The Ghosts of Gralstead
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
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…
Some of the first Doctor Who I ever saw were stories produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. Things like, The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Horror of Fang Rock still loom large in my mind even now, all these years later. So when Big Finish announced that they were releasing a pair of stories by Hinchcliffe, I got quite excited! Was that excitement justified?
Oh, yes. While not perfect, the stories are quite good, and very much in keeping with the time when Hinchcliffe was producing the series.
The Ghosts of Gralstead was the first of these two. It concerns the Doctor and Leela arriving in London in the early Victorian age; well before the time of Jago and Litefoot. There they find a mysterious healer, a haunted mansion, and an alien, because of course they do. Along they way, they encounter the “white man’s burden” version of racism and take a little side trip to Africa, which was kind of neat.
There was much to like here. The overall story was kind of predictable, but enjoyable for all that, and the acting was great, as always. Baker really seems to have settled down and is sounding more like the Fourth Doctor and less like Tom Baker.
Now there was one complaint that I had about this story. It’s a six-parter, and while that is in keeping with much of what was being done at the time, I feel that it’s a bit long for the audio format, and further, the story here doesn’t quite justify the length. I really think the story could have benefited from being tightened up a bit, and reduced to four parts. But that aside, I liked it overall.
The Devil’s Armada was a nice little pseudo-historical. It takes place on the eve of the Spanish armada’s attack on England, and features a nice bit of continuity where the Doctor mentions being in Cadiz the previous year. There’s also a witch-finder, plenty of Protestant vs Catholic stuff, and, naturally, your basic aliens planning badness.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit more. It was a fun, rousing adventure and the historical elements worked well. It’s also nice to see Big Finish visit an event (the Spanish Armada) that, bizarrely, was never visited on the old or new series. At four parts, this story also worked well length-wise. And, of course, everyone was excellent in their various roles.
Overall I feel this was a very strong set. Hinchcliffe has proven, along with writer Marc Platt, that he’s still got the goods to make some excellent Doctor Who, and I hope we get to have more from him.
Written By: Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Marc Platt
Directed By: Ken Bentley
Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela)
The Ghosts of Gralstead
Carolyn Seymour (Mordrega), Gethin Anthony (Sir Edward Scrivener), Martin Hutson (Professor Cedric Scrivener), Emerald O’Hanrahan (Clementine Scrivener), Alan Cox (Dr Gideon McDivett), Ivanno Jeremiah (Abasi), Andy Secombe (Jonas Bulmer), Sean Carlsen (Ned Davey), Mandi Symonds (Mrs Targate), Andrew French (Obingo)
The Devil’s Armada
Jamie Newall (William Redcliffe), Nigel Carrington (Sir Robert Harney), Alix Dunmore (Anne Harney), Joe Jameson (Nicholas Harney), Beth Chalmers (Mistress Pincham/Lady Jane Mountville), Philip Bretherton (Vituperon), Ben Porter (Father D’Arcy), Tim Bentinck (Ned Bones/Lord Burghley)
Philip Hinchcliffe Presents is available now from BigFinish.com and via the Amazon link below.
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Signed by Tom Baker
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