Graham Dilley Saves the World

"Sometimes a sporting event moves beyond the realm of sport and becomes something else, something special."

Writers: Iain McLaughlin & Claire Bartlett

Format: Short Story

Released: May 2004

Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 08

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem, Tegan

Synopsis

After a narrow escape from the millennium New Year's Eve in Edinburgh, the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem discover something is wrong with Time. It goes back to the 1981 Ashes series as Graham Dilley, who was supposed to make a catch that kept England on track for a monumental victory, was dropped it via a distraction... from Tegan Jovanka.

Verdict

Graham Dilley Saves the World was another decent little story to continue the very consistent Short Trips collection of Past Tense. This was one didn't take us too far back into the past with 1981 the setting and even though this was only slightly in the past from the perspective of the TARDIS team that was present, I'm very glad that it dealt with a historical event. And even more so a sporting event! Sadly, that had to be cricket which is not a sport I even remotely enjoy, but with its connections to the Fifth Doctor I didn't mind at all. I like the idea behind it and I'm sure the writers must be big cricketing fans, but I do think they may have slightly overestimated the impact of Dilley's catch. I remain extremely sceptical of the permutations that followed the failed catch. Of course, that wasn't meant to happen. The Doctor had even seen it happen and that's an aspect of the story that got a little timey-wimey but I was willing to let it slide. The opening was quite interesting with Peri and Erimem making it undoubtedly clear that they were most displeased with their recent venture to Edinburgh. It got a little uncomfortable at times as they, more so Peri, was talking right down on the Doctor and he didn't have much of a defence. His mechanism was literally just a joke that didn't go down well which made for humorous reading. I thought the characterisation of the Fifth Doctor was very good and I guess the cricketing theme is always going to help with that. One element that I loved with this story was that it was Tegan who distracted Dilley and saw that he dropped the catch that would prevent the historic England comeback. I really didn't expect that so it was a lovely little twist. The Doctor still feeling quite saddened by her departure in Resurrection of the Daleks was nice to see and I liked the little reference to The Gathering where he would get to meet her once again years after she departed the TARDIS. The Doctor wasn't in a position to prevent her from distracting Dilley as he may run into his past self and cause all kind of trouble, so it was up to Peri and Erimem to keep her distracted. And they did it somewhat well despite a shaky comment about her shoes and fashion being why the pair stopped the Australian and engaged in conversation. She wasn't quite buying it but she seemed to like the pair gradually. Others in the crowd were calling for them to sit down and the problem was that the distraction in itself became just another distraction. I thought there was way too much time between the run-up and the batting before Tegan told Dilley to mind his own business and ensure that he caught the ball and history was on track, with a very humorous realisation from Tegan that she could have actually aided her homeland. Everything was all good in the end though and after quite an interesting little tale, I enjoyed the sporting theme very much. Overall, a decent little adventure.

Rating: 7/10