The Sleeping Blood

"What do you expect a terrorist to look like?"

Writer: Martin Day

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: Companion Chronicles: First Doctor 1.01

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan

Synopsis

When the Doctor falls ill, Susan is forced to leave the safety of the TARDIS behind. Exploring a disused research centre in search of medical supplies, she becomes embroiled in the deadly plans of a terrorist holding an entire world to ransom – and the soldier sent to stop him.

Verdict

The Sleeping Blood was a really good adventure and a very solid start to the first volume of Companion Chronicles for the First Doctor. Of course, there have been many releases in the range/format featuring the First Doctor prior to this, but this marks the beginning of a new form of boxset for the range which I am intrigued by! I love having stories set before the events of An Unearthly Child because everything is so unknown and there is just so much opportunity to do something that just couldn't be done if it was set during a point we would see on television. For example, we actually get the TARDIS chameleon circuit in operation which was wonderful and I like how not a great deal is made of that because that's exactly what the ability is there for! The very idea of a Doctor Who story taking place before Doctor Who started is just madness really but there is room there and whilst it shouldn't be exploited too much, because in my opinion it is special, this was a simple enough adventure that it wouldn't really have any lasting impact. It was nice for Susan to get out there and shine in a way she perhaps was not afforded in her television run and Carol Ann Ford did a tremendous job with both narration and reprising her Susan character. It was a real joy to listen to. The Doctor hardly featuring was interesting but not exactly uncommon for the first incarnation! Him being ill and stuck in the TARDIS was good and it must have been quite the illness to prevent him from venturing out onto a new planet and pleasing his curious nature. I thought the setting of Rua was very good and I liked how we got to hear the history of how it was named thanks to Earth colonists experiencing and seeing a great wind of over three hundred miles an hour! That seems quite apt for what is going on outside my window here in a locked down and blustery South Wales. My daily walk was quite a challenge against the wind that's for sure. Anyway, Susan encountering Ling was fun and I really enjoyed her interactions with the computer intelligence. She needed antibiotics for the Doctor but the only place to find them was in a museum which I enjoyed a lot. It said a lot about when and where they were and her reaction to that was wonderful. Kendrick's introduction was good and I liked how Susan ended up getting involved in the planet's affairs despite the Doctor's warning about interference. Of course, we are pre-The Aztecs here so it was important to reiterate the sentiments there about changing history. The Butcher made for a very good villain and I have to say that name is just perfect for a Doctor Who enemy. I was a big fan of that. I loved the use of nano-technology and Susan realising that she was infected with something early on worked well. I think they are of effective use in a medical kind of story and the rest of the crew remembering a pinching feeling shortly after arriving was a good spark. Susan's ability to program the nano-machines to council out the signal being sent by the Butcher was very quick but that showcased her intelligence which I liked and it did so much so that Kendrick wanted to keep her around until the Butcher was no more. Susan did so despite not having much choice and I liked how after getting the medication she required for the Doctor, she felt guilty about her interference but the Doctor didn't seem to mind when it meant he would be well again! The lost tape of the Butcher was a nice way to end things as it humanised the terrorist enemy and made us realise that not everything seemed as it was. Overall, a really good and strong adventure! 

Rating: 8/10