Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre

"I should have known..."

Writer: Peter Anghelides

Format: Audio

Released: November 2002

Series: Sarah Jane Smith 1.05

Featuring: Sarah Jane

Synopsis

A bio-warfare scandal from the 1940s takes Sarah to a remote island in the Indian Ocean. She pursues the scoop with a fellow journalist from her former company, Planet 3. But why won't she contact her friends back in the UK?

The more she investigates, the less Sarah recognises that she is the story. Josh and Natalie discover that Sarah has been searching for pursuers in the rear-view mirror for so long that she hasn't noticed who's now in the driving seat.

A long way from home, and far from safe, will Sarah see the dangers in her present and the enemies from her past before it's too late?

Verdict

Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre was a very good conclusion to the first series of the Sarah Jane Smith spinoff! I have enjoyed this series quite a bit more than I expected to, especially after the first two audios which are good but a little short of great. There has definitely been a slow build and hearing that pay off here was good, but I did feel that despite its quality we could have got more interaction between Sarah Jane and the woman behind the CEO we have heard Harris mention a lot in the form of Hilda Winters. I was surprised that meeting didn't take place until very late on into the audio but I thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Jane's reaction to seeing who had been pulling the strings all along. The references to Robot were fantastic and I liked the reminiscing on the events of that story from both parties. The perspectives were obviously quite different! I thought the premise behind this story was brilliant with the idea of Winters attempting to frame Sarah Jane for a murder that would be on an astounding scale by poisoning the water supply for millions of Indians. When it comes to framing, that's quite the crime to set them up for! I thought that was a really good premise. That alone as just a threat was good but then throwing in framing Sarah and the use of the voice box was a little cheap but nicely done. I thought Natalie had her strongest story yet which was quite strange given that she was far away from the setting with the focus firmly being on Sarah Jane in India. Her meeting up with Wendy Jennings who was a former Planet 3 journalist in her own right was intriguing and I enjoyed their initial meeting with the mysterious stalker that had been following Wendy for the week. She developed very nicely as the story went on and the simplicity in which the truth was revealed when she instructed Harris to do something was fantastic. I was not an incredibly huge fan of the alternating voices for different characters, but I did not expect even the talkative taxi driver to be part of that set because that was so different and Sarah's frustrations were clear to see! She didn't even try and feign politeness which was funny. I liked the mention of there being something in Sarah Jane's attic and even know the Sarah Jane Adventures was still five years off from creation, the prospect of her already having Mr Smith was great. That's one positive of listening in hindsight. I thought the use of the Planet 3 voicemail system was decent and whilst it went close to being overdone, the role it played in the story for Natalie was fantastic. I was a big fan of that. The continuity from Ghost Town with Josh still being scared of planes and flying was great, but I'm not actually sure he'd end up at the Chagos Islands so quickly! It was quite the remote setting which was good and I think that actually added to the believability of being able to impact the water supply. I thought the robbery was terrific in having K9 stolen and was wonderful continuity from A Girl's Best Friend. Sarah's reaction to that was excellent and that idea in of itself is marvellous. I liked how Josh came to Sarah's end by utilising the gun and using her special briefcase to get it through airport security, and his reaction to using one for the first time was clear to hear the effect. It was profound which was good. Hilda's plan coming to an end quite abruptly was a shame and I think a full story with her in control would have been huge fun, but I guess there will be more to come based on how things ended here. Overall though, a strong finale!

Rating: 8/10