Urban Myths

"The Doctor is guilty."

Writer: Paul Sutton
Format: Audio
Released: May 2007
Series: Main Range 95b

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

In an expensive restaurant somewhere on Earth, three gourmets plan their evening. First item on the menu: the death of the Doctor.

Verdict

Urban Myths was a decent little audio adventure to complete the ninety-fifth monthly release from Big Finish's Main Range but I have to say, despite this being a good story I am not a fan of the format. Splitting up a release into two completely separate stories of unequal parts just seems very silly to me and doesn't make much sense at all. It would be totally different if the releases were split equally into one-hour stories as that format has proven to work but a full cast twenty-two minute story here just seems like a waste. The idea was good and I did enjoy that the Doctor was being hunted by the Celestial Intervention Agency. The Gallifreyan CIA have always intrigued me so to get a snippet of them in action here was great. I quite liked how the three members tasked with dealing with the Doctor all had a differing account of what he did on Poytee and we got to hear each story unfold. They all differed quite significantly but the idea of the Doctor being purposely cruel and causing planet-wide destruction was just preposterous. The relationship between the Fifth Doctor and Peri was terrific and I quite liked the banter the pair shared when it came to the restaurant and Peri being a waitress. It didn't seem right though that the Doctor would offer Peri's services instead of his own, or at least without her permission. Whilst only a minor issue in my opinion, I thought it was quite uncharacteristic of the Doctor, regardless of his incarnation. The events that occurred in Poytee became clearer with each CIA member telling their memory of events but they all seemed to be told with a hint of hyperbole. It was soon revealed why that was as they had been infected with a strain of a disease which caused things to be greatly exaggerated. I thought that was quite a nifty little idea but with the format, there just wasn't enough time for expansion or development which was a shame. I did though like that the Doctor wanted a good word put in for him back on Gallifrey with the High Council. Even though he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of going home, he still wanted to make sure that he was welcome and well thought of on his home planet. He quickly convinced the CIA that he shouldn't be killed and that was that. Overall, a decent little story!

Rating: 7/10