The Darkness of Glass

"They watch, they hunt, and they kill."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: February 2015

Series: FDA 4.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

Cut off from the TARDIS, the Doctor and Leela find themselves stranded on a small island. But they are not alone. It is 1907, and members of the Caversham Society have gathered on the hundredth anniversary of the death of Mannering Caversham, the greatest Magic Lanternist who ever lived.

But Caversham was also a supernaturalist who claimed to have conjured up a demon from the depths of hell. As people start to die, the Doctor begins to wonder if Caversham's story might have more than a grain of truth in it. Can the Doctor and Leela discover what really happened to Caversham a century ago? And if they do, will they live to tell the tale...?

Verdict

The Darkness of Glass was an excellent audio adventure! I'm a huge fan of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range and this was another fine instalment. The pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Leela is tough to beat on audio as their relationship is full of crass humour masquerading in seriousness, and that was evidenced by their arrival to Britain here. It was wet and dull and they found themselves on a sinking path in a brilliant way to set the atmosphere and establish the island setting. Having the story set in 1907 was fun with Leela causing a bit of a shock to the people of this time, with her and the Doctor welcomed into by Mortlake and Porter. I thought the concept of a Lanternist was good and I liked how there were links to magic. The household celebrating the anniversary of Mannering Caversham's death with him being proclaimed as the greatest magic lanterns was great. He shot himself in the head in order to banish the demon which was quite the sacrifice! Rolf dying and Leela being shooed in as an expert in death was excellent. She quickly deduced that he'd been attacked by a creature or animal which was terrific and a great use of her background and character. The mystery surrounding the one small dark square of glass interested me and I knew it would be relevant from the story's title. The lantern being suggested as being used to conjure a spirit was fantastic and fitted right in with the feel of the adventure. It seemed that death was occurring to gain possession of the pane which seemed odd initially, and the idea of the shade changing was fun given the revelation that came later. The demon being the shadow on the wall served as a decent cliffhanger and I liked that it emerged in a dark way. Literally. Somersby was a fun little character and I liked how it seemed like she was almost spying on the Doctor as he was working things out. Holman giving his presentation and the slides being all wrong as Leela assisted was a very fun backdrop for the Doctor working out that the demon had been trapped in the glass in 1807 after Caversham broke down the barriers between realms to trap the demon before he'd shot himself to break the link. The creature was scattered in the panes of glass that had been smashed, but now someone had gathered all of the glass and wanted to summon the demon which I thought was wonderful. I really liked that. Somersby actually owning the castle as Caversham's great granddaughter was an unexpected revelation, and the suggestion of using her to summon the demon was fun. The presentation projecting the slides/glass of the demon onto the window of the Great Hall was superb and I loved Mortlake being the one that was summoning the demon to fulfil his ambition and aim to have it do his bidding. That was never going to work! The Doctor repeating Caversham's trapping of the creature was terrifically done and I liked how the light in the glass was used. The Doctor taking some shards to ensure the creature could never be complete again was a fitting finale to the story and a brilliant way to ensure defeat. Overall, an excellent listen!

Rating: 9/10