Doctor Who: Wirrn Isle
Doctor Who: Wirrn Isle – Starring Colin Baker, Lisa Greenwood, Dan Starkey, Tim Bentnick, Jenny Funnel, Tessa Nicholson & Written by William Gallagher – 2xCD / Download (Big Finish Productions www.bigfinish.com)
Good old fashioned monster romps are becoming an increasingly rare commodity, so you’d think that a show like Doctor Who, well known for having produced a few monster centric episodes in its time, would make more use of its established menagerie of beasties and horrors. Take the Wirrn for instance, near indestructible (susceptible only to direct exposure to electricity) giant insects that lay their eggs in living hosts, only for their offspring to hatch then slowly consume said host from the inside absorbing the knowledge, memories and personality of their first meal, they’re a near perfect monster. They tap into so many of our latent fears, those of insects, of being eaten alive (hence the general revulsion toward cannibalism that’s inherent in most civilised societies) and of having everything we are taken from us, our identities and stolen. See, perfect. So, why are they used more often? Maybe, after ‘Wirrn Isle’, they will be, as the Sixth Doctor’s latest adventure proves just how formidable a foe they are. Having mistakenly, in Earth’s far future, used a transmat pad in Nerva City ( Yes, Nerva as in the Beacon, as in ‘Revenge Of The Cybermen’, but more importantly as far as ‘Wirrn Isle’ is concerned, Nerva as in ‘The Ark In Space’), The Doctor and Flip find themselves transported to a remote Scottish Island just as Robert, Veronica and their daughter Toasty are trying to re-establish the colony they abandoned fifteen years previously when Earth entered a phase of near Ice Age temperatures, and Robert and Veronica’s son, Iron, died in mysterious circumstance. It’s last ditch attempt to re-colonise the Earth, but humanity is no longer alone on Earth, and something, and someone, has been waiting for the humans to return, waiting for a chance to colonise the planet for themselves, and as usual, caught between the humanity and Wirrn are the Doctor and Flip, and Rock and his brand new hard place… Sorry, I mean, companion. ‘Wirrn Isle’ is exactly what it should be. A good old fashioned monster yarn, pitting the Doctor against his foes in a knock down, high adrenaline adventure that’s chock full of scares and action with more than it’s fair share of hide behind the settee moments. Monstrously good fun… Tim Mass Movement
