Song For Whoever

One of the factors implicated in the ratings drop experienced by Doctor Who last year was its scheduling in the later part of Saturday evening. Trailing behind the ever-popular Strictly Come Dancing, I imagine Who was meant to retain  BBC1 viewers in an analogous way to scheduling in the Seventies- even if that meant excluding much younger fans.

So, Capaldi's darker Doctor is associated with autumnal nights and I think of Tennant's stories in spring and early summer sunshine- the finale to the Catherine Tate/Donna Noble season four  was broadcast in early July, after all.

Similarly, Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor suggest wintry evenings in January and February and fittingly, I recently finished an audio adventure set in forbidding tunnels in the equally shadowy 1980s.

Released back in the early summer of 2011 ( after my first academic year up here, when we were still in the 70s old school),  Rat Trap was an audio I had previously ignored since it had garnered   negative reviews. However, I came across a copy in the Aberdeen branch of Forbidden Planet and thought it was time to try it out.

It's written by Tony Lee, author of many of the IDW Who colour comics: a line I found sometimes unsatisfactory. The setting is a wartime facility, with a dark and oppressive atmosphere. As you have probably guessed, an experimental horde of super-rats are trapping humans and testing them quite sadistically ( in an electrified treadwheel, for example)  in preparation for ratty takeover.

The rat-men reminded me of Rattack, created by McGregor and Trimpe

The silly voices and some of the imagery ( rat/human hybrids) is preposterous but, like last year's Iterations of I, there is a believably grim early-80s premise at work here, in the vein of Day of the Triffids or The Old Men at the Zoo ( and of course, Doomwatch in the 70s).   It's unlikely that anything so ostensibly in the horror mould would have been part of a 1983 Who season but to my surprise it almost works. But I don't buy urban explorers in the early 80s- that seems too modern- and the twist identity of one of the protagonists was laughably obvious, (3/5).

The big box set release for Big Finish last month was the casting coup of Alex Kingston in The Diary of River Song ( which I keep typing as the DAIRY of River Song, as if the episodes were a shade cheesy, ho ho.)

 This was even more enjoyable than the recent War Doctor box starring John Hurt and somewhat superior to the bafflingly successful Dark Eyes. It comprises four episodes, taking place somewhere between the tv stories The Wedding of River Song and The Angles Take Manhattan. 

The Boundless Sea by Jenny T Colgan  is a rollicking mummy adventure as River, in bonekicker mode, encounters thirsty zombies at a Mesopotamian dig. She also makes a Hitchhiker's Guide reference. There are some bizarre moments in the climax of the story but River's complex character- unscrupulous, flirtatious yet tragic.

The second disc evokes Noel Coward in I Went to a Marvellous Party by Justin Richards, the Terrance Dicks of tedious Who. Here, at least, his attempt at Agatha Christie in space is enlivened by the fearless archaeologist as she is invited to the revels of a manipulative elite . It's a weaker installment but Signs by James Goss, however ,is the best-written episode, A wistful two-hander between Kingston and Samuel West (apparently a future Doctor), we find River edging toward death while trying to solve the mystery of planet-destroying "sporeships"

The Rulers of the Universe by Matt Fitton is, of course, the episode the fans were waiting for, as, in another casting coup, Paul McGann's Doctor is drawn into the cabal's plans. River has to conceal her identity from this "ingenu" Doctor, while assisting him against the alien menace of galaxy-spanning beings, reminiscent of Marvel's (i.e Kirby's ) Celestials, known as the Sanakuma.

While this episode can't really live up to its promise, the pair will meet again in the next Doom Coalition box. Samuel West's Mr. Song is also an appealing audition for the Time Lord role.  The set is an enjoyable listen for fans of River and Moffat's Who; it forms an interesting companion piece to the festive farce in December's The Husbands of River Song and the dramatic theme music reminded me quite strongly of You Know My Name from Casino Royale. (4/5)

Coming soon: Marvel's Silk,  a Wave of Destruction and The Isos Network
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