The Descendants of Pompeii

"Evelina makes me sound ancient."

Writer: James Moran

Format: Webcast

Released: 17 May 2020

Series: #DoctorWhoLockdown

Featuring: Evie, Maxine

Synopsis

"Our family had a guardian angel..."

Evie and Maxine trace back their family history to Pompeii.

Verdict

The Descendants of Pompeii was an intriguing and unexpected little sequel to The Fires of Pompeii. I was very excited by the prospect of a sequel to the episode that was the subject of the #VolcanoDay watch-along, but this really wasn't what I was expecting! Firstly, I think it's terrific to be getting more bonus content as part of the Doctor Who Lockdown and this is definitely the most unique of the extra stories that we have been generously granted from an abundance of writers to go alongside the episodes. I absolutely love the title of this one, but I really wasn't expecting things to come full circle to modern times! That was really strange and right from the start I just had a mindset of being a little bit confused as to what I was watching. The use of video chat was good and very much in line with the current societal climate so that was very familiar. It was good to see both Tracey Childs and Francesca Fowler back twelve years on after their initial appearances in the aforementioned Tenth Doctor episode. They certainly look a little different! However, they weren't quite playing the same characters which was not at all what I expected but it was still pretty good. Their discussions about family history was good and I liked that they found the peculiarities amongst their ancestors and their professions a little bit strange. It's not exactly uncommon for children to follow in the footsteps of their parents, but once we got to brief chat about grandparents and great-grandparents, I was sort of expecting a little flashback scene to Caecillius and family but sadly that never came. It would have fitted in well in my opinion. The dynamic of the modern family trying to resemble that of what we saw with Evelina and her parents and sibling was good, but surely still a bit unlikely to have occurred nearly two millennia down the gene pool passing on? I'm probably being harsh here. It was still a good little story to have as an extra and it was a nice thought that the Doctor would still be looking on for the family and acting as a guardian angel. I wonder how that story had changed as it was passed down the family line, but Evie having a folder on her desktop for Pompeii research was magnificent and I would have loved if they had a full family tree going back that far. Her mother definitely seems to have some familial memory ingrained into her genes by calling her daughter Evelina! That really is a lovely name so I was surprised that Evie didn't like it. The ancientness of it is what's great in my opinion. The music that accompanied this adventure was incredibly familiar as it was composed by Murray Gold which was a real treat. It was so vividly representative of the Tenth Doctor's era which was terrific and definitely a highlight of the webcast. Evie thanking the 'someone' that may have been out there looking on for their family through time was good and I loved the ending with her ending the video chat as host, only for an additional caller to also leave the conversation. Gemma didn't like that as it was a bit freaky and incredibly reminiscent of social media horror/thriller films, but I thought it was a nice little touch. It was certainly something I didn't see coming which is always a bonus! Overall, a decent little sequel (of sorts) that just keeps adding to our Doctor Who library! 

Rating: 7/10