Colditz

"Surrender your TARDIS, Doctor, or Ace dies. There will be no further discussion."

Writer: Steve Lyons

Format: Audio

Released: October 2001

Series: Main Range 25

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis 

October 1944

As World War Two draws towards its convulsion, a Nazi defeat begins to seem almost inevitable. But that might be about change...

Two intruders are captured in the grounds of Colditz Castle, the most secure Prisoner of War camp in Germany. 

At first, the guards think they're dealing with British spies. But the strangers arrived in an advanced travelling machine, the like of which they've never seen before.

With this 'TARDIS' in their hands, the Third Reich might triumph after all...

Verdict 

Colditz was a brilliantly clever audio adventure and for writer Steve Lyons it wasn't too dissimilar to his The Fires of Vulcan. Timey-wimey bananzas with brilliant tie ins and resolutions. The story started off rather excellently with the Seventh Doctor and Ace, not by favourite TARDIS pairing by a long, long stretch, arriving at Colditz Castle. Now, how good of a setting was this? The most secure prisoner of war camp in all of Germany during the Nazi regime and Ace, predominantly, was trapped right inside. The German characters were terrific with Kurtz, intriguingly played by David Tennant, a particular highlight. His accent was brilliant and he would later show once he was cast as the Tenth Doctor that his accent ability is top notch. Elizabeth Klein was a tremendous character and she was massively interesting. Cunning, different and devious. She was British yet proud of the Third Reich? The fact that it was revealed that she was from an alternative future where the Nazis won World War II (yes, an amazing concept) was just outstanding. It was all rather mysterious how she'd landed in 1944 in the Doctor's TARDIS, held him ransom and threatened Ace's life on more than one occasion. I adored the pride she had for the Nazi regime, how they were dominant and the fact that the Ayrans were more than present in London. The way it was described how the alternative timeline's Seventh Doctor had worked out that it was Ace's rucksack full of future technology was the reason for the Nazi's inaccurate victory, which resulted in Ace's death. It was a horrifyingly superb concept! The Nazis ruling the world, with a TARDIS in hand and it was all the Doctor's fault. But he of course righted it by sacrificing his TARDIS! Now, here's my beef with the story. It was all good hearing it described how the Seventh Doctor corrected things in the alternative timeline, but this story was only 107 minutes long, why couldn't we hear that unfold in real time! Imagine hearing a future ruled by the Nazis and the Doctor having to cope with the death of Ace. That would have gotten it full marks but because it was only described it just misses out. Anyway, I think it was rather unfortunate for the fantastic story that the two lead characters were by far the weakest. It perfectly displayed why this pairing is my least favourite in Who history. Hauptmann and Tim were really good characters and I liked their roles around Ace for the story. Speaking of Ace, her relationship with Kurtz throughout was full of humour and her defiance towards a Nazi officer was terrific. I'm not quite sure she knew how severe the situation was. Overall, this story was fantastic and yet had so much more potential to be a real momento. Imagine an alternative timeline story with the Nazis ruling the world. With Elizabeth Klein still present, I would like to hope that maybe a future story like that is still possible! 

Rating: 9/10