Lytton: Series 1 Pitch

Continuing to explore how I would tackle the Doctor Who universe if I were showrunner, now would be the perfect time to create a couple of little series, focusing on more obscure characters and, hypothetically, having them being played on BBC 3. The first of these mini-series would be Lytton, and would explore how the Lytton we know from Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen, came to be.

We know that he does kind of sacrifice himself in Attack, so he can’t be all evil. And thinking about how we could bring him into the Whoniverse, I began to look at the Marvel Comics’ character, The Punisher for inspiration.

Also tying into the Lytton series would be The Grand Order of Oberon, a group first mentioned in Revelation of the Daleks, with the character of Orcini. So, picture this; Lytton, at this time a knight of the Order of Oberon, is hired to assassinate a political opponent, but can’t do it. Instead, he falls in love and the pair go on to have some happy years together, even having a child. One day, while on a parade, his family’s anti-gravity flyer is blown up, killing his wife and child, as well as harming members of his extended family.

Upon investigation, Lytton discovers that the Order of Oberon executed his family as revenge for abandoning them, once you are a member of Oberon, you are for life and desertion or failing to carry out orders will end badly for you. Lytton, understandably enraged, by the actions of Oberon, decides to wage a war on the Order. His fight will bring him into contact with Orcini, the Knights of Oberon, a few surprise Doctor Who aliens, and Big Finish’s Vienna Salvatori.

While some of the spin-offs I’ve done pitches for rely somewhat on old actors coming back to their roles, the actor who had originally played Lytton has passed away. This means that the character would need recasting and although he is still alive, Orcini actor, William Gaunt, who is now 84, would also need recasting, especially as this series is supposed to be set when Orcini is a lot younger than he is when we first meet him in Revelation of the Daleks. Luckily though both Gaunt and Maurice Colbourne’s performances as Orcini and Lytton are so excellent that there will be plenty of their characterisations featured in their characters so they won’t feel completely brand new.

While my other series feature thirteen episodes, the shorter BBC 3 series’ will only feature eight episodes. This will allow for more concise storytelling for characters where there might not be interest, despite the stories being there for them. Given how obscure some of the characters and locations that will be used the shorter series will also allow us to see how well they have connected with audiences and if they could possibly have a longer second series. Below is an overview of the main characters and their storylines for the series and a list of episodes with a synopsis for each one.

The Main Characters

Gustave Lytton: Born on the satellite Riften 5, Lytton became a mercenary early on in life, but he decided to change his ways and join the echelons of The Grand Order of Oberon and become a Knight of that organisation. While on a mission to kill a princess and halt the continued rule of a family on the planet Cryantha, Lytton falls in love with that Princess and decides to leave the Order to start a family. At first, things go well but when his wife and child are killed by an explosion set by the Order for betraying them, Lytton finds himself going once again into a murderous rage. He decides to wage a one-man war against the Order of Oberon, but will he survive or is just him ultimately trying to commit suicide to be with his family once again?

Vienna Salvatori: The most glamourous bounty hunter in the universe, Vienna finds herself wrapped up in Lytton’s life when the Order of Oberon hire her to kill him. Vienna isn’t to be underestimated though and when she captures Lytton, she discovers what the Order did to him and his family. She also betrays the Order and joins Lytton on his quest to bring down the organisation. But when things begin to get bad, Vienna worries for the lives of her friends and family and to keep her safe, Lytton uses RetCon to remove her memories of her time with him.

Orcini: Set many years before Revelation of the Daleks, Orcini is in the prime of his life and working for the Order. When Lytton betrays the Order, they task him with tracking down Lytton. Orcini then finds himself on the run from Lytton who believes he killed his family. But did Orcini have a hand in the deaths of Lytton’s family, or did someone else? Orcini, Lytton and Vienna want to find out.

The Series:

1. Army of One

Tasked with the death of a princess, Lytton doesn’t set out to fall in love. But he does and starts a family, but when The Order of Oberon kill his family, Lytton sets out to find out who killed them. The royal family of Cryantha want answers too and they hire Lytton to find answers, forcing him back into his mercenary past.

From the distant planet of Cryantha to the Earth Satellite Riften 5, Lytton begins his quest, armed with his wits, a spaceship and some big guns, Lytton is looking for answers, and he’ll get them any way possible…

2. Get Lytton!

Having targeted a number of Oberon facilities and destroyed them from orbit, The High Knights decide to take action. Lytton needs to be taken out and they task all their Knights with that task as well as hiring a number of bounty hunters with the job of locating him for them.

Lytton is now a wanted man, the universe over, can he trust his old friends and allies to aid him in hiding, or will be betrayed? And who is Vienna Salvatori?

3. Vienna

The universe’s most glamourous assassin has been tasked with finding Lytton and with enough money to make her and her friend Jexie very rich and able to retire. Having tracked Lytton down through his friends, she manages to overpower him and when he comes too on her ship, Lytton begins to explain why he wants the heads of the Order of Oberon to pay.

