A call from Ace brings the Doctor and Mags to early 1990s London, where Australian freelance handyman Rufus confides his discovery of a bipedal bat-like creature, imprisoned beneath a remote mansion.
That night, infiltration reveals a meeting of the aristocratic Feratu, whose annual ritual depends on their otherworldly prisoner, who, freed by Mags, is then sought by an affiliated, rather more sinister, organisation...
Tropes
- Awesome Aussie: Rufus’s robust capability has surprisingly dark depths, having painfully desensitized his vampiric body on centuries’ earlier exile to the prevalent Australian sun.
- Baker Street Regular: The fringe social circles of Camden know of the Doctor by reputation, and may be able to shed some light on a dispute between vampiric clans.
- Bizarre Alien Senses: Rufus finds the Doctor by a “chemical tracker” installed in the bloodstream via soda water.
- Bookcase Passage: A stately property acquired by the Doctor has a fireplace variant, installed by Robert Smithson.
- Call-Forward: Rufus identifies Ace by a faint aura identified as residual Artron Energy, “the sweet smell of TARDIS travel”.
- A spare TARDIS key is kept in the cubbyyhole above the “p”.
- Celebrity Paradox:The Doctor: I used to know a person who put ferrets down his trousers...
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Rufus’s initial impression of the Doctor.
- Continuity Nod: Several to "The State of Decay".
- Empathic Shapeshifter: The Sin Eater may adopt the form of those with whom she comes into contact. The Feratu use her to suppress their vampiric tendencies.
- Expy: Verona Springs, product of a station owned by Rufus, evokes Neighbours and Home and Away. The Sin Eater, having adopted the form of Mags, quickly takes to it.
- Innocent Bigot: Ace inadvertently equates Mags’s ordeal on Segonax with animal rights concerns, but quickly apologises when Mags gently corrects her.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Rufus is “somewhere on the vampiric spectrum”.
- Looks Like Orlok: The ancient, extensive Ferat family, who once a year “revert to type,” are said to resemble humanoid bats.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: To An American Werewolf in London.
- Shapeshifter Identity Crisis: When disguised as Mags, the Sin Eater despairs on revelation of her true identity.
- Shout-Out:
- Ace follows Brookie. Her future friend Hex bears a strong resemblance to Tim "Tinhead" O'Leary…
- A pub called the The World's End.
- The Feratu fondly reminisce of Christopher Lee.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Over the centuries, the Feratu passed “Genetic Markers” into humanity, which, on exposure via Rufus’s Hexicone Receivers to Gamma 2 5 radiation, will mutate much of the UK and Australia into vampires.
- Technology Uplift: Hexicone Receiver satellite dishes, installed by Rufus’s Gamma 2 5 television station, convert terrestrial background radiation into Gamma 2 5 radiation.
- The Virus: Vampirism, characterised as such, is reversible, to Ace’s relief.
