#HarrySullivan

"What do you call a freighter full of journalists?"

Writer: Eddie Robson

Format: Audio

Released: August 2019

Series: Short Trips 9.08

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry

Synopsis

En route to answer the Brigadier's summons, the TARDIS is dragged off course. The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry find themselves trapped on The Zephyr, a spaceship that is going at full speed and yet is unable to move. With fuel running dangerously low, their only hope lies on Deraxas, a nearby world exclusively for the famous and celebrated.

However, Alderasea has never heard of them and has no intention of letting them land...

Verdict

#HarrySullivan was a good and fun little Short Trips adventure! I must admit that the title of this story has intrigued me ever since it was released so I'm delighted to have finally delved into it. I was intrigued right away to find that Louise Jameson was the narrator despite Leela not appearing in the audio and I thought that was going to be a bit strange and somewhat off-putting, but I actually thought she did a stellar job and it actually helped with her usual character not being present because we didn't have a familiar actor doing impressions and interacting with others that her character was engaged with. That was definitely a big bonus. I think the trio of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry is excellent and the way they were written here was really impressive in capturing the era of Season 12. I felt authentic and I liked the continuity we had with Revenge of the Cybermen and how this fitted in after that serial but before Terror of the Zygons with the Brigadier's summons not being answered immediately after a slight highjacking. The scenes inside the TARDIS with that were a lot of fun with the Doctor blaming Harry for touching the controls on the console, but Sarah was there to back up his innocence. It really was greta characterisation of the Fourth Doctor. The freighter that they arrived on of the Zephyr was good and I liked the concept of it being stuck in a zeno field was really intriguing to explore. Getting a hint of that inside the TARDIS with the doors and the console constantly appearing to get further away was interesting and I liked how they were stuck right in the middle. That was clearly troublesome, but with regards to the freighter this was a deliberate occurrence from the occupants of the planet Deraxas who didn't intend on letting them land. The freighter being full of journalists was decent and allowed Sarah Jane to be right at home, and finding out that the planet only let in people who were famous was magnificent. I really enjoyed that concept and even though it was a little slow to really kick into gear, the moment where Harry realised that he was going to become the story was certainly a highlight. He was socially awkward and he wasn't overly comfortable becoming the heart of the story, but it allowed Sarah Jane to shine and use her skills in a field close to her own. She was used to writing stories and now she could create the basis for one. It didn't take long for Harry to become the talk of the town which was good, but when he arrived on the planet it didn't seem as interesting as it ought to be. I liked that everyone seemed quite pompous and happy with their status, and I think some visuals for Harry fitting into this environment would have been really beneficial, but ultimately we didn't have time to waste and he went straight to the point of asking for the freighter to be cleared to land. That wouldn't be possible due to the request of an incredibly high profile guest Carla Colini. However, she didn't last in prominence too long as it was found that there was a true story at hand where she had been replaced and rather have that leaked, Harry was able to orchestrate a bargain that would keep the truth hidden but allow the freighter to land. It was a pretty simple and quick fix, but it tied everything together rather nicely. Overall, a fun little listen!

Rating: 7/10