The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

‘For once your mockery does not infuriate me Doctor, this time I am the one in control...’

When the Doctor finally brings Charley to Singapore for the New Year’s Eve celebrations in 1930, his growing sense of unease about her continued existence is brought sharply into focus when he meets a man named Sebastian Grayle who claims that he and the Doctor are old adversaries. That he defeated the Doctor in the past, killing him finally. With the revelation that his Masters’ have now gained control over the Earth, the Doctor and Charley depart on a desperate quest through time and space to try and find out what has happened to the Earth and to the Doctor himself...

Seasons Of Fear marks the third release of the 2002 Eighth Doctor ‘season’ of audios and sees the return of Paul Cornell, writing here with Caroline Symcox, to the world of Doctor Who, with what he describes in the authors notes as "an attempt at a very traditional Doctor Who story", an aim which is in stark contrast to his first Doctor Who audio - the New Adventures influenced play The Shadow Of The Scourge - but the result is very pleasing indeed.

With all the hints that followed Charley’s introduction in Storm Warning, there has been a sense that her survival there has caused an effect, the consequences of which we the listener have not yet become aware of. Seasons Of Fear capitalises on this by bringing the Doctor and Charley to her intended destination of Singapore at New Years Eve, and Cornell and Symcox really convey the Doctors’ doubts about Charley well through a sense of discomfort which resonates well through the Doctor’s narrative sentences. The opening of episode one is very effective, mainly through setting up a sense of mystery via a series of questions posed, the answers of which will be revealed throughout the drama. Who is Sebastian Grayle? Why does he hate the Doctor so much? And just who are the power behind him who granted him immortality?

The story is structured in a manner similar to stories such as The Keys Of Marinus and The Chase where there is a central goal which is achieved through a series of linked episodes. Seasons Of Fear takes the Doctor and Charley to a Roman fort, the court of Edward the Confessor, Buckinghamshire and through hundreds of years of time. This type of story inevitably means that there will be a lot of moving between setting for each episode which has the knock on effect that none of the supporting characters can be as well developed as they might have been had the story dwelt on a particular area for longer, but it does contribute a sense of urgency to the proceedings as the story gathers pace towards its conclusion. It also gives the drama a sense of fun too, which while never really the focus of the story, is always there underneath and provides a nice counter-balance to the story’s drama.

Another aspect of Seasons Of Fear which was very well handled were the links to the stories around it. The referencing to the revelations of The Chimes Of Midnight and the foreshadowing of future events (including a very brief cameo by a Dalek!) really adds to the sense that there is an ongoing story here and events are building towards something big in the future.

Paul McGann continues to captivate as the Doctor with another confident performance, as the Doctor throws himself completely into the spirit of the chase for Grayle’s origins. His confrontation with Grayle at the start of the story is one of the most memorable individual scenes that the Eighth Doctor has featured in so far in the performed medium, and with the ensuing mystery it really gives McGann something to sink his teeth into and the performance reflects this. The story also makes use of Paul McGann narrating several parts of the story, which works well as a device to link the sections together and it’s also wonderfully reminiscent of how the TV Movie opened (indeed the opening narration seems to deliberately echo the narration of the movie), and intriguingly leads into a scene (with an unpublicised appearance by Rising Damp’s Don Warrington) which seems to foreshadow the future events nicely.

India Fisher once more shows precisely why she was such a good choice for the role of Charley with another exceptional performance, and although her role in the story isn’t as active as it might have been, she performs admirably. Cornell and Symcox bring about doubts in Charley herself about the consequences of her surviving the R101 crash and Fisher is particularly good in these scenes as she brings some real emotion to the part.

The Doctor comments at one point that Grayle is a worthy adversary, and thanks to the excellent performance of Stephen Perring, this is very true. As the Doctor and Charley travel through time they encounter different versions of Grayle at those stages, and Perring makes each a little bit more developed according to the script so that by the end the listener can really believe that the man so bitter against the Doctor was created from such a humble beginning.

The rest of the cast are limited to more minor roles, but they serve the script well and director Gary Russell ensures that they are all convincing and add to the drama of the story. Lennox Greaves suffers a little here due to the memory of his towering performance in The Chimes Of Midnight still lingering, but he makes a strong impression in his role as Edward here. Robert Curbishley and Stephen Fewell both put in good performances in multiple roles, but the stand out performance of the rest of the cast comes from Justine Mitchell as Lucy Martin.

When Grayle’s Masters’ identity is finally revealed, it is very much a surprise, and it’s a credit to Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox that the creatures are as effective as they are (all things considered) and also to the fact that it does come as a bit of a shock given the unexpected nature of them. Robert Curbishley voices them incredibly well with the sound design giving them a potent presence and a sense of danger too.

Gareth Jenkins’ sound design is good. With the story spanning multiple settings, he really creates a distinctive setting for each one and because they are also convincing, it adds a lot to the story too. The music for Seasons Of Fear is excellent. Project: Twilight co-composer Jane Elphinstone returns to create the incidental music for Seasons Of Fear, with it adding a haunting feeling to the story which is totally in keeping with the drama and giving it an extra layer.

Seasons Of Fear continues the superb quality of this years Eighth Doctor ‘season’ with an exciting story filled with good performances, plenty of surprises and with an intriguing final scene which will leave every listener wondering what the consequences will be, it’s very memorable and constantly entertaining, capturing all the qualities which make Doctor Who as good as it is.