Dead Air

"What's the last record you played?"

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: March 2010

Series: NSA Audio 07

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. And, if you can hear this, then one of us is going to die."

At the bottom of the sea, in the wreck of a floating radio station, a lost recording has been discovered. After careful restoration, it is played for the first time – to reveal something incredible. It is the voice of the Doctor, broadcasting from Radio Bravo in 1966. He has travelled to Earth in search of the Hush – a terrible weapon that kills, silences and devours that makes noise – and has tracked it to a boat crewed by a team of pirate DJs. With the help of feisty Liverpudlian Layla and some groovy pop music, he must trap the Hush and destroy it – before it can escape and destroy the world...

Verdict

Dead Air was a sublime BBC Audio adventure! To my recollection I think this might be the first time I’ve awarded a perfect rating in this range of stories but I had no hesitation in doing so because this was just sensational. I thought the utilisation of the format was so impressive and it always helps when you have one of the main actors as the narrator. Of course, in these kind of stories there is no cast and we just have one main actor performing the story mixing between the characters and narration. And it doesn’t come much better than David Tennant! I thought he was magnificent and did such a good job in bringing the characters other than the Doctor to life. His Scouse accent for Layla was really impressive and the fate of her was really quite sad. It was clear that events weren’t too far removed from The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End with the Doctor mentioning Donna and not having the best of times recently with his companions. It was a struggle but I liked how he was still buoyant about his travels and always finding people. Layla had obvious companion material and her relationship with Jasper was amusing as it could be a lot more if he got rid of the beard and just washed a bit more. His proclamation of love for her when he was lost was an emotionally powerful moment too. I was impressed with the depth for these characters as that’s something we don’t often get with the absence of an actor to fill that role. I loved how this story started with the radio presenter providing some realism regarding the audio tape being found beneath the sea. The Doctor was the one who’d recorded the tape and that was such a fun format for the adventure to take, but mentioning the author of James Goss as an archivist actually within the story was superb! That was a fun blend of realism and fiction. I honestly thought it was a trailer for something else coming from the BBC when it started. It really did take me off guard! I thought the Hush was a brilliant enemy and the idea of another Time War weapon doesn’t feel overdone here because of how different of a concept it was. The idea of tackling noise feels a little different and not that deadly for a Time War, but when it was explained by the Doctor of consuming all noise it actually sounded pretty gruesome! Imagine taking the sound of the Daleks away. No wonder the weapon was developed. I thought the Doctor alluding to the Time War was good as he never fully delved into his own role, but he quickly assumed command on the ship to try and tackle the remnant of the Hush. Diving into the world of pirate radio in the 1960s was wonderful and that’s always something I love exploring. It’s a fascinating time in history and culture which served as a fine backdrop for the story, especially with the focus on sound and the Hush drawing on it. I thought the Hush having been within Layla all along was a powerful ending and they so nearly got away with getting on board the TARDIS and consuming the sounds of the universe. The Doctor trapping it on the tape that we were listening to was a brilliant ending. Overall, a magnificent audio!

Rating: 10/10