Incursions: This Sleep of Death

"Dead men don't tell tales."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: April 2019

Series: UNIT 8.01

Featuring: Kate, Osgood

Synopsis

Abbey Marston. UNIT's dark secret. A place where the laws of space and time, life and death, can be suspended. Where remembering the departed has consequences...

When UNIT faces a threat from a dead man, Kate has no choice but to return to Abbey Marston once more, to disturb the sleep of death. But the Static are waiting...

Verdict

This Sleep of Death was an excellent start to the Incursions eighth series of UNIT adventures! I have been a huge fan of this spinoff series and whilst I know this boxset is far from the end, I thought it was a nice way to begin what is the final volume in its original run. It started very well with immediate danger as Culder was on hand threatening to jump to his death. He had taken a Silurian plague vial and had the potential of wiping out the entire human race with it, but before he could reveal where its location was hidden, he jumped off the building and for good measure blew himself up too. It was quite the emphatic start and his fate was clearly sealed. Or so we thought. Now, I haven't managed to reach Static in my run of listening to the Monthly Adventures yet, in fact I'm way behind, but I really liked the concept of Abbey Marston and it being a biohazard environment sealed off from the rest of humanity, and even to some of the rest of time. It was a place designed to keep something in which I'm guessing was established back in the aforementioned Sixth Doctor tale, but thankfully it didn't seem like that needed prior listening too much. UNIT having its own version of a resurrection machine was great stuff and seemed like something they should have with all of the technology at their disposal. The stone circle interface seemed a little archaic, but I actually liked that as a means of bringing Culder back to get the location of the plague vial. I didn't actually expect him to attempt to bring other UNIT members back from the dead though! His escape sent things into a good pace and I liked the fun that came with the newly resurrected UNIT operatives being from the 1980s, distinguishable by their uniforms. That was really nice. It was also a good twist to know that it wasn't the first time they'd been brought back, so Culder knew all about Abbey Marston before concocting this mad plan. The circle being a means of mind transference was exciting and Colder swapping with Osgood happened a lot quicker than I anticipated! I thought the idea of Culder debriefing the dead was excellent because of how ludicrous that is! Marston Abbey not letting anyone return to normal reality and time until the dead were back where they belonged was a great concept too. Culder revealing that he had a terminal illness explained a lot regarding his plan and he'd gone into a crisis and saw the mind transfer as a means of survival, even if it was in Osgood. Of course, he didn't get it all his own way as the Static took over the transfer instead. Once they'd taken over Osgood, it was clear she wasn't herself with the lying about the gaining of the valve location from Culder and she calmly wanted to send him back to his death now that his usefulness was over. The mist was to do its work. The revelation that Culder had faked the CCTV footage of the theft of the vial was brilliant and came at the perfect time, as Kate then knew Osgood was compromised. The use of knockout gas and Josh using Osgood's weakness against her body was tremendous. Talk about utilisation! Culder being brought back from the dead again was amusing and I liked how Kate was on hand to try and convince him to now take the Static back with him as they embarked on the stone circle. His plan for immortality well and truly backfired. The Static having tricked Culder wasn't much of a surprise, but I would have liked more regarding their intentions and makeup as that's where I think listening to their first Who appearance would have been beneficial. Culder being scared of the darkness beyond that was death was great but Abbey Marston only brought one back from the moment before death, not beyond it. Culder struggling to remember how the mind transfer occurred was decent and the Static telling him and trying to convince him in a double bluff of what to do, or not do, was thrilling. Osgood was back though as Culder gained the upper hand and the UNIT method of bombing the circle was a nice throwback. Overall, a fantastic start to the series!

Rating: 9/10