‘PRISONERS OF LONDON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

London, 1982 (?) with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric

Here’s Matthew’s take on the Season 19 TARDIS team of ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂

‘Prisoners of London’ is the second Big Finish audio novel by Matthew Waterhouse in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe. The first Big Finish audio novel by Matthew was ‘Watchers’, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Adric and the Daleks. 😀 This audio novel has the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric in it. 🙂

Season 19 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series is very special to me. It’s what prompted me to embrace my love of ‘Doctor Who’ – both in terms of the classic and new era of the TV show – and it got me interested in the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric characters in their respective journeys.

I was pleased to hear the announcement by Big Finish that a second ‘Doctor Who’ audio novel by Matthew Waterhouse would feature the Fifth Doctor TARDIS team from Season 19. It made sense, especially as he played a huge part in Peter Davison’s first season as well as Tom Baker’s last season.

I wouldn’t have liked it if Matthew Waterhouse just did one ‘Doctor Who’ audio novel on the Fourth Doctor and Adric without doing one on the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric. I’ve enjoyed checking out the stories of that TARDIS team, both in terms of the TV show and the Big Finish audios.

Having worked with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding in the TV series, Matthew is able to get a sense of the character relationships between the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric and is likely to have heard their voices when writing their dialogue in ‘Prisoners of London’ from its start to finish.

This isn’t the first time that Matthew has penned a ‘Doctor Who’ story in the Season 19 era. He also wrote ‘The Dark River’, a short story in ‘The Target Storybook’, which takes place during ‘Part Four’ of ‘The Visitation’, albeit that only features Adric and Nyssa in it and not Tegan and the Fifth Doctor.

It was intriguing how Matthew interpreted the Season 19 TARDIS characters and how he revolved his story around them. Admittedly, the execution of how the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric are interpreted is rather debatable, but that’s something we’ll uncover more as we get deeper into the review.

Like ‘Watchers’ before it, ‘Prisoners of London’ is a six-part story with its episodes being an hour long each. Although, from listening to ‘Part Three’ of the story, I did find it noticeably shorter than the other five episodes, which are longer. I do think ‘Part Six’ might be the longest of the six episodes.

As well as being the writer of this story, ‘Prisoners of London’ is also read by Matthew Waterhouse. It was amazing to hear Matthew read the entire story from its beginning to its end, since ‘Watchers’ had him joined by Nick Briggs voicing the Daleks. There’s no companion voice artist featured here. 🙂

Once again, ‘Prisoners of London’ is a downloadable story only, just like ‘Watchers’ and the rest of ‘The Audio Novels’ range by Big Finish are downloadable stories only. It’s quite ironic, considering the director Nigel Fairs commented about ‘Prisoners of London’ being the equivalent of a 6-CD box set.

In the story, it seems the TARDIS has got it right. She’s arrived in London in the year 1982, where Tegan hopes to board her flight on Heathrow Airport to begin her air stewardess job. Err, wait a minute. Wasn’t it February 1981 that the Doctor was supposed to get Tegan to so that she could catch her flight?

I’m judging that from what I’ve seen in ‘Four to Doomsday’. I know Season 19 was transmitted on BBC TV in 1982, but ‘Logopolis’ was transmitted from February to March 1981. As far as I’m aware, Tegan was on her way to Heathrow Airport along with her Aunt Vanessa in her car in February 1981.

With Matthew having the Dalek Invasion of Earth seemingly start in 2164 instead of the 2150s, as I was led to believe, and him having the Fifth Doctor aim for 1982 instead of 1981, I’m getting worried about how accurate his ‘Doctor Who’ knowledge is. I’m surprised Big Finish didn’t correct these details.

I know this sounds like minor nitpicks, but it’s very likely ‘Doctor Who’ fans will complain about these sorts of continuity issues. It happened with the U.N.I.T. dating controversy after all. Maybe there’s more to this situation than I realise, but it’s odd to find these continuity errors in Matthew’s stories.

Apparently, it’s led to believe, according to the story’s synopsis, that the Fifth Doctor TARDIS team have ended up in the actual London of 1982. Buckingham Palace is there; the Tower Bridge is there; and there’s a tube train to Heathrow Airport. But it turns out not to be so simple as that for Tegan. 😐

As our heroes explore London, they discover 1950s police boxes on every street corner. There’s not just one Tower Bridge, but four. And at Buckingham Palace, it’s not a Queen residing there, but an Emperor. Also, the familiar Buckingham Palace busby soldiers happen to be robots instead. Peculiar.

