PART THREE
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Original air date: 28th December, 1988
Run time: 24:30
Stone chamber
Mags: It's weird. I don't understand.
The Doctor: Oh, nasty little booby trap, that. That is, if it is a booby trap. Still, there's certainly no way forward.
Mags: Is it a well?
The Doctor: One way to find out.
The Doctor: That eye, I've seen it before. Of course, it was on the kites at the entrance hall. Fascinating. Somehow, somewhere down there is the answer to all that's going on at the Psychic Circus.
Captain: Ahem. Awfully sorry to butt in like this, old boy, but I'm afraid you're wanted. You're the next one due on in the ring.
Mags: Why did you bring them here?
Captain: Survival of the fittest, old girl. Don't tell me you never came across that on the planet Vulpana?
The Doctor: But we were on the edge of discovering the secret of the Psychic Circus. Doesn't that interest you at all?
Captain: Frankly, no, old chap. Anyway, what's going on seems pretty clear to me. Anybody dumb enough to get into the ring gets k*lled.
Workshop
Ace: Just because I said I don't like them, doesn't mean I'm scared of clowns, okay? Got that, tinhead? I said, got that, tinhead?
Bellboy: Oh, I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened. I must have fallen asleep.
Ace: We've met before. Don't you remember me?
Outside the stone chamber
Captain: Mags, now please. Not now. Not yet!
Big Top
Mom: I don't think much of this, Father.
Dad: Nothing's happening, is it.
Mom: Not that I can see.
Girl: Mum, Mum!
Mom: What is it?
Girl: I'm bored.
Dad: There's no point in going on, dear. We're all bored. Something has to happen soon.
Backstage
Captain: After all I've done for you, the Doctor gets away and you and I are going back to the guardroom.
Mags: You were lucky.
Captain: Yes, I suppose you're right. I'm still in one piece. You would have given us the full works. Still, the old team of Mags and the Captain stuck together as usual. As a matter of fact, it reminded me of that time of Fagiros, when the Architrave of Batgeld was showing me his early collection of Ganglion pottery...
Ticket office
The Doctor: Of course, of course.
The Doctor: Things are beginning to get out of control quicker than I expected.
Deadbeat: No, no.
The Doctor: Fun for all the family? I don't know how they've got the nerve.
Workshop
Bellboy: Oh, my Flowerchild. They m*rder*d you with a robot I made.
Ace: You're sure that's what happened?
Bellboy: There can be no doubt. Every robot, every clown in the circus I made and maintained, for this. And even now they won't let me die. They need me.
Ace: You mean you're the only one who knows how?
Bellboy: Each of us, each of us in the circus, we all had one circus skill we learned, and mine was this.
Ace: This control unit's brill.
Bellboy: Have it.
Ace: Really?
Bellboy: Yes. It controls that, and the full scale version I made.
Bellboy: Careful. That activates the laser eyes. It was to have been my masterpiece, but like everything else it was, it was abused and went wrong. We had such high ideals when we started. We shared everything and we enjoyed making people happy. If we had a problem we'd all just sit round and talk it through. Oh, we were so happy. At least, I think we were.
Backstage
The Doctor: Hello, Deadbeat. Fancy meeting you here. Small world, isn't it. It frightened you to see that eye, didn't it. It means the powers behind it are on the move again. Something happened to you here. You haven't always been like this. Did you try and find something out? Were you punished? Can you understand anything I'm saying? Well, there's one thing I do know, Deadbeat. You're not going to give me away to the others. Are you?
Deadbeat: I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
The Doctor: Lead on, Deadbeat.
Big Top
Dad: You know, I could get quite cross about this.
Cage
Whizzkid: Oh wow, is that Captain Cook, the famous intergalactic explorer and...
Clown: Quiet. Where's the Doctor?
Captain: He gave us the slip.
Clown: He did what?
Captain: He gave us the slip. A similar thing happened to me in the Bay of Paranoia on Golobus.
Clown: I don't care what happened on Golobus.
Captain: Your loss, old boy. Anyway, it was all her fault.
Mags: Hang on a minute.
Captain: I imagine you'll have to put her into the ring next as some sort of punishment.
Clown: No.
Captain: Oh, found someone else, have you?
Clown: Yes.
Captain: Really. May I enquire who?
Clown: You.
Whizzkid: Excuse me, but you are Captain Cook the famous intergalactic explorer. I've got maps at home showing all your journeys and a piece of one of your old shoes I bought in a souvenir shop...
Captain: Will you leave me alone!
Ticket office
Ringmaster: Hey, hey, Morgana, Morgana. Hey, baby, you were long gone.
