‘GOTH OPERA’ (AUDIO)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Nyssa becomes a Vampire with the Fifth Doctor and Tegan

At last! The ‘Doctor Who’ audio adaptation I’ve been waiting for has come at last! 🙂

I was thrilled to bits when I heard the news that ‘Goth Opera’ would be adapted into a full-cast audio drama by Big Finish once the announcement came on the 7th of February 2024. It was something I dreamt would happen. I’m happy Big Finish adapted it in the end.

Before hearing the audio adaptation, I read ‘Goth Opera’ at least three to four times and I knew the story from start to finish. It’s one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ novels featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, and I was very excited to hear what it was like on audio.

For a while, I didn’t think it would happen, especially since the ‘Novel Adaptations’ range by Big Finish stopped in 2016. I don’t know how and why it was decided by Big Finish to adapt ‘Goth Opera’ into an audio drama, but it’s clear its demand by the fans was very high.

The audio adaptation was released in July 2024, and I received the story on a 3-disc audio CD set in the post. Mind you, I received two versions of the story. Yeah, apparently, there was a fault on the original version of the ‘Goth Opera’ audio story when it was first sent. 😐

Thankfully, I received the replacement discs, and I listened to the replacement discs first once I got around to checking out ‘Goth Opera’ on audio in December 2024. But I had to check out the original faulty discs to uncover what it was about them that were incorrect.

It turns out the end of each of the three episodes of ‘Goth Opera’ have the opening Fifth Doctor theme music instead of the closing Fifth Doctor theme music as you would expect with a Big Finish audio drama. I found that very unusual when hearing the faulty version.

There are also too many TARDIS interior door sound effects in the original faulty version of the audio adaptation. I wondered why Nyssa entered Tegan’s bedroom with the interior door sound effect going off when a normal door sound effect was more appropriate.

I don’t know how this happened and who was responsible. Whether it was the director David O’Mahony trying something different or whether it was an oversight, but clearly this wasn’t on. I’m glad Big Finish amended the errors when they sent the replacement discs.

Usually, I’d wait a while to check out a brand-new ‘Doctor Who’ audio story by Big Finish, particularly if it features Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, and it’s just as well I held back before checking out the amended version of the story as well as the original faulty version on CD.

It’s a thrill to find ‘Goth Opera’ is now an audio story with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan. I envisioned this back in 2015 when I started my blog, predicting what ‘Doctor Who’ books I’d like to see adapted into audio.

I even dreamt up the cast list for the ‘Goth Opera’ audio drama, hoping it’d come to pass. Sadly, Lalla Ward isn’t playing Romana in the audio drama, as the character appeared in the book, which is a shame. 😦 But I was still looking forward to hearing the story on audio.

The original ‘Goth Opera’ novel by Paul Cornell was published in 1994. It’s fortunate it was adapted in 2024 to celebrate the book’s 30th anniversary. ‘Goth Opera’ was adapted by Lizbeth Myles, a writer I’ve come across before in a variety of audio stories over the years.

This includes ‘Breaking Bubbles’ with the Sixth Doctor and Peri, and ‘Distant Voices’ with the Twelfth Doctor. She’s also penned the short story called ‘Silver Mosquitoes’ with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara in ‘The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who’ book anthology.

I enjoyed how Lizbeth Myles has adapted Paul Cornell’s ‘Goth Opera’ book into an audio. For the most part, as I listened to the story, it felt like revisiting the book and I was recalling certain scenes brought to life from the book into audio with its dialogue said by the actors.

Granted, not everything is included in the audio adaptation, which I hope to touch upon in this review as well as in my updated review on the book itself, but this is generally how I expected ‘Goth Opera’ to be as an audio drama. And it’s so refreshing to hear it on audio.

As I said, when released on audio CD, it was given the 3-disc set treatment. I was correct in thinking this would be a 3 x 60-minute episode story instead of a six-part story like ‘Cold Fusion’. The cliffhangers were exciting enough, including the one for the end of ‘Part One’.

I’ve had the CD box set cover and the CD sleeve notes of the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation signed by Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding when I saw them at the ‘Exeter Comic Con and Gaming Festival’ in Exeter in October 2024. It’s so satisfying!

Peter signed the CD sleeve notes, and Sarah and Janet signed the CD box set. When I chatted to them about the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation, I told them I hadn’t heard it yet, but I told them I read the book more than once and I knew what to expect from hearing it.

It was interesting to chat to them about the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation, as they shared how dark and scary it would be once I heard it. Truly, it turned out to be dark and scary when I finally managed to hear the story and beforehand I was pretty excited and nervous.

‘Goth Opera’ is a fantastic story for Nyssa, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion. It’s a vampire story and a sequel to ‘State of Decay’ from ‘The E-Space Trilogy’. Although, shouldn’t it be called ‘The E-Space Season’ considering the latest Big Finish audios we’ve had?

