Originally published by L.S. Media. February 2nd 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
Cast: Colin Baker, Lisa Greenwood, Terry Molloy, Ashley Kumar, Jonathon Owen, Rhys Jennings, Granville Saxton, Robert Portal, Christian Patterson, Nicholas Briggs.
It’s long been mooted, chewed over, discussed and debated but the simple fact is that the B.B.C. and in particular those in charge of programming in the 1980’s woefully let down the legion of fans of Doctor Who and more importantly the sixth man to play the Time lord, Colin Baker.
Big Finish played a superb hand when the B.B.C. showed badly their plan by dismissing the time travelling detective for 18 months to the void or as it’s known banishment to the consignment of television history. Big Finish picked up the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Doctors, gave them new and rather superb stories and rejuvenated the series before the B.B.C. saw the error of the ways and brought back the series to tremendous acclaim.
Colin Baker has been there since Big Finish was awarded the contract to bring back Doctor Who and has the honour of having some of the best stories, the best companions and in terms of the audio series alone, the best incarnation of the Doctor to play. This story also heralds the welcome return of the great Terry Molloy as the mad scientific creator of the Dalek race.
What happens though when a much loved Doctor comes across one of the most deadly enemies and psychopaths to have been created in science fiction, namely Davros and someone guaranteed to be seen as the stuff of despotic nightmares? Add to the mix a new friend, someone to provide the questions all fans ask when listening to the audio dramas and it can only mean that it’s the start of a new set of adventures that see in 2012.
The Curse of Davros brings together these three disjointed but utterly fascinating facets and adds the uncomfortable notion of a human despot in the force of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Daleks V the Doctor V Napoleon, as the Doctor says in part two, “This is where it gets dangerous!”
Philippa ‘Flip’ Jackson is the new girl on the block, the latest in a long line of characters to be companion to the sixth Doctor. Where he previously had Peri (played by the superb Nicola Bryant), Evelyn Smythe, Jamie and the exceptional Charley Pollard to guide, advise and ultimately care for, he now has a companion that on first glance he has met before and who is a more realistic version of 21st Century interloper into the world of the Doctor. The lack of knowledge of historical events and their outcomes although grating to any with any passing interest in the past and what has made us who we are today, soon becomes a little charming if repetitive.
Without giving away too much of the new Doctor’s new adventures it showcases what happens when two of the greatest adversaries come face to face once more. For all the television programmes version of the life of the doctor and the insistence that the Master is the greatest foil to the Doctor, the black pawn to the Doctor’s white knight. It is in the psychological battles between Davros and The Doctor that seem more compelling, more dangerous and ultimately more disturbing, The Master is a great character but not in the same league as Davros. This though leads into the premise of the story and for a while it’s a matter of working out who exactly is who! Who is the actual enemy? The greatest threat to mankind in the early 19th Century is certainly an evil Emperor but is it all that it seems?
The ultimate question of this particular audio play is it better to die free as a human or live out your life in eternal hatred as a Dalek?
The Curse of Davros is available to buy from Worlds Apart on Lime Street now.
Ian D. Hall