Casualties of War

"Secrets. Everyone's got them."

Writer: Mark Michalowski
Format: Audio
Released: November 2008
Series: Main Range 115c

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

Opportunity knocks in postwar London. But when a tea leaf steals from the wrong woman it becomes a race against time to discover the truth. Only some truths are best left untold.

Verdict

Casualties of War was an excellent continuation of the Forty Five audio anthology celebrating Doctor Who's 45th anniversary! I have to admit that for an anniversary celebration, this collection doesn't really feel special in ways the likes of The Three Doctors or The Day of the Doctor did for anniversary celebrations, but there is still one more story to go so who knows what may be thrown up in that one. Regardless, this was a fantastic story and definitely the best of the set so far. I really liked how we were taken back to VE Day in May 1945 with the Doctor on the tail of some alien technology that had no place being there. I loved the continuity in having the Forge be part of the adventure without actually appearing as it was just their transportation that had been ambushed enabling Joey Carlisle to run off with the alien technology. That was a good premise in of itself, but then things were complicated further by the fact that the technology was right on the street that Ace would go onto grow up on! Ace getting to once again meet her mother a little older than when she did in The Curse of Fenric was excellent and it was very good to play on her emotional strings. The emotions of Hex were also played with when he was interrogated and his eyes seemed to tell that he wanted to be Ace's boyfriend. That's a very unique dynamic when it comes to mixed gender companions and spending all of that time together in high risk situations must provide some sort of sexual tension. It's only natural that Hex might feel that way! I'm very excited to explore their relationship further and to see if they ever will become more than just friends. Sylvester McCoy was terrific as the Seventh Doctor once again which is great to say. I was very impressed with the pace of this particular audio story as it didn't at all feel rushed which could not be said for the first two adventures in the collection. So that was absolutely a big positive. May was a really good character and I very much enjoyed her relationship with Ace, especially with the latter seeming to know a bit more about the family than she ought to. Miss Merchant was a brilliant villain and I loved her confrontation with Ace on the doorstep to the house her mother would soon grow up in. That was a fantastic standoff and showed Ace at her very best which was just magnificent. I really enjoyed her defensive and defiant attitude and it showed just how much she cared about her family, even if they wouldn't know who she was yet. Ace wanting to protect her image in the area she would one day be known in was quite humorous when it came to Hex wanting to take a lunge in the pub. She hadn't even been born yet so why did she care about her reputation! That was quite a humorous moment. The use of the truth bracelet throughout was really good and I liked that it turned out to be the key feature of alien tech in the audio. There was no need to try and overload things with other devices because there just would not have been sufficient time. This worked well. As a whole, a really good and enjoyable audio that flew by, even for it being quite short in nature!

Rating: 9/10