Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, Neil Roberts, Barnaby Edwards, David Graham, Rachel Bavidge, Jez Fielder.

One of the more interesting factors about Doctor Who is the ability to mix things up once in a while and play a different type of game, a game in which nobody except the writer really knows what’s going on and in which the vagueness, the small hints, of it all can be tantalising and fruitful. It can of course go horribly wrong or at best come out of the Tardis like a mixed blessing.

By taking the Doctors out of sync with their time stream and forcing them to act with companions who aren’t aware of that particular Timelord’s idiosyncrasies, much flesh can be added to the Doctor Who bone, the cannon increases and the companion gets to see what happens after their Doctor has left them or they have walked away from the travelling and adventure. In many cases this can work and becomes the stuff of listener’s daydreams, the pointed conversation between fans and the ever hopeful topping, almost impossible when looked back with fond retrospective, of Colin Baker’s incarnation working alongside Jamie, is a daydream that beats all.

Yet in The Defectors the pairing of Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning, the seventh Doctor and Jo Grant, it all seems rather forced and it many ways seems to unravel a good story by Nicholas Briggs. It is a shame after all for Jo Grant was and still is one of the popular companions in the shows long and majestic history.

Take the seventh Doctor away from Elisabeth Klein and Ace and there seems to be a stuttering between worlds, these two very larger than life companions, or in Klein’s case, wounded old adversary, really bring out the best in the seventh incarnation that almost anybody coming into the fray doesn’t get the chance they deserve to either reprise their role or forge new alliances with the listener. The Defectors also suffers from one tiny problem which comes over through the merging of time, in that you cannot help but feel that had the great Caroline John still been with us than the character of Liz Shaw would have been more suited to this particular story, one in which science is very much in the ascendancy.

The Defectors plays very much on the early 1970s fear of the spread of Communism, of the Russian advance that was played out in world politics and the increasing number of defections and allegiance switches that the decade saw. It is very much in keeping with the times and for that Nicholas Briggs deserves the credit passing his way for keeping the story honest, playful and relevant.

Defection is a big word, it alludes to betrayal and infidelity, it is also a sheer delight to hear how a Doctor can be so perceived in the eyes of one particular companion and whilst this pairing didn’t perhaps pan out in the mind of those who wish such things, it still shows that it can be done, it realises one important thing, that it is never truly goodbye in the world of the Doctor, he will always come back for one more hello.

Doctor Who: The Defectors is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.

Ian D. Hall