The Case of the Missing Gasogene

"Two dead bodies. No weapon. No motive. What a mystery!"

Writers: Simon Barnard & Paul Morris

Format: Audio

Released: October 2015

Series: Jago & Litefoot 10.01

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot

Synopsis

Investigating the death of Sir Hartley Harecourt's manservant, Jago and Litefoot are caught up in an intriguing locked-room mystery. It's a mystery that involves strange experiments, mysterious scientific forumlae, our heroes' greatest admirer, and a missing soda siphon...

Verdict

The Case of the Missing Gasogene was a really fun start to the tenth series of Jago & Litefoot! These pair of Victorian misfits seem to have no end in sight when it comes to their adventures and long may that continue because they really are tremendous together. I thought the continuity from the end of the last series with Carruthers was a lot of fun as he tried to document the tales of Jago and Litefoot. They were ripe for the world of prose, especially in the Victorian era! I would absolutely love to read some of their stories in the prose format beyond Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang and I think an entire Short Trips volume dedicated them would just be marvellous. Anyway, more about the story itself and the title really did take me off guard because it sounds a little ordinary. Even in the way things were set up at the start of the episode this didn't quite feel like something for the infernal investigators that are Jago and Litefoot. But alas, it was always going to change and the way things tied together worked really well! I thought the guest cast for this one was actually excellent with Ellie shining as normal behind the bar of the Red Tavern. But it was the likes of Dr Kindred and Cornish that really propped up the quality of the episode. Both were intelligent and obviously crucial to the plot with their scientific developments. I thought the reaction to finding out that Kindred was a woman was just delightful because it was a stark reminder of the setting being the Victorian. A woman couldn't possibly develop something like the speciation serum, right? Alas, she had done so and she was actually being sought after when it came to combining her creation with the formula that Cornish had created that would see cells duplicate. Putting the two together was the brain child of Harecourt as the teacher of the pair as former students and he was quite deranged. He took things into his own hands and tested on McCallum which was pretty horrifying but he knew that he would never get any kind of regulatory approval. And rightly so as evidenced with what happened to the poor chap in the story! I thought the focus on evolution and manufacturing that was quite intriguing and the reaction when Litefoot exclaimed there were no organs at all inside the corpse was fantastic. That was a whole new kind of mystery with the door being locked on the inside. How would somebody be able to function without their organs? That just shouldn't be possible as Litefoot rightly exclaimed. Carruthers was good fun with his commentary throughout the episode and I'm fascinated to find out what the end game with him will be. Surely it is not just a simple prose release and something more will be afoot? It feels right that this will happen. I won't be mad if it doesn't though as I suspect that Jago will absolutely revel in any kind of fame. The way mystery was captured in the episode was decent although it did seem to slightly diminish as the episode drew to a close. Whilst I firmly appreciated how logical and clever the resolution was in utilising the scientific prowess of Kindred and Cornish to come up with an antidote – especially when Jago himself was subjected to the forced evolution – it did seem a tad predictable and underwhelming. Maybe that's just me thinking a little too far ahead and solving things instead of just enjoying what happened? Regardless, this was still a terrific series opener with a really strong idea at its heart! Who'd have thought some gasogene would be so crucial. Overall, a great start! 

Rating: 8/10