Doctor Who: Death In Blackpool
Doctor Who: Death In Blackpool – Paul MgGann, Sheridan Smith, Helen Lederer, Jon Glover, David Schofiled – CD / Download (Big Finish www.bigfinish.com )
There’s a definite pattern starting to emerge with my initial exposure to the audio adventures of each new Doctor. With ‘Patient Zero’ and the Sixth Doctor, it was the beginning of Charley’s final trilogy, and now with ‘Death In Blackpool’ and the Eighth Doctor, long-time companion, Lucie Miller (played by Sheridan Smith) has decided that her destiny no longer involves The Doctor. I arrive, they leave. If I was a betting man, I’d find William Hill’s nearest establishment and gladly place a sum on any odds that they’d give involving any other facets of The Doctor and his companion’s departure dates. However, as I’m not a gambler, and don’t go looking for conspiracies where none exist, it’s time to move on, which us brings us to ‘Death In Blackpool’. MgGann’s Doctor is everything that I hoped he would and could be had he been given the time to make the role his own by the BBC, something Big Finish have been good enough to do, and ‘Death…’ is in many ways, the perfect introduction to the Eighth Doctor. It’s Christmas for the Doctor (the BBC no longer have the monopoly on the specials…) and Lucie, and as such, they head for her hometown of Blackpool to enjoy the holidays, and end up getting caught up in a life or death struggle with the Zygons. As with all DW Christmas specials, it’s a very human story, and propels the listener up and down the emotional ladder, hitting the highs (Helen Lederer as Aunty Pat and Jon Glover as, uh, Father Christmas generate belly laughs a plenty) and lows (the final scene on Blackpool beach plays the heart strings like a professional) and all the stops in between, while at same time delivering one heck of a story that expands the Whoniverse and hits all the right buttons. ‘Death In Blackpool’ is easily as good as any of the seasonal Who specials that the BBC have produced, and in many ways it’s a lot better, and in all honesty, as Santa is still hitching up his reindeer, you’ve got time to put in a last minute addition to your list before he checks his, and yours, twice. Just make sure it’s ‘Death In Blackpool’ that you add…Tim Mass Movement