Now from reading the story’s synopsis, apparently, the TARDIS isn’t wrong on this occasion. The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric have ended up in London in the year 1982. There’s no doubt about it. I had a particular ‘Back to the Future, Part II’ expectation for this kind of ‘Doctor Who’ adventure.

You know the kind of expectation I mean? The one where the Doctor and friends find themselves in an alternative reality on 1980s Earth and they have to go back in time to find out what and who caused the changes in the timeline. That would have been very exciting and fun for me to listen to. 🙂

I could easily imagine the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric getting in trouble and being separated for a bit in ‘Parts One, Two and Three’ before reuniting and going back to Earth’s past, e.g., the 1950s, in order to try and solve what the problem is before defeating the villain in ‘Parts Four, Five and Six’.

In many respects, I wish that did happen, as I would have enjoyed the story more compared to what it actually ended up becoming. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed ‘Prisoners of London’ when I heard it, but there was a lot going on from political drama to terraforming mystery that made it rather complex.

Our heroes aren’t in the 1982 London that we know on planet Earth. In fact, this particular 1982 London is on an entirely different planet. An alien desert planet to be precise. It was fascinating how Matthew unravelled that as the story progressed, though an actual earthbound story would’ve been welcome.

It’d be keeping in style with how Eric Saward handled his script-editing duties by having a blend of historical and futuristic stories that harkened back to the First Doctor era of the classic TV series. It’d be a contrast to how ‘Watchers’ became very suited for the Christopher H. Bidmead era of the show.

I know it’s not what Matthew had in mind when he wrote the story, according to the behind-the-scenes interviews at the end of ‘Prisoners of London’. But having an earthbound story instead of another alien planet story for ‘Prisoners of London’ is something I would’ve preferred in this instance.

It’s also intriguing how the story happens to be on a desert-like alien planet that’s in the process of terraforming. I assume it’s only London on the planet, since to cover an entire planet with London on it is quite hard to imagine, since the city is rather small compared to the other areas of planet Earth.

The story’s structure is peculiar, as in the first four episodes, we have a political crisis going on where our heroes are separated from each other, and in the last two episodes, there’s an issue going on where there are alien plant-like lifeforms that consider the human dwellers to be the alien invaders.

A very similar scenario to the ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ story from the Jon Pertwee era, isn’t it? It’s intriguing how Matthew unravels that in ‘Prisoners of London’, although I would’ve preferred it if was just the political drama aspect of the story rather than a combination of the two we received. 😐

It also lessens the opportunities for character development concerning the TARDIS regulars, which is what I was looking forward to checking out when hearing this story. Again, this is something we’ll delve a little bit more as we go through the review itself, but it does make it all the more frustrating.

Now, I want to stress, I enjoyed ‘Prisoners of London’ more than ‘Watchers’. In many respects, it was easier to follow ‘Prisoners of London’ compared to ‘Watchers’, especially where the political crisis is concerned. However, it doesn’t get a 9/10 rating by me with some of the issues I have with the story.

As the Doctor tries to work out what’s going on in 1982 London; he, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric are arrested. Tegan is sentenced to life imprisonment on Earth’s moon for attacking a police officer that interrogated them. Incidentally, Heathrow Airport doesn’t exist on the planet that this London is on.

Whilst Tegan is sent to Earth’s moon, Adric and Nyssa find themselves being kidnapped by a mother and a son who want to make a bargain with the Emperor. As for the Doctor, he’s accusing of trying to assassinate the Emperor, whereas in fact, he managed to save the Emperor from being assassinated.

The Emperor as a character is unusual in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. She happens to be the Emperor Geoffrey Chaucer the 64th – LXIV in Roman numerals. Yes, she’s called Geoffrey in this story. A name usually given to males. And she happens to be the Emperor, not the Empress as one might expect. 😐

Maybe it’s a matter of perspective and perhaps Matthew is trying to go for a more politically correct approach with how this version of London does things with names and titles. But it’s quite a contrast to when in the real world, we still have kings and queens occupying Buckingham Palace in London. 😐

I mean, Queen Elizabeth II never called herself a King when she ruled. Is the English monarch going to do away with Queens and have both male and female rulers as Kings in the future? It’s not a major issue, but it’s fascinating how Matthew does it with Emperor Geoffrey Chaucer LXIV in this certain story.

Incidentally, it turns out the planet Earth died out a long time ago when our heroes visit the London on this alien planet in the story. I assume this is a story that takes place in the Earth year 5 billion as in ‘The End of the World’. I assume there are still humans living on New Earth at this current time. 😐

Initially, one would have expected, like I did, that Emperor Geoffrey Chaucer LXIV could’ve ended up being a villain in the story. But as it turns out, she’s not that at all. In fact, the Emperor seems to get on well with the Doctor and values his opinion when the political situation doesn’t go in her favour at times.

