The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

'Still if we didn't expect the unexpected, whatever would become of us?'

After arriving in Alaska on the trail of a mysterious energy signal, the Doctor and Nyssa are soon attacked by a strange, deadly creature which leads them to the mansion of millionaire oil man Shaun Brett, who has sinister plans of his own. It soon becomes clear that a far greater danger has been unleashed.

Stephen Cole's The Land Of The Dead is a strange audio for a number of reasons. In the time since its original release it seems to have gained an unfavourable reputation (confirmed by the recent DWM poll), and although the reasons for this are evident, it is somewhat unjust.

The Land Of The Dead's most redeeming features is the fact that, like many other of the Big Finish audios, is that it is very atmospheric. The use of sound effects to create the Alaskan scenes are very evocative and effective. And while many of the performances are good, without hitting high levels of excellence, it does boast an excellence performance from Lucy Campbell as Monica Lewis.

The cliffhanger to episode one suffers greatly from overly descriptive dialogue. With Nyssa in one room, and the Doctor on the other side of a locked door, she proceeds to describe what happens in too much detail. Although it's necessary to convey what's happening in an audio story, this must be done with a minimum amount of description otherwise it falls into the trap that the 90's Pertwee Radio Dramas fell into and the effect is to tell the listener what is happening, rather than providing sufficient dialogue to show them what is happening. This problem is always a danger with audio drama, and Big Finish have managed to keep away from this most of the time, but Stephen Cole's script is an offender in this category, and it does take away from the enjoyment of the story.

Peter Davison's performance here is not bad, but he, and Cole's script, don't really capture the essence of the Fifth Doctor's character particularly well, and this makes it hard to really enjoy the performance of the Doctor, but when he is at his best, it is in the scenes with Lucy Campbell as Monica Lewis. The two of them work very well together, and the character of Monica effectively provides the companion for a large part of the story, whilst the Doctor and Nyssa are separated.

Of all the performances that Sarah Sutton has made so far for Big Finish, her first one, which this is, sadly is her worst one. Her performance feels very flat, and this is not helped by some of the dialogue that she is given to work with. Although her voice is almost identical to how it was during the recording of the television series, she seems to be having trouble finding her character, although there are signs that she almost has it by the end of this particular title, and her subsequent appearances have been excellent.

The small guest cast all reach a good standard, even if they are not outstanding, with the exception of Lucy Campbell as Monica Lewis who is superb. Campbell plays Monica with a real sense of gusto, and this helps to enliven the scenes in which she appears no end. Christopher Scott is the other stand out performer in the drama in his role as millionaire Shaun Brett, and the remaining cast members put in sturdy, if unspectacular, performances.

Alistair Lock's music here is patchy. When it's good, it's very good and reminiscent of some of the incidental music that appeared in the television series, but what detracts from it are the occasional ‘terror twangs' which are just unnecessary.

Ultimately though The Land Of The Dead is an enjoyable story, but not a particularly memorable one. It fails to make much of an impression on the listener so that although it's an interesting story, it lacks the repeated play factor that a good audio will have. Whilst the story behind The Land Of The Dead is quite interesting, and offers an agreeable way to spend two hours, the fact that it is so forgettable prevents it from being as good as it is. Cole's script has some good dialogue, but the use of the overly descriptive language becomes tedious after a while and takes away from the enjoyment factor of the story. Essentially enjoyable, but ultimately harmless, The Land Of The Dead is often criticised, and whilst some of this is justifiable when compared with the quality of some of the other Big Finish Doctor Who stories, on its own, The Land Of The Dead is a flawed but interesting piece of drama, but unfortunately fails to leave a significant impression.