Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Who Reviews Enemy Aliens by DJ Forrest



 Doctor Who: Enemy Aliens (Destiny of the Doctor 8)
Audiobook
By DJ Forrest


Written by Alan Barnes
Readers: Michael Maloney, India Fisher
Running Time: 1hrs
Publisher: AudioGo Ltd
Number of CD’s: 1
Release date: 01/08/2013

Its 1935, London, and the 8th Doctor and his companion Charley Pollard have an investigation to uncover.  After a message that was cut short in the Tardis by unknown circumstances, they are made aware that an enemy alien invasion is coming to Earth and are made aware also that William Tell is part of the plot.  They also have to find the Secret Key in the Hidden Lock.
When Charley begins humming the tune to Rossini’s William Tell Overture, strange and disturbing things begin to happen.  And when they visit the Trumps Music Hall and begin to ask one of the acts on stage, a man who can foresee the future the man is killed by an unknown assailant.  But as the crowd scatter in mad panic, and Charley picks up the gun that has landed at her feet a good looking man comes to her aid, posing as a policeman and they leave the music hall together.

Led out of the music hall the man whom she discovers isn’t really a police officer but is unsure who he may be wakes up in his apartment to noises downstairs.  The Doctor had been arrested the day before, his hands covered in blood from the dead man whom he’d tried to save, but to no avail.  But according to the papers of the day, had escaped from the custody of the police and was at large, along with Charley Pollard.

I’ve never read any of the 8th Doctor stories and found this a delightful audiobook narrated by India Fisher who through her narration reminded me of the black and white movies I used to watch as a kid, the St Trinian’s jolly hockey sticks and What-ho accents!  She’s very clear in her pronunciations and although she covers the voice of the Doctor, she is helped along in the story by Michael Maloney who covers the voice of Hilary Hammond.  The good looking man who saves Charley but hides a dark secret!

The story is a very jolly affair, despite the levels of trouble both Charley and the Doctor become embroiled in but what I found most enjoyable about this story was that it featured the Thames Clyde train that took the adventure into Dumfriesshire, which is very close to home.  I did smile at the mention also of the citadel on the English border that was quite amusing.

The 8th Doctor came across an awful lot like the 11th in the way he spoke and reacted, and I wonder if that’s down to the writer who has also written 11th Doctor Stories.
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The story is well put together and you have to pay a good deal of attention to the plot as it reaches a very dramatic conclusion that I found really ingenious in its description.  I’m not giving any clues on that as this is a new story and it’s something you’re going to have to find out for yourself.

India Fisher is a British actress who has provided the voiceover for MasterChef and also the voices for a series of sci fi audio dramas such as Doctor Who and Big Finish Productions and the Sci Fi Channel UK’s online audio version of Blake’s 7 playing Lora Mezin.

Michael Maloney is an English actor whose first appearance saw him as a teenager in the 1979 drama series ‘Telford’s Change’. He has since gone on to appear in many film and television programmes, radio and stage dramas, including ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and ‘The Thick of It’.

Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, his notable works are Judge Dredd and Doctor Who.
He worked as editor of Judge Dredd Magazine from 2001 to December 2005 and worked for five years at Doctor Who Magazine progressing from writing strips to becoming joint editor in 1998 to sole editor from 2000 to 2002.

This is a delightful audio, which also includes a few place names I’m familiar with along the route.  Well worth a listen to, and well worth hunting out a few more audio adventures with the 8th Doctor and his companions.


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