The Man Who Wasn't There

"Any minute now you're going to meet your hero."

Writer: Ian Atkins

Format: Audio

Released: November 2016

Series: Short Trips 6.11

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis

Charlotte Pollard's innocent request to meet a historical hero seems the easiest thing for a friend with a time and space machine to make happen. But as Charley and the Doctor seek out the Victorian explorer, they uncover a sinister scheme to unravel Earth's future by affecting its past. But where in its history was the deed done? And is it already too late to put right?

Verdict

The Man Who Wasn't There was an excellent Short Trip adventure! I thoroughly enjoyed this story from start to finish and the forty minutes absolutely flew by which is testament to the quality. I've made it no secret that I'm a very big fan of the Eighth Doctor and Charley pairing and they certainly didn't let me down here. Even with just India Fisher featured as the narrator, that relationship was written very well here which impressed me. I really enjoyed the basis of Charley wanting to take advantage of the TARDIS and meet her childhood hero. That's a really nice idea and I was not expecting the story to take the emotional turn that it did. Of course, if I paid a little more attention to the title then I probably should have! Charley wanting to meet Mon Marche and knowing all about him and the dates he would have ticked off some expedition highlights was great, so her disappointment when they arrived in 1859 and he was nowhere to be seen was very sad to hear. You could hear the discontent in her voice and she just seemed genuinely gutted as the first seeds were planted in her head that what she had grown up on was a lie. Before that we did have some fun Doctor and companion interaction with the pair enjoying some blue scotch eggs from Metebelis III, but the Doctor was then to take a bit of a backseat as Charley focused on finding her hero. The humour that came from the book being in the TARDIS's child section of the library was good stuff. I liked the incorporation of the TARDIS translation circuits and their glitching was an amusing malfunction as Charley did the stereotypical talking slowly when trying to make herself understood in an unfamiliar language. The arrival of the Time Lord to talk to the Doctor was terrific and reminiscent of the warning his third self received in Terror of the Autons. He was keen to point out that the Doctor saving Charley went against the policy of non-interference and I was delighted that the Doctor sternly defended his actions. He couldn't just let her die! The way he was pushed on that though and suggested that the Time Lords would eventually find out was good stuff and a nice foreshadowing of events to come in the timeline of the Eighth Doctor and Charley. I thought Charley's realisation that she was the one to have created Mon Marche was a little sad and the Doctor trying to sell her on the power of her imagination and just how impressive it was worked well and was a nice touch considering that her childhood memory was essentially a fake. Charley stayed strong in her person which was admirable as I know how special and powerful childhood memories can be, and the ending sharing similarities to The Girl in the Fireplace with the name of Mon Marche on the ship in the 26th century was terrific. I was a big fan of that. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable audio adventure! 

Rating: 9/10