Horror of Glam Rock

"I'm in the star business."

Writer: Paul Magrs
Format: Audio
Released: March 2007
Series: EDA 1.03

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

The Doctor and Lucie go glam when the TARDIS makes an unexpected landing in 1974. Slade, the Sweet and Suzi Quatro are Top of the Pops - and brother-and-sister duo the Tomorrow Twins will soon be joining them, if Arnold Korns, a starmaking Svengali, has his way. But will their dreams turn to dust at a service station somewhere on the M62, besieged by a pack of alien monsters?

Verdict

Horror of Glam Rock was a bit of a mixed back in continuing the Eighth Doctor Adventures audio series. It had its moments but I sadly don't think it maintained the quality for all of the story. I thought the relationship between the Doctor and Lucie was very good but I would have hoped for a little bit more continuation with the ending of Blood of the Daleks and the relationship of inconvenience feel. That wasn't really apparent here which I would prefer generally but there was just a lack of continuity. The 1974 setting was really good and I thought the whole Glam Rock theme worked very well. The feel of the era was captured as well as I would have imagined and I liked Lucie's reaction to the era very much. Her relationship with Pat, who actually turned out to be her auntie, was terrific and it was very clear that these were her early days in the TARDIS as she just blurted out her true identity with no worrying of the consequences. The Doctor was unaware that this had happened and I'm sure that if he found out he would definitely not have approved. Arnold was an intriguing character and it was delightful to hear Bernard Cribbins in another role in Doctor Who. His character was very much money driven as he was heading to London with the Tomorrow Twins to get them on Top of the Pops. His senselessness would cost Trisha her life though in quite horrific circumstances. With the mention of sound-waves and the Only Ones travelling on one, I was perhaps hoping for a secret return of the Vardans but it wasn't to be. They were a decent enemy but I thought their childish sound took away the intimidation factor. They just didn't quite work to their full potential for me which was a shame. Tommy was a good character and his reaction to seeing his sister die was not too surprising. I wasn't too sure about the M62 service station setting for a continued length of time as there was only so much you could do with the limited space. Would no other travellers have come in? Flo was a pretty good character but the one thing I just didn't like about this story was the overall plot. It wasn't bad but it was just lacking that special something. Thankfully, Paul McGann was on top form as the Eighth Doctor so he made things very enjoyable. Overall, a bit of a mix that definitely needed to be better.

Rating: 6/10