The story is also a prequel or a sequel to ‘Blood Harvest’, which is a ‘New Adventures’ novel featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace, Benny and Romana. Mind you, many listeners wouldn’t know that fact since ‘Blood Harvest’ hasn’t been adapted into an audio drama yet.

In fact, many of the tie-in references to ‘Blood Harvest’, including Romana’s appearance in ‘Goth Opera’, are omitted in the audio adaptation. Maybe Big Finish couldn’t get the rights to adapt ‘Blood Harvest’ into an audio story on behalf of the Terrance Dicks estate.

It’s a shame, as I would have liked everything from the ‘Goth Opera’ book to be adapted into audio, including Lalla Ward guest starring as Romana. Again, maybe Lalla Ward wasn’t available to appear in the story due to living in Hong Kong at the time of this review.

When Paul Cornell wrote the original ‘Goth Opera’ book, it was the first of a range of ‘Doctor Who’ novels by Virgin Publishing called ‘The Missing Adventures’. It isn’t one of ‘The Lost Stories’, as read by Janet Fielding in the end credits for the audio adaptation. 😐

Couldn’t Janet have at least said it was one of the ‘Novel Adaptations’, not one of ‘The Lost Stories’? 😀 Going back to Paul Cornell, as well as the ‘Goth Opera’ book, he wrote some ‘New Adventures’ books with the Seventh Doctor and a few new TV series episodes.

This includes ‘Father’s Day’ with the Ninth Doctor and Rose and he adapted his Seventh Doctor book ‘Human Nature’ into the two-part story ‘Human Nature’/’The Family of Blood’ with the Tenth Doctor and Martha. He’s also penned some Big Finish audio stories.

This includes ‘Circular Time’, my favourite Big Finish audio anthology with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, which he co-wrote with Mike Maddox. ‘Circular Time’ was what got me into the ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish in the first place.

In both book and audio, ‘Goth Opera’ starts with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan having a cricketing holiday in Tasmania, Australia in 1993. Tegan is recovering from her trauma with the Mara, since the story takes place between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’.

Some might find it unusual to place ‘Goth Opera’ in-between those two stories of the classic TV series. Then again, WilliamsFan92 has placed his Fifth Doctor stories between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’, which includes my story ‘The Race of Endurance’. 🙂

I also find it very unusual to hear Tegan not being a fan of cricket in the audio version of ‘Goth Opera’. This contradicts Tegan’s enthusiasm for the game in ‘Black Orchid’, both in the TV story and the Target novelization/audiobook. Maybe Tegan wasn’t in a right frame of mind then. 😐

I quite like the connections made to Tegan’s recent traumatic experiences with the Mara in ‘Goth Opera’, both in the book and the audio drama, as well as the connections made to ‘State of Decay’ with E-Space, the vampires and everything. It all fits together so well.

Anyway, whilst on holiday, Nyssa gets attacked by a vampire named Jake. Not a demonic child, as in the book. I’m not sure why Big Finish changed it to have Jake biting Nyssa on the neck instead of the vampire baby. Maybe they thought it would be too scary on audio?

This is ironic, since there’s a warning read by Nicholas Briggs before the audio drama begins that ‘Goth Opera’ ‘contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners’. Omitting the vampire baby in the story does make it slightly tamer than what I expected it to be.

Is the reason why the ‘Venom’ films are rated 15 instead of 12 because the scary imagery in the films aren’t suitable for younger viewers? Granted, ‘Goth Opera’ contains themes about vampirism that wouldn’t be suitable for younger listeners if they purchased the audio story.

But I think the point stands, if you’re not going to have everything that’s in the audio adaptation from the book, including the demonic child, then it doesn’t quite make the warning that the story ‘may not be suitable for younger listeners’ justifiable in that regard.

Also, having Jake be the one who bites Nyssa on the neck instead of the vampire baby ruins things regarding how the story’s ending turns out compared to what’s in the book. Big Finish find a way around this of course, but I’ll explain more on that in my updated book review.

Back to the story, whilst Nyssa is unharmed from Jake biting her on the neck, she does slowly become a vampire. Struggling to find a way to conceal her growing vampirism from the Doctor and Tegan, Nyssa ends up going on a journey to seek a way to restore herself.

Incidentally, Nyssa tries to concoct a synthetic solution to her blood lust, which doesn’t quite work as she hoped. Maybe if Nyssa met Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius from the ‘Morbius’ film, he could give her some of his artificial blood. 😀 Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 😀

There’s a brand-new prologue scene featured in the audio adaptation that’s read by Richard Armitage who plays Rassilon. In the prologue, Rassilon tells of the history of the vampires and their subsequent war with the Time Lords, as established in ‘State of Decay’.

Richard Armitage has played Rassilon in some of the ‘Gallifrey’ audio dramas by Big Finish. Whilst I appreciate him doing the new prologue for the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation, I do think it’s a bit of a waste on Richard Armitage’s part for that one scene. 😐

This is especially when Rassilon doesn’t appear in the original book, despite being mentioned several times. The new prologue scene could have easily been read by Lalla Ward playing Romana. This would greatly justify her appearance in the audio adaptation.

