History Literature / TimeLordFairyTales

* ButNowIMustGo: At the end of "Helana and the Beast", [[spoiler: the Twelfth Doctor]] leaves without a word as soon as he sees that they will live HappilyEverAfter; in fact, they are so preoccupied with the Beast's transformation that don't even realize their friend is watching and have no chance to bid them goodbye.

* "[[Literature/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday]]" (read by Creator/SophieAldred) -- A scullery maid overhears an evil queen's plot to hold her world for ransom with a doomsday machine, but also gets clues to stopping it. Can she find a way to retrieve its hidden keys first?

* FallenPrincess: Both Cinderella (non-royal but of a well-off family) and Snow White (actual royalty) are reduced to the status of SculleryMaid by a villainess. (In Snow White's case, this is a similar situation to that in the [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Disney animated film]] -- though that was not the first adaptation to have this happen to her.)

* {{Homage}}: "Helana and the Beast" has a private library as a key setting, likely referencing [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast the Disney adaptation of its source story]], in which a stepping stone in the lovers' relationship was him effectively gifting her the castle library.

* "Literature/{{Cinderella}} and the Magic Box" (read by Ingrid Oliver) -- The familiar story of an abused maiden and a royal ball is twisted: this fairy god''father'' wears a bowtie, and the handsome lord of the castle has a secret.

* "[[Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs The Three Little Sontarans]]" (read by Dan Starkey) -- On a battlefield, it is the cleverest and most practical of these three who manages to outwit an enemy Rutan.

* "[[Literature/LittleRedRidingHood Little Rose Riding Hood]]" (read by Rachael Stirling) -- When a young girl heads into the woods to visit her ailing grandmother, it's not the fabled Bad Wolf she needs to worry about...

* "[[Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves Andiba and the Four Slitheen]]" (read by Yasmin Paige) -- The new arrivals on a distant planet are seeking to make a business deal with the owner of a factory famous for wine and vinegar, but a plucky young woman discovers a sinister plot at work.
* "The Grief Collector" (read by Michelle Gomez) -- A would-be bride of little means agrees to a stranger's even stranger bargain: All the money she'll ever need in exchange for the tears she sheds on her wedding day. She doesn't expect to cry...but when the day comes, her fiance vanishes. Where did he go, and why?

* UnexpectedCharacter: "Helana and the Beast" has [[spoiler: the Twelfth Doctor]] and "The Grief Collector" has [[spoiler: the Tenth]], both of whom don't turn up until the stories are well underway, only have supporting roles, and the former is never referred to by their actual name (by choice).

* MagicMirror: "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday" has a mirror that isn't powered by magic but rather technology. It can show the user the locations of the titular keys, and even act as a (small) portal to said locations.

* "The Twins in the Wood" (read by Anne Reid) -- Twin heirs to a planet's throne are marked for death, but find unexpected refuge in the wilds of Gallifrey.

* AnonymousBenefactor: Played with in "Helana and the Beast": [[spoiler: The Twelfth Doctor, secretly in the mansion and claiming to be a librarian when Helana finds him, enlists her help so he can be this to the beast by finding a cure for him. Neither of the lovers learns who he actually is, why/how he was there and willing to help, etc]].

* FallenPrincess: Both Cinderella (non-royal but of a well-off family) and Snow White (actual royalty) are reduced to the status of SculleryMaid by a cruel stepmother. (In Snow White's case, this is a similar situation to that in the [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Disney animated film]] -- though that was not the first adaptation to have this happen to her.)

* GingerbreadHouse: Subverted -- the titular Gingerbread Trap is a prison cell that takes on the appearance of one to lure in hungry kids.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The queen in "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday" isn't concerned with being fairest in the land, but finding the means to activate a doomsday machine if she ever needs it!

* {{Homage}}: "Helana and the Beast" has a book-loving heroine and a private library as a key setting, likely referencing [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast the Disney adaptation of its source story]], in which a stepping stone in the lovers' relationship was him effectively gifting her the castle library.

* PlotParallel: The beast in "Helana and the Beast" is intimidating both in his appearance and mannerisms, but Helana senses almost immediately that he is not evil. Though he intends to imprison her and her father when the latter cannot find a cure for his condition, Helana realizes this merely stems from a desperate need for companionship; in offering to stay voluntarily she is able to convince him to let her father go and allow her a great deal of personal freedom. It's several nights before they can even break the ice with each other in simple conversation, but their relationship grows warm with time. The parallel to this is [[spoiler: that the Unexpected Character who finds the cure is the Twelfth Doctor -- an imposing, even frightening, socially-awkward person but also a Hurting Hero capable of deep compassion, who needs a great deal of patience and kindness on the part of those who would get to know him]].
* SculleryMaid: Both Cinderella and Snow White are these, the result of cruel stepfamily "demoting" them.

