VINCE: Here, ma'am, let me help you. ADELAIDE: Thank you. REUBEN: Well, get her a blanket, boy. ADELAIDE: Oh no, I'm all right, really. PALMERDALE: Well I ain't. I'm soaked to the skin. SKINSALE: Ah, but sea water's healthy, Henry. PALMERDALE: I need a drink. Catch my death like this. Get me a brandy, young fella. VINCE: You don't need no brandy, sir. Hot soup's the ticket for you. PALMERDALE: Don't tell me what I need. Dammit, hasn't anyone a flask round here? REUBEN: You see to them, Vince. I'd better get up to that lamp. VINCE: Here, ma'am. Come over to the stove and get warm. Excuse me, sir. ADELAIDE: Thank you. What's your name? VINCE: Hawkins. Vince Hawkins. ADELAIDE: Thank you, Hawkins. [SCENE_BREAK] DOCTOR: What was it like? LEELA: I could not see clearly. It shone like, like a fungus in the forest. DOCTOR: Luminous. Do you think you could show me the spot? LEELA: Yes. Yes, I think so. Don't tell the others. We don't want to start a panic. REUBEN: What do you reckon be going on, mister? DOCTOR: When I find out, I'll let you know. REUBEN: I wouldn't try to find out. Tain't wise. LEELA: What do you mean? REUBEN: Reckon I know what you've seen. They always said the Beast of Fang Rock would be back. DOCTOR: The Beast of Fang Rock. REUBEN: Aye. [SCENE_BREAK] PALMERDALE: Look, I need some dry clothes and I need them now. VINCE: All in good time, sir. Just give the young lady some soup then I'll attend to you. PALMERDALE: I'll catch my death of cold standing around like this. SKINSALE: You shouldn't be so impulsive, Henry. PALMERDALE: When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. What about brandy? Well, surely in the medical supplies you keep brandy. VINCE: No liquor allowed in a lighthouse, sir. Against regulations. PALMERDALE: Oh, to hell with the regulations! DOCTOR: Where's Harker, your coxswain? PALMERDALE: He stayed behind to secure the boat. DOCTOR: I'll wait. SKINSALE: He'll, er, he'll be up directly. DOCTOR: Good. SKINSALE: It was his seamanship got us ashore. DOCTOR: And whose seamanship was it got you on the rocks? PALMERDALE: Are you in charge here? DOCTOR: No, but I'm full of ideas. VINCE: Beg pardon, sir. Time I stoked the boiler. DOCTOR: Yes, of course, Vince. Off you go. Leela? LEELA: Yes? DOCTOR: You'd better go with him. LEELA: Yes, Doctor. ADELAIDE: So, you're a doctor? DOCTOR: Yes. ADELAIDE: And you send women to stoke boilers? DOCTOR: One of the keepers was electrocuted earlier this evening, and since then Vince doesn't like going down there. SKINSALE: Yes, disturbing thing for a young fellow, first sight of death. I remember in India PALMERDALE: Not one of your army stories, Jimmy. They're even more boring than your House of Commons anecdotes. DOCTOR: Just a moment! We haven't been introduced. SKINSALE: Oh. Well, this is Miss Lessedge, Lord Parmerdale's secretary. The wet gentleman is Lord Palmerdale, the financier. I'm Skinsale, the member for Thurley, Doctor er. DOCTOR: Where were you heading? SKINSALE: What? DOCTOR: When your yacht struck? PALMERDALE: Southampton. I've a special train waiting to take me to London, and I must be there before the 'Change opens. ADELAIDE: If only we'd stayed in Deauville none of this would have happened. PALMERDALE: We had a little flutter at the casino, though in Jimmy's case it was more of a plunge, what? SKINSALE: Oh, I don't know. You lost your yacht. PALMERDALE: Insured. DOCTOR: What about the rest of the crew? Were any other boats launched? SKINSALE: We didn't wait to see. His Lordship was in rather a hurry to leave the sinking ship. PALMERDALE: It's imperative that I reach London before the market opens. SKINSALE: Oh, is that the reason DOCTOR: Ah, you want to get to London? PALMERDALE: Yes! Yes. DOCTOR: You've no chance in this fog. SKINSALE: (laughs) The wheel of fortune, eh, Henry? PALMERDALE: What? SKINSALE: Perhaps you didn't win all you thought at the casino. [SCENE_BREAK] LEELA: Listen. VINCE: What? I don't hear nothing, miss. LEELA: There! Something's being dragged over the rocks. VINCE: Ben. He'll be coming back, coming back for us. LEELA: Go up and tell