Also, Romana was present for the events of ‘State of Decay’ itself. Again, it might be down to Lalla Ward’s unavailability and Big Finish not able to get the rights for ‘Blood Harvest’ to be adapted into audio. It’s just sad things turned out differently to what I expected.

I don’t mind Richard Armitage doing the prologue scene and it’s nice to hear him play Rassilon, as I’ve wanted to find out what he’d be like as that character after enjoying him as Thorin Oakenshield in ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogy. But it’s a pity it’s just one scene for him.

I enjoyed the urban atmosphere of 1993 featured in Manchester and Tasmania whilst listening to this audio story. The vampirism themes are handled quite well and I like how in both book and audio, the indulgences of Time Lord history with the vampires are made.

The highlight of ‘Goth Opera’ for me in both book and audio is of course Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. I enjoyed the journey that Nyssa goes on with her inner struggle to resist becoming a vampire. I felt for Nyssa in those scenes and Sarah does play very well in those scenes.

I’m sure Sarah enjoyed and relished playing Nyssa in the ‘Goth Opera’ audio drama, and it was tense and unnerving to hear my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion being turned into a vampire. If you pardon the pun, it’s something Sarah really got ‘her teeth into’. 😀

Before ‘Goth Opera’, Sarah played an older vampire-like Nyssa in ‘The Eternal Summer’ and she was pretty superb in that. I knew she would do splendidly playing Nyssa as a vampire, especially when attacking Tegan in ‘Part One’. A terrific cliffhanger was delivered.

Peter Davison is very good as the Fifth Doctor in this audio adaptation of ‘Goth Opera’. It was fascinating to hear from Peter in the behind-the-scenes interviews how surprised he was by his Doctor’s obsession with drinking tea, which I didn’t notice before in the novel.

I’m shocked that Peter doesn’t like drinking tea. I’ll have to confront him on that next time I see him. 😀 I enjoyed how Peter’s Doctor is written, both in book and in the audio, with him enjoying playing cricket and displaying the vulnerable yet quiet intelligent side to life.

I enjoyed hearing Peter’s Doctor showing concern for his companions, especially when Nyssa becomes a vampire in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It takes a while for Peter’s Doctor to find out that his old friend Ruath is involved with the vampires, but I like how it’s revealed.

Janet Fielding is equally very good as Tegan in this audio adventure. I enjoyed her scenes with Nyssa, especially at the beginning when Nyssa is checking on her. Tegan is pretty edgy and snappy, as she’s frustrated about her friend’s concern for her regarding the Mara.

I like how Tegan is concerned for Nyssa, especially as she witnesses her friend becoming a vampire once Nyssa visits her in her TARDIS bedroom. Tegan is afraid for Nyssa’s life. I like how she joins the Doctor in this adventure to help him save Nyssa and stop the vampires.

Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is always a highlight for me in these ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories, but I like that Peter Davison and Janet Fielding get to share scenes as the Doctor and Tegan when Nyssa’s not around and the two do work well together despite their bickering.

The story’s guest cast also includes Natalie Gumede as Ruath, a renegade Time Lady who helps the vampires to gain their eternal night and to be led by Yarven, their messiah. Ruath is an old flame of the Doctor’s and is so obsessed to play a part in the vampires’ cause. 😐

She sacrifices herself for Yarven to live, causing her to regenerate. This makes me wonder: why wasn’t Ruath played by two different actresses in this? Surely Natalie Gumede could have played the new Ruath and the old Ruath could have been played by someone else.

It was fascinating, especially in the audio drama, how Ruath happened to have her own agenda with uniting the Time Lords and the vampires, and she wins her way with the vampires. I’m just glad I created Lady Mite in ‘The Space Hotel’, as she’s nicer than Ruath.

Micah Balfour guest stars as Yarven, the Vampire Messiah, who’s resurrected by Ruath to lead the vampires on Earth in 1993 to gain their eternal night. Apparently, Yarven is one of the last of the vampires that dwelt on the vampire planet in E-Space from ‘State of Decay’.

Yarven has also appeared in the book ‘Blood Harvest’, which is linked to the ‘Goth Opera’ book. Not that I’m expecting you to know that, although there is a sort-of playback scene on audio where Yarven gets attacked in the 1940s, which is from ‘Blood Harvest’, I believe.

In the book, Yarven happens to be a tall man with a pointed beard. I was able to easily visualise him as elegantly gothic like Dracula when reading the book and it’s the same when checking out the audio drama, as Micah Balfour plays the character so superbly. 🙂

There’s a young vampire couple in ‘Goth Opera’, including Nathan Jonathan as Jake and Lydia Wilson as Madelaine – ‘Maddy’ for short. I like these characters, especially since they come from Manchester, are teenage lovers, and are quite well-meaning in this story.

