Dark Contract

"Women can't afford to be moral in this world."

Writer: Will Hadcroft

Format: Audio

Released: August 2024

Series: BBC Audio 25

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

When the TARDIS lands on Earth in the 1830s, Tegan is keen to explore Dickensian London. The grim realities of poverty and destitution are sobering, with conditions exacerbated by the New Poor Law. Yet something else is affecting those most in need – something not of this world. 

As the Doctor falls into the hands of the law, and Tegan and Nyssa are abducted by a brutish pair of ne'er-do-wells, Adric finds himself on an altogether different plane, at the heart of the malaise affecting the capital city. 

For the beings who have formed a deadly contract with the people of Earth, the presence of TARDIS travellers in London is inconvenient, to say the least...

Verdict

Dark Contract was a great audio adventure to continue the releases from BBC Audio! I actually managed to listen to this one free of charge thanks to a recognition reward at my workplace being well spent on Amazon, and it was a delight! The quartet of the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan is definitely underrated in my opinion and whilst things can tend to get too crowded, I didn't feel like there was any such trouble here. That's impressive with four main characters to balance, but in this kind of format you can really focus on just one. That's what happened here with Adric. Matthew Waterhouse was brilliant in the narration and I was also thoroughly impressed with his impression of the Doctor. Both of them! I really liked the journey Adric went on when he visited the different plane acknowledged in the story synopsis, as he went back through his life that we've seen in Doctor Who. It was really lovely to hear how he thought of the Fourth Doctor as a father figure and had that close relationship with Romana. Despite what some critics might say, he has certainly matured since departing E-Space and that was evident in the flashbacks on display here. He's come a very long way. I thought it was good fun for Tegan to be a little disappointed at not getting back to her own time, but she was still very interested in exploring history. She loved the idea of wondering around Dickensian London which on paper sounds rather beautiful, but in reality it was perhaps not. I loved that in 1835 the country was still reeling from the New Poor Law and that's something I know very well thanks to my A-Level History studies. It was a prominent feature of my British History modules and I actually really enjoyed it! It was a lovely reminder and step back into my own past which put a smile on my face. I thought the unnamed aliens that were feeding on the particular 'juices' of humanity which fuelled them were intriguing and by the end they didn't turn that monstrous or villainous. They were essentially trying to survive and whilst their means were not exactly balanced, it was nature and survival of the fittest on a grand scale. I appreciated the necessity. I was a little surprised by Adric's dismay at what they were doing as he hasn't typically cared too much for humanity so it was good to hear him take a stand. I thought their knowledge of Traken was quite something and the calm manner in which they reflected on it no longer being there was chilling. That must have been a chilling reminder for Nyssa of what she had suffered. The concept of the contract that bound the poor to giving themselves up to death, eventually, in return for monetary euphoria was really fascinating and I couldn't argue too much with the reasoning. They were going to die of malnutrition soon enough if they didn't agree, so what did they really have to lose? The Doctor of course wasn't all that happy with the situation and knew that he could find a manufactured substitute for their needs. With Nyssa and the TARDIS laboratory to play with, it was easy going and they did indeed come up with a quick solution. The fee was merely releasing everybody else from their contracts and going away. It ended rather neatly with the agreement and it was fun at the end for the Doctor to not get to know who they were at all. And that was all fair game really as they didn't know who he was either. That was a unique little twist which I thought was fun and good natured. Overall, a really strong audio adventure! 

Rating: 8/10