Visiting the Master, who has been exiled to a luxurious castle prison on a small island, the Doctor and Jo Grant learn that a number of ships have recently vanished in the area. Whilst investigating these mysterious disappearances, Jo and the Doctor are attacked by a Sea-Devil, one of a submarine colony distantly related to the Silurians. Soon they discover that the Sea-Devils plan to conquer the Earth and enslave humanity, aided and abetted by the Master. What can the Doctor do to stop them...?

Once again AudioGO has turned to Geoffrey Beevers, who portrayed the villainous Time Lord in The Keeper of Traken and several Big Finish audio plays, to read an unabridged Malcolm Hulke novelisation of a television serial that originally featured Roger Delgado’s incarnation of the Master. This time it’s the turn of Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils (note the hyphen), first published in print in 1974.

As usual, the novelist retains the same essential plot as his six-part serial, but, possessing a good instinct for what works best in prose as opposed to on screen, he expands upon some story elements while cutting down others.

For example, the novelisation’s lengthy opening shipwreck sequence is realised in more detail than could be achieved on a 1972 BBC budget (on telly we see only a radio operator, with some camera shake to simulate motion), giving names and personalities to several members of the ill-fated crew. The Sea-Devils themselves are revealed in full at this point, much sooner than they were in the original serial, perhaps because the author suspected that readers would already be aware of the creatures’ appearance from the television story as well as the book’s cover illustration (this four-CD set uses John Geary’s 1979 artwork).

There then follows a long introductory discussion between the Doctor and Jo as they head towards the Master’s island prison. During this chapter, Hulke refers to Jo’s first meeting with the Master as having taken place in Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon - which, in print, it did. He further confuses continuity by having the Master refer to working with the Ogrons, which he had done on screen by this point but had not yet done in prose.

As a result of all this scene-setting, the listener hasn’t even reached the end of what was the serial’s first episode by the time the first disc concludes. The rest of the adventure proceeds more swiftly, with much of the serial’s padding excised.

The human (and Time Lord) characters all come across well, especially the Doctor, Jo, the Master, Captain Hart and Colonel Trenchard. The latter is probably the highlight of the novelisation, and benefits from a poignant final scene. The colonel is also the highlight of Beevers’ reading, his blustering tones being the most distinctive voice of all.

On the down side, the author hardly develops the Sea-Devils at all. This is surprising given the character development their land-based cousins enjoyed in Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, in which the reptiles were treated to individual names and a brand-new prologue all of their own. As with their screen counterparts, these Sea-Devils lack true personalities, being more like typical Who monsters than any other Malcolm Hulke creation. Only the occasional lip service is paid to the possibility of peaceful coexistence with humans. Unlike their screen counterparts, these reptiles appear to be actually called Sea-Devils - it’s not a name coined by a human being. Curiously, no electronic effects have been applied to the creatures’ voices for this audio book.

Despite the characterisation of the monsters taking a dive, Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils is still worth immersing yourself in.

7

Richard McGinlay