Way of the Burryman (audio story)

Way of the Burryman was the second story in the audio anthology Old Friends, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Roy Gill and featured Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, Jon Culshaw as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Warren Brown as Sam Bishop.

Publisher's summary[]

Young Sam Bishop is at a crossroads with girlfriend Fiona: she’s staying in Scotland, he wants to travel the world. As the Burryman celebrations begin, ghosts haunt the Forth Bridge. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart arrives to investigate – and so does the Doctor...

Plot[]

The Brigadier visits a research base in the abbey vaults on Inchcolm to advise on a haunting. Commander Jane Wardie explains that they are developing a stealth drive for HMS Columba and that staff have been leaving because of reports of frightened voices following a strange metallic sound. She introduces him to Cameron Lawther, who takes him to the cliffs where he heard a boy singing We're No' Awa' Tae Bide Awa'. The Brigadier sees and hears the boy.

During the Ferry Fair Festival in South Queensferry, the Doctor briefly meets Sam when he mistakes the TARDIS for a coffee booth and again when the Doctor mistakes the Burryman for a monster. Sam's girlfriend, Fiona, explains to the Doctor what the Burryman is and makes Sam take him with them to Inchcolm, his sonic screwdriver having picked up data related to the Brigadier in that direction. On the way, Fiona explains that she and Sam met on Inchcolm when she missed the last ferry whilst doing an archaeological survey and the Doctor wonders what he was doing there.

Upon arriving on the island, the Doctor saves the Brigadier from falling from the cliffs in the fog and finds that the boy is inaudible on the Brigadier's sound recording. Sam and Fiona hurry to help, having heard the Brigadier's cry, and Fiona helps the Doctor realise that the metallic sound that precedes the voices is that of rail reverberating before a train passes. The four of them head to South Queensferry for the Doctor to visit the TARDIS before heading to Inchgarvie, an island beneath the Forth Bridge, to try to understand the phenomenon.

On Inchgarvie, Sam is apparently possessed by somebody who died of caisson disease whilst building the bridge and collapses as a train passes overhead. The Doctor plans on using a Memory Arch to create a backup of the memories imprinted upon the bridge before using an electromagnetic pulse to wipe it and Sam flies to Inchcolm base to requisition an EMP generator with the Brigadier's authority. Fiona protests, believing that to blank the bridge would be to erase history, and encounters Kreel, a Mondasian Cyberman, after storming off. Sam returns with the EMP generator and the Doctor uses it and the Memory Arch on the bridge.

The Doctor, the Brigadier and Sam hear Fiona's cries and go to help her. Kreel reveals that he and a partner were surveying planets when they were separated by time distortion and he landed on Earth; he has built the Forth Generation, a legion of red Cybermen who held onto their identities until the Doctor wiped the bridge of its memories. They have been sleeping in the hollow struts but now emerge, asking for their orders. The Doctor realises that he has made a terrible mistake.

Cast[]

• The Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Jon Culshaw
• Sam Bishop - Warren Brown
• Fiona McCall - Elinor Lawless
• Commander Jane Wardie - Amanda Drew
• Cameron Lawther - Martin Quinn
• Cyber-Scout Kreel / The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding[]

• Alexander I of Scotland found refuge on Inchcolm in 1123.
• Sam asks for an Americano and a hazelnut latte.
• The police boxes in Edinburgh are coffee booths.
• The Doctor likens the Burryman to a Krynoid.
• The Doctor has been to the Library of Alexandria and the Lux Foundation.
• The Brigadier and Doris drank at the Hawes Inn.
• The Brigadier quotes Hamlet, which Doris has dragged him to the theatre to see.
• HMS Columba is a submarine with a stealth drive which makes it almost invisible to sonar.
• Fiona is part of the Historical Society.
• A burr is the seedcase of burdoch.
• Lawther was recruited from Aberdeen University.
• The Doctor mentions the Talking Foliate Heads of Verdun and the Holly King of Alda's Labyrinth.
• We're No' Awa' Tae Bide Awa' is a traditional Scottish song which the Brigadier believes he might have sung at one of Benton's Hogmanay parties.
• Fiona's grandmother's flat was in the shadow of the Forth Bridge. She used to hold her up to the window when they passed under the bridge, which she said could remember everybody that helped build it.
• Fiona's mother taught at the same school that Fiona attended and came to teach at herself.
• The Brigadier wonders if something has happened to the Doctor. The Doctor refuses to talk about it.
• The Doctor gets a Memory Arch, also known as a Soul Singer, from the TARDIS.
• The Brigadier says that he is texting Doris to let her know that he is going to be late.

Notes[]

• Way of the Burryman was recorded remotely in February 2021.

Continuity[]

• The Brigadier mentions the closing of Ealdon House. (AUDIO: Invocation)
• The Doctor previously assisted the Brigadier in Scotland. (TV: Terror of the Zygons)
• The Brigadier mentions being taken to the Death Zone, which the Doctor claims he can't remember due to being lifetimes ago. (TV: The Five Doctors) However, the Eleventh Doctor would later recall taking the Seal of Rassilon from the Tremas Master. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
• The Brigadier does not recognise the Ninth Doctor. (This pre-Rose story takes place before COMIC: Official Secrets)
• The Doctor explains he was inspired to visit the Brigadier after attending a funeral. (AUDIO: Fond Farewell)
• The Doctor recognises Kreel as a Mondasian Cyberman and notes they had yet to abandon names. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
• The Doctor realises he has encountered the other member of Kreel's scouting party and that it warned him about the River Forth. (AUDIO: Monsters in Metropolis)

External links[]

• Official Way of the Burryman page at bigfinish.com