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London, 1851: scene of the Great Exhibition of the Works
of Industry of All Nations. It is also the scene of a plot
to unseat the government, dethrone the monarch and start a
republic, if the Duke of Wellington is to be believed. Separated
from the TARDIS, the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz are left to
wonder whether they will be forever entangled with the lives
of others...
Following
the dreary and often depressing Divergent Universe arc, stories
such as this and Terror
Firma thankfully prove that the Eighth Doctor's
audio adventures can be fun, just as they were during their
first couple of "seasons". Admittedly the previous tale, Scaredy
Cat, was something of a disappointment, but
tellingly that actually started out as a Divergent Universe
script.
Here
we once again have fun with an Earthbound setting, something
that was simply not possible during the Divergent arc. In
addition to witty dialogue from the regulars, writer Gary
Hopkins includes Dickensian names such as Rufus Dimplesqueeze
(Maitland Chandler) and Jacob Crackles (Mike Holoway), while
Ron Moody (for whom Hopkins has written before during ITV's
Into the Labyrinth) is on fine form as an elderly but
far from retiring Duke of Wellington.
Coincidentally,
the Iron Duke recently appeared in Terrance Dicks' latest
Doctor Who novel World
Game. In fact the two stories complement each
other well, because Dicks' book provides a good grounding
for events in this adventure. World Game depicts the
brief meeting that took place between Wellington and Nelson,
as well as Napoleon Bonaparte's numerous attempts to defeat
the British, all of which are also referred to here. Wellington
is amusingly rather jealous of Nelson's celebrity, in particular
the (ahem) size of his column.
Of
course, neither the Doctor (Paul McGann) nor the Duke refer
back to their earlier encounters, but this is understandable.
The Time Lord was in his second incarnation at the time, which
explains why Wellington fails to recognise him. I suppose
the Doctor could have tried to explain his change of appearance,
but we can assume that the reason why he doesn't is to avoid
the risk of being carted away to the nearest loony bin.
Hopkins'
comedy of manners relies heavily on the unlikely coincidence
that the Doctor, Charley (India Fisher) and C'rizz (Conrad
Westmaas) all have doppelgangers in 1851, and there are some
dodgy French accents courtesy of two of the above, but otherwise
this serial makes for luxuriously leisurely listening, rather
like wallowing in a warm, 130-minute bath.
Richard
McGinlay
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