Investigators of Infernal Incidents
Part of the Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Play series, Jago & Litefoot is a spin-off featuring the hugely popular duo from the 1977 Fourth Doctor story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. The series started life as a Backdoor Pilot one-off release in the Companion Chronicles range, The Mahogany Murderers, which spawned a fully-dramatised range which lasted for 13 series (each consisting of a boxset of four hour-long episodes) and several special releases (including two stories in which they become the Sixth Doctor's travelling companions) before being sadly curtailed by Trevor Baxter's (Professor Litefoot) death in 2017. A final release, Jago & Litefoot Forever, served as a Grand Finale, with Litefoot being represented by previously unused recordings of Trevor Baxter. The scripts for the fourteenth series, which had been completed before Baxter passed away, were later adapted as single-reader audiobooks.Recaps are listed under Big Finish Doctor Who.
Tropes used in this series include:
- Anachronic Order: Their own series proceeds in chronological order, but some of their guest appearances happen out of sync with the main series. Their last two chronological appearances, for instance, are the Fourth Doctor adventures "The Justice of Jalxar" and "The Beast of Kravenos", taking place in the early 1900s (and released years apart).
- Big Bad: Dr. Tulp in Series 1, Gabriel Sanders in Series 2, Professor Payne in Series 3, Kempston and Hardwick in Series 4, Guinevere Godiva in Series 5, The Colonel in Series 6, Carruthers Summerton in Series 10, The Master in Series 11 and The Old One in Series 12.
- Canon Foreigner: Ellie Higson, the only regular character who didn't appear in Talons and was created specifically for the audio series.
- Cliffhanger: With the exception of Series 12, every series ends on a cliffhanger leading into the next one.
- Crossover: Leela appears in Series 3 & 4 (as well as a cameo in Series 7 and Forever), and the Sixth Doctor also appears in Series 4, setting up the special Voyages of Jago & Litefoot releases. Additionally, a special release paired Jago & Litefoot with Strax the Sontaran, and Series 11 featured The Master as the Big Bad. Jago & Litefoot also appear in two Fourth Doctor Adventures and The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure, all of which are set chronologically after the end of their own series.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The series acknowledges the many flaws of the 19th century, with characters often using certain phrases that would be considered offensive by modern audiences or having certain beliefs that would be patronising at best. Both Jago and Litefoot occasionally enter Politically Incorrect Hero territory, though not to the same extent as in their debut episode and even when they do it's made clear that they are exceptionally brave men that are pretty progressive for their era.
- Experienced Protagonist: The Backdoor Pilot is set a few years after Talons with both Jago and Litefoot having already developed a reputation for dealing with the things ordinary people can't handle.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Series 5 moves the setting to 1968, due to the Sixth Doctor mistakenly bringing Jago and Litefoot to this era after some adventures in the TARDIS. While Ellie, who as The Ageless is still alive, is able to help them find gainful employment, both Jago and Litefoot adapt to the decade differently. While Jago longs for his own time and feels more out of place in this decade, Litefoot is far more appreciative of all the advances in society and technology, though he does agree that he would prefer to be in his own time.
- Good Old Ways: "The Age of Revolution" is about a society wishing to brainwash Britain into having what they consider to be traditional Victorian values, even dressing in Victorian clothing when at their meetings, in reaction to the moral and society changes of The '60s. Jago and Litefoot, being Fish out of Temporal Water in this story, are quick to point out how the society and their leader Colonel Mandrake have a romanticised view of that era, ignoring everything that was bad about it while dismissing everything that's good about 1968. Even Jago, who does agree with Mandrake a little and isn't as comfortable in 1968 as Litefooot, agrees that things like the NHS and better education make the current era better than the Victorian era.
- Historical Domain Character: Arthur Conan Doyle in The Monstrous Menagerie, and Frederick Abberline (the Chief Inspector of the London Met during the Jack the Ripper investigation) in The Wax Princess.
- Left Hanging: The final series recorded before Trevor Baxter's death ended on a cliffhanger. It was addressed in Jago & Litefoot Forever, but obviously not in the originally-intended fashion. They also announced the Series 14 Audiobook, which adapts the scripts finished for Series 14 into audiobooks read by one actor per episode, to wrap up the series properly.
- Mundanger: Despite initial appearances, The Bellova Devil features no science fiction or fantasy elements whatsoever and it's actually a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax. Until the final moments strongly imply that the hoaxer's father really is undead.
- Name and Name: Not just the series itself, but many of the individual episodes - "Litefoot & Sanders", "Jago & Litefoot & Patsy", "Higson & Quick", "Jago & Litefoot & Strax", "Jago & Son" and finally "Benjamin & Baxter", a behind-the-scenes documentary on the two stars.
- Pilot: The Mahogany Murderers is retroactively considered this. (Though given that it contained a blatant Sequel Hook it's obvious they planned at least a follow-up story.)
- Retraux: The CD cases are meant to look like old, leather-bound books.
- Sequel Episode: Series 5 is a sequel to the characters' original television appearance, and the events of Talons also play a part in Series 13.
- Sherlock Homage: Much like in Weng-Chiang the setting and tone of the audios bring to mind Sherlock Holmes though with a more supernatural angle. Jago at one point insists that Holmes and Watson are based on himself and Litefoot, though when they later meet Arthur Conan Doyle this isn't brought up. Hilariously in the story when they meet Doyle, they have to disguise themselves as Holmes and Watson, getting into a brief argument over who would fit the role of Holmes best.
- Vacation Episode: Series 9 involves Jago & Litefoot going on a cruise.
- The Watson: Out of the two, Jago serves as this though whenever they interact with the Doctor both are in this role like in Weng-Chiang
