The Doll of Death

"Lethbridge-Stewart, meet us yesterday evening!"

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: September 2008

Series: Companion Chronciles 3.03

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis 

"Retrocausation! Events before their cause. Time in reverse."

While investigating a temporal anomaly in Central London, the Doctor and Jo Grant meet Professor Harold Saunders, a man who possesses an unstable alien artefact, and who is seemingly haunted by the ghosts of dolls.

Who is the mysterious Mrs Killbrew? Why is a pack of hounds hunting them in reverse? And can Jo pick up any bargains while backwards shopping on Oxford Street?

Verdict 

The Doll of Death was a fantastic audio and a great debut performance from Katy Manning in the Companion Chronicles range. She effortlessly reprised her role as lovely old Josephine Grant, something she hadn't done for 35 years since her departure in The Green Death. I was intrigued by the point of view at which the now older Jo was telling this story from. I'm not entirely sure it's necessary to have the older version of the companion giving a brief introduction of themselves long since they left the Doctor. But here we got to know about Jo's husband Cliff and shared some humour regarding the climate conference she was attending. The story itself was great with the first part being the slightly better of the two I thought. The use of retrocausation was staggeringly good! I absolutely loved the concept. Things happening in reverse. The effects of an explosion, as we saw in the story, were on show some time before the impact actually occurred. It's not quite comprehendible but to me it's fantastic. The way it was affecting speech was enigmatic brilliance and just made those ghostly dolls even more eery and creepy after their freaky description. The roles of Third Doctor era UNIT regulars; the Brigadier, Sgt Benton and Mike Yates were very good and with the Brigadier in particular sparked some terrific honour with his continued bickering with the Doctor. I do wonder if those two, in this incarnation, have ever gotten along. The way the Brigadier just ridiculed some of the Doctor's theories, desire him pretty much always being correct, baffled me. Is he really that stubborn and ignorant to think he knows better than a Time Lord? I enjoyed the cliffhanger and its resolution (of sorts). The character of Mrs Killebrew was very intriguing and I liked the confusion around her and Hannah. The mystery of the blue tablet was a great focal point of the story and explained why time was going in reverse and how some people were feeling the effects and on the parallel time stream. The reference to Terror of the Autons was nicely thrown in with Jo referencing being under the Master's control as she faced similar circumstances here. The climax was a good one with the debate over the tablet and why Hannah was on Earth during the 1970s. She was an observer and she'd come to look at this Earth's first contact with alien life. The one constant in history. The Doctor. I liked that very much as did I enjoy the concept of the Doctor's past being Hannah's future and vice versa. The Doctor being eager to know when his exile would end was tremendous but quite sad too. Our hero was still trapped and was desperate for adventure! But he'd remain stuck a while longer. A great climax! Things worked out well and the Doctor was officially a British citizen! That was a shock. 

Rating: 8/10