Lucie Miller always loved Christmas back home in Blackpool. Her Mam running a still-frozen turkey under the hot tap at ten. Great-Grandma Miller half-cut on cooking sherry by eleven. Her Dad and her uncle arguing hammer and tongs about who was the best James Bond all through dinner. And in the afternoon, Aunty Pat, haring up to the house on the back of a moped weighed down with ridiculous presents.
Christmas 2009 didn’t turn out like that.
Christmas 2009, the Doctor turned up.
DEATH IN BLACKPOOL
In keeping with the theme of “season 3” of the Paul McGann eighth Doctor series serving as a replacement for televised Doctor Who during the 2009 “gap year,” a Christmas episode, Alan Barnes’ “Death in Blackpool,” came along after the season had concluded. Unlike the bombastic Christmas television specials, however, this is a quieter, character-oriented piece, much more in keeping with the apparent British tradition of miserable, depressing Christmas drama. “Downbeat,” of course, does not necessarily mean “good,” but this is still one of Barnes’ strongest submissions to the range.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, this is almost entirely character-focused drama. We follow Lucie as she attempts to contact her family – and then, in a familiar twist, has to run away as the Doctor got the time wrong and she’s still in the house – and we laugh along with the drunken antics of the neighborhood “Santa Claus,” (Jon Glover) but things take a dramatic turn when Lucie is abruptly sent to the hospital in a coma, her Auntie Pat (Helen Lederer) in tow. There’s no concession here to new listeners: if you’re not familiar with Pat’s story, go back and listen, or all the talk of Zygons is going to get very confusing very fast. Barnes doesn’t wallow in continuity for its own sake, however; events draw to a very natural, if morose, conclusion.
Oddly, the Doctor has virtually nothing to do with this story. There’s a fantastic scene where he contemplates leaving Lucie at the hospital for well over an hour, planning to return at the moment he left via TARDIS – but you can tell he doesn’t wholly trust himself to do that, torn as he is by the decision. But apart from that scene – and, of course, the conclusion – he doesn’t really confront the villain or address the problem, uncomfortably filling the unusual role of helpless onlooker. The story is entirely that of Pat’s love for Lucie overcoming the malignant influence of the Zynog (an unfortunately stupid name) on Lucie’s relationships with her friends and family, and it’s remarkably heartfelt and affecting.
This, of course, makes the conclusion all the more effective. The story makes us understand fully the reasons for Pat deceiving Lucie, and the Doctor’s reasons for cooperating are obvious – but crucially, this in no way absolves the Doctor of blame for deceiving his companion. Keeping secrets was de rigeur for the seventh Doctor in the New Adventures era, of course, but this Doctor, generally so open and honest with his feelings, could never keep Lucie’s trust after this. I’ve seen complaints that Lucie acts unreasonable in leaving the Doctor, but it seems to me that humans can often be unreasonable, especially over issues of trust. Relationships can be tragic: sometimes both parties drift apart despite the best of intentions, and sadly this one is no different. After three seasons and countless adventures, sometimes it’s just time to move on. (And yes, I know…)
“Death in Blackpool” isn’t without its flaws, though, and the first third of the play constitutes a fairly major flaw all on its own. Apart from the aforementioned “home too early” joke, absolutely nothing happens apart from Lucie taking pity on a man who apparently believes himself to be Father Christmas. I’m not sure why this character was included in the first place: he has almost nothing to do with the plot, he’s got nothing to do with the themes of the play, and he’s not particularly funny. Fortunately, things pick up once Lucie reaches the hospital and don’t flag for the duration.
On the production front, the tone of the play seems to struggle between Christmas and unhappiness, but I’m told this is common in the UK, so I’ll trust, as ever, that director Barnaby Edwards knows his stuff. The performances are fantastic, and the final scene between McGann and Sheridan Smith is heartbreaking. All credit to Helen Lederer, who commands the middle sections of the play as Auntie Pat, and has some fantastic confrontations with David Schofield’s Zynog. Lastly, Howard Carter’s music and sound designs are subtle and effective, appropriately for the nature of the script.
Overall, “Death in Blackpool” is mostly successful in juggling its many roles: Christmas story, character piece, companion departure story, etc. The story suffers from flaws, especially early on, but Alan Barnes has been on fine form of late and the trend continues here.
Recommended.
8/10