In ‘Goth Opera’, Jake and Maddy are made to do things for Yarven and Ruath when they’re attempting to bring the eternal night for vampires. I like that Maddy looks out for Nyssa when she’s slowly being turned into a vampire. I’m glad Jake and Maddy survived this story.

The story’s cast also includes Ewan Goddard as Jeremy, another vampire, and someone called Bob. There’s also Matthew McQuinn as Eric, a vampire who gets killed by Yarven in ‘Part One’, and someone called Mike. There’s a homeless guy featured in ‘Part One’ of this story.

And there’s a guy that gets seduced by Maddy in ‘Part Two’. Not sure on their names and who plays them in the audio story. There’s also Lionelle Nsarhaza as Olivia, who helps Victor Lang in his religious campaign against evil. Lionelle also plays a newsreader in the story.

John Schwab guest stars as Victor Lang, an American evangelist that visits Manchester in 1993 to quell the Santanic activity occurring. This isn’t John Schwab’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’, since he played Bywater in the new TV series episode called ‘Dalek’. 🙂

I’ve also heard him in some Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ beforehand, including ‘The Reaping’ with the Sixth Doctor and Peri and ‘Night of the Whisper’ with the Ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack. I’ve also enjoyed John Schwab in a Series 7 episode of ‘Monarch of the Glen’.

A gothic castle appears in this story, which happens to be Castle Yarven where the Vampire Messiah and his kind live in Manchester in 1993. The Doctor and Tegan visit the castle in ‘Part Three’ to rescue Nyssa and stop the vampires carrying out their deadly evil.

When I read the book version of this story, it took me quite by surprise to find out what the castle turned out to be. Of course, it made sense Castle Yarven turned out to be Ruath’s TARDIS, especially since the Doctor utilised it to defeat the vampires in the story’s climax.

The story ends with the vampires defeated by the Doctor. Nyssa is also restored to normal and she’s no longer a vampire. 🙂 I found it very tense when Nyssa saved the Doctor from Ruath by opening the doors of Ruath’s TARDIS before she had her sent out into the time vortex.

It was a pretty heart-stopping moment when reading the scene in the book. I like how it plays out in the audio adaptation, especially with the lines of dialogue being delivered by Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Natalie Gumede as their characters. 🙂

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of Discs 2 and 3 of the 3-disc set of ‘Goth Opera’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew. These include director David O’Mahony, Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Micah Balfour, Natalie Gumede, etc.

If you purchase ‘Goth Opera’ from Big Finish, you’ll get the extended extras of the interviews. These extras total for 23 minutes and 40 seconds. It’s essentially all the interviews from Discs 2 and 3 of the 3-disc set in one, with some additional comments made by people like the director David O’Mahony.

I’ve greatly enjoyed the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation by Big Finish. I’m pleased I can now check out ‘Goth Opera’ in both book and audio form, and it’s lovely to hear Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as their characters playing scenes from the story itself. 🙂

Admittedly, not everything is included in the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation. It’s a pity Lalla Ward didn’t reprise her role as Romana. It’s also a shame Big Finish didn’t produce both ‘Blood Harvest’ and ‘Goth Opera’ as audios to provide the connection between the two stories.

I was excited and nervous before hearing this story on audio, but it was satisfying to hear Sarah Sutton as Nyssa becoming a vampire. I like how mostly everything from the book is adapted as an audio drama. It’s something I would love to hear again and again and again. 🙂

‘Goth Opera’ (Audio) rating – 9/10

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‘GOTH OPERA’ (BOOK)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The ‘Doctor Who’ Vampire Book with Nyssa Revisited

I’m pleased I’ve read ‘Goth Opera’ at least four to five times now! 🙂

After checking out the Big Finish audio adaptation of ‘Goth Opera’, it was only fair that I revisited the original ‘Doctor Who’ book by Paul Cornell, which was published in 1994. I’ve very fond memories of checking out the book in 2010 and it was so good to re-read it.

In terms of revisiting the ‘Goth Opera’ book, what I had to consider in terms of comparing it to the audio adaptation was, “Is there anything different in the book compared to hearing it on audio?” And of course, the obvious answer to that is: Yes! It’s quite different.

And that’s not just with what I’ve identified in my review on the audio adaptation. There are noticeable aspects of the book that make it very different to how it was adapted into audio by Lizbeth Myles. This was from my memories of the book and recently revisiting it.

Mind you, that’s bound to be the case when comparing a film, TV or audio adaptation of a book to its original source material. The book is always going to be different in terms of readership compared to how it’s interpreted by somebody else for an audio landscape.

It’s not like a Target novelization by Terrance Dicks or a movie novelization by Peter David where they’re translating a script into prose. This is the other way around with someone translating prose into script form. There are bound to be changes to things along the way.

One aspect of the ‘Goth Opera’ novel that I noticed when re-reading it was it’s quite graphic in terms of blood, gore and violence concerning the vampires. ‘Goth Opera’ is a very grisly story. This is especially when you’re reading the descriptions of certain scenes.

