Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Charlie Craggs, Lois Chimimba, Holly Quin-Ankrah, Jodie Whittaker, Anji Mohindra, Jacon Hawley, Siena Kelly, Kieran Hodgson, Juno Dawson, Clare Perkins, Sarah Thom, Findlay Robertson, Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver, Doon Mackichan, Natasha Hodgson, Pip Gladwin, Karim Kronfli, Ken Chang, Alasdair Beckett-King, Ambika Mod.
The extremeness of erasing a life from existence is not as simple as it may seem. For all the people, rightly or wrongly ‘cancelled’ by society because of ill-thought, of a perceived tone of voice when explaining a situation, or because deep down we find their presence to not agree with our judgement of society, the way some have come to believe that a 1984 like world can exist if we scour away all those that defy our perception and image we wish to project.
The trouble is to cleanse society of one person we wish to erase, to banish them from our view, we must complete the task by removing every last trace of them, the interactions, the mentions, the good, the influence, every singly last vestige of their being, which means, removing another, and then another, until finally we are left with nothing, the whole world is Redacted, censored beyond meaning.
For Juno Dawson, the chance to truly take the idea of censorship and erasure to its logical conclusion must have been a satisfying way of bringing her unique way of storytelling to the Doctor Who family and fandom, and by no means is she a stranger to the subject, her 2018 novel The Good Doctor adding testimony to her already highly thought of writing credentials.
In the ten-part series, Redacted, the first ever podcast like structure for Doctor Who, Juno Dawson’s heroines, Cleo, Abby, and Shawna are all firmly encamped within the gay representation that for decades television and politics tried to brush over, even systematically attack, reduce and erase from view; and it is in this desire to show that the feelings, the lives of the many of so many women of colour, sexuality, gender and political thought are above such measures by the bigots in the land, that Redacted goes a long way to highlighting the fears of being forgotten by the majority, that we as a society are in a fight for the right for self-expression and determination, and it is a battle that all must see as being one as a cause that defines the early part of the 21st Century.
Whilst the tale is effectively a Doctor-light story, that does not mean that it lacks the symbolic nature of the show, and with the huge list of names attached from the history of the long running BBC series, and the cannon of the returning characters, such as the excellent Ingrid Oliver, Findlay Robertson, Jemma Redgrave, and the 13th Doctor herself, Jodie Whittaker, Redacted is a story that fits into the narrative with dedication by Juno Dawson.
Praise must also go to Charlie Craggs, Lois Chimimba, and Holly Quin-Ankrah in their portrayals of the three women at the centre of the 10-part series, played with dignity, expression, pleasure, and truth, Redacted is their story, and one that will not brush away as history has tried so many times before to do.
An enjoyable tale, one of simplicity, but also of legitimacy, of an accuracy in a time of misinformation and scaremongering by elements of the media.
Ian D. Hall