Plague of the Daleks

"The Doctor and the Daleks go back a long way."

Writer: Mark Morris

Format: Audio

Released: December 2009

Series: Monthly Adventures 129

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa

Synopsis

Stockbridge used to be such a lovely place. The loveliest village in all England, according to the guide books. But hardly anyone visits Stockbridge now: a few tourists, a couple of Trust guides, the odd beady-eyed raven.

But something is coming to Stockbridge. Something which turns village cricketers into ravening zombies – a plague such as the Earth has never seen, falling through history from a time when humanity's greatest enemy was a race known as the Daleks.

The Doctor and Nyssa visit Stockbridge for the final time, to confront the terrible secret buried at its heart. The storm clouds are gathering...

Verdict

Plague of the Daleks was an excellent audio adventure to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures of Big Finish and to conclude what shaped up to be a pretty darn good trilogy! This really worked well as the finale of the Stockbridge series of adventures and it was a pretty emphatic way to finish the village's role in Doctor Who! It has cropped up a number of times for the Fifth Doctor now across the audios and the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips and I liked how we took things way into the future of the forty-fifth century. It was good immediate continuity from where we left off in The Eternal Summer and the eery feel of the village being empty and the Green Dragon pub in particular having a sense that everyone had been taken in an instant was brilliant. The repeated dialogue of Withers behind the bar was intriguing and her continued efforts to discuss the weather was amusing. Professory Jabbery was a fun little character and his distain for the human race and their emotional and whacky ways was terrific stuff. I enjoyed him a lot but by the time he was exterminated by the Daleks, it felt about right in terms of timing. Isaac was a fantastic character and his initial reaction to the arrival of the Doctor and Nyssa to Stockbridge was very good. Of course, Stockbridge in the forty-fifth century was one of the last remaining areas unaffected by the solar flares that had caused the human race to uplift and depart the original homeworld to conquer the stars and expand. The protective bubble was good and I liked how it ended up playing a big role in the story's ending. It's a bit frustrating by now when a story that features the Daleks in the title has their arrival as a cliffhanger as it's something we've been waiting for the entire time of listening, but it was good to hear how the adventure shifted once they were involved. Their role with the plague was fantastic but I was more concerned with the fact that they'd set a trap for the Doctor around Stockbridge considering he always popped up there. I liked that a lot and discovering that the Daleks had been dormant and lying in cryogenic sleep for seventeen centuries! They were determined, I'll give them that. I thought Nyssa had a really strong story as the companion and her reaction to the Daleks being present did a great job in selling their threat and fear factor. The pace of the final two parts with the Daleks in full flow was terrific and I loved the audacity of the Daleks telling the Doctor that he would become one of them. The prospect of that is tremendous and whilst I never believed that he had succumbed to the Dalek plague and became a servitor, it was nicely done and Peter Davison played the role really well. This was a superb outing for the Fifth Doctor. The revelation that the TARDIS would provide the means for the Dalek resurrection was magnificent and I had been wondering all along when that would show up. It served a great purpose and the Doctor convincing the Daleks to take a test flight was wonderful. Lysette was a very good character and I enjoyed her relationship with Nyssa so her turn as a Dalek servitor was a lovely surprise. I didn't see it coming so I really liked that. It wasn't so much of a shock that Isaac also turned out to be one after that revelation, but it was as a whole an excellent twist. The way the Doctor appealed to him to fight the Dalek plague inside him was outstanding and a shining moment for the fifth incarnation in audio in my opinion. I really loved the proximity of the adventure with the Dalek Empire series and the Doctor mentioning how their species was wiped out was terrific. The story of Lysette's wife was very saddening and full of emotion. Lysette's role in bringing about Stockbridge's demise by destroying the protective bubble was extraordinary and even after the Doctor had brought the retrovirus into play to wipe out his greatest foes, the plague was still within her and that meant the Dalek instincts were still kicking so she was able to bring about the end of Stockbridge. Overall, an excellent adventure! 

Rating: 9/10