I don’t think ‘Goth Opera’ would be adapted for a TV audience, even for both classic and new TV series standards. If it were adapted into a visual form, it would probably be an 18-rated or R-rated drama. All the bloody and gory aspects of the tale need to be considered.

It’s probably why I found it a terrifying experience reading the book, as there are certain scenes, particularly when Nyssa’s becoming a vampire that made my toes curl and my throat dry. I’d find a challenge to imagine the story being visualised compared to audio. 😐

With audio, you can get away with no-one being able to see the pretty violent moments in the story. Granted, a listener can choose to hear it being gory and violent or not, but the details aren’t being described to you on audio compared to when it’s described in a book.

Scenes like Ruath drinking blood out from a goblet and her vampire fangs filled with gore after biting the Doctor’s neck to make him a vampire are very effective in the book. Not so much so in the audio adaptation where it’s not being described to you in the visual sense.

That doesn’t make the audio adaptation inferior to the book. Far from it. The audio adaptation needs to work on its own merits and it’s fantastic to hear the story performed by a cast of actors, including Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding to audiences.

But due to me reading the book first and hearing the audio drama afterwards, I recall more graphic and violent content in the book compared to the audio drama. The book is more effective in describing those gory scenes compared to how the audio drama does things.

It’s why I rate the book highly than the audio adaptation in that respect. No way would I want to dismiss the audio adaptation as I love hearing it. But the book is bound to stay with you more than the audio. I do feel that’s the case with me upon my revisit of the book.

Then again, in my revisit of the book, I’ve noticed certain things about the ‘Goth Opera’ book that are pretty adult-driven and more unsettling compared to how it’s done on audio. This is especially in my awareness on more things happening in the world today. 😐

Before I talk about what’s different in the book compared to what’s in the audio drama, I’d like to share I’ve had my copy of the ‘Goth Opera’ book signed by Sarah Sutton who plays Nyssa in the TV show, in the Big Finish audios, and in the tale’s audio adaptation. 🙂

I showed the book to Sarah at the ‘Timeless Collectors’ sci-fi fair in Fareham in December 2014 before Christmas when she signed it for me. I enjoyed chatting to Sarah about the ‘Goth Opera’ book, especially in saying it would make a very good audio drama.

It’s amazing how things have changed significantly since she signed my copy of the ‘Goth Opera’ book back in 2014. I’m pleased Sarah signed my copy of the ‘Goth Opera’ book for me, especially as it’s a story that means a lot to me. I’m so happy it’s now an audio drama.

Apparently, one of the things about the ‘Goth Opera’ book that Sarah recalls when we met in Fareham in December 2014 (and she mentions this in the behind-the-scenes interviews of the audio adaptation) is the front cover showing Nyssa with fangs and blood.

The book’s front cover itself is very creepy and disturbing to look at, especially with Nyssa looking vampiric and having blood dripping from her mouth. Apparently, Sarah told me that on the book’s original cover, there was more blood on Nyssa’s shirt, and she was shocked to see that.

She asked for there to be less blood on the cover before the ‘Goth Opera’ book was published. I’m glad that happened and it makes sense, since I don’t think many people would have purchased the book if it had presented Nyssa having lots of blood on her shirt.

It certainly wouldn’t do well for sales considering ‘Goth Opera’ was the first of ‘The Missing Adventures’ books by Virgin Publishing. Even with less blood on Nyssa’s shirt, it’s still disturbing to see her be a vampire, as she’s my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion.

Incidentally, in case you’re wondering how I came across ‘Goth Opera’ in the first place, in January 2010, I stayed overnight with a couple of friends – a married couple who were ‘Doctor Who’ fans like me – at their house. It was nice to stay overnight with them then. 🙂

They knew of my love of ‘Doctor Who’ back then as well as my love of Nyssa of Traken. Thus, I was lent their copy of the book ‘Goth Opera’, knowing I would enjoy it. I couldn’t wait to check out ‘Goth Opera’, as I going home on the train to Cardiff on that occasion. 🙂

I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Goth Opera’ when I first read it back in 2010. I soon received my own copy of the book for Christmas in December 2011. I even read the book whilst I was on holiday in Scotland in August 2012. I thoroughly relished reading the book then. 🙂

Checking out ‘Goth Opera’, both the first time and when I had my own copy of the book, was quite an experience, as it did give me the shudders when reading the story. I felt anxious for Nyssa when she was becoming a vampire. It gave me another ‘Terminus’ feel.

This is probably why the experience of reading the book is so different compared to hearing it on audio, as I knew what was going to happen in terms of the story, especially with knowing Nyssa would be alright and be restored to normal after becoming a vampire.

It was still gripping to hear the audio though, especially for the ‘Part One’ cliffhanger when hearing Nyssa about to bite Tegan’s neck. In the audio, Nyssa says “Sorry” to Tegan before she’s about to bite her neck, which didn’t happen in the book, which I found fascinating.

