The Devil's Footrpints

"You thought you'd meddle in my affairs?"

Writer: Penelope Faith

Format: Audio

Released: December 2018

Series: Short Trips 8.12

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Mel

Synopsis 

The Doctor's old friend, the reverend HT Ellacombe, has been out of touch for too long. But when the Doctor goes to find him, he and Mel discover something else entirely: unidentifiable footprints in the snow around the Victorian village where he lives.

The villagers are terrified that the very Devil walks their lands in the wintry nights, but with the Doctor distracted by finding his friend, it seems it's up to Mel to do the snooping in an attempt to uncover the truth...

Verdict

The Devil's Footprints was a decent Short Trips adventure! It’s quite amazing that it took eight series to get a first foray in this series for the Seventh Doctor and Mel, but better late than never! They’re very much an underrated pairing and I thought Bonnie Langford did a magnificent job with the narration. She’s really quite marvellous and I thought her impression of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor was a delight. It really did add to the adventure and felt genuine with the addition of the TARDIS sound effects. It didn’t solely feel like prose which was great. It was good to start things with the TARDIS not having a smooth landing as it arrived in January 1850. That was a strong setting and I liked how the coldness added to things. It instantly changed the atmosphere of the story in a positive way for the story that was being told. Mel enjoying the fashion of the nineteenth century was tremendous and I liked the comments about her hair being in with the times here. The Doctor being a little disappointed to arrive forty years early was fun and I just enjoy when things go wrong for him as it almost always ends up in quiet frustration. The Doctor intending on visiting an old friend in the form of Reverend HT Ellacombe was decent but it’s a shame that it wasn’t actually a character we had met before. His position as a man of the cloth was a little different to the usual type the Doctor is friends with, especially across the times, but he was concerned that he’d been quiet in recent times. The timing of being at first light was great and I enjoyed the description of it being still and quiet. I go for a daily walk or cycle before work at 5.30am and that’s a perfect description. It’s so peaceful. The mystery of the identical footprints was somewhat intriguing when it seemed like a four-legged creature was walking on two feet. One thing for certain was that the footprints were odd. It wasn’t the most enticing of ways to peak my interest though. I liked that Ellacombe shared the interest in fossils with the Doctor, but Mel was incredibly suspicious of old HT. The conversation about the initials was amusing and Mel just absolutely did not trust the Doctor’s old friend. She went so far as to break into his study which was brilliant and things certainly moved quickly once he caught the companion. He was enraged and the anger was palpable, so much so that he transformed into the creature that had left the footprints the Doctor and Ellacombe were investigating and following! I must admit I didn’t see that coming as the mysterious creature was using Ellacombe rather than actually being him. It was a tad clunky but I quite liked the concept. The creature sending out information through the box was decent and it was great that the Doctor deemed Earth not fit for invasion. The concept behind a palimpsest is not something I had ever heard of before, but the explanation of writing imposed on earlier writing and essentially it being anything reused but showing traces of a former use was excellent. I liked that a lot and it was explained well with it now having a geological application. Ellacombe literally was a living palimpsest! It came a little late but it worked well as he was unaware of the manifestations from the creature within. The calm conclusion there was decent and as a whole this was a pretty good story! Overall, a worthy listen.  

Rating: 7/10