Purity Unbound: Girl in a Bubble

"The world I make must be both beautiful and pure."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner

Format: Audio

Released: August 2023

Series: Sixth Doctor Adventures 4.01

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Mel, Hebe

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in Hebe's flat but it's not how the Doctor and Mel remember it – and neither is Hebe! In Purity's new timeline, Hebe Harrison lives in a grand penthouse with armed guards and a live-in factotum – Ron! – and if she ever leaves her sanctuary the world will end.

Are these strangers the ones who have been sending her messages? And can this reality be undone without losing Hebe forever?

Verdict

Girl in a Bubble was a great story to kick off the Purity Unbound fourth series of Sixth Doctor Adventures! This range has been excellent so far in terms of continuity and this follows on nicely where Purity Unleashed concluded with Hebe restored to the universe, but very much not in the correct timeline. The concept here of a paradoxical paradox was a lot of fun whilst bordering on the ridiculous, but I’m a big fan of exploring elements of time going wrong. The Doctor and Mel having to ensure that they put whatever had gone wrong right in this timeline on the world in which they were in right then was good stuff and puts them in a pretty strong predicament. Their resources are definitely limited and just having them experience the world that Purity had created was fantastic. I think it’s quite bold in this day and age of political correctness to have a villain that opposes anything that wouldn’t be deemed ‘pure’ and at the front of that is Hebe and her disability. She’s confined to a wheelchair and on this world of Purity’s that meant she was stuck in her own flat and had been for thirty years. I really appreciated her comment concerning whether it was better to be alive or to live, because what was life stuck between the same four walls for three decades? That really highlighted the significance of the episode’s title. I thought the pre-credits sequence of Hehe being told a story about the clay and Purity using new to form her world, but Hebe was made from old elements. The crumbs at the bottom of the barrel of the old. I liked how there was a link between the true timeline and the one Purity had hoped to take over, and that being Elise was really well done. I thought the letters she was sending to remind her old friend of their life together and the club they created at university was great, but it was also slightly amusing for Hebe to initially take them as threats. Mel was rather deductive in working out what it all actually meant. I thought Ron was a good character in this one and his constant realisation that in the normal timeline he was married to Patricia which meant Purity was a lot of fun. His wanting to know Elise when she was revealed was a nice touch as well despite him not knowing about her there was an instant connection. Exploring the world of Purity was really good stuff and sets us up, I imagine, for the rest of the series to come. Purity did have a place for those who were no longer pure in the palaces, but only if you had contributed to society. People like Hebe who were born with a disability couldn’t make such a contribution and had no place in this pure world. That was a daunting and horrifying prospect. No wonder she lived in fear inside her flat. The Doctor and Mel also working out that the former had inadvertently funded this atrocity was a strong moment as the Doctor realised a casual comment about a derby winner meant the ancestor of Patricia came into riches which she then inherited down the family tree. Hebe remembering more and more about the true timeline thanks to the Doctor purposely leaving the TARDIS in her home was great stuff and quite powerful stuff. Purity not being able to kill Elise at the end seemed weak but I did like the lead into the next episode with the threat she had of displaying them all in their own fish tanks. Quite the collector pieces they’d be! Overall, a strong episode to kick off the series. 

Rating: 8/10