Buried Memories: Dead and Breakfast

"You'll always be found out."

Writer: April McCaffrey

Format: Audio

Released: September 2019

Series: New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 5.03

Featuring: Unbound Doctor, Benny

Synopsis 

Bernice and the Doctor are trapped on a planet where people who are unusual have a habit of dying. They're in trouble.

Verdict  

Dead and Breakfast was a brilliant episode to continue my way through the Buried Memories fifth series of the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield! This was a fascinating episode and a really great take on the umbrella theme that’s overarching this series. A series I may add that is hugely impressive thus far! The way this one started was a lot of fun as the very idea of the Doctor and Benny pretending to be husband and wife is not something I imagine either of them were best pleased about. It’s no secret that over the last three series they’ve had a very strenuous and quite confrontational relationship, so having them in need of playing loved ones was a great way to start the episode. They played it up pretty well and whilst I wouldn’t say they were overly convincing in their roles, just hearing them have to call each other the likes of dear was tremendous. It was also a lot of fun to have the Doctor referred to as Dr Summerfield! That just felt a little uncomfortable but that’s exactly why I liked it. The awkwardness of the pair being in their hotel room and tackling the issue of only having one bed was fun and the Doctor was quite contempt on the floor for no other reason than the fact he believed Benny would steal all of the duvet! I’m sure that’s something anyone in a long term relationship can relate to, myself included. That’s just not something you expect from the Doctor so it did make me chuckle. I thought the setting of Neirut was fantastic and I absolutely loved the idea of anyone even being accused of a crime meaning they would disappear from society. That’s a dangerous precedent to set that even accusation is enough to basically see someone gone away for good and I think the power that provides to ordinary people is extraordinary! Daphne was a good character to try and highlight that as she was supposed to go with the approach of innocent until proven guilty, but that just didn’t happen. She was manipulated by Zilla who was exerting an ultimate form of control in this society. Her taking over of Benny was good stuff and really allowed Lisa Bowerman to shine in playing the villain for a short while. She did excellently with that. Flor was also a great character and I was so impressed by Jacqueline King’s performance. She’s obviously an actress that we know well as Doctor Who fans. Whilst it was instantly recognisable as her, the variation of this kind of role was lovely to hear and she performed it brilliantly. Her nature as a cyborg was really fun to explore and I wasn’t expecting her eye to be utilised at the conclusion to trap Zilla! The Queen was stuck in an eye that didn’t work and that was quite a neat and tidy way to see her out. Benny revealing to Flor that she and the Doctor weren’t actually married was good because two people of the opposite sex even being just friends could be interpreted as a crime here on Neirut which was a fine representation of the ridiculousness of the planet’s laws! It was a good disguise and it also brought back emotional memories for Flor of her relationship with Margaret who was now gone. A cyborg showing emotion was a neat twist too and something we don’t usually hear. Rylan was another crazed character that seems to be a common theme in this series and he really was rather remorseless. He was selfish and that made him an easily unlikeable guy. All of the deaths being councillors was a good way to implement him. Overall, an excellent story!

Rating: 9/10