Paul Cornell writes a very bloodcurdling and thrilling story in ‘Goth Opera’ that I found compelling to read. I read somewhere that Paul Cornell found this a challenging book to write, which I guess it must have been considering all the graphic content that’s featured.

Despite that, I had confidence in Paul’s writing, especially for Nyssa, as he co-wrote the Big Finish audio anthology ‘Circular Time’ with Mike Maddox. The third episode ‘Autumn’ is my favourite out of the collection and Paul Cornell penned that episode himself, apparently.

In the ‘Goth Opera’, the scenes where Nyssa is turning into a vampire were terrifying to read. You could emphasise with Nyssa when she struggles against her urges of blood lust. It does match well to how Sarah Sutton plays those scenes in the story’s audio adaptation.

In terms of the book’s structure, there’s a preface by Peter Darvill-Evans, who was the fiction publisher of Virgin Publishing at the time in 1994. He introduces ‘The Missing Adventures’ range of ‘Doctor Who’ books to the new readership about to check them out.

It’d be easy to think that the book is quite long, particularly when the chapters are very lengthy. But even upon my revisiting the book, I didn’t find it to be long. It took me six days to read it. Every chapter was engrossing when I checked it out at home and on holiday. 🙂

The story is divided into 11 chapters with a prologue at the beginning and an epilogue at the end. The prologue is more a chapter, especially when it’s quite lengthy in terms of setting up the guest characters. It was still very engaging to read when I checked it out. 🙂

The epilogue is quite short, especially when it resolves all the plot threads that were occurring in the story concerning Romana; the Doctor and his friends Nyssa and Tegan; and Jake and Maddy, who were to sleep aboard the Voyager Two craft to find a new home.

In listening to the audio adaptation, I could tell that early scenes from the prologue intercutting with early scenes of Chapter 1, especially in introducing Tegan, Nyssa and the Fifth Doctor. I appreciate this, as I didn’t want our main heroes to appear late in the story.

I did wonder how the book was going to be adapted into audio, especially as the story itself wasn’t divided into episodes. It’s not like ‘Cold Fusion’ where in the book, the division of six episodes is established, allowing Big Finish to structure their own audio adaptation of it.

The cliffhanger for Nyssa about to bite Tegan on the neck in ‘Part One’ works well and it’s just as effective as it is in the book. Mind you, I was puzzled when hearing the audio drama how Nyssa stopped herself from biting Tegan before she fled and departed the TARDIS. 😐

In the book, it sort-of made sense, as Nyssa reacted to Tegan having taken the garlic pill the Doctor gave her. I wish that was made clear in the audio drama, as when hearing the beginning of ‘Part Two’, I wondered how Nyssa ended up stopping herself attacking Tegan.

For the ‘Part Two’ cliffhanger, it was the world being night early in the afternoon and Yarven addressing his people about it before the ‘time freeze’ experiment by Ruath went wrong at the start of ‘Part Three’. It sort-of plays out in the same way in the audio version of the story.

However, I noticed a difference in the book compared to the audio drama. In the audio drama, the Doctor and Tegan are together when the…vampire DNA taken from Yarven, I think…attacks the Doctor’s face. In the book however, they’re separated from each other.

In the book, Tegan stormed out of the TARDIS in anger before finding Matthew, one of Victor Lang’s young members. He survived the attack on Alderley Edge where everyone that had Christian faith got killed by Ruath’s weapon that involved Yarven’s vampire DNA.

Matthew became a vampire and killed his parents before attacking Tegan. When the ‘time freeze’ experiment happened, he got destroyed by the reappearance of the sun. I bring this up because I don’t recall Matthew making an appearance in the audio adaptation. 😐

Neither is he in the audio story’s cast list. Whether this is because he was a minor character that didn’t require him to be in the audio story or Big Finish found his scenes too graphic to be adapted into audio, I’m not sure. It was interesting to rediscover in the book.

Talking about what I mentioned being omitted in the audio drama in my audio review, the most obvious absentee from the story is Romana. Now, this is clearly the Romana as played by Lalla Ward, because reference is made to the fact she’d escaped from E-Space.

This is the Romana who appeared in ‘Blood Harvest’. And the book version of ‘Goth Opera’ continues her story from that. This presumably is what leads Romana to becoming the President of Gallifrey in the Big Finish audios that followed, including the ‘Gallifrey’ series.

This makes me wonder why Big Finish decided not to have her in the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation as well as adapt ‘Blood Harvest’ into audio. Surely, an audio version of Romana escaping E-Space to soon end up on Gallifrey would be really ideal for Big Finish to do in that regard.

It screams of a missed opportunity there. Then again, I’ve not heard any of the ‘Gallifrey’ audio stories to know the circumstances of how Romana became president. Maybe the continuities of the Virgin Books and the Big Finish audios don’t match up as I think they do.

