The Stuff of Nightmares ( BBC audio story ) The Stuff of Nightmares was the first story in the " Hornets ' Nest " arc , a series of five audio dramas featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor alongside Richard Franklin as Mike Yates . It was the first time Baker reprised the role since " Destiny of the Doctors " in 1997 . Publisher ' s summary . " Wanted : retire d army Captain for light household duties and fireside companionship . Must tolerate mild eccentricity and strong scientific advice . Knowledge of Giant Maggots , Super Intelligent Spiders and Prehistoric Monsters a positive boon . " Responding to an advert apparently worded for him alone , Captain Mike Yates ( retire d ) is reunited with a ghost from the past . But why has the Doctor , that mysterious traveller in time and space , sent for his former UNIT acquaintance ? Trapped by a horde of vicious creatures in an apparently innocuous English country cottage , the two old friends are on the brink of an enormous adventure . As the Doctor relates his recent escapades , it becomes clear to Mike that they — and the Earth at large — are facing an enemy of unimaginable power and horrific intent . The nightmare is only just beginning . . . Plot . Mike Yates is travelling on a train to visit a small cottage after being attracted to an odd advertisement . He senses something supernatural about the whole thing and isn ' t looking forward to the visit . He arrives at Nest Cottage , where he knocks on the door . The housekeeper , Mrs Wibbsey , answers and escorts him to the living room . There he is met by a familiar face , the Doctor . Both friends catch up on their history . Mike can ' t believe how the Doctor doesn ' t seem to have changed at all . The Time Lord explains that it has been a while since he last met Mike ; he has now been adventuring with giant rat s , killer robot s and a skull from the dawn of time . After a quick recap over their past lives , the Doctor explains to Mike that he needs him for help with something important . Mike is introduced to the Doctor ' s dog , Captain , and some stuffed animal s . He is then taken to a guest room . Inside his room , Mike is watched by a stuffed owl . He sits at dinner with the Doctor , talking about old times . Suddenly , a weasel pounces onto the Doctor ferociously . After shooting the creature , Mike is blamed for saving the Doctor ' s life . During the night , Mike can hear strange sounds around the house . He wakes up in the middle of the night and finds that the owl is alive and starts to attack him . The Doctor controls it . The Doctor explains that he needs to use his brain to keep the stuffed creatures calm . In the morning , the Doctor outlines the explanation in a simple fashion . Mike listens intently . The Doctor tells about stuffed creatures coming alive at night . The Doctor tells Mike about odd deaths . They were all incidents caused by soulless animals . Investigating further , the Doctor found a company who had bought stuffed animals from a museum . The Director was Percy Noggins , whom the Doctor watched as he ordered and catalogued stuffed animals being loaded onto a truck , which was about to be taken away . Stowing himself away on the truck , the Doctor and the hollow animals were taken to a factory . When looking at the factory thoroughly , the Doctor deciphered that it was well guarded and seemed very secretive . Once , a wild boar was released into the road which escaped quickly . Deciding to enter , the Doctor managed to get into the compound quite easily . Finding his way through the corridors , he found an underground tunnel , which held many live animals . One was a baboon that tried to lash out at the Doctor using sharp claws . This sound aroused the guards who grabbed hold of the Doctor and escorted him to Percy Noggins ' office . The Director wanted to know why the Doctor was snooping around , to which the Time Lord retorted with a sharp remark . The Doctor began to ask him questions , about the work that they were doing in the factory and about stuffed animals coming alive suddenly . The Director was reluctant to answer and let the Doctor go on a simple warning . Living alone inside the cottage , the Doctor was aroused in the middle of the night by loud sounds . Stuffed animals were invading the house from everywhere , ready to strike him down . Using anything he could find , he managed to batter a badger to an emaciated pile of rubble . Once everything returned to normal , the Doctor examined the destroyed body of the badger and found , inside its head where the brain would be located , a nest , to be more exact , a hornet ' s nest . There was something odd about the insects though , they were smaller than the usual hornets of Earth . Becoming interested in the stuffed animals , the Doctor began to collect them , to try to control them , using his mind . Percy Noggins noticed the Doctor ' s actions and met him , just for a meeting . The Director was acting strangely as if he was being possessed by some unknown being . Returning to the compound and Percy ' s office , they both started talking , Percy becoming nervous by the second as if he was worried of being overheard . Realising what was going on , the Doctor addressed the hornets inside Percy ' s head . Just like the stuffed animals , he was a host . The hive found the Doctor tempting and used their telepathy to try and reach into his mind , to control it . Instead , the Doctor offered for them to come to Nest cottage . And so they were placed inside stuffed animals , which came alive . At the end of the Doctor ' s story , Mike is shocked to the core . He doesn ' t have much time to think over it though as the animals begin to feel restless . All of them are waking and the Doctor and Mike are chased through the house . They are forced down into the basement , where it is dark . Trapped inside , the only thing they can do was wait and talk . The Doctor decides to recite the rest of the stories — all his short trips while trying to figure out how to destroy the hornets . His first trip was the mystery of the dead shoes . . . References . " to be added "