‘THE WITCH FROM THE WELL’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Witch of Tranchard’s Folly with the Eighth Doctor and Mary Shelley

This is a ‘Doctor Who’ story about a 17th century witch-scare before ‘The Witchfinders’ happened!

N.B. You can skip the following portion if you just want to check out ‘The Witch From The Well’ review.

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Since checking out ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ in Series 12 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series with Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor in 2020, I’ve had more time to reflect and think on the criticisms that I made about the TV series’ depiction of Mary Shelley compared to Big Finish’s version.

Some of my criticisms can be viewed as harsh and that I don’t rate ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ as highly as other viewers/fans view it. I stress the episode itself is not awful. It does the job well of presenting a fascinating take of the Doctor meeting Mary Shelley. It’s also a pretty dramatic episode.

If you’re a fan of ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’; good for you. I’m sure the Series 12 ‘Doctor Who’ TV episode has its place in the hearts of many fans. There are good things to take away from it. It’s just beforehand, I’d been used to another interpretation of Mary Shelley in ‘Doctor Who’ via Big Finish. 🙂

From 2011 to 2012, I’d been checking out the ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories where Mary Shelley, played by Julie Cox, met and had adventures with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. For a while, I considered that the definite version of Mary Shelley in ‘Doctor Who’ and there was no other version.

I grew accustomed to Mary Shelley meeting the Eighth Doctor (two of them) at Villa Diodati in Switzerland in 1816 in ‘The Company of Friends: Mary’s Story’. She went on to have adventures in the TARDIS with the Eighth Doctor, starting with ‘The Silver Turk’ where she encountered Cybermen.

Whilst ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ presents us with an interesting TV take on where Mary Shelley got her inspiration for ‘Frankenstein’ as well as meeting the Doctor, I personally prefer the Big Finish audio version of the Mary Shelley story in ‘Doctor Who’, as that I was what I got into in the first place.

It’s also frustrating that the two versions don’t match up in where they’re placed in ‘Doctor Who’ continuity. Did the Eighth Doctor meeting Mary Shelley and the Thirteenth Doctor meeting Mary Shelley happen at the same time, or do they exist in different continuities, which is usually the case?

With all these things said, it’s possible the two versions can coexist with each other, as we’ve had two versions of ‘Shada’ where one features Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor in TV form, and one features Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor in animated webcast/audio form. This is quite an unusual conundrum.

There’s also a version of the Mary Shelley story where the Tenth Doctor met her in the ‘Battles of Time’ comic story ‘The Creative Spark’. 😀 For the sake of argument, I’m willing to accept the Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley stories occurred at the same time the Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors met her. 🙂

It’s a frustrating aspect of ‘Doctor Who’ storytelling that I’ve had to cope these days, but then, ‘Doctor Who’ has been a continuity offender before, especially with the U.N.I.T. stories. I’m content to check out the Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley stories and believe they happened in the series’ history.

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With that out of the way, let’s check out the second story of the Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley audio trilogy called ‘The Witch From The Well’. I greatly enjoyed listening to this audio adventure, as it’s a very well put-together story, having listened to it quite a number of times on CD and on an MP3 player.

‘The Witch From The Well’ is a four-part adventure by Rick Briggs. This is Rick Briggs’ second contribution to the world of ‘Doctor Who’, having previously written ‘The Entropy Composition’ in ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’ with Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton’s Nyssa.

I enjoyed that audio episode and I’m very pleased he got to write a second ‘Doctor Who’ story that’s a full-length four-part adventure. After ‘The Witch From The Well’, Rick Briggs went on to write ‘The Acheron Pulse’, the second audio story in ‘The Drashani Empire Trilogy’ with Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. 🙂

I’m surprised Rick Briggs hasn’t written more ‘Doctor Who’ stories beyond the three he wrote for Big Finish. He has written books of his own, including the mythic fantasy novel ‘Winter of the Valkyrie’ and the dystopian science-fiction novella ‘The Girl in the Glass Station’, which you can check out via Kindle.

