The Death-Dealer

"Sweets! I wonder if they have any jelly babies..."

Writer: Damian Sawyer
Format: Audio
Released: November 2010
Series: Short Trips 1.04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

On an arid market world, not dissimilar to a middle-eastern bazaar on Earth, the Doctor treats Leela to a day of shopping. But she bargains with a death-dealer, not knowing his area of sale...

Verdict

Now although The Death-Dealer was only 10 minutes long, it was a tremendous little audio adventure! It took the whole 'Short Trip' tag to an extreme limit, but its length was absolutely fine. Louise Jameson was a great narrator and she hasn't seemed to have changed linguistically since the 1970s! It was definitely all about Leela. I really liked how Jameson managed to squeeze in some typical traits of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor into this venture. Leela's confusion at the concept of money in the form of coins was hilarious but so typically excellent of the companion. I adored how of all the things on this alien market planet, the Doctor went straight to the human stand hoping to find some jelly babies, whilst Leela wanted to buy a dagger! But what she failed to realise was that she was actually paying to die! And she did which was shocking! Leela died! The Doctor was outraged at first but the planet's natives were confused - they of course knew what the Death-Dealer sold. Death. But Leela burst back into life, as part of the process. She had felt death, but was resurrected and wasn't happy with her muderer! But things were soon resolved as the Death-Dealer explained the process and how people had changed, or wanted to, after feeling death. The Doctor didn't approve and wanted to leave quickly. Leela was alive, but he just didn't like the way thing occurred. Overall, an intriguing and great audio!

Rating: 9/10