The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 36 - Doom

The four men sat around the table at the Hyperion restaurant. There was a wonderful view of the waterfront, but none of them were looking. There was a palpable air of doom hanging, a dark cloud hovering over them that made waiters reluctant to approach.

Paul Bernard read the letter for the third time, and then passed it to Barry Letts. Letts didn't need to read it. He had memorized it. They all had.

Paul Bernard sighed heavily and rubbed his face. The others stared fixedly at the table.

"Well..." said David Burton, finally, heavily, "well... what do we do now."

Ian Levine looked back and forth among their faces, searching for signs of hope.

Barry Letts grunted.

"Nothing," Letts said. "We've been fucked."

If anything, the bleak mood around the table worsened. Letts was well known for his mildness. His use of blunt terms, even after his now legendary meltdown, was still shocking.

"It's not so bad," David Burton said, "prospects for a second season look good. That door is open."

"We have to get to that point first," Bernard replied. "We can't make our airdates. If we don't make our airdates, then we are in breach of contract, if we are in breach of contract, they'll freeze our payables. If they freeze our payables, then we are bankrupt. End of story. Even if we somehow escape bankruptcy, then we're still screwed, the BBC's not going to give a second season to a company that it's in a major breach of contract dispute with."

"We can't make the airdates for Volcano," Letts said bleakly. "We just can't."

"What if we hired extra staff for the post-production, put in overtime, accelerated the schedule. Bumped weekends, evenings," Levine said.

Letts shook his head. "Even working round the clock, which will cost us money we don't have, we'd come up a few days short. And where would we get the moneyl anyway? We've both seen the budgets, we're swimming in red ink right now. We're deep in the hole, we're maxing out lines of credit, and that credit is secured by bridge financing, which is contingent on the BBC providing its contractual funds on time. Which they will not, if we miss an airdate, and they will not let us reschedule. If the BBC holds up its money, we're sunk."

"What about BBC Enterprises," David Burton asked. "If we can come through with a license deal with them, then that'll give us money. Or at least it will let us secure financing."

"They're dangling us on a string," Bernard said bitterly. "Won't say yes, won't say no, there's just a perpetual round of meetings over the MOU."

"So that's it," Letts said, pushing his empty wine class out to arms length on the table. "Game over. Hire yourselves lawyers, gentlemen, we may need them."

"There's no chance at all," Burton asked, "of meeting the airdates. Even if we had a week's extension?"

"A week's extension, certainly," Letts said. "I can have it ready for August 31. But they won't give it to us. If we can't make the August 24 airdate, it's over."

"So all we need is something to run on August 24?" Burton said hopefully. "What about that stuff we shot in Vienna?"

"Too short," Bernard said, "by far. And we've already run Vienna, 1913."

"Maybe do a rerun then?" Burton said. "One of our old episodes."

"Old episodes? It's all the same season. There's nothing to rerun, and our contract would preclude recycling."

"Maybe slap together a documentary? We have a lot of footage. Put up some talking heads, jazz it up."

"The BBC wouldn't swallow that for a minute."