Bill and the Three Jackets

"Ziggy stole my face!"

Writer: Dorothy Koomson
Format: Short Story
Released: 8th March 2018
Printed in: The Day She Saved the Doctor

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

Preparing for a date, Bill goes shopping for a new jacket. In the mysterious shop on the outskirts of Bristol city centre, she tries on three jackets but is prevented from taking selfies in them. Ziggy, the shop assistant, claims to be preventing plagiarism but the real reason is far more consequential...

Verdict

Bill and the Three Jackets was an average story but a somewhat decent conclusion to The Day She Saved the Doctor collection of stories. This was the most recent, chronologically, story in the set and I was quite surprised by how little the Doctor actually featured. I fully appreciate that this book, released on International Women's Day, was all about highlighting the women of Doctor Who but compared with other stories in this collection, he didn't feature much at all. I thought the concept of this story was pretty good with someone taking over Bill but the means by which that was achieved was a little too easy and silly for me. I was sceptical of this story purely based on its title which I know is wrong of me but how could a story actually be about jackets? I didn't think it would be so centred on jackets but it actually was! Sadly, it didn't quite have the quality of The Doctor's Coat but it certainly wasn't without its positives. I thought the writing of Bill was actually fantastic and with her being in another body, we got a trip into her mind and I really liked reading her thoughts. She didn't panic too much and was sure that she was able to convince the Doctor of her true identity. Sadly, I just think the idea of taking the companion out of their own skin has been recycled too many times and this was just lacking some originality. The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor was decent and I liked that Nardole was mentioned, but I just don't buy that the Doctor wouldn't have noticed that Bill had been taken over. He seemed to immediately know when Martha was cloned in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, down to a single hair detail, so for him to need convincing here was quite surprising. However, after a while of dismissing who he saw as a stranger, he was rather quick in being convinced that Bill had actually been subjected to a body swap. Ziggy was an interesting one and she seemed evil at first but I found her explanation quite annoying really as things didn't make much sense. If all she wanted was to go home, which was actually the case, why go to such efforts to get to the Doctor and ask him to take you home in the body of his friends if you were then going to reveal your identity anyway? It just didn't make much sense to me which was a shame. Sadly, the story itself was average but Bill's kindness was so powerful throughout this book and that's why it scores a respectable rating.

Rating: 6/10