* UnexpectedCharacter: "Helana and the Beast" has [[spoiler: the Twelfth Doctor]] and "The Grief Collector" has [[spoiler: the Tenth]], both of whom don't turn up until the stories are well underway, only have supporting roles, and are never referred to by their names.

* "[[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin The Scruffy Piper]]" (read by Creator/NicholasBriggs) -- Space Station Hamelin has been invaded by a plague of Cybermats! Luckily, the Second Doctor has just arrived there as well...

* TheBigBadWolf: The trope and its famous variant in ''Doctor Who'' are referenced in "Little Rose Riding Hood"; the heroine is well aware of the warnings about a Bad Wolf that lurks in the woods. Of course, her television counterpart turned out to ''be'' the Bad Wolf, and the villain in this story turns out to be [[spoiler: a Zygon]] instead.

* "[[Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast Helena and the Beast]]" (read by Pippa Bennett-Warner) -- A woman discovers her scientist father's latest employer is a monster who seeks a cure for his state -- a seemingly impossible task. Realizing the creature's loneliness, she agrees to live in his mansion in exchange for her father's release. As love blossoms between the resultant unlikely couple, she discovers a secret in the library that may give them the HappilyEverAfter they seek...

* AnonymousBenefactor: Played with in "Helena and the Beast": [[spoiler: The Twelfth Doctor, secretly in the mansion and claiming to be a librarian when Helena finds him, enlists her help so he can be this to the beast by finding a cure for him. Neither of the lovers learns who he actually is, why/how he was there and willing to help, etc]].
* BeastMan: The creature in "Helena and the Beast" is described as appearing as a combination of a lion, bear, and man. It's the result of an time-related accident that altered his DNA, merging several potential evolutionary paths into one.

* FindTheCure: The heroine's father is hired to do this in "Helena and the Beast", and has access to a lab, etc., but finding a way to rewrite a living being's DNA is beyond his abilities -- and perhaps anyone's. After Helena decides to stay with and befriend the lonely, hopeless creature, she discovers [[spoiler: there ''is'' someone with the needed ability in the mansion, who needs her help accessing the lab in secret to do so]].

* {{Homage}}: "Helena and the Beast" has a book-loving heroine and a private library as a key setting, likely referencing [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast the Disney adaptation of its source story]], in which a stepping stone in the lovers' relationship was him effectively gifting her the castle library.
* MeaningfulName: Helena is likely a reference to the famously beautiful [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Helen of Troy]]; incidentally this makes for one of the few "Beauty and the Beast" adaptations in which the heroine's name isn't/doesn't mean "beauty" or "rose".

* PainfulTransformation: The beast's transformation back into a human, to the point that both he and Helena think administering the cure has actually poisoned him.

* PlotParallel: The beast in "Helena and the Beast" is intimidating both in his appearance and mannerisms, but Helena senses almost immediately that he is not evil. Though he intends to imprison her and her father when the latter cannot find a cure for his condition, Helena realizes this merely stems from a desperate need for companionship; in offering to stay voluntarily she is able to convince him to let her father go and allow her a great deal of personal freedom. It's several nights before they can even break the ice with each other in simple conversation, but their relationship grows warm with time. The parallel to this is [[spoiler: that the Unexpected Character who finds the cure is the Twelfth Doctor -- an imposing, even frightening, socially-awkward person but also a Hurting Hero capable of deep compassion, who needs a great deal of patience and kindness on the part of those who would get to know him]].

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: A rare good guy version, in that Helena administering the cure to the beast involves slipping it into his drink at dinner.

* UnexpectedCharacter: "Helena and the Beast" has [[spoiler: the Twelfth Doctor]] and "The Grief Collector" has [[spoiler: the Tenth]], both of whom don't turn up until the stories are well underway, only have supporting roles, and are never referred to by their names.

* MeaningfulName: Helena is likely a reference to the famously beautiful [[ClassicalMythology Helen of Troy]]; incidentally this makes for one of the few "Beauty and the Beast" adaptations in which the heroine's name isn't/doesn't mean "beauty" or "rose".

''Time Lord Fairy Tales'' is a 2015 DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse book by Justin Richards.

