The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Sarah Jane Smith

"Let me get this straight. This is a holiday. No spies, no murders, no cases to investigate, you're just here to relax with your old mate Yolande, who just happens to chase spies, murderers and the same sort of thing you go for..."

After the pulsating drama of last month's terrorist thriller Test Of Nerve, Rupert Laight's Ghost Town brings a definite change of pace to the Sarah Jane Smith series with a much quieter, small-scale ghost story but the result is reasonably entertaining.

What's interesting about Ghost Town is the fact that in a series which has strived, and succeeded, at feeling very contemporary, this is unashamedly a traditional ghost story at it's heart with the main protagonists venturing out into an isolated village deep in the heart of the Carpatian Mountains of Romania to stay with an old acquaintance who happens to live in an old mysterious - and haunted? - house. Laight acknowledges the almost clichéd nature of the set-up through Josh's reaction to arriving there and his frequent Scooby Doo jokes but rather disappointingly seems content to play to these standards, rather than trying to subvert them, which tends to make the story a little predictable. While the story develops logically and at sufficient pace to keep the listener both entertained and interested there is a definite sense that it would have benefited from an extra twist and turn or two to add a bit more deviation to it. As it is essentially a mystery that Sarah will have to solve, additional elements such as this would have helped to factor in more dynamism to the story. As it is the clues are hidden reasonably well but with a limited scope in terms of story and cast, the discerning listener should be able to garner their significance reasonably quickly.

While the plot could have been stronger, the most positive aspects of the script comes in the dialogue and characterisation that Laight affords his characters which compensates well by giving the cast good material to work with which helps to kept the drama engaging. Ghost stories are a difficult thing to do successfully on audio as Big Finish's venture into the supernatural realm in the Doctor Who series, Winter For The Adept, proved as it relied too much on the characters describing the nature of the horror they saw. Ghost Town demonstrates an impressive level of restraint on Laight's part in this respect, preferring to rely on the competence and quality of the sound design to convey the threat and terror rather than lengthy unnatural expository dialogue and as a result these haunting scenes are far more chilling and memorable and provide the story's main highlights.

With Sadie Miller absent, the story focuses much more on the relationship between Sarah Jane and Josh and again the real rapport that Elisabeth Sladen and Jeremy James have struck up is firmly in evidence as they inject the right balance of fun into the characters' relationship coupled with the believable sense that they have grown to look out for each other and care what happens to them. Both actors' performances here are excellent, and Sladen in particular is utterly convincing in conveying a real impression of Sarah Jane's fear after being confronted by a haunting spectre.

Of the limited guest cast, Ingrid Evans makes the most memorable impact as the friend Sarah Jane and Josh are visiting, Yolande Benstead. She really expresses her character's slightly eccentric nature well, and also acts as a warning of what may happen to Sarah if she lets paranoia about those who are out to cause her trouble get the better of her. Also present is one of Big Finish's most distinctive voices in Robert Jezek. While it's always good to see him in the cast of these plays, as he's a very dependable actor, it's a shame that he's employed here in a dual role as Dimitri and Jack McElroy. While his performance distinguishes between the two characters perfectly well, his voice is so distinctive that it pushes credibility to have him playing two separate roles within the same story in this manner. That said it is his display as Dimitri that catches the listener's attention as he injects a quiet despair into his character whose past is a closed door, which is quite poignant to hear. Brian Miller is acceptable as Abbotly while Mark Donovan and Elizabeth Faulkner do well with their material but do not really have enough to impress.

David Darlington again provides the sound design and music for Ghost Town, and this is arguably his best work for the Sarah Jane Smith series so far. The scenes featuring supernatural activity are particularly convincing and given the aforementioned restraint shown in the script to describing these, the sound design becomes crucial and Darlington rises to the challenge perfectly by creating a genuine air of suspense and mystery and the effect is communicated with a chilling clarity. This effect is amplified by the use of ticking clocks to raise the tension before the strange, unearthly noises begin their onslaught.

Ghost Town succeeds as an entertaining piece of mystery drama, which while perhaps a little too straightforward for it's own good, continues the fine run of the Sarah Jane Smith series. While the plot could have done with being more substantial, it allows the characters of Sarah Jane and Josh to shine in an intriguing setting and the combination of this plus Darlington's memorable sound design makes it an enjoyable, if slight, romp which seems very much to have been written as the calm in-between the storms surrounding it...