Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Paul McGann, Ruth Bradley, Peter Egan, Toby Jones, Tim Treloar, Laura Molyneaux, Natalie Burt, Ian Cullen, Jonathan Forbes, Alex Mallinson, Beth Chalmers, John Banks, Nicholas Briggs.
The eighth incarnation of the Doctor is grieving, perhaps hurting more than he has ever done, or depending on what the makers of the television programme do over the next few months to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary, perhaps ever will. Paul McGann’s Doctor has stepped out the canon once more as the makers of the Doctor Who audios, Big Finish, give him another stand-alone series of four one hour productions entitled Dark Eyes.
Dark Eyes, written by the voice of the Daleks Nicholas Briggs, sees the Doctor devastated and hearts broken by the death of his Grandson, latest Tardis companion Tasmin Drew and regular ship mate Lucy Miller in a battle against the Daleks in the episode To The Death. Quite appropriately the Daleks are on hand as The Doctor tries to get to the end of time to see if anything ever changes. This is how Timelords mourn, not for them the great relief of a meltdown and therapy, just a quick jaunt to the end of known space and time and a request by a member of the council to help a human to put a master of time back in the mood to save others and forget his own problems.
The four episodes, neatly packaged by Big Finish and impossible to stop listening to once you get started, deal with the idea of hope, something that this new darker, more vulnerable Doctor is badly in need of and it is easy to see why Nicholas Briggs set the bulk of the action during the time of no hope at all for those in the trenches, the battle fields of Northern France. The thought that one of the most destructive wars in humankind’s chequered history is also coming up for a major anniversary is also a moment of sobering contemplation as the Doctor first finds his quarry in the shape of V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Molly O’Sullivan but also finds he is caught between his enemy the Daleks and those of a mysterious stranger known only to the Timelords as X.
The action takes the Doctor and Molly on a roundabout trip in which they must deal with grief and memory in equal abundance. It is touching; full of the best elements of the eighth Doctor’s persona but one that is filled with the idea that this is where the much mooted Time War start to rear it’s ugly and damaging head.
Paul McGann as ever is as gracious as he is respectful to the part of the Doctor. It may be too late to ever convince the actor to reprise the role for a few seasons on television to give extra bite to the back story, however in the recording studio, he is one of the finest to have taken on the mantle of the madman in the blue box. Joined by the very good Ruth Bradley as Molly o’ Sullivan, a brilliant Peter Egan as Straxus, a part previously portrayed by the wonderful Nicholas Grace and the creepy and unnerving dulcet tones of Toby Jones as Kotris, Dark Eyes is a pleasing and exciting way for Paul McGann to be part of the 50th year of the nation’s favourite time traveller.
A great story which needs to be heard in one sitting if possible, it is too good to spread over several weeks.
Dark Eyes is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall