Prior to her secret assignment to join the Doctor in his search for the Key to Time, inquisitive Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar wanders into the long-abandoned vaults beneath the Capitol on Gallifrey. Before she is discovered there by a concerned Cardinal Braxiatel, Romana hears a voice speaking to her, offering a promise of future power and demanding that she keep this chance encounter a secret. And the voice says a word: Imperiatrix.
Many hundreds of years (and one regeneration) later, President Romana of the High Council of Time Lords is instituting sweeping changes to Gallifreyan society. For the first time ever, students from the various time-aware powers are being admitted to Gallifrey’s august Academy. Capital punishment and even most forms of imprisonment have been abolished. But one prisoner remains: Andred, the former head of the Chancellery Guard (and Leela’s husband), awaits trial for the crimes he committed in the persona of Free Time agent Torvald. He insists that he is no longer Torvald, but he also refuses to divulge Free Time’s secrets to anyone who asks.
Distraught over the revelation that Andred is alive, but now an enemy of the Time Lords, Leela and her K-9 unit wander into the vaults. The voice that once spoke to Romana speaks to Leela, and then she disappears without a trace. K-9 summons help from Romana’s K-9, and when Romana visits the vaults again for the first time in many years, she finds Leela alive and well, believing that the voice is that of a ghostly spirit. The voice remembers Romana as well, and even introduces her to her first incarnation. But in whatever form Romana takes, the voice knows her by another name: Imperiatrix, a dark legend of a female President of the Time Lords who, with the help of her alien bodyguard, sought to declare war on all of time and space from her home base on Gallifrey.
written by Gary Russell
directed by Gary Russell
music by David DarlingtonCast: Lalla Ward (President Romana), Louise Jameson (Leela), John Leeson (K9), Mary Tamm (Romana), Lynda Bellingham (Inquisitor Prime Darkel), Miles Richardson (Cardinal Braxiatel), Sean Carlsen (Coordinator Narvin), Andy Coleman (Commander Torvald), Ian Hallard (Castellan Wynter), Trevor Littledale (The Archivist), Barbara Longman (Pandora)
Notes: Apparently the office of Castellan is not the singular position that it seemed to be in TV Doctor Who; there are numerous references to there being more than one Castellan in office simultaneously (unless it is customary to refer to retired past Castellans by that title without adding “former,” as in the case of former American Presidents). Maxil is among the Castellans mentioned; though he is only mentioned and doesn’t appear, that character, last seen in the 1983 Doctor Who story Arc Of Infinity, was played by future Doctor Colin Baker.
Timeline: all of the Gallifrey audios take place sometime after the Doctor Who audio Zagreus.
LogBook entry by Earl Green