It was interesting to read from Rick Briggs’ writer’s notes in the CD sleeve notes and hear him interviewed in the CD interviews in terms of how he came about with writing this story. He clearly did his research in terms of developing Mary Shelley and it’s pretty evident when you hear the story itself. 🙂

From ‘The Witch From The Well’ as well as the entire Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley trilogy, I was inspired to work with my best mate from school, Stephen Buckley, on creating and developing a series of Eighth Doctor adventures, having worked together on ‘The Pantomime of Death’ episode from the ‘Merry Christmas From the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy’ anthology. 🙂

This involved creating an original Eighth Doctor companion called Jen Ward (as would be played by Imogen Poots 😀 ) and developing stories like ‘The Blood Hunters’, ‘The Summer of the Narve’ and ‘The Brotherhood’ (which I’ve yet to share on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ at the time of this review).

I’m glad the Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley trilogy inspired me to work on a series of Eighth Doctor adventures with my best mate Stephen, especially when there’s so much you can do with developing the Eighth Doctor’s character. This is particularly when he had a short lifespan in terms of TV stories.

Anyway, back to ‘The Witch From The Well’. The story starts on Earth in the 21st century – the 2000s, I believe. After a group of workers find and open an overgrown well near Tranchard’s Folly, the house of Alesiter Portillon, a monstrous witch emerges from the well and attacks the workers. 😮

Two teenagers named Lucern and Finicia are about to be attacked by the witch, before they’re saved by Mary Shelley, who had been going out for a stroll after the Doctor’s TARDIS landed. Mary brings Lucern and Finica back to the TARDIS where the Eighth Doctor is, and they’re safe from the witch. 🙂

Curious about what’s going on, the Doctor takes the TARDIS back in time to the 17th century where a witch-scare is about to take place in the village of Tranchard’s Folly. As the Doctor and Mary unravel more mysteries, sometimes being separated from each other, things aren’t what they seem.

It’s interesting that Rick Briggs did two plots, more or less, with the Eighth Doctor investigating what’s going on with the witch mystery in the 17th century whilst Mary Shelley ends up investigating what’s going on in the 21st century. Echoes of ‘The Entropy Composition’ can be found in this story.

However, whilst ‘The Entropy Composition’ had the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa stuck together in solving a mystery in two time zones in one episode, ‘The Witch From The Well’ has more time to breathe with the Eighth Doctor investigating one time period and Mary Shelley investigating the other in a four-part story.

Yet, the plots featuring our two main leads being separated from each other seem to come together quite well. There’s a chance you’ll have to pay close attention as well as relisten to this story a number of times, but it was very easy to get into. I enjoyed the development of the leads and the guest characters.

Another echo from ‘The Entropy Composition’ in ‘The Witch From The Well’ is that there’s an Erisi (entropy siren) caged aboard the Varaxil ship that the Eighth Doctor uncovers. It’s lucky that Master John Kincaid didn’t get killed instantly by the Erisi when he touched its cage aboard the Varaxil ship.

Paul McGann is excellent as the Eighth Doctor throughout this adventure. Whether Rick Briggs was inspired by ‘The TV Movie’, the Big Finish audios or both, he’s really got into the Eighth Doctor’s character. Paul McGann plays off to the writing well with portraying the Doctor’s alien intelligence and jovial attitude.

It’s intriguing how Paul McGann’s Doctor got to solve the mystery of how the witch came to be in the 17th century and he had to cope alone without Mary Shelley helping him. I liked the moment where the Doctor damaged his coat and he suggests getting something else in a more durable material.

A possible foreshadowing of the Ninth Doctor perhaps? 😀 Julie Cox is equally excellent as Mary Shelley in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I like how strong Mary Shelley is as a travelling companion, especially when she’s coping without the Doctor, and she has to solve a mystery in the 21st century.

She meets up with Aleister Portillon and they work together by checking up texts in the libraries of Tranchard’s Folly as well as in the TARDIS. I like how defiant she is towards Finicia and Lucern when they become trouble in wanting the witch. Julie Cox wins me over as Mary Shelley in ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂

The story’s guest cast includes Simon Rouse as Master John Kincaid. Simon Rouse is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, since he played “YOU CAN’T MEND PEOPLE!!!” Hindle in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Kinda’. It was nicely surreal to hear him in this ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure with Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor. 🙂

John Kincaid is a Witch-Pricker, who was summoned to Tranchard’s Fell to try and convict Agnes Bates, condemned for being a witch. Kincaid is a religious zealot and shows no mercy when trying and convicting people who are believed to witches and warlocks, making the Doctor’s life very difficult.

