On my train journey down and back, I listened to Big Finish's Dark Eyes 4. This is the grand finale of the Eighth Doctor/Dalek conflict that used to coyly hint at the origins of the tv Time War. Originally, it teamed a Doctor traumatised by loss of multiple companions with a fiery irish nurse from WWI, Molly O'Sullivan. Ruth Bradley has now been written out and the spotlight is on Nicola Waker: I recently saw her playing Beatrice in the stunning NT production of A View From the Bridge. The four episodes are:
A Life in the Day: a Moffat style "timey-wimey" romance for space medic Liv Chenka with Walker's real life husband Barnaby Kay. This is the frothiest and most accessible episode. However, I found the presence of Beth Chalmers as a supporting character quite distracting since I associate her largely with companion Raine Creevy.
The Monster of Montmartre: the second episode remains in 1921 with a slightly anachronistic parody of Moulin Rouge. It's a pity we can't see a huge red Dalek towering over Paris. It feels a bit giddy and comic-strip, however,
Master of the Daleks: the return of Alex McQueen's hooting, flamboyant villain completely overshadows the touted Sontaran/Dalek clash which is a bit too Star Trek and doesn't really work on audio.
Eye of Darkness: the Fifth Doctor's favourite 80s retreat, the Eye of Orion, turns out to be a secret Dalek R&D base. This is the highlight of a confusing, noisy struggle between the gaseous Eminence and the Dalek Time Controller. Entirely predictably, when reunited with an older version of Molly, the Doctor witnesses her self-sacrifice...exactly like Lucie Miller a few years ago.
So, a somewhat frustrating listen. To be honest, I never quite found this series to be the blockbuster others did. I don't really know why it merited an award and was it really necessary to extend it to sixteen disks? BF supremo Nick Brigges never envisaged it doing so but the next Eighth Doctor adventure Doom Coalition will also sprawl over four box sets.
Question: where were you the night Doctor Who returned? Answer: I was with my friend Jason, who was celebrating the end of his captaincy of Drumoyne Bowling Club. Uncharacteristically, I never saw the episode until the next day on VHS tape (!)
It's almost impossible to imagine, after all those years of mockery or corporate disinterest, how monolithic and unsinkable the show seems today, with its cornerstone Xmas specials.
The tenth anniversary of the fantastic but ephemeral Ninth Doctor has been celebrated in comics with a miniseries from Titan. Weapons of Past Destruction captures the look of the series - is that Platform One again?- and the relationship between the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack, with banter about Hobnobs and Wakefield. However, Cavan Scott's story lacks the flair of the other Titan titles.
Al Ewing's Eleventh Doctor and his Thin(ly-disguised) White Duke companion Jones have been displaced slightly in my affections by the work of Robbie Morrison. Capaldi's Doctor has been dealing with the resurrection of Kali in an orbiting space-city. However, Morrison excels with a gritty, tragic tale of Tennant's Doctor and the trenches of WWI in The Weeping Angels of Mons. I particularly like Jamie Colqhoun, a comic book version of Grassic Gibbon's Ewan Tavendale. The story looks like a lost strip from Warlord or Battle Picture Weekly: valiant yet horrific.
Time has been rewritten. Ten years on, I only dimly remember the startling transition betweeen the niche world of BBC Books Doctor Who ranges and huge billboards at Parkhead proclaiming Eccleston and Piper. Just the other day in Glasgow, I saw a small girl having her picture taken outside the Buchanan Street police box. Maybe she was being Clara Oswald; maybe the Doctor him/herself.
When I think about the first ten years of Who, the images I have are of three imperious Doctors (plus Peter Cushing) ; Susan, Jamie McCrimmon and Jo Grant; Daleks, Cybermen and Sea Devils; maggots, the Master and UNIT .
The last ten years are, without doubt, just as iconic: four celebrity Doctors ( plus John Hurt); Rose, Amy and Rory; Ood, Weeping Angels and the Silents; Slitheen, River Song and the Paternoster Gang. Despite occasional personal reservations, Doctor Who impossibly, delightfully remains "the children's own programme which adults adore".
Coming soon-ish: more Fourth Doctor adventures
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