Romana’s stuff in ‘Goth Opera’ is mostly in Chapter 6 where she’s established as a Gallifreyan official. She confronts Ruath who gets her to show her the Time Scoop chamber on Gallifrey so that she can get to Earth. Romana ends up in a miniscope too. 😮

This leads to an appearance of the Drashigs in the book version of ‘Goth Opera’. Wow! A missed opportunity for Big Finish to include the Drashigs in the audio version of ‘Goth Opera’, especially as they had them appear in ‘Planet of the Drashigs’, starring Tom Baker.

Ah well, at least the Drashigs appear in my sequel story to ‘Carnival of Monsters’ called ‘City of Monsters’. 😀 Sabalom Glitz also makes an appearance in the book version of ‘Goth Opera’, as he’s the one with the miniscope to let Romana escape from it just in time.

A shame Big Finish didn’t include Sabalom Glitz in the audio version of ‘Goth Opera’. Then again, Tony Selby who played the character passed away in September 2021. The audio drama was recorded from the 20th to 21st of September and the 11th of October 2023. 😦

So, I suppose it wouldn’t have been possible to recast Sabalom Glitz’s character so soon, even if it was perhaps a couple of scenes on audio. Mind you, Chapter 6 of the book version of ‘Goth Opera’ is an odd chapter, as it takes out of the main ‘Goth Opera’ story altogether.

I suppose it’s probably for the best that Chapter 6 featuring Romana didn’t get adapted into audio by Big Finish for ‘Goth Opera’. Unless you added it as an appendix or a bonus feature in the audio adaptation, it wouldn’t fit in quite as well as one might expect it to do.

But then, how does Romana’s communication in the book version of ‘Goth Opera’ get resolved in the audio adaptation, especially when references to ‘Blood Harvest’ are omitted? You see, in the book, Romana had contacted the Doctor via telepathic contact.

This is so she could give him a code word to take remote control of Ruath’s TARDIS. In the audio drama though, the Doctor is aware of the code word by himself due to his time as Lord President giving him access to certain Time Lord secrets such as Rassilon’s override.

This is especially when the Doctor declares, “By Rassilon’s command…dematerialise.” I suppose that makes sense, since the Doctor was able to break into the Matrix computer room on Gallifrey in ‘Arc of Infinity’ using the presidential code when he tries to recall it. 🙂

The omission of Chapter 6, Romana’s scenes in the latter chapters and in the epilogue are sad, but I suppose you’d have to make sacrifices in order for the audio adaptation to work effectively. Maybe those scenes will be used for a ‘Blood Harvest’ audio adaptation.

It’s like when those Tom Bombadil chapters in ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ book of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ aren’t adapted for radio or film. They’re probably bound to slow the story rather than improve upon on it for listeners and viewers, which sort-of makes sense.

Incidentally, in the audio version, the Doctor and Tegan suspect Nyssa’s transformation into a vampire sooner rather than later compared to the original novel. That is something I noticed when hearing the audio drama, as them suspecting it earlier wasn’t in the book.

In the audio, there’s additional dialogue between the Doctor and Tegan discussing what they think is wrong with Nyssa, including Tegan noticing the Doctor’s expression of ‘knowing there’s a problem but cannot quite see it’ or something like that. It’s nice to hear.

This occurs when they walk back from a cricketer’s dinner in the story as well as when they’re in the TARDIS. It’s more subtle in the book compared to the audio drama. I guess that those moments of subtly wouldn’t work quite so well in audio compared to the book.

I also picked up from hearing the audio that Nyssa sees the Doctor and Tegan working together in the console room before she goes to bed towards the end of ‘Part One’. In the book, it’s different, as Nyssa just sees the Doctor and asks him if vampires are ‘necessarily evil’.

It’s not a bad change in the audio version, as it’s good to get Tegan’s opinion on the matter as well as the Doctor’s when they talk to Nyssa. But it’s clearly evident that the dialogue in the book doesn’t exactly match to the audio story when I revisited the novel recently. 🙂

Another absentee in the audio adaptation, which I identified in my audio review, is the baby vampire called the Child. I found the Child terrifying when I read the book and it freaked me out every time I came across him in the book. This is the vampire that attacked Nyssa.

The one that gave her two small wounds in her neck and turned her into a vampire. This occurs in Chapter 1 of the story and is very frightening to read. This is especially when the Child had its fangs biting into Nyssa’s neck. This would definitely give the tale an 18-rating.

In the audio adaptation however, it’s different, as it’s Jake who bites Nyssa on the neck and not the Child. I wondered why Jeremy Sanders didn’t bite Nyssa on the neck instead, but then he had to end up in a machine where he sacrificed himself for the vampire cause.

It couldn’t have been Eric, as Yarven killed him off in the story, both book and audio. I bring this issue up, because in the book, if the Child got killed off, it would revert Nyssa back to her old self and she wouldn’t be a vampire anymore. That is what occurred in the book. 😐

The Child got killed off once the Doctor took Ruath’s TARDIS away from Earth and it burned alive in the sunlight. Nyssa was restored to normal afterwards. With the Child absent in the audio drama, Jake would have be killed off instead once he bit Nyssa’s neck.