Andrew Havill plays two characters in this story. In the 17th century plot, he plays Squire Claude Portillon, who summoned John Kincaid to arrange the trial of Agnes Bates. In the 21st century plot, he plays Aleister Portillon, who is the thirteenth Earl of Whetstone and the owner of Tranchard’s Folly.

‘Doctor Who’ fans may know Andrew Havill for playing the Chief Steward in the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special called ‘Voyage of the Damned’. It was nice to hear him in this ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure and he has some nice scenes with Julie Cox as Mary Shelley, which I enjoyed listening to.

Serena Evans guest stars as Agnes Bates, the titular ‘witch from the well’ in the story. It was intriguing to uncover how Agnes Bates became the witch, as in the 17th century, she starts off being a benign and friendly woman with heightened abilities. In the 21st century, she’s quite monstrous. 😐

Agnes Bates happens to be the local midwife and healer in Tranchard’s Fell in the 17th century. It’s quite sad how the village-folk treated Agnes when they call her a witch in the story. It’s also intriguing that Agnes had relations with Squire Portillon, and is actually the mother of the two children he had.

Lisa Kay guest stars as Beatrix, one of the locals in Tranchard’s Fell who accuses Agnes for being a witch. It’s unfortunate for Beatrix that she ends up getting killed when being burned alive. This is because of her association with the Doctor, who gets accused for witchcraft by Master John Kincaid.

The two teenagers Finicia and Lucern are played by Alix Wilton Regan and Kevin Trainor. These two are trouble, and they turn out not to be what they seem. They took on the form of Squire Portillon’s children after killing them. They intend to drain the lifeforce and energy from the witch, killing her in the process.. 🙁

Kevin Trainor also plays two other characters in the story. There’s Janek, a worker in the 21st century who gets killed by the witch quite early on in ‘Part One’. There’s also Cornet Swallow, who’s under the command of John Kincaid, as they try to get confessions out from the Doctor, Agnes and Beatrix.

I quite like how the story concludes with Agnes Bates turning out to be alive and not dead as she seemed to be in the 21st century. The witch that was put in the well in the 17th century wasn’t Agnes at all. Even after revisiting this story after so many years in 2023, I was so surprised by that twist.

I liked how a reference is made to Mary Shelley’s literary works when she talks about ‘Prometheus Unfettered’ and the Doctor remarks she should work on that. I’m not an expert on Mary Shelley and her works other than ‘Frankenstein’, but it’s intriguing how these audio stories showcase her place in history.

‘The Witch From The Well’ is a very good ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure featuring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Julie Cox as Mary Shelley. I enjoyed the story when I first heard it in 2012 and I’ve enjoyed it again when hearing it in 2023. It’s gripping to listen to and is filled with engaging characters. 🙂

I shouldn’t harp on this further, but the Big Finish audio stories featuring Mary Shelley are far more compelling than the TV version of Mary Shelley’s ‘Doctor Who’ story. The Big Finish audios do well in chronicling Mary Shelley’s journey to become a famous writer by having adventures with the Eighth Doctor.

The CD extras are as follows. On Disc 1, there are two tracks of incidental music to enjoy. On Disc 2, there’s a trailer for ‘Army of Death’ with Paul McGann and Julie Cox. There are also behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including Paul McGann, Julie Cox, Serena Evans, writer Rick Briggs, director Barnaby Edwards, etc.

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘The Witch From The Well’ via a 6 or 12 CD/download subscription, you’ll get the following extras. There is a PDF script and extended extras for ‘The Witch From The Well’.

‘The Witch From The Well’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For the Eighth Doctor was ‘The Silver Turk’ (Audio) For Mary Shelley was ‘The Silver Turk’ (Audio)	The next story For the Eighth Doctor is ‘Army of Death’ (Audio) For Mary Shelley is ‘Army of Death’ (Audio)
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