Aimed at children, the book is a collection of short stories that are mostly TwiceToldTale retellings of familiar European fairy and folktales set in the {{Whoniverse}}; others are original stories written in the same style. Some are lighthearted as they juggle the tropes of fairy tales and the Whoniverse together, but many are PlayedForDrama; some could work in the show's continuity, others are AlternateUniverse fare.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The queen in "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday" isn't concerned with being FairestOfAll, but finding the means to activate a doomsday machine if she ever needs it!

* FindTheCure: The heroine's father is hired to do this in "Helena and the Beast", and has access to a lab, etc., but finding a way to rewrite a living being's DNA is beyond his abilities -- and perhaps anyone's. After Helena decides to stay with and befriend the lonely, hopeless creature, she discovers [[spoiler: that there ''is'' someone with the needed ability in the mansion, who needs her help accessing the lab in secret to do so]].

The stories (and their respective readers on the audiobook edition) are:

* "Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight" (read by Andrew Brooke) -- The Arthurian story simplified and retold...with the twist that the "Green Knight" is an Ice Warrior.

* "[[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Jack and the Wormhole]]" (read by Creator/TomBaker) -- On his way to sell the family cow, a poor farmboy is entrusted with a mysterious machine by a dying noble. Unable to destroy it as instructed, Jack buries it, and a wormhole emerges in the sky the following morning -- one with nasty enemies waiting at its other end.

** The dying noble in "Jack and the Wormhole" made a deal to help [[spoiler: the Nimon]] after they promised his world great prosperity. He realized the truth too late and now can do little more than find someone to destroy the wormhole device for him.

* FindTheCure: The heroine's father is hired to do this in "Helena and the Beast", and has access to a lab, etc., but finding a way to rewrite a living being's DNA is beyond his abilities -- and perhaps anyone's. After Helena decides to stay with and befriend the lonely, hopeless creature, she discovers [[spoiler: that there ''is'' someone with the needed ability, right in the mansion in fact, who needs her help accessing the lab in secret to do so]].

** "Jack and the Wormhole" combines "Jack and the Beanstalk" and [[spoiler: "The Horns of Nimon"]].

* UnexpectedCharacter: "Helena and the Beast" has [[spoiler: the Twelfth Doctor]] and "The Grief Collector" has [[spoiler: the Tenth]], both of whom don't turn up until the stories are well underway and only have supporting roles.

* PlotParallel: The beast in "Helena and the Beast" is intimidating both in his appearance and mannerisms, but Helena senses almost immediately that he is not evil. Though he intends to imprison her and her father when the latter cannot find a cure for his condition, Helena realizes this merely stems from a desperate need for companionship; in offering to stay voluntarily she is able to convince him to let her father go and allow her a great deal of personal freedom. It's several nights before they can even break the ice with each other in simple conversation, but their relationship grows warm with time. The parallel to this is [[spoiler: that the Unexpected Character who finds the cure is the Twelfth Doctor -- an imposing, even frightening, socially-awkward person but also a Hurting Hero capable of great compassion, who also has an initially awkward, even troubled relationship with a young woman]].

* PlotParallel: The beast in "Helena and the Beast" is intimidating both in his appearance and mannerisms, but Helena senses almost immediately that he is not evil. Though he intends to imprison her and her father when the latter cannot find a cure for his condition, Helena realizes this merely stems from a desperate need for companionship; in offering to stay voluntarily she is able to convince him to let her father go and allow her a great deal of personal freedom. It's several nights before they can even break the ice with each other in simple conversation, but their relationship grows warm with time. The parallel to this is [[spoiler: that the Unexpected Character who finds the cure is the Twelfth Doctor -- an imposing, even frightening, socially-awkward person, but also a Hurting Hero capable of great compassion]].

* PlotParallel: The beast in "Helena and the Beast" is intimidating both in his appearance and mannerisms, but Helena senses almost immediately that he is not an evil being. Though he intends to imprison her and her father when he cannot find a cure for his condition, Helena realizes this stems from a desperate need for companionship and in offering to stay voluntarily, is able to convince him to let her father go and allow her a great deal of personal freedom. Their relationship is initially impeded by social awkwardness (it's several nights before they can even break the ice with each other in simple conversation), but eventually grows warm. The parallel to this is [[spoiler: that the Unexpected Character who finds the cure is the Twelfth Doctor -- another imposing, even frightening, socially-awkward person who turns out to kind and heroic if one takes the time to get to know him]].