Ghost Town

"I think I've just seen a ghost!"

Writer: Rupert Laight

Format: Audio

Released: October 2002

Series: Sarah Jane Smith 1.04

Featuring: Sarah Jane

Synopsis

Sarah and Josh set off for a well-deserved break in a remote Romanian village, hidden deep in the Carpathian Mountains. They're staying with Sarah's old friend, Yolanda Benstead, a retired journalist and ex-pat who lives in an eerie mansion with no one but her mysterious manservant for company. By chance Sarah has arrived at an appropriate time – the village has become the setting for a top-secret international Peace Conference. Sarah is awoken in the night by a terrifying apparition. Is it a ghost or just a figment of her imagination? What is that unbearable noise? And will the others believe her story?

But Miss Smith is not the only one who's had a fright. Conference delegates are being terrified too. Literally scared to death. Is there something curious about the old house or something deadly about the whole village?

It's down to Sarah and Josh to piece together the mystery that surrounds the ghost town...

Verdict

Ghost Town was another fantastic audio adventure to continue the first series of Sarah Jane Smith! This was a brilliant follow up to Test of Nerve and whilst I may not have got the immediate continuation I might have wanted with the reveal of Miss Winters, the story was so good that I didn't mind one jot and that leaves us ready for what I hope will be a brilliant finale! The idea of Sarah and Josh needing a break was good and I liked how it wasn't entirely coincidental that they would be heading to a Romanian village. That was certainly a unique setting and I definitely think it worked well. Any story that deals with ghosts is going to go down the rabbit hole of playing with the question of whether ghosts actually exist or not, and I thought it was really good that Josh didn't even want to say the word ghost. Well, he was scared at flying on an aeroplane so I guess that isn't much of a surprise! I thought it worked well to hear Vodancski prior to his showing up at Yolande's house where he had lost all recollection of who he was and what had happened in his past. From there she had dubbed him Dimitri and Sarah's subtle determination to discover what had truly happened to him was great to hear. She definitely had a strong outing in this audio which was good. The inclusion of a peace conference felt very Third Doctor-era which was fun and I liked how Yolande hadn't merely invited Sarah to visit just to catch up with an old friend. Their relationship was terrific and I liked that Sarah had friends in journalism. Yolande was still seen as an outsider in the village and that was something she wanted to change, but she was too scared for her reputation if she started claiming ghosts were afoot so Sarah Jane was on hand to do the investigating. I liked that a lot and it was great that Sarah wasn't even surprised. Elisabeth Sladen was fantastic in reprising her role and I also loved her Romanian impression to Josh! Very nicely done. Josh had a good story but I was a little put off by how disinterested he was in being introduced to different people. You'd think he was the one that had the scare! Sarah's dealing with that was interesting and I loved how her journalistic talents enabled her to deduce what was really going on. The use of cameras and what have you were good and discovering that there was actually nobody in the room haunting her was fantastic. It was all a low frequency wave! Abbotly being revealed as the culprit was good and the continuation of family connections in this spinoff was excellent as he was played by Brian Miller - Lis Sladen's real life husband! That's really fun and quite unique when you think of Natalie being played by her daughter too. His manipulation of Podancski and his scientific talents worked well and it all seemed quite the long plan given how he had lost his memory and showed up at Yolande's door some six months prior to Sarah Jane's arrival in Romania. As a whole, this story was a nice way to break things up ahead of the finale and I liked that Sarah has now sold her house in Moreton Harwood and taken over Claudia's empty flat which is now obviously empty. She came into a lot of money from the sale which is advantageous and after events here, I am intrigued to hear where things go for the finale. I'm beyond excited for Sarah Jane to encounter Miss Winters once again. Overall, another fantastic story! A ghost story that wasn't too ghostly and that definitely worked in its favour. 

Rating: 9/10