Vienna finds herself in a little crisis of consciousness, she knows that the Order is corrupt and that Lytton is right, even if he is going about it in the wrong way. But can she forget about the money that would see her and her friend getting the lives they’ve always wanted? Deciding to help, Vienna must decide if she’s on the right side of this war.

4. Dead Ends

Having joined Lytton on his mission, Vienna uses a number of her contacts to try and discover the main headquarters of The Order of Oberon. But when they come up blank, Vienna and Lytton find themselves with dead ends, their old friends or allies either can’t or won’t help. Vienna asks Jexie a favour and begs her to try and find someone connected to the organisation.

Lytton in the meantime finds out the man who was tasked with finding him has been following the whole affair. Orcini knows how corrupt The Order of Oberon has become, and he wants to help. But is he hiding a terrible secret?

5. Enter Orcini

Orcini Gaunt, one of the best and most skilled members of The Grand Order of Oberon has been tasked with bringing Lytton back into the fold. But The Grand Order is keeping secrets and framing him for the murder of Lytton’s family. But why?

As cracks begin to form and some of the past actions of Orcini’s come to light, he finds himself in a firefight between himself, Lytton and Vienna who are intent on taking him down. Can Orcini convince them in time to save his life, or will Lytton exact his revenge on an innocent man?

6. The Grand Order of Oberon

With Lytton, Vienna and Orcini having formed an uneasy alliance, they decide once and for all to take the fight to the Grand Order. Orcini agrees to take them to their headquarters but with every intergalactic agency and bounty hunter looking for them will they make it to the front doors?

And who are The Grand Order? And who is the Grand Master and why does he want Lytton and everyone associated with him, dead?

7. Suicide Run

Having reached the dark and distant moon where The Grand Order’s headquarters are to be found, Lytton, Vienna and Orcini know this fight will likely be suicide. But Lytton, so bent on revenge is happy to take as many Knights as possible out with him. While he goes in gun blazing, Orcini and Vienna adopt a much stealthier approach, deciding to use Orcini’s readily available access to get into the compound.

They seem to have the upper hand, but people soar highest just before a fall. With Lytton subdued and Orcini captured, The Grand Master offers Vienna an ultimatum, she can surrender Lytton and Orcini to the Order, or her friend Jexie will die.

8. Welcome Back Lytton

It all ends here! With Lytton imprisoned and Orcini undergoing reconversion into the Order, Vienna is reunited with Jexie, who the Order had captured and held hostage. When the order let them leave, Vienna is determined to get her allies back, but can sewage war on the Order all by herself?

Lytton also gets a chance to escape and a secret ally from the prison guards. Armed with nothing more than his wits and a big-old-gun, he finally takes the war to the Grand Master, but can he get past a reconverted Orcini and get justice for the death of his family?

With the help of Vienna and Jexie, Lytton overpowers Orcini and kills the Grand Master. With the war won, and his revenge enacted, Lytton, Vienna and Jexie find themselves in a space saloon. There he slips RetCon into Vienna and Jexie’s drinks to make them forget about helping him and saving their lives should the Order ever retaliate against them.

But with all that revenge, Lytton knows it didn’t bring his family back from the dead and now finds himself living a life outside of intergalactic law, taking his first steps into becoming a mercenary for hire.

In a previously released article, I listed Lytton as being broadcast on BBC 3, this would allow for a bit more of an adult tone in terms of language and violence as well as some of the topics this series would bring up. It wouldn’t wallow in those things much like the early years of Torchwood did, instead it’ll be more akin to the Netflix series we’ve come to know.

It would also mark the first instance of bringing characters from Big Finish to the small screen. Vienna might be a strange character to choose but she would be known to listeners of Big Finish and her range of audios, but obscure enough that she’ll come across as a fun new character to the Doctor Who mythos to newcomers. And getting Chase Masterson to play her on-screen would be amazing too!

There are definite shades of Marvel’s The Punisher here and that is done on purpose as Lytton does feel very Punisherish in the two stories he features onscreen. I’m not sure if that was something that was an influence in the creation of the character but it would be an interesting aspect to bring to the character, making him violent because he has to be rather than because he wants to. Morality will be a big part of this series, is revenge as evil as the initial act or is it a justifiable retaliation? It’ll be interesting to put Lytton in a situation like that, especially when the Doctor only ever got to see the mercenary rather than the man he was before.

A lot of Eric Saward scripts in the 1980s featured a lot of great ideas that expanded the Doctor Who universe. One of those was The Grand Order of Oberon, first mentioned in Revelation of the Daleks. I’m surprised that Big Finish have never brought them back again in some shape or form so it’d be a good opportunity to develop that concept on television. It is also another case of something being obscure enough that it could be a cool expansion of the mythos to newcomers but to hard-core fans, they’d know a little about them from Revelation of the Daleks. And the same goes for the character of Orcini, he’s an obscure enough character that he’ll be a good choice to bring back and give old fans someone familiar to reintroduce an old concept.

Lytton would also be the first of the proposed BBC 3 series I’ve got planned to do an article on, others include The Cult of Skaro, Peladon, The Corsair and The Death Zone all of which would be tasked with expanding the Doctor Who mythos and exploring old worlds and new/old characters in a new way.