The Violet Hour

"Spare me from the stupidity of clever men."

Writer: Rafaella Marcus

Format: Audio

Released: March 2026

Series: Thirteenth Doctor Adventures 1.05

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz

Synopsis

The Doctor and Yaz arrive in the East End of London, 1926. There's grief in the air: not only the years of war and sickness, but a more recent death.

A strange message prompts them to investigate the murder of a medium. A young woman whose seances hide deeper secrets – and an unearthly power that threatens the entire city.

Verdict

The Violet Hour was another great audio to continue my way through this wonderful series of Thirteenth Doctor Adventures! I still have to pinch myself a little bit that we're even getting such a long series with the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz because that's a pairing that we never really saw on screen. The gap for them travelling together was hardly seen on screen so I love that the gap is getting filled in a big way here. And there's a story arc of its own going on as all roads to lead to finding out who the mysterious Tourist is. I think that's exciting and it's good to get some sort of arc building. But I'm getting ahead of myself a little there! The story here was really strong and had some good Hide vibes with the use of a medium. That one was a little different in trying to find apparitions whereas the aim here was to communicate with the dead and for Maltravers he seemed like he wanted to go a step further and actually make the jump to the realm of the dead to be reunited with his son and wife. There's some tragedy there that he's lost them but he was taking his means of being back with them a little too far! He was nonplussed by the fates of the mediums that were dying in their efforts to take him there and he found it all the more shocking that they didn't live up to what they said they were! The audacity. He was a mean man and that made him a very good villain. He was simply heartless and yet his desire was to be with the ones he loved again. There's some strong irony there. I thought the way the first death was portrayed in the pre-titles with Esther was pretty brutal and it was amusing that her surname was Shine and the psychic paper got it wrong by making it plural. The fate of that with her actually shining was a good little twist. I thought Miriam was a marvellous character and her being able to see the glow where others couldn't made her the ideal candidate for the medium that Maltravers was looking for. I thought his faraday cage being a lot more than that was intriguing and I did like the concept behind the Idolon. It was pure Thuron energy and whilst I would have liked something a bit more familiar given how at home the Doctor was with this, it worked just fine. It fed on something close to desire and that was an interesting place to be. I thought the claim of it being nameless was fun because the Doctor wasn't having any of that. Everything has a name she said which might just be the ultimate irony! I loved how the Thirteenth Doctor embraced her gender here and acknowledged the positioning of women here in 1926. She was getting questioned a lot more which is a sad reality. Yaz getting to showcase some of her policing skills was a nice touch too and I could definitely welcome more of that! Going into the subconsciousness of the Idolon was an interesting place to be and the use of salt and a kiss to bring the Docor and Miriam back was terrific. Yaz being subtle and abrasive about admitting that was fun foreshadowing. I thought the role of the Tourist here in being the other unnamed entity alongside the Idolon and Miriam was a little strange as the Doctor had no confirmation on that. It seemed a little assumptive but I did like the idea of letting one in to take out the other. I really did like the violet nature and it had some strong Gelth vibes also. Overall, a really good tale as a whole with an exciting but eery atmosphere. A terrific listen and sets us up nicely for what appears to be something close to a mid-series finale! 

Rating: 8/10