The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn try to take the TARDIS to Blackpool in the 1980's. Due to a lot of bad memories, the TARDIS adamantly refuses and vworps to 1930's Brighton instead. They run into Max Miller and a young actor named Billy and proceed to get caught up in a local mystery involving the pier.
While the Doctor and Billy investigate, Max quickly guesses where and when Evelyn is from, and doesn't take long to get used to the idea. As it turns out, the pier is home to an Eldritch Abomination Emotion Eater who's happily feasting on the joy of the interbellum and looks forward to feasting even more on all the fear in World War II and the Cold War. Max Miller starts Talking the Monster to Death with bad jokes, and the Doctor neutralizes it.
Tropes:
- Busman's Holiday: Invoked by Evelyn, that the Doctor needs a break.
- Casting Gag: Roy Hudd, who plays Miller, was president of the Max Miller Appreciation Society.
- Call-Back: The Doctor mentions having been on Sirius IV and Metebelis III.
- Celebrity Paradox: It's never explicitly stated, but young Billy is... William Hartnell. If you know his filmography, you can work it out from the titles he mentions having acted in.
- Continuity Nod: Evelyn asks the Doctor if he's about to break out in song.
- Evelyn briefly mentions Knox.
- The Doctor tries to "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight Evelyn and mentions their adventure with the Silurians.
- Deadpan Snarker: The Sixth Doctor is on a roll again. Especially when he confronts Professor Talbot.
- Doom Magnet: The Doctor views himself as one.
- Eldritch Abomination: What's inside the pier.
- Emotion Eater: The Monster of the Week.
- Equivalent Exchange: The Doctor says this goes for positive energy, that there'll be an equal or greater amount of misery in return.
- Heroic BSoD: The Doctor starts off the adventure in a minor one. Evelyn talks him out of it.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Albert makes a connection between a conductor and a device instead of the Doctor, who more than likely would have died in the end.
- Historical Domain Character: Max Miller and William Hartnell.
- Historical In-Joke: The energy that corrodes the pier would turn its metal to dust, some odd 60 years later. Late 1990's, the Brighton pier did indeed collapse.
- How Many Fingers?
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight
- My God, What Have I Done?
- Our Zombies Are Different
- Mind Control
- My God, What Have I Done?
- Mythology Gag: With a bit of Biting-the-Hand Humor: Six mentions that the BBC doesn't treat its finest assets very well, harking back to him being fired from the role in Doctor Who.
- With a dash of Celebrity Paradox: The young boy is called Billy, who said he's starred in While Parents Sleep and I'm An Explosive. The surname of a certain Billy in those movies? Hartnell.
- When playing "I Spy" Evelyn mentions the Sonic Screwdriver, knowing full well that Six still hasn't made a new one.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated
- Running Gag: Six seems to never be able to get to Blackpool. (Sometimes not even finish the name!)
- Max subverts the usual "Bigger on the Inside".
- Shout-Out: To Lugosi's Dracula (1931).
- The Doctor gets called "Joseph, with the coat of many colours!"
- The Doctor mentions the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- A slew of Universal Horror movie stars are mentioned, like Boris Karloff, Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive, and Bela Lugosi.
- The Doctor mentions several literature writers as well, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and the works of The Divine Comedy.
- He does one to Shakespeare as well, but combines it with a Pun.The Doctor: "Once more unto the beach, my friends!"
- Something That Begins with "Boring"
- Talking the Monster to Death: Max Miller does this with bad jokes.
- You All Meet in an Inn: Invoked by the Doctor.
