One Night Only (A Fela Kuti Story)

"Never underestimate the musicians."

Writer: Tade Thompson

Format: Novella

Released: August 2025

Series: Icons 04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry

Synopsis

Sarah Jane doesn't know who she is any more.

She's applied for a job as a secretary at a run-of-the-mill office, with just one other co-worker. 

He's nice enough. A little strange, a little charming, clearly an innovator. For a snappy dresser, though (Sarah loves the scarf) he's strangely quiet. 

That's because, of course, he's the Doctor. Working with UNIT to try to restore Sarah's memories, he's found himself battling an alien group harvesting the minds of unsuspecting victims. 

But he's already on the back foot, and as the alien hive mind draws in its followers, he's very much in need of a friend. 

Enter legendary musician Fela Kuti. Another innovator – just as challenging, and just as charming. He might just be the one to save the human race.

Verdict

One Night Only (A Fela Kuti Story) was a pretty average novella I'm afraid to say. I thought so much of this story was actually really strong but I'm not sure I've read a story that was so let down by its ending. I'll get to that in due course but I was very excited by what I was reading at the start. Thankfully, I had not read the synopsis prior to starting the book which I am eternally grateful for as I think it spoils the entire first chapter. The whole premise there is just blurted out which doesn't feel right so I'm thankful that when borrowing the book on BorrowBox as part of my local library service, I just dove right into the story. The concept of Sarah Jane having her memories distorted was really well done and having her as a secretary to the Doctor is certainly enough of a job to drive anybody up the wall! The details and ludicrousness of his letters to the editor of The Times that Sarah was having to scribe were incredible with the Doctor complaining about the aftertaste of the ink on his fingers from reading the paper and how that impacts his jelly baby eating experience. He was certainly testing her! I thought it was bonkers and that's the Fourth Doctor for you. Of course, this was a time jump ahead in the story from where Sarah had actually been the victim of the Harvesters known as Anthophillae. I thought they were decent enough as the villain and I do like a hive mind even if it's very much not a new concept now in Doctor Who adventures. They almost felt like a mix between the Zygons and the Krillitanes with them taking on the form of the most dominant species on whatever planet they arrived on. Their claim here though was that they just wanted to get back home and I was surprised with how accepting the Doctor was of that. He was going to help them finish building their Navigator which would have been a disaster. Sarah was actually able to utilise her connection to the hive mind against the Harvesters also and could see that they were actually planning an invasion. I thought the role of Fela Kuti was pretty minimal in the adventure which felt odd for this series. I must admit, I didn't know who he was prior to reading the book and he's certainly a unique character to focus on as an icon. I don't think he was presented as being special in the story which was a shame and I think there's some blaring continuity errors in him having met the Fourth Doctor specifically on a number of previous occasions, but not Sarah Jane. It's established in Doctor Who and the Face of Evil that during the events of Robot the Doctor did momentarily sneak off but he wasn't in a place mentally to interact and build a friendship with Fela as was presented here. I also thought the take on his language and accent was poor. It didn't make sense and just wasn't really necessary in prose. Just describe the way he's talking rather than make it not make sense in the spelling of words to present an accent. I didn't like that. Much of the story took on the form of negotiation and UNIT and the Brigadier specifically being on hand with a plan b of an airstrike felt right. I was also a little disappointed in the Doctor for questioning Sarah Jane in wanting to catch up with Harry when she realised it was 1976 with this being set after Terror of the Zygons and his departure. But then we never get a goodbye! The ending was disappointing in its predictability, vagueness and just how quick it was. I know this is a novella so it's not going to be as detailed as a full novel, but it was just a very quick turn on of Fela's music and the sound reverberating so much that it disconnected the Anthophillae from their hive mind and home world and saw them all die almost immediately. It felt lacking in explanation a little which was a shame as I really did enjoy the whole memory wipe element. I wished we stayed longer in Sarah's secretary life with the Doctor as that was undoubtedly the best part. Her line about writing her autobiography and correcting herself to subtitle it The Sarah Jane Adventures was absolutely golden though. Honestly one of my all time favourite lines in Whoniverse prose history. It brought a huge smile to my face. Overall, a decent concept but the chapters were too long for a novella and the ending brings this down massively for me.

Rating: 6/10