Crime of the Century

"I always enjoy a good vault."

Writer: Andrew Cartmel

Format: Audio

Released: May 2011

Series: Lost Stories 2.04

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Raine

Synopsis 

The year is 1989. In London, safe cracker Raine Creevy breaks into a house - and finds more than the family jewels.

In the Middle East, the kingdom of Sayf Udeen is being terrorised by Soviet invaders and alien monsters. And on the Scottish border, a highly guarded facility contains an advanced alien weapon. These are all part of the Doctor's masterplan. But masterplans can go awry...

Verdict 

Crime of the Century was a very good audio adventure and as the tag line that accompanies the Lost Stories range so wonderfully states, I'm delighted that this story is found at last. I was immediately looking forward to listening after I saw that Andrew Cartmel was the writer and although it has been nearly two years since I listened to and blogged Thin Ice, the story's events were still familiar to me and it was excellent to have an immediate sequel. The events between the two stories were only separated by a day or so for the Doctor and Ace but for the returning characters there had been some twenty-two years between what occurred with the Ice Warriors in Moscow and what was happening here. I liked that dynamic although I was expecting Ace to be more widely recognised than she was even if it was a considerable time lapse. It was brilliant to hear the familiar voices of Markus Creevy and Colonel Felnikov once again and even though they were both surprised to find the Doctor had returned to their lives, they both actually played similar roles to what they did in their first story. In all honesty, as I mentioned with my blogging of Hexagora last weekend, I'm really not convinced that this adventure would have worked well on television but on audio it really did blossom into something great. I think it definitely would have helped lay down the Cartmel master plan in concrete and after reading the still relatively recent interview with him in Doctor Who Magazine, which was spread over three issues, I can clearly see where this audio fits in with things. Even though it was a Lost Story audio and I wouldn't have been overly happy with the way in which it occurred, I still maintain that Ace's departure should have been depicted in Thin Ice. It just makes sense because it was adapted from the story her original departure would have taken place had Season 27 of the Classic era occurred but sadly it didn't and then when these audios get made we don't even get Ace leaving which I just find odd. It almost seemed like Ace wasn't mean to be in this story with her quickly shifted off to Kafiristan to engage in the ongoing war in that part of the world. The Doctor of course had a plan all worked out and whilst it all did go pretty much to plan, there were some casualties along the way which horrified both he and Ace. The arrival of Raine, as an adult now of course, was rather humorous with her unlocking the Doctor out of a safe. He'd of course read her future diary entry and needed to make sure that history wasn't altered and that time remained written. I really liked her in the story even if she had a shaky relationship with her dad and I really do think she will make an excellent companion. She seems similar to Ace in some ways with her also not displaying the traditional characteristics of a female companion which I think is really good. She's adventurous, brave and doesn't appear to be shy when it comes to standing up to the Doctor. Having Ace alongside could make things difficult for the Seventh Doctor and I really am intrigued to see how the new trio will get along. I thought the Metatraxi were an intriguing enemy and whilst I wasn't a huge fan of some of their customs, I did rather enjoy Ace winning in single combat. The species laughing at their champion when it was discovered that Ace was female was magnificent and one of the highlights of the story for me. It was so simple but mightily effective. The plot worked well and we had some good cliffhangers and I did enjoy the climax. It was logical but also interesting which I think is just as important. Overall though, a really good Lost Story audio and dare I say it, I think I'm finally becoming rather fond of the Seventh Doctor and Ace together. 

Rating: 8/10