Invaders from Mars ( audio story ) Publisher ' s summary . Hallowe ' en 1938 . A month after a mysterious meteorite lit up the skies of New York State , Martian invaders laid waste to the nation . At least , according to soon - to - be infamous Orson Welles they did . But what if some of the panicked listeners to the legendary " The War of the Worlds " broadcast weren ' t just imagining things ? Attempting to deliver Charley to her rendezvous in Singapore 1930 , the Eighth Doctor overshoots a little , arriving in Manhattan just in time to find a dead private detective . Indulging his gumshoe fantasies , the Doctor is soon embroiled in the hunt for a missing Russia n scientist whilst Charley finds herself at the mercy of a very dubious Fifth Columnist . With some genuinely out of this world " merchandise " at stake , the TARDIS crew are forced into an alliance with a sultry dame called Glory Bee , Orson Welles himself and a mobster with half a nose known as " the Phantom " . And slowly and surely , something is drawing plans against them . Just not very good ones . . . Plot . Part 1 . In September 1938 , a meteor lights up the sky over New York City . One month later , on 30 October , two criminals , Ellis and Mouse , have robbed their boss , Don Chaney , of merchandise to resell . Their buyer turns out to be a private detective named J . C . Halliday , who tries to arrest them . Ellis shoots Halliday with a rather exotic gun . As they flee , the TARDIS materialises , and the Doctor and Charley emerge , with the Doctor cautioning Charley about changing history . They realise they have not landed in 1930 Singapore as expected , but in New York , near a dead body . He finds that Halliday was a private detective , and decides to investigate , as Halliday ’ s well - fried death doesn ’ t fit the time period . Meanwhile , Orson Welles and John Houseman are rehearsing for CBS Radio ’ s upcoming Halloween broadcast , for which Welles is not very excited . As they practice , network chairman Bix Biro makes some additional wiring connections in the broadcast booth . . . Ellis rejoins Chaney and his men for dinner , and finds that Mouse is missing . They are accosted by two rival hitmen , who call Chaney by an unwanted nickname — “ the Phantom ” — based on an old facial injury , and try to kill him . He kills them first , with another of the exotic guns , which leave them burned to a crisp . Elsewhere , at another restaurant , gossip columnist Cosmo Devine chats with the upper crust , and takes donations for a theatre project . He leaves shortly to make an important call . The Doctor and Charley visit Halliday ’ s office . They meet a potential customer for Halliday , a woman named Glory Bee , who is searching for her missing uncle , Yuri Stepashin , who disappeared from an alleged — but fake — conference . The Doctor poses as Halliday ( against Charley ’ s wishes ) , and learns that the missing uncle was an atomic scientist . He suspects a connection with the radiation - related death of Halliday . As Welles and Houseman leave for the night , they encounter Biro , with whom Welles does not get along . Biro ’ s nervous attitude is justifiable , though ; Welles does not know that Cosmo Devine has kidnapped Biro ’ s lover , Jimmy Winkler . Devine has ordered Biro to find certain information , and to plant a signal in the Halloween broadcast , and has threatened Winkler ’ s life if Biro fails . Elsewhere , Chaney has a strange creature in his custody , which provides him with the radiation weapons . He has also found Mouse and is interrogating him while Ellis watches . Mouse admits to selling the weapons to rivals , and admits to having a partner in the thefts ; he mentions Halliday ’ s death . As a result , he doesn ’ t know who the real contact for the sale would have been . Chaney decides that Mouse has no more information , and should be killed . Ellis beats Mouse to keep him from talking , and then drops him through a hatch to the creature below ; he and Chaney listen as Mouse meets a terrible end . . . Part 2 . In the morning , the Doctor tells Charley that Halliday ’ s investigation involved the Excelsior Hotel , the hotel at which Glory ’ s uncle was allegedly staying . They are interrupted by the police , who have discovered Halliday ’ s body , and they are forced to flee down the fire escape . In the process , Charley is kidnapped by a thug . As Glory arrives with more questions , the Doctor is forced to stop searching for Charley and go with Glory to the hotel . Meanwhile , at the studios , Biro learns that the attempt on Chaney ’ s life was a failure . As the Doctor and Glory arrive at the hotel , Welles and Houseman are leaving . Ellis is also there , as is Cosmo