The Lichyrwick Abomination

"This town is unnaturally old."

Writer: Joe Vevers 

Format: Audio

Released: December 2021

Series: Short Trips 11.X

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Every night, a creature stalks the streets of Lichyrwick. Everyone in town knows that catching sight of it is a death sentence, and no one knows this better than Malcolm. Yet, he won't be able to hide away much longer. The Doctor's in town, and it's time Malcolm finally faced the Lichyrwick Abomination.

Even if it kills him.

Verdict

The Lichyrwick Abomination was a great little Short Trips audio! I'm a big fan of everything about the Paul Spragg Memorial Opportunity and this was a fantastic addition to the range and I still can't believe that it's given away for free. This was a solid tale right from the off and I'm all about the Ninth Doctor's era getting extended with every opportunity possible. He just didn't have enough on television but thankfully that's beginning to feel like it's getting rectified with stories like these. It was fun to know that the Doctor was travelling alone because he'd dropped Rose off at a Spice Girls concert in 1998, and he got to know Malcolm instead for this adventure. Things starting with Malcolm as the narrator and hearing the story from his point of view was excellent. I thought the story behind the creature being in his house was fascinating and it seemed that things went beyond their initial making a game of the creature. Freya was dead and Malcolm blamed himself for his sister's death which was difficult to hear and must be awful to live with. I was a big fan of Jacob Dudman's narration with his impression of the Ninth Doctor very impressive. The Lichyrwick setting worked well and I liked how it was described as being dull and grey. That helped with the atmosphere of a rainy place which suited what was going on in the town. The meeting between Malcolm and the Doctor coming after the latter was denied some chips made for fun listening and I loved how things came full circle with Malcolm buying him some at the end. I loved the Doctor's response to hearing of danger being that he was exactly where he needed to be and despite being warned to leave like all of the other tourists, he was going to stay so Malcolm offered him accommodation, although his mum was less than thrilled! The creature being cursed was a good description and people in Lichyrwick didn't look at it and even locked themselves away. There were stories and whispers of what it looked like, but nobody was sure. The Doctor staying up when the creature came to Malcolm's house was good and it resulted in him wanting to explore the creepy and quiet places of the town. It was such a powerful moment when the Doctor knew of Freya being gone simply from an empty room and I also enjoyed how he felt the town was eery. The revelation that time was fracturing, being split and stitched back together again, caught me by surprise but it all ended up making sense. The time distortion was altering the townsfolk's perception and they couldn't see how sick the town was with the likes of street signs and fencing splicing and scattered objects being strewn. It was a vivid description. The creature's existence was a wound in time and the concept of the distortion being the bruising was fantastic. It was a fun twist to learn that the creature had taken the same route every night in the town and it was looking for Malcom. The description of it being a giant vulture was a little weird although I did like the detail of it having disturbingly human eyes. It was a little pathetic though and Malcom was disappointed to learn that the nightmare of the town was essentially a frightened animal. That was very good. The creature being able to step through time tied things up nicely as we saw Malcolm as a child on the fateful night for Freya, but it wanted to show him innocence and that Freya's death wasn't his fault. I thought that was really nice. He knew he couldn't change the past, but at least now he wouldn't live with the guilt. Overall, a great little bonus story! 

Rating: 8/10