Philip Hinchcliffe, acclaimed producer of Doctor Who (1975-77) returns to tell new stories for the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
The Ghosts of Gralstead (Six episodes)
The Doctor and Leela return to Victorian London, in the year 1860.
At St Clarence’s Hospital, respected surgeon Sir Edward Scrivener requires the bodies of the dead… At Doctor McDivett’s Exhibition of Living Wonders and Curiosities, miracles are afoot… And in Gralstead House, the ghost will walk again. Mordrega has come to Earth…
The Devil’s Armada (Four episodes)
The TARDIS lands in Sissenden Village in the sixteenth century. Catholic priests are hunted, so-called witches are drowned in the ducking stool, and in the shadows the Vituperon are watching… and waiting…
PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE PRESENTS
THE GHOSTS OF GRALSTEAD
In addition to the Fourth Doctor Adventures, and the Lost Stories box set, Big Finish released an additional box of Tom Baker stories: “Philip Hinchcliffe Presents,” in which the legendary producer offers two story ideas originally intended for television and adapted to audio by Marc Platt. The quality of the set is unfortunately offset by the cost of approximately six million dollars, but on the whole it is a much more successful offering than the 4DAs have been of late.
The first story, “The Ghosts of Gralstead,” sees the Doctor and Leela returning to Victorian London after the events of “The Talons of Weng-Chiang.” It’s interesting to look at this story in light of the current Tom Baker series: while that series claims to ape the style of the TV stories of the time, “Gralstead” is positively dripping with Hinchcliffe-era atmosphere. The important thing about that is the relative freshness of the storytelling: while “Gralstead” is certainly another Hammer Horror pastiche with its roots in other Doctor Who stories, it’s not at all concerned with being an homage. Rather, it tells a new story and tells it well, something sorely lacking in other recent Tom Baker releases.
Ultimately, though, it’s a season 14 horror story. It’s a pretty good one, with body snatchers and alien beings hungering for human brains, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. The Hinchcliffe era was famous for its violent and graphic imagery, and “Gralstead” does not disappoint in this regard, with sound designer Howard Carter offering many gruesome sounds of people being stabbed or devoured. The story also takes a couple of unexpected detours: first, in episode five, the characters pile into the TARDIS and travel to Africa, a wholly unnecessary trip that feels interesting but ultimately is just there to pad out the running time; second, at the conclusion, the villain(s) are revealed to be indescribable, alien, god-like beings rather than evil individuals like Magnus Greel. Unfortunately, this leads to a conclusion in which the characters stand around describing two other characters fighting, and the whole thing sort of grinds to a halt instead of ending organically.
The six-episode length is another problem, as the story has a strong tendency to repeat itself. There’s an alien artifact that can restore the dead to life, something that is used by unscrupulous people to demonstrate supernatural powers to nonbelievers. And there’s a dramatic moment where Leela is killed, only to be resurrected later on by that artifact. So far so good, but did we really have to go back through the entire kill-and-resurrect cycle again with the Doctor? There’s a definite sense of padding throughout, something very common to six-episode Doctor Who stories; I know fans love to crow about how this lets us “get to know the characters” or whatever, but all of that could have been accomplished in four episodes, not six.
Overall, though, “Gralstead” is a very enjoyable listen. Tom Baker gives one of his most energetic Big Finish performances, and Louise Jameson matches him throughout. The characters are well drawn, the production is atmospheric, and the story actually feels of its era without seeming like a forced exercise in nostalgia. If the 4DA range was like this, I doubt it would see very many complaints. More like this, please.
7/10
THE DEVIL’S ARMADA
The second story, “The Devil’s Armada,” is another pseudo-historical in the same vein, though it’s set earlier, in Elizabethan times. Much like “Gralstead,” it’s full of atmosphere and convincing performances, and the storytelling is certainly entertaining, but it’s also too familiar to achieve true greatness.
I understand that it’s unreasonable to expect every Doctor Who author to be familiar with every other story, and I understand that these stories are based on ideas from years ago, but we really don’t need yet another Doctor Who story explaining where the human concept of the Devil comes from, especially when the answer is “ancient, powerful alien.” The Dæmons, Sutekh, the creature in “The Satan Pit” – we’ve been over this, and the idea of humanity taking its inspiration from alien visitors is therefore uninspiring. But if you’re going to do it, do it convincingly – and the story certainly does so, wrapping itself in the Catholic/Protestant divide of the era. The script is unafraid to use religious imagery, and the decision to counterpoint William Redcliffe (Jamie Newall) against the presumptive Devil is a very good one.
The story also takes place over a wide range of settings and locations, building up to a scene in which the Doctor and Leela find themselves on a gunpowder boat approaching the Spanish Armada! I’ve always enjoyed Doctor Who stories that do this, exploiting the four-episode structure to its fullest extent, and “The Devil’s Armada” is no exception. Tom Baker is on especially fine form throughout, even more energetic than in “Gralstead,” but Leela is unfortunately wasted a bit, relegated to following the Doctor around and asking questions without getting to be especially proactive. The production is generally solid, but the opening door sound effect sounds like it was lifted from AIM – or was I just hearing things?
It’s hard to say what I thought of “The Devil’s Armada,” as there’s not a lot that sets it apart from stories of the era or even the other story in the box set. It tries to be about something, which is good, but the subject matter is one of the most well worn in all of Doctor Who, which erases much of the good will. It features great acting and fine production values, as well as an exciting script that holds the interest throughout. And as I said at the conclusion of the “Gralstead” review, this sort of nostalgia is okay. It’s a new story in the style of the era, rather than a hackneyed “Return to the Planet of Evil” idea. I’d still like to get some innovative storytelling into the Tom Baker ranges, but this is still a welcome departure from the sort of thing we’ve received of late.
Recommended.
7/10
Box set average: 7/10