The Woman in White

"I don't think I've ever seen a man as dead."

Writers: Simon Barnard & Paul Morris

Format: Audio

Released: April 2016

Series: Jago & Litefoot 11.03

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot

Synopsis

The great actor Henry Irving is not as great as he once was. In fact, he's awful – a shadow of his former self. Worried that something may be terribly wrong, Irving's assistant Bram Stoker enlists the help of an old friend – Henry Gordon Jago. 

With Irvin's state deteriorating, Professor Litefoot also faces a challenge. He performs an autopsy on a man who has had all his bodily fluids drained from him. Can the detectives discover the connection between the great actor and the mysterious dehydrated corpse? And how does it relate to the Woman in White who supposedly haunts Irving's theatre?

Verdict

The Woman in White was another very strong episode to continue my way through the eleventh series of Jago & Litefoot! I thought the cover art for this adventure was tremendous and I was actually very excited for a horror kind of vibe. It looked very much in the vain of something from The Conjuring or a '60s horror film, and whilst I did enjoy the episode very much I don't think it quite got to that fear territory which was a shame. Victorian horror could have worked tremendously well for a Jago & Litefoot tale but the titular woman never quite felt scary. I thought it was good that only some people could see her and with her description it's no surprise she was feared by the local population, but something seemed off about the simplicity in which Litefoot revealed he could also see her simply from another angle. The humour in the episode was most welcomed though when it came to Jago as you would expect. He is just delightful and he can make nearly anything hilarious. His line about the unusual autopsy conducted by Litefoot on August Augustus and it probably not leading to anything nefarious was tremendous because you would expect him to think otherwise after everything they've been through! We are eleven series in now so you would think that even Jago would have a knack for spotting the unusual, but alas he did not. And that really is part of his charm. I hope he never changes. Speaking of changes, the running gag of his trousers being ruined when going underground was excellent and I can see him genuinely being irked. They were his favourite pair and they'd seen some things through their lifetime! That was glorious. I thought the story behind Henry Irving actually became quite sad in parts as he was severely suffering from a mental perspective. I was a bit surprised given the cliffhanger to Maurice that we didn't get much from the Master here, but as has been the case with much of the series when he has shown up it's been impactful and all a part of his patient plan. I'm not sure how I feel about his plan in using Jago and Litefoot to get to the Doctor, but his reasoning for needing his Time Lord nemesis and wanting to be saved is fascinating. Of course for the Master this is at a point between The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken where his survival is up in arms and he really is desperate. The use of obtaining Litefoot's DNA as well to manipulate him sets things up for a potentially disturbing finale and it's one I'm all here for. The concept here of a completely dehydrated corpse was almost difficult to visualise but it sounded horrifying. Quick and Litefoot were even put off by it after everything they had seen. The truth about the woman and the whole rallying around the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was intriguing and did feel very Victorian, but I'm not sure that he we needed a random alien. I'm contradicting myself a bit there though because I'm not convinced anything natural could drain a body lifeless, but it just didn't have the vibe of needing an alien presence. I liked how Irving kept making reference to his master and with this being pretty common terminology in the Victorian era, the Master's identity remains hidden. I love the idea of him being in the shadows and that makes sense with him needing saving, and so here we are with his next phase being to send Jago and Litefoot to a breaking point where their only option is to call for the Doctor. I'm excited for the finale after a patient and solid build up. Overall, another very good listen! 

Rating: 8/10