She doesn’t believe that the Doctor is trying to assassinate her, despite other sources saying otherwise. Gradually, it turns out that her Council of Three – the parliament in London on this planet – happen to be the ones who want the Emperor assassinated, since they’re rather corrupt with power.

They’re also responsible for the robotic soldiers being controlled by some of the prisoners on Earth’s moon, including Tegan (more on her later), that attack the plant-like aliens coming out of their hibernation after a long time. It’s fascinating Matthew unravels these details as the story progresses.

Let’s talk about the main TARDIS regulars for a bit. For the Doctor, Matthew is able to home in on Peter Davison’s breathless energy when voicing the Fifth Doctor on audio. It’s a contrast to Tom Baker’s booming tones in ‘Watchers’, as it’s Matthew’s way of making the Fifth Doctor sound young.

Mind you, Matthew does raise some interesting points about the Doctor as a character, particularly in the classic TV series as opposed to the new TV series. When watching him in the classic TV series, we don’t really get to know him as a character and it’s intriguing he doesn’t share a lot about himself.

The Doctor is persistently on the go, as he never stops to rest and shares his feelings to anyone. It’s something that’s raised in the new TV series as well as in the Big Finish audios, but it’s always how he’s been with being a character who never stops running, especially when rescuing the universe. 😐

It’s often a issue I find a challenge, particularly when developing his character in my Fifth Doctor series, featuring him, Nyssa and Billy. But it doesn’t make the Doctor less interesting, as it provides more mystery to him, especially when you try to work out how and why he’s determined to do kind things. 🙂

It’s a trait that’s not often highly appreciated in the Fifth Doctor as a character, as some would consider him rather bland and uninteresting. I don’t believe that’s the case when writing for him and it’s clearly not the case when Matthew writes for him in this particular ‘Doctor Who’ adventure.

The Fifth Doctor, as a character, is always trying to find the diplomatic solution against impossible odds, and I like how Matthew touches upon that when he’s being the negotiator between humanity and the plant-like aliens whilst suggesting ways of coexisting with each other in a brand-new atmosphere.

Talking about Nyssa and Adric as characters and their journey, I enjoyed how their story developed with them being kidnapped by a mother and son that attempt to gain the attention of the Emperor. The mother happens to be Zeanna and her son happens to be a former Earth moon prisoner called Ertbies.

The time that Nyssa and Adric spend with Zeanna and Ertbies isn’t very pleasant. Whilst Zeanna seems to be a kindly mother, Ertbies is unpredictable and can have violent mood swings. This is the case when Nyssa and Adric attempted to escape their captors and Zeanna calmed Erbties once it’d failed.

Ertbies is also obsessed with playing video games and forces Nyssa and Adric to play his games with him. Ertbies’ backstory is intriguing, especially when he was a former Earth moon prisoner that managed to escape, only to learn that he was being used in the Council of Three’s treacherous plans.

Adric’s reactions to Ertbies are interesting, as he can’t stand his unpredictable behaviour to the point of hating him. I sympathise with Adric, since I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes with having to put up with a captor that had violent mood swings and you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.

I felt for Adric when he was left behind by Ertbies when he and Zeanna took Nyssa to meet up with the Emperor. Adric spends quite a lot of time on his own in ‘Parts Five and Six’, but thankfully, he’s reunited with the Doctor and Nyssa once they’re negotiating with humanity and the plant-like aliens.

Nyssa is decently-written as a character in ‘Prisoners of London’. I can’t say that this is a stand-out character story for Nyssa, especially when it splits her, Adric, the Doctor and Tegan from each other most of the time. But Matthew does get Nyssa’s aristocratic nature and gentle kindness spot-on in this story.

It was intriguing to hear Nyssa’s interactions with Adric when they were being held captive by Zeanna and Ertbies. I liked it when Nyssa reunited with the Doctor in ‘Part Four’ and it’s clear how the two get on well with each other once they’re assessing what’s going on with the plant-like aliens.

And then we have Tegan. This is a bit of an issue for me, since Tegan doesn’t really have a huge part to play in this story. In fact, she spends most of her time locked up in a prison on Earth’s moon and she doesn’t reunite with Nyssa, Adric and the Doctor until ‘Part Six’. It’s rather disappointing for Tegan. 🙁

I would have liked it if Matthew gave Tegan a ‘Shawshank Redemption’-kind of a story, especially with trying to find ways of escaping the prison. There are touches of it now and again, but it’s not enough to make her character interesting when hearing her scenes throughout the story from start to finish.

