The Penumbra Affair

"The Doctor must never come here."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: May 2022

Series: Beyond the Doctor 05

Featuring: Mrs Wibbsey

Synopsis

A letter arrives at Nest Cottage, warning of danger for all former companions of the Doctor. Intrigued, Mrs Wibbsey begins a correspondence with one Polly Wright – and soon finds herself with an unexpected guest for Christmas.

But shadows are gathering in the Hexford snow, and old scores are waiting to be settled. With Mike Yates and other friends around her, Mrs Wibbsey must navigate her way between facts and half-truths if she's to keep the Doctor's secrets safe, and live to tell the tale...

Verdict

The Penumbra Affair was a very good episode to conclude the Beyond the Doctor series from BBC Audio! This has been a thoroughly enjoyable quartet of adventures as whilst baring the same series name, I don't think The Kairos Ring really qualifies as part of the same set. It's a different writer and doesn't feature anything to do with Penumbra at all which is absolutely fine! I didn't actually know prior to pressing play who the lead character would be for this story and I was kind of expecting some of the companions we have heard from in this series so far to join forces, but instead we had Mrs Wibbsey! I didn't see that coming I must admit but it was good to have another adventure with her. She's a likeable character and it fits well into the continuity of the BBC Audio range. We had reference to Nest Cottage and that actually being a secret she was keeping of the Doctor's was a very nice touch. I thought the cameo from Mike Yates was great too and I liked the contemporary references to UNIT. It followed events nicely from Survivors of the Flux with him mentioning that they'd gone underground and I think that's a better description for them rather than closing down completely, especially considering the heights they would reach in the Fourteenth Doctor era and beyond! Yates reflecting back on Invasion of the Dinosaurs was also pretty poignant because even after all this time he still wasn't trusted by his old employers. That's a little sad but it's also understandable given everything that went down during those events. I don't want to sound harsh or critical when I say that this was a little bit of a tame finale to the whole Penumbra affair because I really enjoyed it, I was just expecting perhaps something more impactful after the build up. I liked the continuity with Bessie Come Home and her message reaching Wibbsey, and it also tied in perfectly with London, 1965 and Sleeper Agents in having Polly write a letter to Nest Cottage warning off any of the Doctor's other companions and linking to Ian and Polly. Leamann posing as Polly was fascinating and I liked the audacity of it because after all these years she could certainly pass as the woman who used to travel with the Doctor. When she was questioned on details though, her disguise soon let up. It could almost be forgiven for her to mistake Jamie for 'Jimmy' as another companion that accompanied Polly and Ben in the TARDIS, but her take on the Doctor's changing appearance was quite something! The seriousness in which she referred to the different faces as disguises and believed he changed via plastic surgery was incredible. I thought that was tremendously hilarious. Mrs Wibbsey was right in her doubts. I thought the way she confronted her on that was strong and Leamann had now realised the wrongs of Penumbra's ways. I think a little more detail on the failed state of the 1960s would have been good but Mr Harmer emerging from the shadows was good as a final standoff for him as a villain. He shot Leamann dead which was pretty stunning but I liked how Wibbsey was fast in her reflexes despite her age and his attempt on her actually thwarted all plans in destroying the space-time device. The whole thing being just a way to try and get the Doctor's attention as they needed help was good but not quite what I was expecting. It would never fly with the Doctor though as Wibbsey acknowledged, if they needed him all they had to do was ask. Overall, a great listen to conclude a really fun and enjoyable mini-series! I would love to get more of this kind of thing.

Rating: 8/10