Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Phil Mulryne, John Banks, Tim Bentinck, Beth Chalmers, Anjella Mackintosh, Richard Franklin, Kieran Bew, Colin Baker.
Some stories are just so timeless that they can be placed almost anywhere within a certain epoch and they would still resonate and be explosive as if set with a timer, a red and yellow wire attached and the words caution, contains volatile and unstable elements stamped in black broad letters on its outer box.
There will always be an element in society that will take their fight for freedom or their homelands onto foreign shores, even at the cost of their cause if it results in innocents dying at their blood stained hands. For those chasing the shadows and any type of weapon they carry and are willing to use, even the most innocent of reasons that they are carrying it is viewed with danger and peril. For Dr. David Keel, John Steed’s erstwhile, if at times reluctant, partner, the theft of a radioactive pellet from the laboratory of Doctor Graham is one in which the 1960s story The Radioactive Man could easily be placed into today’s society and just as easily with the weapon being changed, fitting into the world of Joseph Conrad’s pre-war noir thriller The Secret Agent.
The days may change, the weapons of destruction refined and more deadly but the argument for some will remain the same, that the bullet and the bomb is more effective than the ballot box and reasoned debate. For The Avengers team of John Steed and Dr. David Keel they were dealing with a man who had come to Britain on false papers but who had tried to become as naturalised as it was possible to be but who was facing pressure by his old comrades to take up the cause of reminding the British people of their plight. Fast forward 50 years and the story remains the same, but then, mere years after the Second World War, this was revolutionary stuff, it reminded people of exactly what the war had been fought for, to eradicate the spectre of fascism forever. Fred Edge’s original script reflected that immensely whilst reminding fans of the black and white series the dangers ahead with the world teetering towards the abyss of Nuclear Armageddon.
The story is a classic chase tale and whilst it doesn’t quite live to the previous episode of Please Don’t Feed The Animals it still feels fresh and vibrant. A lot of this comes down to Anthony Howell’s sterling performance as the Doctor comes out from underneath John Steed’s rather long shadow. It also suggests a certain sadness that the character only appeared in one series. The listener can only wonder what would have been on the back of this tale.
The Radioactive Man is perhaps arguably the most timeless of all the recordings that Big Finish have placed together in this volume of stories, the grittiness of the times traverses across time like a spectre in search of a home in which to cause mischief, historically interesting and one in which Doctor Keel deservedly becomes the hero of the hour.
The Avengers: The Radioactive Man is part of The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 2 and is available from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall