REVIEW: The War Doctor, Agents of Chaos

It was terribly sad to hear of the death of Sir John Hurt recently. I'm in no way qualified to sum up such a glittering career but even his short foray into the world of Doctor Who showed him to be a class act. His role was a happy accident, born out of Christopher Eccleston's reluctance to return to the part for the 50th anniversary special. Mine might be a controversial view, but I think we ended up with something even better as a result.

It was more surprising still when he then agreed to pop along to Big Finish and expand on his brief TV appearance and take us into the Time War itself. If Big Finish had wanted the BBC to cast an audio-friendly Doctor then they really couldn't have asked for a better choice, Hurt's voice alone is enough to make you stand up and take notice and is perfect for this troubled and battle-scarred Time Lord who refuses to take his name. Whilst it's undoubtedly sad that he's gone, it feels like we were very lucky to have Sir John in the Tardis in the first place.

The news will make the upcoming release of Casualties of War all the more poignant as these three adventures will, presumably, be his last in the role. As that approaches I decided to pop Agents of Chaos back on for a second listen.

As usual, spoilers will follow. There are enjoyable plot twists to be had in this box so it's well worth listening before you read this, or anything else, about the stories.

Agents of Chaos begins with The Shadow Vortex by David Llewellyn. I was probably anticipating this tale more than most since I'd read that it was to be set in Cold War Berlin. Not only did I really enjoy visiting Berlin, but I'd also studied the period a little bit and thought it was ideal fodder for the War Doctor's adventures.

On first listen I couldn't help being a little disappointed, however. I was left feeling a little cold (no pun intended) and wasn't sure the events really mined the potential to be had from the setting. Not only that, but I was put off by the accent of Kruger, played by Timothy Speyer. This felt far too 'Allo 'Allo! for my liking (apologies for the dated cultural reference) and detracted from the seriousness of the action.

Yet, on this second listen, my mood had thawed a little. The accent still feels like an unnecessary caricature and that's especially a shame since the character of Kruger himself really isn't two-dimensional. Llewellyn has offered us a fairly rounded Stasi officer who is far from a generic 'bad guy'. The War Doctor sees enough good in him to enlist him as an ersatz companion and we briefly get to see into the mindset of a man traumatised by his own experiences in the Second World War, someone who can't bear to be a teacher because his pupils remind him of the soldiers who died in that conflict. I'd argue that this complexity and richness of character is lost behind the accent but it should be applauded nevertheless.

The story itself involves the Doctor's attempts to thwart the efforts of Agent Zannis - ably played by Neve McIntosh of Madame Vastra fame - who is working for the Daleks. The choice he has to make to end her plan shows the ruthless side of this incarnation as someone who, albeit reluctantly, has to make tough choices to fight the war.

The tale ends on a decent cliffhanger, with Cardinal Ollistra taken prisoner. This sets up the rest of the box, with the following two stories more closely linked.

The Eternity Cage brings the Sontarans to the party. I might be alone here but I thought it was refreshing to have the Sontarans back as a militaristic warlike threat after the jollity of Strax that we've become accustomed to in recent times. It's quite fitting that they should want to muscle in on the fight and they come perilously close to doing so.

Andrew Smith's story keeps us guessing long enough about how they were able to harness time weaponry and capture both Ollistra and the Dalek Time Strategist (who share a fun exchange as respective plotters). There's an ongoing thread of suspicion about both this and whether there's a 'mole in the camp' for the Doctor and his rescue party that keeps you on your toes throughout.

Eventually we learn that they are manipulating the power of a Time Lord who is 'stuck' mid regeneration...and that they're less in control than they thought. This all leads to another moral dilemma for this most put-upon of Doctors, leaving him to weigh up the least worst of the resolutions. The fact that he rails against his choice shows he's still the same character deep down.

Also in this story we're introduced to Kalan, a young native who helps the rescue team with the sort of wide-eyed innocence of a Lord of the Rings character. His description of the Sontarans as 'moon heads' and the Doctor as 'grey beard' adds a certain fairytale element to the events that is fun and thrusts Kalan into the 'short term companion' slot.

This is certainly a box set of twists and cliffhangers and the Eternity Cage again leaves us on a bombshell. This time we learn that the villain in the camp is actually Honeysuckle Weeks' Heleyna, the Cardinal's right hand woman and she literally kicks the Doctor out of a Battle Tardis to (apparent) certain death.

Of course, he's scooped back into the Battle Tardis at the start of the Eye of Harmony, by Ken Bentley, for the finale. This is a taught, character-driven story in which the Doctor and Kalan team up to track down and stop Heleyna (who now has Ollistra hostage).

It's all set inside the Battle Tardis - think Journey to the Centre of the Tardis but better - and sees Heleyna try to help the Daleks destroy the source of all of the Time Lords' power. There's a fair old chunk of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook here but if you can stay with it - and I just about managed it - there's a sufficiently epic air about the whole thing to carry it off.

Heleyna makes for a well-rounded character and we learn that this is her attempt to reverse the Time War and bring back her grandfather, a pacifist who railed against starting the conflict in the first place. There's a nod back to the first box and Ceratrix here and it's good to have a villain that we can sympathise with. It's a nice role for Weeks too who, until the final story, was very much playing the sort of role she's known for in the likes of Foyle's War.

It all makes for a fairly bleak ending really, with the Daleks thwarted but Heleyna dead and Kalan also dying. In his attempt to save his young companion, the Doctor even draws the Daleks and the conflict to another innocent world. A thought he's left musing as the box comes to a close. It's clear from his mood here that the Doctor is closer to the state of mind we find him in during the Day of the Doctor; desperate to end the suffering that the Time War is bringing to so many worlds and innocent people.

Overall, Agents of Chaos is another highly entertaining foray into the events of the Time War, playing neatly with the idea of double agents and their motivations. I'll even forgive that accent as a result.

Sir John may have left us, but not before leaving his mark on Doctor Who. His classy performance here is a real treat to enjoy and celebrate.

Catch up with my reviews of the rest of the series with the links below:

Only The Monstrous
Infernal Devices

REVIEW: The War Doctor, Only The Monstrous

I have a bit of an unofficial routine with Doctor Who stories. Essentially, whether I've liked them or not, I don't return for another view/listen for a couple of years. It's nice to go back after a break and reassess (I recently did that with a couple of Matt Smith episodes and enjoyed them more than when broadcast) but, in short, I'm not one for multiple airings.

Except I did just that with Big Finish's first War Doctor box set. A joyously received Christmas present, this has been devoured twice already. I wouldn't be averse to a third spin before long either...

So, yes, it's fair to say that I enjoyed Only The Monstrous which lived up to my great hope and expectation for this range. Yes Big Finish is increasingly veering into 'New Series' territory and has previously mined unexplored parts of the excellent Eighth Doctor's past but this felt like something different. With the War Doctor, Big Finish is able to explore a world merely hinted at on screen, a character who can be very different to all other incarnations of the time travelling hero and, of course, gets to utilise the vocal skills of John Hurt, no less. The latter alone feels like a huge coup for the audio firm and should be seen as just reward for their hard work in building a reputation over the years.

The box itself should (spoilers further down by the way, sorry about that!) really be seen as one long story, very different in pace and tone to almost anything the on-screen incarnations of the Doctor have done. That straight away shows the strength of the audio medium and of having a very different character to play with.

Disc one - The Innocent - dives headlong into the heat of the action reminding us, if we needed it, that this is an incarnation of the Doctor that is defined by the war he feels compelled to fight. With a nice nod to the Daleks Masterplan, Hurt's War Doctor saves the day while heading to his apparent death. From here on we pause for thought on the planet Keska. Nick Briggs, quite rightly, takes time for us to get to know the War Doctor and the 'state of play' in his life. Hurt is grumpy, irascible and - over time - cheeky, giving us the closest portrayal to Hartnell's original of any Doctor since.

He's rude and troubled - and bristles at the mere hint of his 'name' being mentioned - yet still finds himself humoured by the saintly Rejoice, who nurses him back to health. The pair's dialogue brings out, in many ways, a very First World War debate about war - with the War Doctor feeling obliged to fight, moved to do 'the unthinkable' yet still railing against the fact that many innocent people suffer in the crossfire. He also carries the guilt of feeling that he started it all off through his actions in the Genesis of the Daleks.

The Innocent, therefore, does a lot of necessary character work and is rich with juicy dialogue that flows perfectly from the excellent voice of John Hurt. It might seem odd to start a Time War saga off with not that much, well, war but it works beautifully and you can't help but be hooked by his voice.

The Thousand Worlds is definitely the weakest of the three discs but that's probably inevitable given that it has to do much of the heavy lifting in terms of plotting. The one-dimensional and slightly shrill Veklin is perhaps the only performance that I didn't totally enjoy across the set but, to be fair to actress Beth Chalmers, she's not really supposed to be a likeable Time Lord and gives the War Doctor someone to rebel against and annoy on his own 'side'.

The plot borrows much from the Hartnell era Dalek modus operandi, with a big drill and the enslavement of the population of the previously peaceful Keska. There's a layer of intrigue that builds on this though, with Alex Wyndham's Seratrix proving to be on an unlikely peace mission. The ending of The Thousand Worlds - with the Daleks barking 'peace in our time' - felt a little cheesy and perhaps forced the 'war film' analogies a little too much.

Still, The Heart Of The Battle builds on the hard work of The Thousand Worlds, with the War Doctor uncovering the true nature of the Daleks' plan and exposing Seratrix's hope for peace as folly. The War Doctor's sadness that his fellow Time Lord had been proven wrong - and his grim reaction to the action he had to take to save Keska - showed us that this is still the same character we know and love, albeit buried under the baggage of conflict.

It's on this disc that Jacqueline Pearce comes into her own as Cardinal Ollistra. She's a devilish warmonger and emerges as a puppet master who has been in control of the whole plot all along. Pearce has the audio equivalent of a glint in her eye with such material to play with. At the start of The Innocent I was worried that Ollistra might be a little two dimensional - as some of Gallifrey's inhabitants have been down the years - but my fears were well and truly unfounded by the end. She's a 'baddie and a goodie' all at once and a joy to listen too.

Pearce and Hurt are lapping it up at the end and deliver an electric performance that leaves you wanting more (luckily that's not too far away...). The final line is chilling and superbly delivered. Ollistra asks where she can find our new non-Doctor in future and he replies: "At the heart of the battle, where the blood of the innocent flows and only the monstrous survive." Cue the music. I'm hooked, I've pre-ordered the next one, I loved it. Brilliant.

No TV, no problem: Why 2016 is a great year to be a Doctor Who fan

Barring a Christmas special, we've got no Doctor Who to look forward to on the television in 2016. It should be the cause of great consternation - surely there ought to have been a charity single by now? - but it isn't.

In part, of course, that's because we know there is plenty to come. There will be a full series in 2017 which will be a swansong for Steven Moffat, and then Chris Chibnall will take the reins.

Steven Moffat will step down after Series 10…
Chris Chibnall to take over.
FULL STORY @ https://t.co/7tjdSIGWO2 pic.twitter.com/1AU0neJQSR

— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) January 22, 2016

But that's not the only reason that I'm happy with my lot as a Doctor Who fan.

Firstly, it'll be good for the TV adventures to take a break. No matter which way you look at it, the ratings have taken a dent in the last couple of years. The last series really wasn't marketed that well and also suffered from being shifted too late into the evening. The switch to the spring, where Strictly Come Dancing doesn't dominate, should hopefully mean a return to earlier in the evening and should ensure that the show doesn't come up against as formidable an opponent as the X Factor (which also suffered a rating slump).

Absence, too, makes the heart grow fonder and you'd hope a longer gap alone should increase the excitement levels around the next series. The BBC statement made a promise to turn the next run into an 'event', which is probably, in part at least, a reaction to the poor promotion for Capaldi's second run ('same old, same old).

That's not in any way a reflection of the present TARDIS incumbent either. Peter Capaldi's breathtaking performance in Heaven Sent was possibly the greatest of any actor in the role (only the passage of time will allow a sensible judgement) and his Zygons speech rightly earned praise. If anything it's probably right to take a breather after such heavyweight events (the weakness of the finale was probably that it couldn't top the week before). He's been good and it'll be interesting to see him with a different companion now that Clara's adventures (on screen at least) are over.

Still, it might also be good to reassess the format too. Last series probably had too many sort-of-two-parters while Capaldi's first run probably had too many one-offs. I can't help feeling that watching his whole run 'on shuffle' might deliver a more satisfying experience than the order they were aired. I love a two-parter, but a mixed line-up might be nice for the next batch.

One thing worth considering, however, is the timeline we've now been given. Not only do we have guaranteed adventures next year, but the BBC has also committed to another run under new showrunner Chris Chibnall, which should, you'd think, air in 2018. As fans who always fear the axe, this should please us all greatly.

But the best thing about the delay to the next series of Doctor Who is in what it clears a space for. I don't know about you but I feel there's been a lot of Doctor Who in recent years that I simply haven't had the time nor money to catch up with. Books, audios and even some old series DVDs are still on the hitlist to catch up with and these can have our full attention.

Best of all is that 2016 is packed full of new adventures for us all to enjoy thanks to the people at Big Finish (I'm not really a comics man but I gather fans of these are pretty well catered for too).

Big Finish has upped the ante in recent months and you feel we really will look back on this as something of a golden era for Doctor Who fandom. Without wishing to be too morbid, we're lucky to be getting new material from several stars of the classic series who won't be around forever and should cherish this while it lasts.

The War Doctor box set released before Christmas also took us headlong into the Time War and it was excellent. (I'll do a review soon) John Hurt has a magnetic voice that makes him a perfect Big Finish Doctor and I'm looking forward to hearing where his upcoming stories take the character.

On top of that I've recently enjoyed hearing River Song's debut (if ever a character deserved a spin off...) and have just come off Doom Coalition 1 (Paul McGann is surely the only man with a better voice to listen to than Hurt). We'll have more McGann and Kingston to look forward too soon.

Then, of course, it's the return of David Tennant. It's the first time that I've seen a Big Finish announcement make the news beyond the sci-fi/Doctor Who world and will be a big deal for the company. It's even more perfect for them that it comes in a year with no TV adventures, meaning it will be the biggest Doctor Who event of the year. The pressure is on but the War Doctor adventures et al have shown that the team at Big Finish should be able to rise to the occasion and impress the casual buyer wooed by Tennant and Tate.

Beyond that there's an intriguing multi-Master trilogy and more from every other Doctor thanks to the effective way the first three have been realised. Tom Baker seems to be relishing returning to the role and continues to roll back the years (another great voice - it's almost as though these men were case with Big Finish in mind!).

The long and the short of it is that there is an awful lot coming up. In the days before the TV Movie (can you believe it is 20 years since it was on?) we'd have given anything for any of those projects. All this new stuff comes despite the fact I'd still like to catch up on the Sixth Doctor's regeneration, the 'locum Doctor' stories, Dark Eyes 2-4 and many many more.

All this and then at least two more TV series lined up for our viewing pleasure. A golden era indeed. It's time to make the most of it. Reckon I might finally get that second War Doctor set ordered...