The Romanov Project

"There is a darkness here. A darkness that feeds."

Writer: Niel Bushnell

Format: Audio

Released: December 2023

Series: BBC Audio 20

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Graham

Synopsis

It's 1970, and record-breaking explorer Silvia Sandstrom has completed an epic lone drive to the North Pole. But as she activates her on-board experimental equipment, her vehicle is swallowed by a massive hole in the ice.

Meanwhile the TARDIS is drawn to an arid wasteland, also apparently at the North Pole. There the Doctor and Graham meet Silvia – but it's clear that she is a woman out of her own time.

Why is a nearby experimental base haunted by deranged figures? And who is the genius behind the Romanov Project, the wave of energy that now threatens to rip the Earth apart at every point in history?

Verdict

The Romanov Project was a decent story to mark the long awaited and frankly way overdue debut of the Thirteenth Doctor on BBC Audio! It really is a travesty that throughout her entire run on screen we didn’t get a single audio release featuring the then current incarnation, but at least we’ve made a start here as we return to the time of the Fam and what I would presume to be somewhere in the middle of Series 11. I will admit it’s not my most favourite of eras of the show as I don’t think the hard reset worked all that well and I wasn’t a fan of the secrecy and lack of publicity the show was receiving throughout the Thirteenth Doctor era. Perhaps that’s why we never got an audio? Regardless, it was a fun twist to basically make this as a Thirteenth Doctor and Graham story with Ryan and Yaz quickly left behind waiting for an ice cream. That was refreshing and it was nice for Graham to be a sole companion and provided a slightly new dynamic to the Thirteenth Doctor. Now, the story itself was absolutely fine and really interesting which I’ll get to shortly, but I can’t help but say that I think the narrator severely impacted my enjoyment of the story. I don’t think Toby Longworth was the smartest choice for the first audio with a female Doctor. Nothing against him as I’m not familiar with his work for the most part, but surely it would have been the right move to go with a female actress? There was no impression resembling this incarnation of the Doctor which was a shame and the less said about the voice adopted for Graham the better. It was honestly horrific! Why oh why did he choose to go with a cockney geezer for the most innocuous man going? It didn’t make sense at all and was really off putting as it didn’t dissipate at all. The dynamic between the Doctor and Graham was good and familiar, and the absence of Ryan allowed the companion to ponder on his relationship with his grandson. That was good stuff and the impact of Grace is still felt. She only made one appearance in The Woman Who Fell to Earth but the impact she had has been incredible! She really is a part of Graham now. Speaking of which, digging into his childhood with his fascination for Silvia Sandstrom was terrific and his reaction when he realised they’d landed amongst one of the mission he might have watched as a twelve-year-old was great stuff. A proper fanboy. The technology being experimented with was intriguing to look at and I really loved the ideas of timelines and zones crashing and combining. That was the extent of the Romanov wave that had been emitted as part of the NASA initiative which was really fascinating. With an actual cast and some more sound effects, I think that’s an idea that has legs for more exploration for sure. Silvia being the problem at the end and having to get back home and in her proper place and time to solve everything was good after the timelines basically folded back in on each other. Greenland in 1970 was perfect for her and that’s definitely a unique place for a story! I admired her efforts to get where she was today, and the way she dealt with Graham being a fan and spoiling little events of her future was terrific. Overall, a really strong story but unfortunately the production wasn’t to my liking in the slightest. 

Rating: 7/10