It was fascinating to hear some more of Tegan’s backstory, particularly when she had a book in her travel handbag called ‘Love and Tears’. I think it’s the 1975 book by Barbara Cartland. Correct me if I’m wrong on that level, but the book does get referenced quite a lot when hearing Tegan’s scenes.

I’ve read somewhere about fans complaining that Matthew’s descriptions of Tegan’s intelligence are a bit harsh and that the writing for her tends to be on the bitchy side. I can see where they’re coming from on this angle, and I think having less of Tegan in the story doesn’t help matters much. 🙁

Whilst I prefer Nyssa as a ‘Doctor Who’ companion over Tegan compared to others, I wouldn’t have sidelined her to that amount of time spent in this story. I also would’ve given her a more energized role in the story. Perhaps make her be smarter than she’s made out to be and less bitchy than she appears.

The frustration I have with Tegan as a character almost matches to the frustration I have about Clara as a character. The main issue for me is that it’s inconsistent. Tegan, at this point in the series, is someone who wants to go home; be an air stewardess at Heathrow Airport; and not travel in the TARDIS at all. 😐

‘Prisoners of London’ could have been an opportunity for Tegan to experience how life isn’t as routine as she wants it to be. She could have seen the hardships going on in the prison on Earth’s moon and tried to be of some help. It could have been one of the reasons why she chose to stay in the TARDIS.

Why she decided to ‘stick with the crew for a while’ in ‘Black Orchid’, as she told the Doctor to stop taking her back to Heathrow. I know the Big Finish audio stories from ‘The Star Men’ to ‘Serpent In The Silver Mask’ have made up for that, but it’s an opportunity I’m surprised Matthew didn’t take up on.

I know I’ve raised my issues on how Tegan’s character is developed during her time in the classic TV series, particularly in Seasons 20 and 21, but at least a character journey like the one I’ve described for her in wanting to assist the suffering prisoners on Earth’s moon would’ve endeared me to her more.

It’s something that Nyssa would have done if she was put in that prison, whether with or without Tegan, as she has that caring and compassionate nature that makes me favouring her more. I know there are fans that favour Tegan more over Nyssa, but it’s my personal opinion concerning the issue.

For the Fifth Doctor TARDIS team, the story ends with the Doctor sorting out the political and terraforming problems for the Emperor and the coexistence between humanity and the plant-like aliens. Very soon, the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric depart the alien London world in the TARDIS. 🙂

There’s then an epilogue scene where the TARDIS returns to the alien London world in the future and it’s covered in plants and a rich atmosphere that would be difficult for humans to breathe. Inside the TARDIS are the Sixth Doctor and Peri. This is something I didn’t expect to find in this audio story.

It was nice to have this epilogue featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri to close off ‘Prisoners of London’. Matthew does well with voicing Colin Baker’s Doctor in the epilogue, although I’m not sure about his voice for Peri. It doesn’t sound American and feminine enough, as I know how Peri sounds.

Strangely and surprisingly, ‘Prisoners of London’ ends out not on the Peter Howell theme music used for the Peter Davison era, but on the Dominic Glynn theme music for the Colin Baker era. I know it’s the Sixth Doctor the story finished on, but I would’ve preferred Peter Howell’s theme music instead.

Like I said, at the end of ‘Prisoners of London’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews. These aren’t just with Matthew Waterhouse. There’s also producer David Richardson, script editor Ronald Moore and director/sound designer/music composer Nigel Fairs. This is a contrast to how the behind-the-scenes extra on ‘Watchers’ was handled, as it was just Matthew being interviewed for that story.

‘Prisoners of London’ has been an enjoyable audio novel to check out, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric. It wasn’t what I expected, but I’m glad I heard it. It was fun to listen to this story for 423 minutes and fun to hear Matthew Waterhouse’s take on the Season 19 TARDIS foursome.

Out of the two stories Matthew’s done for ‘The Audio Novels’ range of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish, ‘Prisoners of London’ is my favourite. I don’t know if Matthew will be writing any more audio novels for Big Finish in future, but I’ll definitely look forward to checking them out should they ever happen.

‘Prisoners of London’ rating – 8.5/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For Adric was ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For Nyssa was ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For Tegan was ‘The Visitation’ (TV) For the Sixth Doctor was ‘Under ODIN’s Eye’ (ST/Audio) For Peri was ‘Under ODIN’s Eye’ (ST/Audio)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (DOTD) (Audio) For Adric is ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (DOTD) (Audio) For Nyssa is ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (DOTD) (Audio) For Tegan is ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (DOTD) (Audio) For the Sixth Doctor is ‘Recorded Time and Other Stories’ (Audio) For Peri is ‘Recorded Time and Other Stories’ (Audio)
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