Curiosity Shop

"The Doctor doesn't exist."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: February 2023

Series: Eleventh Doctor Chronicles 4.03

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Valarie

Synopsis 

Mr Foreman owns a junkyard. He doesn't get many visitors. In fact, all anyone ever seems interested in is Barbara. 

One woman informs Mr Foreman she knows the truth about Barbara, that she went on impossible adventures with a man called the Doctor. This woman, this Valarie, will do anything to be reunited with Barbara and the Doctor. Even if it kills her.

Verdict 

Curiosity Shop was a decent story to conclude the All of Time and Space anthology serving as the fourth series of Eleventh Doctor Chronicles! I must admit that from the synopsis and the preview in Doctor Who Magazine for this whole boxset focusing on Barbara Wright, this was a very different story to what was advertised. I didn’t appreciate the slight misleading here but it was still a good story. Having Valarie at the junkyard was fun stuff and I loved that there was a Mr Foreman present. That all led to Valarie getting involved in events close to An Unearthly Child but that was actually very far removed from the truth which was a shame. Valarie wanted to look at the police box and knew of the original owner which was nice, but Foreman wanted money for her to lay eyes on the TARDIS. Foreman taking  a dislike to the name of TARDIS was interesting but I wasn’t a fan of him referring to it as Barbara. That’s not the Barbara I was hoping for in this adventure! The allusion to the ongoing war above them was good stuff and it was nice to know that the Doctor and Valarie were pulled into the battle against their will. It started to explain things. The Doctor having turned the fleet’s weaponry against them into EP and knocking out the TARDIS along with Valerie as she was an enhanced human was quite something and filled me with intrigue. The fact that Valarie was paying Foreman with literal bits of herself was shocking and showed the extent to which she was desperate to ensure the TARDIS was still around. Foreman reliving elements of being the Doctor was quite good and I liked that Valarie recalled their arrival and negative thoughts about the Governor following the IT glitch that opened 73% of cells! Valarie was audibly hurt when Foreman mocked her in having better sight capabilities after she’d paid with part of her orbital components and the moment he said he forgot things that weren’t important when it referred to her name was extremely powerful. Dudman’s performance as Foreman was impressive in parts when it came to the impersonation of other incarnations of the Doctor such as the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth all audibly present. It was good to have the twang of the Eleventh Doctor in those impressions though, if a little odd. Valarie’s hope and faith in the Doctor was admirable and I’m really impressed with how she has settled as companion. It’s crazy to think we’re already halfway through her run! The way she struggled to recall the story featuring heat shields was good as she had lost too many of her parts now. The war above them waking up was good stuff and it coupled well with Valarie’s short term memory being completely shot. The atmosphere when it was left to just Valarie and Golas was really well presented and the former was horrified to find that Foreman had sold the TARDIS! At that point Valarie just gave up which showed the extent the turmoil of the episode had on her. She told Foreman of the Doctor and how he kept on going just because. That was fantastic and it resonated in Foreman as the Doctor was returned. He had to give the fleets a chance of leaving peacefully but of course they didn’t take it. The Doctor actually having a sculpture of all of Valarie’s parts was nice given that she would be okay and they hadn’t been flogged. In the TARDIS though she was extremely angered at literally being used for parts which was completely understandable! The stories of the Doctor had helped him rebuild his back up brain and it was a long old plan all along, but as a whole despite the episode’s quality I can’t help but feel slightly cheated. Regardless, a good listen! 

Rating: 7/10