The Meeting (short story)

The Meeting was the first short story of the Brief Encounter series in Doctor Who Magazine. It was not titled on its first publication in Doctor Who Magazine 167, but was given one for its reprint in Doctor Who Yearbook 1992.
It was notable for writer John Lucarotti turning himself into a character, from whose point of view the story is told, in the Doctor Who universe.
== Summary ==
Tucked into the Parisian inn known as L'Auberge du Pont Romain, John Lucarotti hopes for a glass of Médoc and a chance to soak up the inn's historic atmosphere. As he leans in to order his wine, he hears the voice of the First Doctor behind him. The Doctor reminds Lucarotti of the times they have shared together over glasses of wine. Lucarotti briefly indulges the Doctor before coming to his senses. He insists that the Doctor is fictional. The Doctor humours him by suggesting that the inn they are in is also fictional and mysteriously suggests that he can go wherever Lucarotti has been; maybe Lucarotti wants to go to Samarkand.
Lucarotti defers a decision on Samarkand to a later date, then closes his eyes. When he opens them, the Doctor has vanished. He tries to shake off the whole encounter as a figment of his imagination, then calls to the waiter for his bill. The waiter insists that the wine has been paid for by "the little old man with the long grey hair who just left". On hearing this, Lucarotti resolves to go to Samarkand and starts planning his trip.
== Characters ==
* First Doctor
* John Lucarotti
* Waiter
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor mentions Gaston de Leran and Simon Duval.
== Notes ==
* John Lucarotti starts the story by mentioning that he lives in France. This was true at the time.
* This was Lucarotti's final completed work before his death on 20 November 1994.
* In 2023, this story was unofficially adapted by William Tyson-Carlisle and released on YouTube. https://twitter.com/TrilbeeReviews/status/1700192161172431060 Stephen Noonan stars as the First Doctor, reprising the role which he had taken on with Big Finish Productions in 2022.
== Continuity ==
* The Doctor discusses the events of TV: with John Lucarotti, who had written that story.
* The Auberge du Pont Romain originates from TV: .
* Lucarotti tells the Doctor that "the Time Lords retired [him] ages ago", a reference to the retirement featured as a framing device for PROSE: .
* The Doctor visited Samarkand in TV: , Lucarotti's first Doctor Who story.
== External links ==
== Footnotes ==
Category:BE stories
Category:Brief Encounter stories
Category:First Doctor short stories
Category:Stories set in Paris
Category:1990 short stories