When the police force in London suddenly comes down with nasty boils and lesions, Professor Litefoot decides to investigate. Jago, meanwhile, slips on an odd substance while preparing for a job interview and ends up in a very shady little hospital. By the time he gets back to the Red Tavern, wearing nothing but a hospital gown and his jacket, Litefoot is already knee-deep in the investigation... which is significantly sidetracked when Jago suddenly turns to kill Litefoot. And breaks his neck under a cart-wheel when Litefoot sidesteps the attack.
Litefoot taken it upon himself to perform the autopsy on Jago, asking the constable to leave him alone. It turns out to be a double-bluff: the thing on his slab isn't Jago, but a wooden simulacrum with Dr. Tulp's consciousness inside it. Tulp finally perfected his automatons, allowing for free movement of the mind between the dolls and real bodies, and plans to use them in order to replace the British government. Litefoot, with some belated help from the bumbling constable, simply uses the tried and trusted method of setting said Jago doll on fire.
Meanwhile, Jago and fellow sick person PC Smitty are still at that old hospital, where they discover Dr. Tulp's setup. Jago falls into the machine and rather suddenly finds himself inside a singed wooden doll on Litefoot's slab. The two communicate with some difficulty, and Litefoot hurries over to the hospital to go save his friend.
Dr. Tulp, in the end, turns out to be a medium — much like Mrs Vanguard, he taps into knowledge of the future by going into a deep trance. Using technology on hand in the 19th century, he managed to build a rudimentary Steampunk computer system and discovered the benefits of uranium. He plans to make a better society by giving his own era advancements they would eventually reach in future times. With himself at the top, of course, and the poor working class left to die horrific deaths of uranium poisoning. However, his comminication with the future has caused his own body to rot. As soon as Jago and Litefoot convince Tulp's man-servant of just how much of a bastard Tulp is, the doctor is unable to operate his own machinery due to the consumption of his limbs and digits, and he's dispersed off without too much trouble.
Back at the pub, Litefoot is cued in to another mysterious events: a body found in the river, completely drained of blood. This looks like a job for Litefoot and... Sanders?
Tropes
- Cliffhanger: The story ends with a bit of audience teasing, with Litefoot saying it's a job for himself and Sanders. It was just a joke, except the writers actually forgot to tell Christopher and Trevor until they'd already read the script... leaving Christopher with the impression he was being written out!
- Eldritch Abomination: The... thing that latched onto Tulp in his mental journeys through time, which is gradually taking over his body.
- Grand Finale: For the plot since "The Mahogany Murderers".
- Mental Time Travel: The secret of Tulp's information from the future and anachronistic technology is his ability to do this.
- Red Right Hand: Tulp's fingers have turned into pale, worm-like things.
- Sequel Hook: For season 2.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Although Toby Longworth goes on a good long while in the CD extras about his love for doing accents, his Dr. Tulp doesn't sound even remotely Dutch. Or German. Or... anything.
