Forge (Doctor Who)

The Forge is a fictional black operations organization from the Big Finish Productions audio plays based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

The Forge, also known as Department C4, was founded at the turn of the 20th century to study and experiment with extraterrestrial material and technology and apply it to the security interests of the United Kingdom. It first appeared in Project: Twilight, written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright. Its agents can sometimes be identified with the use of the code phrase or motto, "For King and Country."

It is similar to the Torchwood Institute in the television series, though the Forge's introduction in the audio plays predates it.

In the Sixth Doctor audio play Cryptobiosis, taking place in 1901, the Chief Mate of the cargo ship Lankester was transporting a captured mermaid to an unknown buyer. However, his use of the "King and Country" code phrase during a radio communication implies that the Forge was involved.

The Forge's first known operations were during World War I. Project: Twilight involved the infection of human subjects with the so-called Twilight Virus, which incorporated DNA from vampires to create human-vampire hybrids as super-soldiers. However, the test subjects escaped into the community in October 1915 and slaughtered the base personnel. The Forge's chief scientist, Dr William Abberton, was mortally wounded and injected himself with the virus to survive. He then assumed the code name of Nimrod and dedicated himself to tracking down the escaped vampires. The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex encounter the Forge several times. In 1917, they find The Forge running a secret project at Charnage Hospital to brainwash British soldiers into becoming more aggressive, with a possible side effect of making several subjects time-sensitive (No Man's Land). Then in 1945 they find The Forge in Postwar London, trying to recapture alien technology which was stolen after the van carrying it crashed in transit (Forty Five: Casualties of War).

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