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The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District
in 1909, where a small village has been terrorised by a giant,
scaly monster. The search is on for the elusive "Beast of
Westmorland", and explorers, naturalists and hunters from
across the country are descending on the fells. But there
is a more sinister presence at work in the Lakes than a mere
monster on the rampage, and the Doctor is soon embroiled in
the plans of an old and terrifying enemy. As the hunters become
the hunted, a desperate battle of wits begins - with the future
of the entire world at stake...
Each release in this initial batch of three audio books featuring
the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones is read by one of the Jones
clan - or rather, one of the actors to have played them on
television. This story, for instance, is read by Reggie Yates,
who plays Leo Jones and who is also well known for presenting
programmes such as Bring it On, Smile and Top
of the Pops. He gives an enthusiastic reading and does
a decent Zygon voice.
Which
is just as well, because this is the first time old monsters
have appeared in a new series audio book (though the Slitheen
returned in the printed novel The
Monsters Inside,
while the Daleks and the Cybermen have both made comebacks
in Quick Reads books). In fact, this is the first occasion
that an enemy from the old show that has not already reappeared
in the new one has been depicted in a new series novel or
talking book.
The Zygons and their pet Skarasens, both of which made their
debut on television in the 1975 Tom Baker serial Terror
of the Zygons, have also battled the Doctor in the Eighth
Doctor novel The Bodysnatchers - though author Stephen
Cole makes no overt references to that book, only to the events
of the television serial.
He
succeeds in treading the fine line between bringing unfamiliar
listeners up to speed with who and what the monsters are,
without boring those of us in the know with lengthy exposition.
In terms of recapturing the appeal of Terror of the Zygons,
the author ticks all the right boxes. Deceptively idyllic
rural location? Check. Scary lake monster? Check. Aliens impersonating
human beings? Check. Eccentric locals? Check. However, this
is no mere rehash. Cole plays with and adds interesting twists
to familiar ideas, and ties in themes of hunting and the contamination
of livestock (the Zygons lose a Skarasen to a condition not
unlike mad cow disease).
My
only real criticism is of the rather poor photo-montage cover,
with its black-and-white Edwardian hunters superimposed over
the colour background, but at least the relative scale of
the montage elements is an improvement on the cover of the
printed
book version.
Unlike previous batches of these audio books, there are no
interviews between the narrators and authors at the end of
the second disc. However, even at the reduced running time
of a "mere" 2 hours 10 minutes, this double CD is still good
value for money.
Richard
McGinlay
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