Moving House

**"Moving House"** is the first episode of the first season of *Night Terrace*. It was released for digital download along with the rest of series one on 23 October, 2014, and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on April 21, 2019 as part of the 7th Dimension. It is also available to stream or download for free on the Night Terrace web site.

## Synopsis

Anastasia Black bought “Night Terrace”, a terrace house in suburban Melbourne, looking for a quiet retirement from her old life of saving the world. But Anastasia’s plans are interrupted when Eddie Jones turns up on her doorstep to sell her a new energy plan just as Night Terrace moves across the galaxy to Tranquillos, an alien leisure resort under siege...

## Plot summary

Anastasia Black is making tea at home and ignoring her phone; her answering machine is full of messages asking for her help with various extraordinary threats, which she deletes. The doorbell rings, and she meets a young man, Eddie Jones, trying to sell her a new Powergy Enerco electricity plan. Anastasia tries to get rid of him, but when she notices a number of weird phenomena, pulls Eddie inside for his own safety.

When the noise subsides, Anastasia opens the door, calmly takes in the pink sky and three suns, and deduces that the house has travelled to another planet. Eddie freaks out and refuses to believe it until two aliens arrive on a hovercraft, inviting them aboard to escape "the bombardment" as bombs begin to fall from the sky. At "Habitat 6", the aliens - who are all (coincidentally) named Vraxnol - introduce their planet as Tranquillos, a pleasure planet under unprovoked attack from unknown aliens in orbit. Anastasia is eager to leave, but it's not yet safe.

Over a Tranquillosian buffet, Eddie asks Anastasia about her job, and she explains she used to do "space stuff" but is now retired. Eddie tries to persuade Anastasia to help the Vraxnols, but she refuses, suggesting they help themselves, or that Eddie do it. He protests he's just a student and that his major in contemporary dance won't be much help. He points out that the bombardment is stopping Anastasia from returning to her house, which finally convinces her to go to the Habitat's Control Centre to help. A mysterious guest calls Eddie by name and tells him he must stay with Anastasia. When Eddie asks her name, she reluctantly (and unconvincingly) claims it's "Sue" before leaving him a cryptic message and vanishing.

In the Control Centre the Vraxnols detect a final bombardment on the way which will wipe out the planet. Anastasia quickly establishes they don't have any traditional defences, but as Eddie arrives comes up with a plan to use their weather control "nanogels" to create a shield that will protect the surface. Before they can execute the plan, one of the Vraxnols pulls out an energy weapon: she has been working with the invaders all along! Vraxnol no longer wants to serve "a handful of tourists", but instead become handmaiden to "an entire empire", subservient to millions.

Eddie asks Anastasia for a distraction in French; she starts complaining about the standards of the resort, and as the first Vraxnol apologises, Eddie uses a *grand jeté* to kick Vraxnol's weapon out of her hand. The traitor Vraxnol is taken away to be imprisoned in the day spa, and the nanogels are activated, successfully protecting the planet. The invaders try to contact their agent, but Anastasia tells them to leave. She then explains to Vraxnol that the nanogels will take a few years to remove, and until then no ships will be able to arrive on or leave the planet; Vraxnol sees it as a good chance for a holiday and to remodel their resorts. The invaders communicate visually for the first time and reveal they are humans! Anastasia and Eddie hurry off to avoid embarrassing questions.

Back at the house, Anastasia explains that the human empire’s invasion fleet must mean Night Terrace has travelled through time into the future. She starts looking for a way to control the house, and Eddie remembers what "Sue" told him about “looking to where the water flows”. They turn the taps on and the house starts travelling. Anastasia hopes they return home, but Eddie reminds her that she *is* home, at which she warms up a little. Eddie offers to make some tea.

Back on Tranquillos, "Sue" watches the house leave and says she'll see them again soon...

## Cast and characters

* Jackie Woodburne as Anastasia Black
* Ben McKenzie as Eddie Jones
* Petra Elliott as "Sue"

### Guest Stars

* Toby Truslove as Vraxnol
* Cal Wilson as Vraxnol
* Dave Lamb as Vraxnol
* Amanda Buckley as Vraxnol
* Lee Zachariah as Vraxnol
* Cate Wolfe as the Human Commander

Additional voices: Nicholas Briggs, John Richards, Virginia Gay, Kevin Powe, Michael Ward, Andrew Hansen, David Ashton, Karen Pickering and the cast.

## Notes

### Continuity

* Anastasia's answering machine messages include two from someone called "Horatio", who claims to have discovered time travel and rewritten his own history.
* Eddie says that the strange phenomena were described on the news as "an unprecedented conjunction of a solar storm, a lunar eclipse, a meteor shower and a geomagnetic reversal".
* "Sue" appears as some sort of alien, masquerading as a guest staying on Tranquillos. She comes up with the name "Sue" as a shortened form of "Pseudonym".

### Australian references

* Eddie briefly thinks Tranquillos could be in Queensland, and claims he doesn't know if it has three suns as he's never been there. This may be a reference to Queensland's nickname, "The Sunshine State".
* Leisureland Beta, another leisure planet mentioned by the Vraxnols, is likely a reference to Leisureland, aka Leisureland Fair, a now-defunct amusement park in Victoria.

### Trivia

* In the original digital release, the Vraxnols are all credited separately, but their character names are only given as "Vraxnol".
* This is the only episode of *Night Terrace* to feature all five of the core Splendid Chaps team in speaking roles: as well as Ben and Petra as Eddie and Sue, John Richards and David Ashton appear as answering machine voices, and Lee Zachariah plays Vraxnol 5.

## External links

* Bandcamp - Splendid Chaps Productions | ***1.1 Moving House***
* *On the Terrace* podcast: Blasting Off

## References

 **Season One**
 **Season Two**
*Things That Go Bump in the Night Terrace* · *Ancient History*
 **Specials**
 **Hello! My Name is Eddie**
 **Night Your Own Terrace**
 **Horatio's Travels**
*Messages*