The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

'On my office door it says private investigator, but that's because the client likes the job to sound pretty and polite. What I am is a lot uglier than that. I'm a shamus, I'm a sleuth. I'm the guy who ferrets through your trash cans, looking for clues. And I'm paid not to mind the smell. For the right money, I'm the guy who'll find all the answers, and if the money is even righter I'm the guy who'll look the other way when he gets them. I'm a penguin with attitude…'

After Frobisher becomes tired of playing a secondary role to the Doctor on their travels, he elects to return to his roots pounding the mean streets as a private eye. Business is slow since his success on The Case of The Absconded Feline, but his easy living lifestyle is to be interrupted when an irresistible femme fatale offers him a case that Frobisher cannot refuse. Soon Frobisher is embroiled in a case full of murder and deceit and he will need all his skills to survive…

The Maltese Penguin is Robert Shearman's third Doctor Who script for Big Finish, but it is a very different kettle of fish to both The Holy Terror and The Chimes Of Midnight. While both of those have their darkly comedic moments, they were components within serious, and often horrific, dramas. The Maltese Penguin on the other hand, does not take itself too seriously at all and the result is a pure comedy story, which thanks to Shearman's sharp eye for comedy is wonderfully funny.

Taking it's inspiration from the style of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels, Robert Jezek narrates as Frobisher, offering wry comments as the story progresses and enabling the story to move at a fair pace. The Maltese Penguin is quite self-aware of both the conventions of the detective story and Doctor Who itself (such as the point where people start trying to kill you being the interesting bit) and much of the comedy comes from Jezek's hardboiled observations as the confident detective being contrasted with his actual incompetence. There is a superb scene towards the start where Frobisher is following a suspect and in his capacity as narrator, claims he dived into an alley gracefully but the sound effects tell a very different story! Shearman really utilises Frobisher's detective origins to their utmost, bringing Chandleresque snappy dialogue to the story creating a real atmosphere that David Darlington's effectively moody score really emphasises. The title is a clear homage to Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and as the story develops there are a number of parallels between the stories and spotting these, and the film noir style references becomes part of the film of experiencing this story.

Jezek captured the spirit of Frobisher perfectly in The Holy Terror, making the character his own totally within the space of the play, and so it is no surprise that he slips back into Frobisher's flippers with relative ease here. Principally narrating the story from Frobisher's point of view, Jezek's distinctive voice sets the tone effortlessly and, like the rest of the cast, he demonstrates impeccable comic timing.

Colin Baker's performance is good, as ever, although his role as the Doctor is very limited here. The fact that the character of the Doctor is absent from the majority of the play offers some fantastic highlights of comedy for his return appearances (such as the fact that he's able to save the universe, twice, while he's been away!) and also allows Colin Baker the chance to play a slightly different role to usual when Frobisher uses his whifferdill abilities to morph into the shape of his travelling companion for the bulk of the story. Baker's regular voice used for the Doctor is so powerful and memorable that it takes a little while to get used to him speaking with Frobisher's transatlantic drawl but thanks to the quality of the script and actor combined, it soon becomes fun to hear and makes up for the initial disappointment for the lack of Frobisher / Doctor interaction.

Toby Longworth, one of Big Finish's most versatile voices, is cast here as J. W. Dogbolter and like Frobisher is a character whose origin lies in the pages of the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. Shearman's script explains the character well (better than the sole comic strip I've read featuring the character - The Shape Shifter - in fact) and Longworth brings him to life skilfully particularly during a confrontation towards the end when he shows Dogbolter's darker side. Dogbolter's voice is very understated which makes the fact he is a half-human, half frog hybrid not as discernable as it might have been but ultimately works well in a very subtle, quietly menacing manner.

Jane Goddard is excellent as the femme fatale with a secret, that draws Frobisher into the case and she brings a touch of class and elegance to the proceedings. Shearman's script really enables him to play with her characters role within the story, and her first meeting with Frobisher is particularly memorable. Alistair Lock completes the cast line up, as Chandler, a policeman who may look entirely unlike Peter Lorre, but is definitely inspired by Lorre's distinctive tones as Lock plays him with the quiet menace you would expect.

David Darlington's harmonica fuelled slow moving score is very evocative of the type of detective, film noir style stories The Maltese Penguin pastiches and it helps to conjure up images of smoke filled rooms and all the dark places that detectives must walk perfectly. And the version of the Doctor Who theme at the end of the CD in this style is extraordinarily good too.

Perhaps the only real disappointment about The Maltese Penguin is that there is comparatively few scenes of dialogue between the Doctor and Frobisher themselves and given how wonderful the scenes between these two characters were during The Holy Terror (particularly during the first episode) the effect is more so. But when the story is as enjoyable as The Maltese Penguin is, it is really only a minor quibble.

The Maltese Penguin does not attempt the high drama of Robert Shearman's previous stories, but it sets itself up as a strong, comedic piece and in that respect it is a spectacular success. The absence of the Doctor from much of the story might vex some listeners, but this is Frobisher's story and a hilarious one at that. And while it is very much concerned with being a comedy story, Shearman works in quite a poignant ending which highlights that Frobisher has grown into a more complex character than his two-dimensional original allowed. The Maltese Penguin is sheer unadulterated fun from start to finish.