Doctor Who: The Nu-Humans
by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright (BBC, 2012); audiobook read by Raquel Cassidy
Another book that captures the whimsical bow-tie flitting of the Eleventh Doctor but none of the underlying substance. Raquel Cassidy is perhaps an odd choice given the prominence of a heavy-voiced male nu-human. [Why the affectation? They’re not ‘nu’, dammit; they’re ‘new’.]
Doctor Who: Let it Snow (Tales of Trenzalore #1)
by Justin Richards (Woodlands Books, 2014); audiobook read by David Troughton (Bolinda, 2015)
The first of several stories exploring the Eleventh Doctor’s centuries-long defence of Trenzalore (as per the 2013 Christmas Special). Justin Richards does a good job setting the scene, and the Ice Warriors are a fitting choice to bring stomping through the snow.
The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Glittering Storm
by Stephen Cole (BBC, 2007); audiobook read by Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen doesn’t so much read as act, her performance as Sarah Jane elevating this otherwise somewhat middling story of alien imperilment. Whatever the gold is being used for this time, however squidgy and one-dimensional the adversary, Sladen remains the consummate companion-turned-lead.
Doctor Who: The Lost Planet
by George Mann (BBC Audio, 2017); audiobook read by Nicola Bryant
The Doctor, having carelessly created a universe-imperilling problem, defeats it by running away. (If that’s a spoiler, consider yourself saved.) Mann plumbs old depths; with Nicola Bryant reading it almost feels like we’re back in the mid-80s with Pip and Jane Baker.
Doctor Who, Series 8
(BBC, 2014)
Series Eight starts with an apology, ends with a folly turned helter-skelter. In-between this, Peter Capaldi simmers rakishly: the sort of caustic, ‘dislikeable’ Doctor that Colin Baker was aiming for, only with the necessary scripts and production values to support the characterisation.
Doctor Who: The Lost Angel
by George Mann & Cavan Scott; audiobook read by Kerry Shale (BBC, 2017)
The Weeping Angels, like the Daleks before them, have faded from show-defining monsters into one-dimensional ho-hum tripe. The bits with the Doctor work well enough — as one would expect — but whenever he’s absent the writing, characters and scenario simply fail to engage.
Doctor Who: The Water Thief
by Jacqueline Rayner (BBC, 2012)
Like many Eleventh Doctor authors, Rayner enjoys capturing the superficial interactions between the Doctor, Amy and Rory, yet never manages to portray a convincing threat. The monster of the day is little more than an arbitrarily functioning excuse to explore Ancient Egypt.
Doctor Who: Borrowed Time
by Naomi A. Alderman (BBC, 2011); audiobook read by Meera Syal.
When the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to witness a bank’s collapse, they find it’s been offering more than just money for loan… This belaboured parable of compound interest isn’t without merit; it just takes up more time than it can repay.
Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead
by Peter Grimwade; dir. Peter Moffatt (BBC, 1983)
Doctor Who’s take on the Flying Dutchman offers up what should have been a staggering moral quandary, played subtly by Peter Davison but undercut by the plot’s bumbling Brigadier resolution. Turlough is a welcome addition, the exuberant synthesiser music perhaps less so.
Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos
by Philip Martin; dir. Ron Jones (BBC, 1985)
A rare instance of a decent Sixth Doctor script. Colin Baker is still left with little to do but (a) run about and (b) look smugly unconcerned, but Varos at least gives a sign of how good his tenure could have been.