Devine ; Cosmo , it seems — or rather , his agent — was the planned contact for the sale , but found Halliday ’ s body instead . Ellis explains that they have already kidnapped Charley for questioning ; she is at Cosmo ’ s house in New Jersey . They overhear the Doctor and Glory asking about Stepashin ; Cosmo wants to meet the professor , and Ellis happens to know where he is . Glory pretends to faint , distracting the desk clerk and allowing the Doctor to check the guest register . This leads them to room 1504 , where they find another of Ellis ’ s men . Stepashin is alive , and in Chaney ’ s custody , where he is analysing the creature in the tank . Chaney , it seems , intends to sell the creature to the CIA once they meet his price . Irritably , Chaney returns to his office to listen to the radio , just missing the opening of the now - famous “ War of the Worlds ” Halloween broadcast . Welles , for his part , concedes that even though terrible , the production is well written . Charley finds herself imprisoned with the missing Jimmy Walker , who has been here for three weeks . Cosmo , it seems , intends for the German army to invade the United States . He knows that the meteor last month was an alien ship , and that the surviving alien has been found by Chaney ’ s goons , which led to this plot by Devine . Devine wants Biro to discover the whereabouts of the ship and the alien . Cosmo arrives and questions Charley about Stepashin ; when she doesn ’ t produce satisfactory answers , he struggles to administer a drug which will compel her to reveal the truth . Meanwhile , the broadcast continues to play . The Doctor and Glory are taken by Ellis to Chaney ’ s hideout , but the Doctor quickly gets them out of their cell . He theorises that the mobsters have kidnapped Stepashin to sell his knowledge . They locate a lab , which contains part of the alien ship ’ s stardrive . Stepashin arrives and examines the alien ’ s tank , which has become murky ; Glory hides to observe him . This confuses the Doctor — if she is his niece , why doesn ’ t she talk to him ? — but it becomes clear when the Doctor introduces himself and Glory to Stepashin . Stepashin claims he has no family , at which Glory draws a gun and admits to being a Soviet secret agent , here to take Stepashin back to Russia . Part 3 . Ellis finds Cosmo questioning Charley with the help of the drug , while Winkler watches . She does indeed tell the truth , but her words about time travel confound them , so Cosmo eventually stops and goes back to the broadcast , waiting for the signal he ordered to be implanted . They hear something overhead , but pay no attention ; as it turns out , however , on this particularly famous Halloween night , invaders really have come to a field in New Jersey : Destroyer Streath and Conserver Noriam , two batlike aliens who have come in search of a lost breeding party . They will destroy the world if necessary to get it back . . . Stepashin was here to defect to the USA , and his return — along with the captured alien technology — will mean glory for Glory . The technology has already allowed the professor to work on a prototype nuclear weapon . Glory takes Stepashin and the Doctor outside , where they find that the hideout is inside a tower of the Brooklyn Bridge . Chaney intercepts them with one of the alien guns , causing a standoff ; the Doctor tries to persuade him to destroy the technology , in order to save the human race from its own ambition . However , Chaney has already closed a deal with the CIA . They are interrupted by a mobster , who has fallen victim to the hysteria caused by the radio broadcast about the Martians in New Jersey . The Doctor realises the truth , and laughs — not realising that there really are aliens nearby . Biro has sent the coded signal , telling Devine that he has the requested information . Devine , therefore , intends to kill Ellis , no longer needing him . However , Charley is now recovering , and attacks Devine long enough for Ellis to knock him out . However , Devine ’ s gun goes off in the fight and kills Winkler . As Charley and Ellis flee , they encounter the aliens , Streath and Noriam , who question them about Earth ’ s defences . Ellis , misunderstanding , claims that all weapons are in the city ; the aliens take Charley and Ellis along to the city while they search . Meanwhile , Biro and his assistant , Carla , begin to receive word at the switchboards about the panic the broadcast has caused . As riots begin , Biro orders Houseman to broadcast an apology . He goes to meet a visitor : Cosmo Devine . Biro tells him that Chaney has the alien ship , and gives the location of Chaney ’ s lair . Cosmo kills Biro , but unknown to him , the conversation was recorded on Carla ’ s dictation machine . Back at the Brooklyn Bridge , Streath and Noriam ’ s ship arrives , breaking the stalemate by distracting Chaney . Glory tries to seize Stepashin , but one of the thugs shoots out part of the bridge , causing her to fall to her death . Noriam , on the ship , detects the weapons fire , and brings the ship in to land . Ellis , now regretting all his decisions , decides to try to make good on the situation ; but he misses an argument among the aliens , which belies their less - than - strong position . Meanwhile , Chaney forces the Doctor and the Professor back inside ; at the lab , he finds Devine with a squad of German soldiers , here to claim the alien and the technology . They open the alien tank — but find , to their horror , that the alien has reproduced by binary fission , producing thirty hungry offspring . . . Part 4 . The alien spawn destroy the German soldiers . Devine , Chaney , and the Doctor flee ; Stepashin does as well , but is overtaken and killed . They are intercepted by Noriam and Streath , with Charley and Ellis in tow ; while the Doctor and Charley are happy to see one another , Chaney realises that Ellis sold him out . The Doctor and Devine both claim to speak for Earth ; the Doctor realises that , despite Noriam ’ s claims , there is no invasion coming , only the two of them . In fact , the aliens are criminals as well , running a protection racket . It seems they release breeding parties — the alien that has now reproduced — on less - advanced worlds , then offer to protect that world at a price . Devine tries to convince Noriam to use advanced technology to conquer the planet ; he intends to use this as his own personal meal ticket . The Doctor counters this by telling the aliens that the planet is already being invaded , with Martian war machines approaching New York . Noriam suspects this is a bluff , but they are interrupted by the alien offspring . While Noriam uses a signal to calm the hatchlings , the Doctor escapes with Charley and Chaney ; Ellis is still trapped , and Devine chooses to stay and continue to work on an alliance with the aliens . When Ellis objects , Devine kills him . Welles and Houseman find Biro dead , and find the recording of the confrontation on the dictation machine . As Chaney , the Doctor , and Charley race to the studios to enact the Doctor ’ s new plan , the aliens begin to pack up the technology in the lab . Chaney ’ s men bring the TARDIS to the studio , and Chaney gets them inside using his police connections to bypass the mob outside . They find Welles trying to report the murder of Biro to the CIA , but in light of the panic , the CIA is having none of it . The Doctor offers to help , but his remarks — about Shakespeare , and about Welles ’ as - yet - unmade films — just confuse the man . The Doctor lays out his plan to get rid of the aliens . The Doctor , Charley , Chaney , Welles , and Houseman are going to re - broadcast The War of the Worlds , with some special changes , for the benefit of the aliens . As they begin , the Doctor connects the TARDIS to the broadcast booth and isolates a certain frequency . The aliens have imprisoned Devine in their cargo hold , where he hears something in the hatchling tank . Noriam takes him to the bridge and questions him about Earth and its weaknesses ; he describes the various nations and the political situation , encouraging an attack so as to secure his own power . He is interrupted by the second broadcast , which — thanks to the Doctor ’ s ruse — convinces Noriam and Streath that there is a real invasion on . As they are aware that Mars is indeed occupied by a formidable warrior race , they assume Cosmo has been distracting them while his “ real ” allies arrive and attack . Streath returns Cosmo to the hold , while Noriam takes the ship to orbit . Charley sees in the TARDIS that the ship is fleeing , and the Doctor congratulates his group . . . not realising that they are still broadcasting . Streath and Noriam are furious at being played , and turn the ship around . However , in the hold , Stepashin — badly wounded and dying , but still hanging on — emerges from the empty hatchling tank . He knows he will die , but he decides to save the world in the process ; and he sets off his prize creation : the world ’ s first atomic bomb . In true human fashion , the authorities dismiss the explosion over the city as another meteor . The CIA is ready with a cover story , and the ship sightings will be attributed to hysteria . Welles will now be infamous , but he will eventually recover ; and as he addresses the public , the Doctor and Charley take their leave , dematerialising in front of Chaney ’ s eyes .