Wet Walls

"They're only wet at night."

Writer: Mathilde Madden

Format: Audio

Released: July 2020

Series: Short Trips 3.05

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

The walls of a Manor House are dripping wet at night. But why can only mad Lady Catherine – and Peri – see it?

Verdict

Wet Walls was an excellent little Short Trips adventure! I thought this was terrific from start to finish and really flew by. For once in this range, the sixteen minutes run time didn’t actually feel too short and whilst I’m sure it could have benefitted from being longer I didn’t get the feeling that this was a missed opportunity or a story that needed more time. It was great stuff. I thought the atmosphere and tone of the adventure was impressive and with this being a somewhat spooky story, it certainly helped that I was listening to this close to Halloween. It was very much in vibe with my life at the moment as my household is one that enjoys Halloween very much. We’d actually watched a horror last night in the form of Smile and this morning went pumpkin picking so this was certainly a good time to listen to this kind of story. I liked the setting of Shropshire in 1903 as that’s quite niche in terms of setting and year, so a haunted house was terrific. Gretchen as the head of the house looking after Lady Catherine was a good character and it was fun for Peri to mention the Doctor’s title as a serendipitous way to gain entry. Catherine was in need of a doctor and it soon became clear why. The idea of walls dripping wet but only at night was good and the Doctor being at a disadvantage was a fun twist. To him, everything was bone dry but Peri was his eyes and ears across all senses really. The revelation that came regarding the house being a womb was intriguing and whilst it might sound silly on paper, it actually worked very well. It explained the wetness and the structure of the house was decent as a makeshift home for a fetus. That unborn baby being under the bed was good to tie in with the horror theme. Peri had confidence which was great and I liked how the Doctor was essentially helpless without her. The introduction of the Calopia species was good and I think it was good to give them a voice but they didn’t stick around or feature for long. That was the right direction in my opinion. The reaction to finding out the Doctor was male was humorous but he seemed to know all about the Calopians which was helpful to the listener! They were a single sex species but they needed to live in pairs. That’s what had occurred here as a joy ride crash had resulted in one dying so a ship couldn’t operate without two pilots. Hence the effort to create another and the house was the right structure for that, except its readings had told that it was deserted. Of course, that wasn’t the case and the Doctor was on hand to raise that discrepancy. A quick conversation was all that was required and a rejig of the alien controls meant that one could pilot it now. And alas it was really that simple to send the ship on its way and revert the house to normal. The walls would be wet no longer. Overall, a fantastic story!

Rating: 9/10