The Chimes of Midnight

"Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Mrs Baddeley's famous plum puddings."

Writer: Rob Shearman

Format: Audio

Released: February 2002

Series: Main Range 29

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...

But something must be stirring. Something hidden in the shadows. Something which kills the servants of an old Edwardian mansion in the most brutal and macabre manner possible. Exactly on the chiming of the hour, every hour, as the grandfather clock ticks on towards midmightnight.

Trapped and afraid, the Doctor and Charley are forced to play detective to murders with no motive, where even the victims don't stay dead. Time is running out.

And time itself might well be the killer...

Verdict

The Chimes of Midnight was superb audio adventure and a fantastic way for me to finally get involved in one of the #DoctorWhoLockdown Tweet-alongs. It really was a wonderful two hours or so and I hope to be able to do the same with the televised episodes that Emily Cook has arranged because I really do feel like I have been missing out. That's what being committed to making full use of a BritBox free trial will get you! Don't the date of this blog entry confuse you as because of the lockdown, I have managed to get ahead in terms of daily blogging and I'm keeping ahead and them in the bank for a rainy day and time where I might be too busy to blog every day. Anyway, this is the first Big Finish story to get the double blogging treatment and I knew it was going to be great, even if it has been six years since I initially listened to the story. Wow, that was whilst I was still doing A-Levels and now here I sit with a Master's Degree! Time really does fly. Speaking of which, the use of time in this adventure is just wonderful and I loved spending mine listening whilst reading the tweets of Rob Shearman, Paul McGann and India Fisher. Shearman really did share a great deal about the process involved in writing the story and it seems that the best adventures are written quickly! He frantically wrote this one and it ends up being one of my favourite audio adventures, much like the crazy nature of The War Games being written and that serving as my favourite televised story. It was very intriguing having Shearman dissect his own adventure and him admitting that it was the first time he'd listened to it in eighteen years since the release. That's quite incredible! He was surprised by some of his own twist and turns which was amusing and I really liked how we could clearly see each part as its own. That was a perspective I haven't looked at a Big Finish story in before so that was really good. The tonal shifts were clearly noticeable. The humour on Twitter that came with the repetitive nature of the plum puddings and how Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas was wonderful and I loved that one individual actually had a live counter going. So much fun. India Fisher was magnanimous in her tweets about Charley and with my current position in the Big Finish Main Range having her with the Sixth Doctor and all the mysteries going on there, it was lovely to go back to her and the Eighth Doctor. They really are a magnificent pairing and the performances of both her and Paul McGann were sublime. He getting to take over Big Finish's own account was a lot of fun. The story of Edith Thompson throughout the adventure is heartbreaking but the links that come with Storm Warning and her connection with Charley are sublime. I found it incredible to think that Shearman was writing this blind when it came to the companion because that debut story hadn't yet been released! That's talent. The sentiment attached to the Doctor's speech in the concluding stages was lovely and realising that Shearman wrote it as a sort of love letter to Doctor Who because he didn't think it was ever coming back was marvellous. A really fantastic story. Overall, a terrific listen and enjoyable evening! I sadly won't be taking part in #LizardWife as I'd rather do the whole boxset, but I do hope these continue!

Rating: 10/10