Vigil

"Blood turned to ancient powder in her veins."

Writer: Michael Collier
Format: Audio
Released: November 1998
Series: BBC Cassettes

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

The Doctor and Peri arrive in Hastings, where Peri is reunited with her college friend Martin and his domineering fiancee Meryl. The Doctor sets off to visit his own friend, pathologist Val Menard, only to find him mourning the loss of his daughter who has been in a coma since a recent car accident. However, the Doctor soon finds out he is responsible for much worse than a coma.

Verdict

Vigil was not the greatest of listens if I'm being honest. It was a bit of a slog to get through in parts which was a shame because I was really looking forward to it given that it is quite the anomaly! I really do think that this audio adventure would be absolutely perfect for Doctor Who Magazine's new Apocrypha feature as I can't imagine a great number of fans will have gotten their hands on this. I had no idea it even existed until I found myself going through the Doctor Who content on BorrowBox and I usually gloss over the Target readings in audiobook format as I much prefer to read the prose itself. There's nothing like having the actual book! Anyway, my eye just caught a glance on the titles within the Tales from the TARDIS collection and noticed one was called Out of the Darkness. Of course, I know that isn't based off a televised story so I did some research and found that this was the only audio exclusive story on the set! I was intrigued and very much eager to get it listened to. I thought it started off quite well, even if after a really out of place and just unfamiliar opening with a loud and boisterous piano theme. That was very strange and I honestly had to check more than once that I was listening to the right story! The Doctor and Peri are a terrific pairing, but there wasn't any of their enjoyable relationship in this one. It seemed like it was trying too much to fit into Season 22 and the darker side of the Doctor. That isn't suitable for me and it just didn't work well with only Nicola Bryant narrating the story. She did that role decently well, but the tone really was lacking a lot. There needed to be a great deal more excitement in my opinion. Peri being reunited with her old college friend Martin was good and I liked that we got to meet somebody from her past. It was clear there had been a relationship on an intimate level in theist, but then we were introduced to Meryl who was a very clingy and dominant fiancee of his. Peri's reaction to finding out that Martin was engaged was heartfelt, but then after that the story just span off into boredom. That's a bit harsh, but it really didn't seem to be going anywhere thrilling. The Doctor's hate of hospitals because it was full of people not wanting to be there was good, but it wasn't really explored which I'd have liked. Martin's bedroom performances getting mentioned was just weird and out of place and didn't add anything to the audio for me. It just seemed like it was trying to be a bit more adult for the sake of it. Finding Meryl had her head smashed in and the sheets of her bed were wet with blood came quite suddenly and should have been more impactful. I'm not sure why, but the nature of this audio just seemed like it was avoiding any big moments. The Doctor working out that all of the infections were his own indirect doing from the TARDIS and it bringing time sensitive microbes was good and should have been identified so much earlier! If we knew that was the focus, I think I'd have enjoyed things much more. The emotional end was definitely the highlight of the audio in my opinion with Peri's minor outburst about how they always arrived somewhere when killing started. That was rather emotional and I just felt quite sorry for her because of all that was going on and what she had to see. I also felt sorry for the Doctor because the odds of him bringing the microbes with him were infinitesimally small and yet it happened and caused devastation. That ending definitely saved the audio from complete disaster, but for me this was a pretty poor story.

Rating: 5/10