The Secret of Novice Hame

"Once I was such a wild cat."

Writer: Russell T Davies
Format: Webcast
Released: 30 May 2020
Series: #DoctorWhoLockdown

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

On the last day of her life, Novice Hame has a final, terrible secret... but who will she tell?

Verdict

The Secret of Novice Hame was an outstanding webcast adventure to go alongside the #NewNewYork watch-along of New Earth and Gridlock. Unfortunately, I did not take part in the Tweet-along as I had other plans on the Saturday night, but I was very excited to watch/listen what went alongside it and I have to say that it was absolutely tremendous! It was such a wonderful little story with Novice Hame on her deathbed and like the Face of Boe, she had one last secret for the lonely traveller. The parallelism there was just brilliant and whilst it was clear that she knew all about the Doctor and his different faces and many men, woman (and even animals!) taking the name, it was terrific that her Doctor came to see her. The Tenth Doctor. I thought the music that accompanied the narration of Novice Hame was magnificent and it was just marvellous to have some additional music from Murray Gold to go alongside Russell T Davies's fantastic writing. The background history we got on the character of Novice Hame was magnificent and despite Hame being on her deathbed, the feel good factor in this story was off the charts! She seemed extremely content with the fact she was going to die and she needed to tell the Doctor the truth about New Earth. The arrival of the Doctor to say goodbye to Novice Hame, presumably during his farewell tour in The End of Time, was wonderful and I thought it was brilliant that David Tennant was back voicing the Tenth Doctor! It made the story excel even further than it already had and just added a huge amount of credibility. This really was a fitting farewell for the character and it was nice to have those little holographic images of her appearances in New Earth and Gridlock. It was nice that she was back to being Novice Hame but seemingly dressed in her Sisters of Plenitude attire as that brought everything around nicely for her character's story. Discovering that she had been sold by her family to the Plenitude was very good and I loved that it was the Doctor who sent her parents to New Earth to find her. That was really nice and a touching moment. The imagery in this story was excellent and even though there weren't too many differing images, it was just great and looked spectacular. Hame wanting to know if the Face of Boe's dying secret was true or not and that the Doctor was indeed not alone. His recalling of the events of Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords and even further adventures he'd had since last seeing Hame encountering the likes of Scarecrows, Weeping Angels and the Flood was brilliant. It seemed to put a smile on Hame's voice, at least that's the impression I got from Anna Hope's narration as she reprised her role very impressively. The team behind this webcast was pretty sensational if I'm being honest. The music and the delivery of the incredible writing made for a stellar combination and this really might be the best #DoctorWhoLockdown bonus story yet. Hame's secret being that she believed that New Earth itself was actually a trap and that there was something within the planet was fantastic, but her secret would have to wait as she had already passed with her final words being 'I Wonder', which the Doctor really thought fitted her character. It was a lovely way to send off such a good character, whilst exploring her history and potentially setting something brilliant up for the future. Overall, a superb story!

Rating: 10/10