The Red List (audio story)

was the fifty-sixth story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions. It was written by James Goss.
== Publisher's summary ==
At first it was lights in the sky. Then the country started falling apart. Torchwood has come to help. So has A Charitable Earth. But there's a problem.
Mr Colchester and Ms McShane find themselves trapped in a quarantine hotel in the middle of an alien invasion.
Can they save the world without leaving their rooms?
== Plot ==
Mr Colchester has been summoned by Señor Fernández to his country to help thwart an alien invasion which threatens to cause societal collapse, but he is kept quarantined in a hotel on the pretext of a concern about viral malaria. He meets Dorothy McShane after going out on his balcony and leaves his room at night after hearing somebody in pain, but a guard catches him and claims that the room that he heard screams from is unoccupied. He shares his concern with reception, who pay him little notice, and with Ms McShane, who is frustrated that the medical supplies she has brought are stuck in the harbour until she can leave.
Ms McShane stops being friendly with Mr Colchester upon learning that he is with Torchwood due to their former attitude towards the Doctor, but helps after he sees somebody fall from the fourteenth floor and sneaks out with him. A guard spots them, however, and escorts them back to their rooms after claiming that nobody had fallen. The following day, Ms McShane admits that she has come to overthrow President de Santos because of how he has let a generation of children down and Xavier, who works in maintenance, confides in Mr Colchester that he believes that de Santos is a bad man.
When Mr Colchester hears Ms McShane in distress, he jumps onto her balcony and opens her door, letting out a swarm of blowflies from the air conditioning. He asks Xavier to check the basement and ducts in case the blowflies were attracted by corpses and Ms McShane finds something alien in her cupboard taking her shape which she flushes down the toilet. Mr Colchester's own cupboard, however, is empty. Ms McShane deduces that they have both been being brainwashed and Mr Colchester has subtly trying to get the both of them to realise it through non-existent crossword clues and messages only he could see.
Upon realising that Ms McShane has been being copied for being strategically advantageous and that Mr Colchester has been being brainwashed to assassinate de Santos, they knock Xavier out and take his key card to escape the hotel. They put on hazmat suits and discover that the guards and staff are all Xavier; they are the Unity, a group paid to take over a A Charitable Earth and discredit Torchwood. They dissolve themselves when Mr Colchester and Ms McShane get out and the hotel is evacuated in order to prevent themselves from being discovered, making Ms McShane worry about whether or not they are all the original versions of themselves.
== Cast ==
* Mr Colchester - Paul Clayton
* Ace - Sophie Aldred
* Xavier - Manuel Pacific
== Worldbuilding ==
* Mercy Bridge has collapsed.
* Mr Colchester receives a breakfast of two vegetarian sausages, a slice of cucumber, cheese and a pickle.
* Señor Fernández is a minister.
* De Santos's aunt owns the WiFi company.
* Ms McShane has an eReader.
* Mr Colchester enjoys the cryptic crossword.
* Mr Colchester misses Colin.
* Ms McShane keeps fit with yoga.
* Ace mentions she has fought Daleks, Cybermen, Wirrn and Ullvoss.
* Mr Colchester is reading the Bible.
== Notes ==
* This story was recorded on 8 and 26 July 2021 both remotely and at the Soundhouse.
* The country in which the story is set is implied to be in South America: it is led by "El Presidente", has issues with malaria and English is spoken with an American accent.
* Writer and producer James Goss explained that this story is set "after Covid" and gave a rough setting of "early 2022".https://mobile.twitter.com/gossjam/status/1431241356102578178
== Continuity ==
* Dorothy McShane and St John Colchester have both faced Daleks. McShane states that she once hit a Dalek with a baseball bat in Shoreditch, 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) Meanwhile, Colchester claims that during his time in the Civil Service, he was present during the Dalek invasion of Earth. He convinced armed human beings to not risk their own lives by attempting to attack the Daleks. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
** Before he was a member of Torchwood Three, the previous team of Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones were present during this invasion and helped to pilot the Earth back to its original location. (TV: Journey's End)
** Colchester mentions humans were trying to defend themselves with fire extinguishers. During the war between the Daleks and the Cybermen, which itself lead to the fall of Torchwood One in 2007, Jackie Tyler used a fire extinguisher in an attempt to help the Tenth Doctor to locate her. (TV: Doomsday)
* Upon hearing that Colchester represents Torchwood, McShane is filled with disgust. She recalls that Torchwood was created to defend the country from her best friend, the Doctor. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
** Just as Colchester attempts to explain to McShane how Torchwood was rebuilt with a new purpose, Jack Harkness also attempted such a conversation with the Tenth Doctor upon their first reunion. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
* McShane recalls that she is very familiar with brainwashing and manipulation, as the Doctor had done this to her multiple times. In fact, those experiences with the Doctor was the ultimate reason for her ending her travels with him. (AUDIO: Love and War, TV: The Curse of Fenric, et al)
* Colchester misses his partner Colin Colchester-Price dearly. Colchester felt he had no choice but to leave Colin behind when he and the rest of Torchwood were forced to go on the run from the authorities after the events of the Sorvix Invasion of Cardiff and the infiltration and destruction of The Committee. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers)
* Colchester isn't the only member of Torchwood performing missions after their formal dismantling. Sergeant Andy Davidson had also been sent to investigate numerous strange incursions. (AUDIO: Red Base, Parasite, Must-See TV, et al)
** New Torchwood operative Tania Bell was also recruited since this dismantling. She was sent to keep an eye on the Eighth Doctor's activities at 107 Baker Street from 2020. (AUDIO: Lost Property, et al)
== External links ==
== Footnotes ==
Category:Series 7 (BFTW) audio stories
Category:2021 audio stories
Category:Stories set in the 2020s