The Whispering Forest

"My purity shines in beads of blood."

Writer: Stephen Cole

Format: Audio

Released: August 2010

Series: Monthly Adventures 137

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in alien woodlands, where a small group of humans hold tight against the menace of the Takers – strange creatures who come by night to spirit away members of their settlement.

But if there's one thing that the inhabitants of Purity Bay fear more than the Takers, it's the dirt and disease spread by strangers. Strangers like the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa...

The fanatical Sister Mertil and her hygiene-obsessed acolytes are victims of a terrible corruption – but not in the way they think. Only the whispering forest knows the truth...

Verdict

The Whispering Forest was a good audio adventure to continue the run of Monthly Adventures and served as a decent middle instalment for this Fifth Doctor trilogy! I'm enjoying that we're getting some extended stories with this quartet of main cast that we barely saw on television and not where Turlough was firmly established as a companion, and I thought it was fun where the characters were inevitably split up that we got some time with Nyssa and Turlough as a pair. That was definitely beneficial and exactly what I'd want as that was what we had very little of on screen. The dynamic of Nyssa being half a century older from when she initially left the TARDIS is fun and I like that she's continuing with her medical efforts to find a cure. I think that's important to highlight given where she is at in her life now. I thought the plot itself was pretty good but it felt like a lot of recycled parts without being anything really unique which is why I couldn't give it any higher than what I did (which was still pretty good going!). It felt similar to the likes of The Face of Evil with it having descendants from a human ship and words having lost their true meaning over time as generations came and went. It was refreshing to have the Fifth Doctor in that environment, but some elements just felt a bit predictable. In saying that, there wasn't exactly anything bad about the story other than the fact it felt familiar. I thought Tegan had a pretty strong adventure and I was excited by the ending with the mark of the Mara returning and being revealed that she is far from free of its hold! That's an exciting way to lead into the final adventure in the trilogy and whilst I'm not a massive fan of Kinda and Snakedance or the Mara in general, I'm really looking forward to hearing what will be done in the audio format and having some strong continuity from the televised era. Before we get there though, we had this eery little tale and the forest made for a good setting. I liked how the atmosphere was set early on with Nyssa immediately picking up on the mysterious whispers and the sound effects used there were great. I thought some of the guest characters were pretty good with Skeska definitely being a standout. I thought she was probably the most fun, but the most crucial was undoubtedly Mertil. Her role in the killings and the revelation of her responsibility was a good moment. I quite liked the concept of the Takers and how they had come to be, but again it just felt a little recycled which was slightly annoying. The Doctor working out that the descendants were from a hospital ship thanks to the range of technology was good, but I thought the St John's mentions made it a little obvious. As a whole though, this was a strong performance from Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and I'm enjoying the adventures with this quartet. With how things are set up, we've got an exciting finale to the trilogy on our hands! Overall, a good and strong story that unfortunately felt like I'd heard it before.

Rating: 7/10