Morgana: Look. It's here, now.
Ringmaster: What do you mean?
Morgana: What we found. What we serve. It'll always be here now, waiting for us to...
Ringmaster: Don't come with all that now.
Morgana: Don't pretend you don't see it!
Ringmaster: Look, I've got an empty circus tent in there right now. I don't want to talk about anything else.
Morgana: Well, send in another act.
Ringmaster: I will, baby, just as soon as I can.
Clown: The Doctor's escaped. Your idiot of a Captain failed us.
Ringmaster: All right, send him in the ring.
Clown: It's arranged already, but I'm more worried about the Doctor. He's dangerous.
Ringmaster: Well, let's go find him, then.
Clown: I'll go find him. You get back in the ring.
Ringmaster: Hey, just a minute, man...
Morgana: Quiet, both of you! Look, it's showing him to us.
Ringmaster: But he's with Deadbeat.
Clown: Then he must be stopped at once.
Workshop
Bellboy: Oh, the kites she made, beautiful kites, every colour of the rainbow. All different shapes and sizes. And they use them to watch us and trap us and keep us here. So they destroyed her work and then they destroyed her.
Ace: It'll be all right, Bellboy. I'll get you out of here.
Bellboy: Why should I want to get out of here? It's gone. The fun, freedom of being what you want to be, all of it. Don't you understand?
Ace: Yes. Look, I'm sorry. We can't stay here forever, can we. I've got to find the Doctor for a start.
Bellboy: They took everything that was bright and good about what we had, and buried it where it will never be found again.
Ace: I don't understand. Who's they?
Bellboy: The ones who run the circus. The ones you've met. There wasn't just them, there was some. There was.
Bellboy: Flowerchild and, and Peacepipe, and Juniperberry, and, and Deadbeat. No, he wasn't Deadbeat then, he was er, he was, he was. It's gone.
Ace: They're coming to take me to the ring, Bellboy. They may need you to repair the robots, but I'm just trouble. Making a bit of a mess of opening the door, aren't they? It can't be that difficult.
Bellboy: Oh, maybe, maybe it is the end after all.
Ace: Doctor!
The Doctor: Deadbeat, I take it all back. You're absolutely right. Clowns can be creepy.
Deadbeat: Sift the dreams in your mind.
Bellboy: King.
Deadbeat: You'll be amazed...
Bellboy: Kingpin! That was your name. Kingpin.
Cage
Captain: So you've always been interested in the Psychic Circus, have you? Sit down.
Whizzkid: Oh yes, of course.
Captain: Ah.
Whizzkid: I've never been able to visit it before now, but I've got all sorts of souvenirs. Copies of all the advertising satellites that have ever been sent out. All the posters. I had a long correspondence with one of the founder members too, soon after it started. Although I never got to see the early days, I know it's not as good as it used to be but I'm still terribly interested.
Ringmaster: Two minutes, Captain.
Captain: Thank you, Ringmaster. No doubt you dream of having the ultimate Psychic Circus experience as soon as possible.
Whizzkid: Sorry?
Captain: You ache for the moment when you can do your own act within that sawdust covered magic circle.
Whizzkid: Oh, yes, of course. I mean, there's no real danger, is there, really.
Captain: Only for those without resource or imagination or panache. I'm sure you have all those qualities.
Whizzkid: Well, I really don't know.
Captain: Come, come, dear boy, don't be so absurdly modest.
Mags: Don't listen to him.
Whizzkid: But this is one of my heroes, Captain Cook, the intergalactic space explorer.
Captain: Exactly. And shall I tell you what I'm prepared to do for you as a special favour?
Whizzkid: What?
Captain: Postpone my brief moment of glory in the ring so that you may enjoy the unforgettable experience before me, far beyond the bouncing Upas trees of Boromeo or the singing squids of Anagonia.
Whizzkid: Are you sure you can bear to let me go in first?
Captain: It is a sacrifice I am prepared to make.
Workshop
Deadbeat: The dreams. Sift the dreams. When the mind's divided the body screams.
Bellboy: Yes, some of it's coming back now. Not all of it. He was Kingpin. He was the one who persuaded us to come here. There was something he wanted, something he knew about. And we all trusted him, and...
The Doctor: Something went wrong?
Bellboy: Yes. Something went very wrong. It's this place, you see. It does things to you.
The Doctor: And a friendly hippy circus was turned into a trap for k*lling people.
Bellboy: Yes. Even our own kind. That was after Kingpin was no longer Kingpin. Something went. Something went with him and...
The Doctor: And the well?
Bellboy: What well?
