The Witch From the Well

"Sinners cannot go unpunished."

Writer: Rick Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: November 2011

Series: Monthly Adventures 154

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Mary Shelley

Synopsis

A shrieking, killing nightmare erupts from an overgrown well, hidden in the grounds of an old house, Tranchard's Folly – and Mary Shelley, the Doctor's latest travelling companion, rescues teenage twins Finicia and Lucern from the clutches of the monster.

But a TARDIS trip in search of the origin of the horror goes terribly wrong when the Doctor, Mary and their two new friends find themselves stuck in the middle of a seventeenth-century witch scare.

While the Doctor investigates the strange lights at Vetter's Tor, and the twins go in search of an artefact from the Hecatrix Dimension, Mary confronts the secrets of her past... and her future. The truth will out: Master Kincaid, the terrible Witch-Pricker himself, commands it!

Verdict

The Witch From the Well was a good story to continue this Eighth Doctor and Mary Shelley trilogy of Monthly Adventures from Big Finish! I like the idea of the Doctor travelling with a famed author before she would go onto write Frankenstein, a story that has such a cultural impact throughout history, so the threat of getting her back to be able to pen that book is a fun concept. Of course, we know that Frankenstein isn't going to be unwritten in the Doctor Who universe so that threat isn't always quite believable, but it does work well when trying to think of the story in isolation. Paul McGann is tremendous as always but I do think that the story started a bit too quickly in how the twins of Lucern and Finicia were saved by Mary and quickly given salvation in the TARDIS. It was slightly rushed for me without too much backstory and it was obvious from the start that they weren't going to be as innocent as they appeared. In saying that, the moment where their turn was revealed in the TARDIS and the cliffhanger of them dematerialising with Mary on the inside but the Doctor not was excellent. I've mentioned it several times before but I'm a massive fan of the vulnerability that comes with the Doctor being separated from his trusty time and space machine. The idea of him being stranded is terrific. I thought the setting of this one worked pretty well and I liked how the history of Trenchard's Folly was explained on more than one occasion and how it was also linked as Trenchard's Fell. I liked the proximity of the well and the idea of it containing a witch was fantastic. I thought it was fun for the Doctor to ridicule the idea of magic and witchcraft, unless it came from the witch-filled Hecatrix Dimension. Who'd have thought there would actually be a dimension for witches! That was a very fun idea and I'd love for that to be expanded upon in the future. There was a lot of potential there, especially with the Odic energy and potential. I liked the concept of that being contained in all beings and it being unstable in this dimension provided a good threat. The Witch-Picker was a strong character and the prospect of the Doctor and company being tried for being witches was very well done. Agnes Bates was a wonderful character and the fear she had in being tried for witchcraft was very evident in her voice. The relationship she built with the Doctor was great as well and a real story highlight. The twins not being all they seemed and actually torturing a witch was hard to stomach and Agnes failing to accept they had been replaced because she'd literally helped bring them into the world was a fine use of a character from that time. Claude was a fun and posh character too and I couldn't help but think he sounded like the Fifth Doctor! That didn't leave me as the story carried on. The use of the lokig containment web in the conclusion was strong and I thought it was fun that Agnes didn't actually end up trapped down the well. I was slightly underwhelmed by the reunion between the Doctor and Mary as I thought that could have been more impactful, but it was nice for her to realise the significance of him supposedly changing history. Overall, a very decent listen! 

Rating: 7/10