PSAudios 2.4. The Curse of Ratanapura

“The Curse of Ratanapura will haunt your dreams...."

Teddy Carrington was a jeweller, a scoundrel, a cheat and a swindler, just like his Father before him. He lived for money, but not as much as he lived for the love of humiliating his business rival, Sir Bobby Jameson. When Teddy wasn’t playing poker in the Kings Head Inn with the family fortune, he was learning how to cheat at it so he could defeat Bobby.

New Year’s Eve, 1799. Teddy and Bobby played their final game. It was a game that raged on for longer, and with more bluffs, tricks and twists than ever before. The inn closed, but the game went on, with all the patrons and players cheering for either one man or the other to win. Teddy had been dealt a bad hand, but it didn’t matter. His poker face could convince you his hide was on fire and you wouldn’t doubt him! Slowly, he drew Bobby Jameson’s entire fortune onto the table until Jameson played an Ace. Both metaphorically and on a card. He placed on the table a diamond as big as a fist. It sparkled so brightly that the entire inn fell silent for one devastating moment. And in that moment, Teddy knew that he had lost. He pulled out a gun from nowhere shot his opponent in the chest, snatching the gemstone from the dying man’s hands. It is said that with his last breath, Jameson cursed Carrington and his family to a hundred years of misery and torment.

New Year’s Eve, 1899. The legend says the spirit of Sir Bobby Jameson shall return tonight at the stroke of midnight to relinquish the curse. Lady Rosalind Carrington, the current owner of the Ratanapura gemstone, has invited her closest friends, family and three time travellers to bear witness and celebrate the turn of the century. But not everyone will live to see it...

The pre-credits sequence of the previous story, "The Paradise Machine", had somewhat audaciously announced the return of the Daleks in a big cliffhanger. However, this was a red herring of Si Hunt's devising, and their appearance would turn out to have been a massive joke on the part of the Doctor's companions Rob and Nick - the real following story, "The Curse of Ratanapura", was to be the Doctor's comeback to his two friends.

On 12th September 2007, Pip Madeley sent a synopsis to Si Hunt called The Curse of Ratanapura, Madeley specifying that "Ratanapura is pronounced ra-ta-na-puh-ra". In the original synopsis, Rosalind was to be called "Rosaline" and the idea of the story, revolving around a "gala ball" and the theft of a precious gemstone, was present. Nick and Rob pose as a singing duo, and cover a Beatles number.

Hunt made a number of suggested changes on 13th September, mainly to steer the story away from being too like the Si Hart story Heist!, then shortly due to go into production, and to expand the "ghost" element, as he had been wanting PlanetSkaro Audios to "do a ghost story" for some time. After several stories set on alien worlds or spaceships, Si Hunt also suggested relocating the adventure from its original setting of a colony planet to Earth, and introduced two new characters - Sir James Padbury ("playboy and gambler") and a "decoy character" ("What about a weathered old fisherman who arrives at the house wanting shelter when he gets caught in the storm?") which Madeley himself would play. The character of Barrington Carrington was originally female and called Lady Delia Carrington.

Eventually Si Hunt agreed to a co-writing credit and wrote Episode 1, leaving Madeley to write the final Episode.

On Saturday 2nd August 2008, a recording was held in Bracknell to record Eye of the Daleks and The Curse of Ratanapura. Si Hunt had also privately been working on a standby script, The Kalrexi Mutation, which he was keen to make.

Eye of the Daleks was recorded first, however several key cast members needed for The Curse of Ratanapura were absent or late. So the team decided to go ahead and start recording The Kalrexi Mutation. In addition, some of the team were trying to record Many Happy Returns in secret, the result being that there was almost no time left to record The Curse of Ratanapura. Si Hunt explains: "It was insane. We were getting to the point where we would normally have started to pack up, and suddenly we were starting this whole entire story. I'd envisaged it so differently; it was going to be a sedate, armchair theatre type play, but we had to rush it. I felt bad for Pip because it was his first stab at writing."

The story was recorded, but no-one was entirely happy with the compromises that had been made. In addition, the role of the Doctor's companion Rosalind was recorded at a later session, but the recording quality was variable and made her absence from the main recording session all too obvious.

The lines of the Ghost (the so-called Spirit of Sir Bobby Jameson) were originally recorded by Paul Monk; thereby suggesting the later plot revelation that the Doctor was behind the apparitions. However, it was felt he was too recognisable and that this would give the resolution away, so the lines were re-recorded by Madeley in post-production. Sir Bobby Jameson was played by Michael Talks, although Ant Williams also recorded the lines during the second studio recording. In post-production it was decided to use Talks' performance as Williams, although excellent, sounded too young for the character.

A photo session was held in the garden of the house in Bracknell, with special photos taken for the CD's of Eye of the Daleks and The Kalrexi Mutation, as well as several shots (ultimately unused on the CD sleeve) of Tim Hawtin and Dave Taylor 'posing' as their characters from The Curse of Ratanapura.

"I've just listened and really enjoyed it. Quite a different type of story, reminds me of an early Tom Baker adventure. I love the opening and the resolution of the cliffhanger from the last story - didn't see that coming! That opening sequence with the exlosions and monster roars was brilliant, and I think the most exciting opener there has been for a story - loved the music too, and I think I may know where it came from, but I'm not sure..."
Martin Penny

"On the down side, Ali was a bit too quiet but on the upside, BLOODY BRILLIANT!
I love the feel of the story & at first it felt very Hammer Horror but after about 5 minutes it was more like a 1930's Sherlock Holmes crossed with an Ealing comedy."
Tim Hawtin


"I liked it because as has been observed, it's a different style again to the previous stories, & it all helps to keep the season as a whole sounding varied & fresh."
Wayne Jefferies

"I have to admit to a bit of disappointment that the Daleks weren't actually involved after the cliffhanger from Paradise Machine, but fair enough it was quite neatly resolved - I hope the Daleks will be making some kind of appearance in the PS audios at some stage though!!"
Andrew Curnow