I wondered how Big Finish would find a way around this, since Jake needed to be alive at the end of the audio version of the story with Maddy once they were going off into space on the Voyager Two craft. Otherwise, Maddy would end up very unhappy without her lover.

Thankfully, Big Finish did resolve this matter. It turns out Ruath had a cure for the vampire condition that Nyssa had. The Doctor gets to use it on Nyssa and he explains that Ruath had the cure just in case her plan with the vampires went wrong, As it turned out, it did. 🙂

I can’t deny this is a bit of a…well, I hate to say it…cop-out for Big Finish to resolve, as it gets Nyssa back to her normal self and she’s no longer a vampire without having to kill Jake in the process. But then, surely Big Finish could’ve kept that Child character anyway.

I know he was terrifying, but that was sort-of what made ‘Goth Opera’ so gripping to read. The thought that Nyssa wouldn’t be able to revert to be her former self again unless the Child vampire was destroyed. Surely that would have been very gripping to hear on audio.

Maybe the Big Finish thought that having the Child killed off in that manner in the story’s climax would have been too violent. Or perhaps it’d be too adult for the listeners to come to terms with, despite the warnings that were given to the audio adaptation in many forms.

In any case, I’m glad Nyssa survived to tell the tale. Maybe at some point, Nyssa will become a vampire again in a future Big Finish audio story. Or perhaps in one of my ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring Nyssa. That’s an idea. I wonder how I’d go about doing it. 😀

In the book, when Nyssa discovers Ruath’s laboratory and becomes mist to get inside, she’s on her own. In the audio version, Nyssa is joined by Maddy. I suppose it makes sense for Nyssa to be joined by Maddy in the audio story, otherwise Nyssa would be talking to herself.

There’s something I noticed about Victor Lang’s character when I re-read ‘Goth Opera’ recently. Apparently, Maddy noticed something about him in that he had a secret when talking to him in his caged cell at Castle Yarven. I don’t know if this is in the audio story too.

I think it is. I’ll have to recheck it to be sure. Apparently, in the book, Maddy planted a post-hypnotic suggestion into Victor Lang so he’d reveal his secret at a public rally. When re-reading the book, I discovered that…well…he had a sexual relationship with his daughter. 😐

This was quite a shock to discover when re-reading the book and it makes me feel uncomfortable about Victor Lang’s character, especially when he’s supposed to be an evangelist. It doesn’t make his motives as pure as one would expect him to be in the story.

It’s probably what causes him to become a vampire at the public rally in the story’s closing chapter – Chapter 11. It’s very disturbing how that happens in the story, just as it was disturbing to listen to in the audio story. It was a revelation for me in revisiting the book.

There’s a moment in Chapter 11 of the book where Nyssa hugs the Doctor and bursts into tears. I don’t think that’s included in the audio drama so much, which is a shame, as I found that a heartwarming moment, and it emphasises Nyssa’s connection to the Doctor.

I’ve noticed that in the audio version, the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan take Ruath’s TARDIS back to Earth and they have their confrontation with her in her TARDIS. In the book though, the Doctor takes Ruath’s TARDIS back to Earth before he has the ship returned to Gallifrey. 😐

The confrontation between the Doctor and his companions against Ruath actually happens in the Doctor’s TARDIS. There’s more dialogue for Nyssa to say to Ruath when she sends her out in the time vortex in the audio version compared to reading it in the book. 😐

Nyssa doesn’t say much to Ruath when she sends her out in the time vortex in the book. The two scenes in the epilogue featuring the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are also condensed into one scene during the cricket match in Tasmania, with changes made to some of the dialogue.

There’s plenty more differences between the audio adaptation and the original book to be mentioned, but this is probably the best place to stop. If you want to check out more differences between audio and book, I suggest checking out the original novel yourself. 🙂

Revisiting the ‘Goth Opera’ book by Paul Cornell after checking out the audio adaptation has been tremendous. It’s reignited what I love about the original book. I’m pleased I’ve revisited it to identify the differences between audio and book, and to see it in a new light.

I’m sure I’ll be checking out the audio adaptation of ‘Goth Opera’ more than the original novel these days, but it’s good to know I can check both out at any time. And I’m glad I’ve had both signed by Sarah Sutton, who’s been a great friend and my favourite companion.

‘Goth Opera’ (Book) rating – 10/10

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The previous storyFor ‘The Vampire Duology’ was ‘Blood Harvest’ (Book) For the Fifth Doctor was ‘Snakedance’ (TV) For Nyssa is ‘Snakedance’ (TV) For Tegan is ‘Snakedance’ (TV) For Romana was ‘Blood Harvest’ (Book)	The next storyFor the Fifth Doctor is ‘Blood Invocation’ (YB/Comic) For Nyssa is ‘Blood Invocation’ (YB/Comic) For Tegan is ‘Blood Invocation’ (YB/Comic) For Romana is ‘The Chaos Pool’ (Audio)
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