The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

Listening to Iain McLaughlin's No Place Like Home, the latest short audio play to be given away free in Doctor Who Magazine, is reminiscent of the early William Hartnell story, The Edge Of Destruction in that the whole of the action takes place inside the TARDIS. But in terms of its tone, No Place Like Home definitely takes its inspiration from the type of TARDIS-bound stories that often seem to feature in the DWM comic strip and even goes so far as to bring a long running character from those pages to life in the process.

No Place Like Home sees the Doctor taking his new(ish) companion Erimem for a tour of the TARDIS, only to find that rooms are being oddly rearranged and their own safety is no longer guaranteed. Peri is absent from this tale (conveniently tucked away safely in her room), but her absence here is a bonus as it allows McLaughlin to explore the Doctor and Erimem's relationship individually by showing that they share a mutual kinship due to the fact that both of them come from civilisations whose trappings stifled them to the point where they felt a need to escape.

As the third play that Big Finish have produced in association with Doctor Who Magazine, they seem to have really come to grips with what works in a self-contained thirty minute piece, with McLaughlin's story being written very light-heartedly yet balanced by some dramatic elements alongside. The humour of the story helps to give it a really fast paced edge which keeps it moving well and a lot of it, particularly the manner of the villain and the resolution, is very funny indeed. The only point the play really looses its momentum is during its final phase where the revelations about the Rovie's origin and his motivations come across as too much exposition at once and it prolongs these scenes unnecessarily.

The performances are excellent, with Peter Davison and Caroline Morris again demonstrating the confidence and ease of the rapport that has built up between their two characters. Even when the Doctor is exasperated by the exploits of Erimem's cat, there is always a sense that he can't really stay angry at her given how endearing Morris' portrayal is. By showing how both the Doctor and Erimem relate to each other's backgrounds, it builds up the characters and McLaughlin also manages to add some depth to his creation of Erimem by showing an introspective moment from her when she tells the Doctor how she misses her home and her mother, but wouldn't take away her happiness that her daughter has joined the Gods by returning, which is played well by Morris. Mark Donovan completes the cast, lending his voice to both of the other characters who feature here, namely the Rovie and the part of Shayde, the Gallifreyan construct who has been a long running character in the DWM comic strip. Both performances contrast each other superbly and demonstrate Donovan's versatility with the megalomaniac Rovie being a totally over the top villain and Shayde being a far more calm, measured character.

Again it's amazing how much difference the use of the 'correct' theme arrangement makes, as the Peter Howell version which featured throughout the Davison television era is used here with great effect. David Darlington's score is evocative of the period and helps to emphasise the drama without being intrusive.

No Place Like Home is both diverting and fun entertainment. Iain McLaughlin's script is fairly lightweight, but in the context of the half hour medium these DWM stories allow, he stays within the confines of what works and what doesn't to create the best one yet.