The Doctor: You don't know anything about a well with an eye peering out from inside?
Bellboy: No.
Ace: An eye, like the one of Flowerchild's, like the ones on the kites.
Bellboy: No, not any more.
Deadbeat: Don't look in the well. The eye gives you promises of heaven or hell.
Ace: He's off, he's gone. I knew people like him in Perivale.
The Doctor: Listen, Ace.
Ace: What to?
The Doctor: The answers. You know what happened, don't you, Deadbeat?
Big Top
Mom: At last.
Ringmaster: Now welcome, folks. I'm sure you'd like to know we've got a brand new act for your circus show. Now welcome please with all the warmth you can, the Psychic Circus' greatest fan!
Whizzkid: This is the most exciting day of my life. My dream come true. I'm standing in the ring of the Psychic Circus.
Cage
Mags: You've sent that poor boy out to his death.
Captain: Nonsense. He may be a great success.
Captain: So it just goes to show you never can be certain.
Captain: As I said, survival of the fittest.
Workshop
The Doctor: Deadbeat, if we take you to the well, can you show us what it did?
Ace: How do you know it's not all a con, Professor?
The Doctor: Well, he brought me here to you and Bellboy. He must have done that for a purpose.
Ace: Not if your brains are that scrambled.
The Doctor: Ah, now there's something there, Ace. I saw it when he looked into the crystal ball.
Ace: You're just an aging hippy, Professor.
The Doctor: There might be something in that, yes. Anyway, we'd better be going. Bellboy?
Bellboy: Er, no.
Ace: Come on, Bellboy.
Bellboy: No, I think the chief clown will be here after you and I could delay him for a while. I'd be pleased to make myself useful.
Ace: But Bellboy?
Bellboy: You still don't understand, do you. Everything I loved has gone. There's no point in living on to do work I hate.
The Doctor: So be it, then, Bellboy. Come on, Deadbeat. Or should I call you Kingpin? We've got work to do.
Ace: Bye now, Bellboy. All the best. Oh, and er, thanks for this.
Outside the Workshop
Bellboy: Bye, Ace. Goodbye, Kingpin, Doctor.
Ticket office
Morgana: The acts will keep on coming now, we promise, and no one will ever go near the bus again. Those who remain are your servants to do with as you wish. No, I never wanted to resist your power.
Workshop
Clown: Where are they?
Bellboy: I don't know. I don't care. It's all destroyed, you know that. Oh, you were a wonderful clown once. Funny, inventive.
Clown: Quiet.
Bellboy: I'm not helping you any more, you see.
Clown: Take care, Bellboy.
Bellboy: Come on. Come on. Deal with me as you dealt with Flowerchild.
Clown: You're crazy.
Bellboy: Come on. Come on! Come on!
Stone chamber
Deadbeat: No. I can't do it.
Ace: Come on, Kingpin. Nearly there. Hold on, please.
The Doctor: Now, Kingpin, show us what you did when you first saw the eye.
Ace: Great stuff, Kingpin.
The Doctor: He must have used that medallion to summon the powers that lurk here.
Ace: And it did this to him.
The Doctor: Yes.
Ace: I wish I had some Nitro Nine to lob down there. Hang about. The mirror here, it's an eye.
The Doctor: Yes, that eye seems to plague us everywhere, only with the eyeball removed by someone or something.
Ace: And hidden.
The Doctor: In the bus.
Ace: Where Flowerchild d*ed trying to get it.
Deadbeat: Shall be free. We shall be free. We shall be free. We shall be free.
Cage
Captain: Calm down, Mags. There'll be some more contestants along soon. We're doing very well.
Mags: That poor boy.
Captain: Us or him, Mags. And before you get too high and mighty, remember where you'd be without me. Dead with a b*llet in you on the planet Vulpana. A silver b*llet.
Mags: I know that, Captain, but you didn't do it for me, you did it for yourself. I only wish I knew what you were after.
Captain: All in good time, Mags. All in good time.
Stone chamber
The Doctor: It's so tantalising. I'm so close to understanding it all and yet so far.
Ace: So we'll have to get hold of that other bit of mirror.
The Doctor: Exactly. Now, you take Kingpin back to the bus and find it, but be careful.
Ace: Hang on a bit, Professor. This is all going a bit too fast for me. I'll fetch it, no problem, but what about you?
The Doctor: I'm going back to the ring.
Ace: Are you off your head?
The Doctor: The Psychic Circus needs acts. If they've got me then perhaps they won't worry about you two for the moment.
Ace: Sometimes I think it's you that's crazy, not Deadbeat here.
The Doctor: Anybody remotely interesting is mad in someway or another.