the Doctor to come down, and do not let the others know. Go and get the Doctor. Do not tell the others. Here, give me that instrument. Go! LEELA: Do not move! HARKER: What? LEELA: I said, do not move. DOCTOR: It's all right, Leela, he's a friend, aren't you, Harker. HARKER: Yes, sir. Oh, poor wretch. LEELA: What is it? DOCTOR: It's all that's left of Ben. Where did you find him, Harker? HARKER: In the sea, sir. Came floating in as I was tying up. What the sea can do to a man. DOCTOR: It wasn't the sea that did that. HARKER: What, sir? DOCTOR: There's some hot soup in the crew room, Harker. HARKER: Right. DOCTOR: The others are already there. DOCTOR: Quick, get that door closed. LEELA: Do you think the beast ate him? DOCTOR: What beast? LEELA: The Beast of Fang Rock. DOCTOR: There's no such animal. LEELA: But Reuben said there was. DOCTOR: Leela, the people round here have been fisher folk for generations. They're almost as primitive and as superstition-ridden as your lot are. LEELA: So how do you explain the body? DOCTOR: Post-mortem. LEELA: What is that? DOCTOR: Something wants to make a detailed study of human anatomy. VINCE (OOV.): Doctor? DOCTOR: Quick, get it out. VINCE: You there, Doctor? DOCTOR: Yes, I'm here, Vince. VINCE: You found out what that noise was? LEELA: Yes, it was only Harker. He was carrying Ben's body. VINCE: So it's true. He was walking. LEELA: Oh, do not be stupid, Vince. I told you before, the dead do not walk. VINCE: He must have been to have got out there in the first place. LEELA: I don't know how he got outside, but he did not walk! [SCENE_BREAK] PALMERDALE: You secured the boat safely? HARKER: Yes. PALMERDALE: Good. When you've rested, we'll make for the mainland. SKINSALE: Are you mad? PALMERDALE: I've made up my mind. It's the only way. SKINSALE: It's out of the question, Henry. Good Lord, in this fog? PALMERDALE: It can be no more than five or six miles. A seaman like Harker would have no trouble. SKINSALE: Reason with him, Adelaide. Make him see sense. PALMERDALE: You can stay here or do as you wish, but my mind is quite set. HARKER: So is mine. I'm not taking a boat out in this. PALMERDALE: What's that? HARKER: Not after what I've seen tonight, and that's flat. PALMERDALE: Damn your insolence! You're an employee. You'll do as you're told. HARKER: Will I? SKINSALE: Hang him from the yardarm, Henry. It's mutiny. [SCENE_BREAK] VINCE: You said he was dead. How did he get in the sea? DOCTOR: Obviously I was wrong. The shock simply stunned him, he partly recovered, staggered out onto the rocks, fell into the sea and was drowned. You get on about your work, Vince. There's nothing supernatural going on round here. VINCE: Well, I saw him. He weren't breathing, that I swear. DOCTOR: Electricity has strange effects, Vince. VINCE: Oh. Electricity. DOCTOR: Hmm. VINCE: I'm sorry, sir. I reckon I made a bit of a fool of myself just now. DOCTOR: That's all right, Vince. LEELA: Why did you not tell him the truth? DOCTOR: Because I don't know what the truth is, yet. [SCENE_BREAK] PALMERDALE: As I see it, the accident was entirely due to the inefficiency of the lighthouse service. SKINSALE: My dear fellow PALMERDALE: So they have the responsibility of seeing I reach the mainland. SKINSALE: That argument won't wash, Henry. You can't possibly blame the lighthouse people. ADELAIDE: His Lordship is right. If the light had been working SKINSALE: We would still have hit the rocks at the speed we were travelling. HARKER: You're right there, sir. We should have been going dead slow in them conditions. Weren't Captain's fault, neither. PALMERDALE: That's enough, Harker. The fact remains that the light was not working. Oh, there'll be an enquiry, I assure you. DOCTOR: The inquiry's already begun. Move over. SKINSALE: What inquiry? What are you talking about? DOCTOR: Just you stay here, all of you. Harker, you try and get some rest. SKINSALE: He speaks with an amazing air of authority. I wonder who the devil he is? PALMERDALE: If you ask me, I don't think he's quite (taps his head) Those eyes. ADELAIDE: The girl is very strange, too. SKINSALE: I don't know about strange, but she's not a bad looker. ADELAIDE: Perfectly grotesque, in my view. Were you a long time in India, Colonel? SKINSALE: Long enough, my dear, to learn to appreciate nature. ADELAIDE: Lord Palmerdale, as we seem compelled to spend the night in this frightful place, do you think there's a private room where I might sleep? PALMERDALE: How should I know? Fat chance I have of sleeping tonight with a fortune slipping through my fingers. SKINSALE: Well, if this contraption works, I'll see what the proprietors have to say. [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Ahoy there. What is it? (listens) There's bunks in the sleeping quarters. She's welcome to any of them. REUBEN: Trouble with the gentry, they always want running after. VINCE: Here, Reuben. REUBEN: What? VINCE: Someone down there. Look. See them lights? REUBEN: I reckon it's that Doctor and his girl. VINCE: No call for them to be out there. REUBEN: Can't say I didn't warn 'em. I told them. VINCE: What about? REUBEN: The Beast. VINCE: Oh, that old tale. REUBEN: More than a tale, boy. That girl saw it tonight. I heard her telling the Doctor. Shining, she said it was, just like they reckon. VINCE: She couldn't have seen it. REUBEN: Last time that beast was seen on Fang Rock, eighty year ago now, two men died that very same night. [SCENE_BREAK] LEELA: Somewhere around here. DOCTOR: What? A strong electrical field. Strong enough to kill a man on contact. Interesting. Probably explains the phosphorescent glow. And fish at a distance of several yards. LEELA: What? What do you think it is, Doctor. DOCTOR: I don't know what it is, Leela. I think it's desperate and I think it's cunning, and I think it's time we were getting back. [SCENE_BREAK] SKINSALE: Well, I think Adelaide should settle now. PALMERDALE: Oh, splendid. That's the main thing, isn't it, that my secretary should sleep. SKINSALE: You'd do well to get some yourself. PALMERDALE: Here, in this hovel? SKINSALE: It's quite a snug little bivouac. I've slept in worse places than this in the army. PALMERDALE: Ah, but that was before you resigned and went into politics. Acquired a taste for high living then, didn't you. SKINSALE: What, feeling a little frustrated, old chap, are you? PALMERDALE: Why the hell shouldn't I when I've been cheated like this? SKINSALE: I kept my side of the bargain. I gave you the information you wanted. I was a fool and a scoundrel, but I did it, and you tore up my IOUs. PALMERDALE: What use is your blasted information if I can do nothing with it? SKINSALE: Quite. Rather amusing, isn't it? PALMERDALE: I could still expose you. SKINSALE: Yes, but if the information's never used, where's the proof I ever gave it? And you're forgetting something else. PALMERDALE: What? SKINSALE: I'm an officer and a gentleman, Henry. You're a nobody, a jumped-up little money-grabber for all your title. Besmirch my good name and I'll sue you for every penny you've got. So goodnight to you. [SCENE_BREAK] LEELA: Do you thing the creature will come back? DOCTOR: I do. I think he was taking Ben's body away for examination when you saw it. LEELA: Into the sea? DOCTOR: Under the sea. Earlier tonight Vince saw what he called a fireball fall into the sea not far away. LEELA: Another TARDIS. DOCTOR: Not another TARDIS. A spaceship, perhaps. Yes, an alien creature which has never before encountered human beings might just behave that way. LEELA: But why come here? There's nothing on this foggy rock. DOCTOR: There's electricity. Perhaps that's what attracted it. LEELA: An alien creature DOCTOR: Yes. LEELA: Travelling through space DOCTOR: Yes. LEELA: And yet desperate, you said. Why? DOCTOR: Yes. Just a minute. It's behaviour pattern is furtive. LEELA: What is furtive? DOCTOR: That means it keeps out of sight while it spies out the land, hoping to mount a successful attack. LEELA: Then we are not facing an enemy that is bold. DOCTOR: No, but cunning. I don't think this fog's a freak of the weather. LEELA: What are you talking about? DOCTOR: I think it's been contrived to isolate us. That creature, or