Paradise Lost

"Devils can take any form."

Writer: Darren Jones

Format: Audio

Released: February 2020

Series: BBC Audio 09

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

On the edge of a nebula, the TARDIS lands on the strange planet of Foss, which is covered in dense and intricate minerals and vegetation.

The spindly, insect-like Fossians are suspicious of the Doctor and Clara, believing them to be on the side of the large, spider-like Drak-Arzin. But when the travellers meet the Dark-Arzin they discover that Foss is far more than a planet: it is, in fact, a giant life-form, nearing the end of its life-span. But what secret lies at the heart of the Fossians' mine?

With the help of a young Fossian named Anura, the Doctor and Clara try to intermediate between Foss and its two warring peoples.

Verdict

Paradise Lost was not the greatest of original BBC Audio dramas! That is putting it lightly which is a real shame to say as there were a lot of aspects of this that I enjoyed, but I just couldn't get on board with the plot and the way it was presented. It just wasn't all that exciting and seemed to drag on a little. When there is just one actor playing the role of narrator and voicing every character in the adventure, you need that little bit of magic to hook the listener into the story but I never felt like that occurred in this instance. It's a frustration because things actually started well with the Doctor and Clara arriving on Foss and encountering a contingent of insect species. The talk of the TARDIS translation circuits and the issues it had in deciphering insect language was really good. I loved that this was used as an explanation for why we couldn't understand the Zarbi way back in The Web Planet and it was just a fun concept to think about! Despite being male and the difficulties that brings to the role, I was pretty impressed with Jacob Dudman's take on Clara and I think the writing is also testament there. It definitely felt like a Clara story and she fitted in well as the companion. We don't tend to get a huge amount of content with her and the Eleventh Doctor so that particular pairing here was a real treat, and makes it all the more disappointing that I didn't really enjoy much of the story. I thought Dudman's introduction as the Doctor was fantastic and the way he portrays this incarnation is sublime. His take on the mannerisms of Matt Smith is incredibly impressive and definitely gave the audio an authentic and genuine feel. Something that worked completely against that though was the actual writing of the narration. I just couldn't for the life of me understand why there was so much 'said the Doctor', 'added Clara', 'said Anura' comments. Dudman was so good at portraying different characters and making them sound distinct that this was completely unnecessary, and honestly it could have become a drinking game they were so frequent and just interrupted my listening. I thought the setting of Foss was pretty decent but I wasn't a fan of how this one just felt like a bit of recycled melee of ideas. The planet that was sentient, the war between two peoples who couldn't understand each other, the ark, the ship having recorded everything. It all just felt a bit repetitive which was a big shame as there could have been so much more potential. I liked the planet and the idea of the Drak-Arzin thinking the Fossians to be vermin was good. There should have been more on that, rather than the emphasis on communication. It's an important lesson of course, but there could have been more of an impact in the adventure. It all felt a bit same old from an early stage which is of course not what you want. I rather enjoyed Anura as a character and I thought her position in the species worked well. The theme of devils was good too but as a whole, I just don't think this flowed well and seemed a bit of a jumble. Overall, not my favourite of audios that's for sure!

Rating: 5/10