Walls of Confinement

"Whatever you do, you mustn't panic. The animal will sense your fear."

Writer: Lawrence Conquest
Format: Audio
Released: February 2011
Series: Short Trips Volume 2.03

Featuring: Third Doctor, Liz, Brigadier

Synopsis

The Third Doctor and Liz take a visit to the zoo. However, a young boy's life is in danger as the Doctor comes face to face with a deadly predator...

Verdict

Walls of Confinement was an excellent Short Trip audio adventure! The tone was great throughout and the story fitted in perfectly with Season 7 and the Doctor's displeasure at being stranded on Earth without his TARDIS. The banter between the Third Doctor and the Brigadier was at an ever high peak and that's always a great bonus to any Pertwee story. Liz had a somewhat minimal role, but she was still great and remains one of my favourite companions in Who history! Katy Manning performed the story admirably and her impressions of both the Doctor and Liz were very well done. The story itself was clever with the Doctor likening himself to the animals of the zoo, trapped out of their own domain. Him rescuing a young boy, the Brigadier's godson Albert in actual fact, from being savaged by a tiger was clever. He'd pick-pocketed the Time Lord and taken part of the dematerialisation circuit of the TARDIS allowing direct entry into the zoo cages. Quite funny. Overall, a good story! Short Trips don't seem to be quite long enough to gain the very high marks, barring an exception or two, but this was still fantastic!

Rating: 8/10