whatever it is, will be getting bolder by now. It's seen this primitive technology, it's had time to calculate the physical strength of its enemies. I think we're in terrible trouble. LEELA: Do not be afraid, Doctor. If what you say is true, we must arm ourselves and post guards. DOCTOR: What about the others? They'll think we're mad if we start talking about creatures from outer space. LEELA: But we're from space. We're not of this Earth. DOCTOR: Shush. Don't tell them that, whatever you do. What do you mean, do not be afraid. [SCENE_BREAK] PALMERDALE: (quietly) Wake up, man. Wake up. HARKER: What? PALMERDALE: (quietly) Will you wake up? HARKER: What is it? What do you want? PALMERDALE: (quietly) Can you use a Morse apparatus? HARKER: Of course I can. Can I what? PALMERDALE: (quietly) Use a Morse telegraphic apparatus like that one over there. HARKER: Of course I can. PALMERDALE: (quietly) Good. Now, I want you to send a coded message for me. It's to be passed on to my brokers in London. HARKER: Send a message? What for? PALMERDALE: (quietly) That's none of your business. Just do as I tell you. It's a business matter. There's a great deal of money involved. HARKER: Money? PALMERDALE: (quietly) Oh, don't worry, you'll be handsomely rewarded. I had urgent reasons for getting back to London. Vital business affairs. This will have to do instead. HARKER: I remember. You was mad to get back to England. PALMERDALE: Was I? HARKER: I remember on the bridge, when the fog was coming down, Captain begging for permission to slow down, you telling him full ahead and damn the consequences. He should have slowed her, ignored you anyway. PALMERDALE: It was his duty to obey my orders. HARKER: He was old and weak. He was scared he'd never get another ship. PALMERDALE: Do as I tell you and you'll be well paid. HARKER: And when she struck it was get the owner away and the owner's fancy woman and the owner's fine friend. Never mind the poor sailors. PALMERDALE: I'll have no more of this. There's no time. HARKER: They're dead because of you. PALMERDALE: Harker, get off! SKINSALE: Don't be such a damn fool, man. Harker! DOCTOR: Let go, Harker! HARKER: There are good seamen dead because of you! You deserve to die. DOCTOR: Come on, sit down. Sit down. All that can wait. Gentlemen, I've got news for you. This lighthouse is under attack, and by morning we might all be dead. Anyone interested? [SCENE_BREAK] REUBEN: Time that boiler was stoked, boy. VINCE: 'Ere, Reuben. You don't really think what happened before, back in the twenties, you don't really think it's happening again, do you? REUBEN: There's three of us, there were three of them. Two dead and one mad, and Ben's dead, isn't he? Boiler, boy. Hey, you're shaking too much to lift a shovel. You stay here, boy. I'll do it. VINCE: If you're sure. I'll do it if you like. [SCENE_BREAK] DOCTOR: Understand this. No one, but no one, is to leave this lighthouse for any reason. Is that clear? PALMERDALE: No, it's not clear. Mysterious mumbo-jumbo. Just what is this threat that's supposed to be lurking outside? REUBEN: You've seen it, then. The Beast's back. SKINSALE: What beast? REUBEN: There's always death on this rock when the Beast's about. PALMERDALE: Preposterous rubbish. What is the fool saying? REUBEN: I'm saying it's happened before, it'll happen again. PALMERDALE: Superstitious idiot. If we're expected to take notice of some fisherman's tale LEELA: Silence! You will do as the Doctor instructs, or I will cut out your heart. DOCTOR: You heard what she said. LEELA: Doctor, it's getting cold again. DOCTOR: Are you sure? LEELA: Yes. Last time it came like this, like a cold wave. DOCTOR: I believe you're right. SKINSALE: I don't feel anything. DOCTOR: Leela's senses are particularly acute, and if she says it's getting colder, it's getting colder! ADELAIDE: What's going on? SKINSALE: Nothing for you to worry about, Adelaide. ADELAIDE: I don't understand. Lord Palmerdale, what is happening? PALMERDALE: Nothing, my dear. Absolutely nothing is happening here. SKINSALE: What the devil is that?
Horror of Fang Rock - part 2