Big Top
Dad: I don't know where they find these acts, do you, Mother?
Mom: Never seem to get any better, do they, Father?
Backstage
The Doctor: I believe you've been looking for me. I'm wanted backstage.
Cage
The Doctor: Greetings, Captain Cook. Mags. You will be pleased to hear that the greatest act in the galaxy has returned to the fold.
Captain: Jolly good show, Doctor.
Mags: But Doctor, I helped you to escape.
The Doctor: I know, Mags, and I haven't wasted the time you bought me. And I have returned with an idea. I suggest that this time we all three work together.
Mags: Meaning?
The Doctor: Up to now all the people in the cage have been played off against each other, and of course some people are cleverer at preserving themselves than others.
Captain: Luck of the draw, old boy.
The Doctor: Not entirely. What I'm proposing is that we all three go into the ring. Three for one and one for three. That should throw a very big hammer into the works.
Mags: I'm with you, Doctor. And so's he.
Captain: Now just a moment, Mags.
Mags: Aren't you, Captain.
Big Top
Ringmaster: Now welcome, folks, not one act but three, to the Greatest Show in the Galaxy, the Galaxy, the Galaxy.
Captain: Sorry, everyone. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, but before we start I would like to make one small request from stage management. A special lighting effect.
Mags: No.
Captain: Could you perhaps give us that old devil moon effect.
Mags: No! No!
Captain: You really were extremely stupid this time, Doctor. I told you she was an unusual specimen. The growling, the snarling, reaction to the moon. Surely you should have guessed?
`
The Doctor
SYLVESTER MCCOY
Ace
SOPHIE ALDRED
Captain Cook
T. P. MCKENNA
Mags
JESSICA MARTIN
Ringmaster
RICCO ROSS
Chief Clown
IAN REDDINGTON
Stallslady
PEGGY MOUNT
Whizz Kid
GIAN SAMMARCO
Nord
DANIEL PEACOCK
Bellboy
CHRISTOPHER GUARD
Morgana
DEBORAH MANSHIP
Deadbeat
CHRIS JURY
Flowerchild
DEE SADLER
Bus Conductor
DEAN HOLLINGSWORTH
Dad
DAVID ASHFORD
Mum
JANET HARGREAVES
Little Girl
KATHRYN LUDLOW
Assistant Floor Managers
DAVID TILLEY
DUNCAN MCALPINE
Costumes
ROSALIND EBBUTT
Designer
DAVID LASKEY
Incidental Music
MARK AYRES
Make-Up
DENISE BARON
OB Cameramen
BARRY CHASTON
ALAN JESSOP
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Production Assistant
ALEXANDRA TODD
Production Associate
JUNE COLLINS
Script Editor
ANDREW CARTMEL
Special Sounds
d*ck MILLS
Studio Lighting
DON BABBAGE
HENRY BARBER
Studio Sound
SCOTT TALBOTT
Theme Arrangement
KEFF MCCULLOCH
Title Music
RON GRAINER
Visual Effects
STEVE BOWMAN
Magic Consultant
GEOFFREY DURHAM
SYLVESTER MCCOY
Ace
SOPHIE ALDRED
Captain Cook
T. P. MCKENNA
Mags
JESSICA MARTIN
Ringmaster
RICCO ROSS
Chief Clown
IAN REDDINGTON
Stallslady
PEGGY MOUNT
Whizz Kid
GIAN SAMMARCO
Nord
DANIEL PEACOCK
Bellboy
CHRISTOPHER GUARD
Morgana
DEBORAH MANSHIP
Deadbeat
CHRIS JURY
Flowerchild
DEE SADLER
Bus Conductor
DEAN HOLLINGSWORTH
Dad
DAVID ASHFORD
Mum
JANET HARGREAVES
Little Girl
KATHRYN LUDLOW
Assistant Floor Managers
DAVID TILLEY
DUNCAN MCALPINE
Costumes
ROSALIND EBBUTT
Designer
DAVID LASKEY
Incidental Music
MARK AYRES
Make-Up
DENISE BARON
OB Cameramen
BARRY CHASTON
ALAN JESSOP
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Production Assistant
ALEXANDRA TODD
Production Associate
JUNE COLLINS
Script Editor
ANDREW CARTMEL
Special Sounds
d*ck MILLS
Studio Lighting
DON BABBAGE
HENRY BARBER
Studio Sound
SCOTT TALBOTT
Theme Arrangement
KEFF MCCULLOCH
Title Music
RON GRAINER
Visual Effects
STEVE BOWMAN
Magic Consultant
GEOFFREY DURHAM