The Curse of Davros marks the start of another trilogy for the Sixth Doctor and the return of characters from last year's The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. Flip ( Philippa Jackson- I hope she doesn't turn out to be related to Ben! ) is described as "fun" and "playful" in the latest DWM but I don't see it (or hear it, rather) yet. I would much rather her boyfriend Jared (Ashley Kumar) had become the companion. He seemed a more engaging character whereas Flip sounds to me like one of those glum teenage girls in Eastenders. Whatevuh, though, mate, innit? I don't like Amy Pond so I'm already in the minority,
The conceit upon which this adventure hinges was glaringly obvious to me within the first ten minutes, give or take. It's signposted early in the script that the Daleks <SPOILERS!!!>
have a personality transfer device which gives Colin Baker the chance to boom " So we meet again, Dok-torr!" in his best Davros impersonation. However, once the gimmick of having Terry Molloy and Colin B swap roles for the story has been revealed, Jonathan Morris needs to up the ante for the second half. This results in the fairly silly idea that the Daleks might want to abduct Napoleon from Waterloo to assist in their strategies for, you know, galactic conquest. Fortunately, there are no "waafer-theen" Big Finish accents this time.
<SPOILERS OVER!>
There is an effective scene where Davros tortures one of his creations but this play feels like one of the weaker Russell T. Davies scripts: frothy but not audacious enough to get away with the absurdity. Five out of ten Talmars for the role-swap performances.
I've tried the Paul Magrs audio adventures of Doctor Who three times in the last couple of years. I've never been quite sure what failed to engage me, since I've enjoyed some of Magrs' novels- Hands Up! and Exchange for instance. Maybe it was the camp, Northern whimsy or the parodic "Tom Baker" persona: all lepers and bosoms, my dears. Whatever the exact reasons, they were frustratingly off-Target, as it were. So, I approached Big Finish's new range of Fourth Doctor adventures with caution, if not resignation.
Happily, I can say I genuinely enjoyed Destination: Nerva. At first, the mature voices of Tom and Lou/Leela took me out of the story but the amazingly authentic sound design, with its Dudley Simpson-esque music cues, helped sustain the illusion of Season Fifteen. There is also a Graham Williams-era ad lib from Tom: facing absorption by an alien virus, the Doctor has a non sequitur about always regretting never learning to play the cello. The warmth of the relationship between Doctor and Companion is apparent from the beginning although the story is slightly disorienting at first, spanning locales and time periods. This is a bit of a trope in Nicholas Briggs' plots. Guest star Racquel Cassidy, who read The Art of Death audiobook so well, has a marvellous voice : more of her, please.
There is a certain of an irony in Tom's line reading of the series tagline: "It's Saturday Teatime in 1977 all OVER again" should really be "all over AGAIN". It's not quite right but it's bloody close; I will certainly come back for the next instalment. Eight out of ten Talmars.
Next: Mind Control Me!
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