Heritage: The Ghosts of Greenwich

"A premonition of the future."

Writer: Paul Morris

Format: Audio

Released: June 2019

Series: Paternoster Gang 1.03

Featuring: Vastra, Jenny, Strax

Synopsis

Strange things are happening to the people of Greenwich. Phantoms of the living appear, while others are aged beyond their years. A clocked figure stalks the streets, and time is out of joint.

Vastra, Jenny and Strax find all clues points towards the Meridian Line. Beneath the Royal Observatory lies a secret – something terribly ancient and horribly dangerous...

Verdict

The Ghosts of Greenwich was a really fun adventure to conclude the first volume of Heritage and the first series of adventures with the Paternoster Gang! I seem to have really flown through this boxset and it really was a delightful start to the range. I thought this concluded strongly and we've ended up with a very high quality boxset! I really liked the premise behind this one and the focus on the setting of Greenwich. Strax's humour was magnificent in referring to the place as a green witch, but he soon came around to the quirk of the English language. He probably had his strongest showing in this audio and I really liked the value he placed on the gossip and information provided from Smallpiece because he was a drunkard. He knew all the finest establishments in London and to Strax, his ability to drink copious amounts of alcohol meant his word was very trustworthy. Jenny didn't share those options and her reacquainting with him didn't go down too well! I really liked how much Vastra's position as the Great Detective was admired in the audio and she certainly had a reputation that preceded her when it came to investigating the abnormal. Her search for the strange in the newspapers was great and I loved Strax asking if she had found anything satisfactory, something preferably requiring immediate action and violence. The idea of a premonition of ghosts was fascinating and I liked how it could be used as a warning for those seen ghostly but not already dead. The thought of seeing someone as a ghost who wasn't dead, only for them to then die, was a startling one but it's a concept I really enjoyed. The eery feel felt right in line with the Victorian setting and that's also where the man in the cloak fitted in very nicely. I thought Plumstead made for a good villain and his belief that he was manipulating and in control of the creature was great, if not a little sad for the deranged man. I loved the focus on the Royal Observatory and the idea of the Meridian Line not actually being a human construct was terrific. Vastra's reaction to that was marvellous. Using her existence and the fact she was from a time of 65,000,000 years ago in a story focused on time was very good. I enjoyed the concept of negative chronons and the analogy to anti-matter was really useful in understanding the effect they were having on Greenwich. I loved that the situation in this region had been occurring throughout centuries past and Vastra scribbling on a library map to find the pattern was very amusing. Plumstead turning out to be the same man he claimed was his great-grandfather was a good reveal if not a little predictable when it turned out that victims were being aged, whilst he was being given immortality. Vastra appealing to him and showing him that the creatures were actually using him was very good, and the only way was to give up his life and finally call his time on life. He'd had a good innings, but these creatures couldn't be allowed to control the time around Greenwich any longer. Overall, a really good story to conclude the series! 

Rating: 8/10