‘THE MERFOLK MURDERS’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Murder in Scotland in 1940 with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric
Here we are on the 2024 Big Finish audio releases of ‘Fifth Doctor Adventures’ in ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂
After enjoying the 2023 Big Finish audio releases of ‘Fifth Doctor Adventures’, including ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’, I was looking forward to checking out the next two sets of Fifth Doctor audio adventures, featuring the Season 19 TARDIS team of the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric.
I was so excited! 🙂 The Season 19 TARDIS team of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric holds a special place in my heart, especially since their stories are what prompted me in embracing more of the ‘Doctor Who’ fandom.
I feel more connected to the Season 19 era of ‘Doctor Who’ stories in the classic TV series than I do to the Season 20 and 21 eras. That might be down to my ‘Fifth Doctor’ stories based in around that era, but it’s always a pleasure to check out these stories in whatever period they happen to be set in.
Since I did a ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for Easter from March to April 2024, due to being carried over from 2023 because of the 60th anniversary celebrations, I was very excited to get back on track and do a new ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season from December 2024 into January 2025.
Usually, when I check out the latest ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring Nyssa, as played by Sarah Sutton, it’d be from September to December before Christmas comes along. There’ll be a time for me to revisit all the Nyssa stories from start to finish, but it’s nice to check out the latest stories annually. 🙂
Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
The first 2024 Big Finish audio release of ‘Fifth Doctor Adventures’ is called ‘The Dream Team’. A fitting title, considering the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric are characters I feel comfortable with when checking out the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV show and I like to write stories featuring them. 🙂
There are two stories in ‘The Dream Team’ box set. There’s ‘The Merfolk Murders’, a four-part story by Tim Foley, and there’s ‘Dream Team’, a two-part story by Lizzie Hopley. I was looking forward to finding out what the Season 19 TARDIS characters would be up to in their latest tales for this box set.
I still would have preferred the 2024 audio releases to be 4-disc sets as opposed to 3-disc sets, as ‘The Merfolk Murders’ and ‘Dream Team’ could be both four-part stories instead of it being one four-parter and one two-parter. Regardless, I’m pleased that I’ve been able to check out these tales.
It has been a while since we’ve had some Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric audio stories featuring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse playing their characters. The latest story they did as a foursome was ‘God of War’, the second story of the ‘Forty’ saga.
The chronology of the 2024 audio stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric by Big Finish is open for debate. At present, I believe the stories take place between ‘Black Orchid’ and ‘Earthshock’, but before ‘Iterations of I’, since Cranleigh Hall has a mention in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
Pearl Appleby in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about ‘The Merfolk Murders’ itself. Tim Foley is no stranger to the Fifth Doctor era, since he’s penned audio stories such as ‘The Auton Infinity’ and ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’.
In ‘The Merfolk Murders’, the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric visit St. Andrews in Scotland in the year 1940. St. Andrews is a seaside town, which is northeast of Edinburgh on Scotland’s east coast. 🙂
And yes, this takes place during the Second World War. The Doctor and friends meet a university society called the Merfolk. They all meet up during the summer to discuss murder mystery stories. 🙂
And if you’re thinking there are merfolk like mermen and mermaids from ‘The Little Mermaid’ 1989 and 2023 films in this story, then you’re in for a disappointment. This is actually a pure historical story.
Yeah! There are no aliens featured in this story. This is a straightforward caper featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric solving a murder case when one of the Merfolk society is killed off. 😮
The story is almost akin to ‘Black Orchid’, which was a murder mystery itself. Except that was a two-parter and in ‘The Merfolk Murders’, the Doctor and his friends are the ones doing the investigating.
I can’t say ‘The Merfolk Murders’ wins over me compared to ‘Black Orchid’, but I really enjoyed how Tim Foley has the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric being the investigators compared to ‘Black Orchid’.
And at least ‘The Merfolk Murders’ is better as a whodunnit story than ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’. The fact this is a pure historical with no sci-fi featured in it, apart from our heroes, helps in that regard. 🙂
Angus Imrie in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
An intriguing aspect of the Merfolk society is that they’re looking at a book called ‘The Casebook of Orion Hood’, whose hero happens to look like the Doctor. And by that, I mean, the Fourth Doctor. 😮
Yeah, there’s a bit of a backstory in ‘The Merfolk Murders’ where it turns out the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane did some crime-solving on Earth. The Fourth Doctor even wore the Sherlock Holmes look.
That includes the deerstalker hat and gear from ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’. Peter Davison’s Doctor wears the deerstalker hat in this story for a bit. At least he doesn’t get called ‘Hat-Man’ in this tale. 😀
Like how Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock was called that in one of his episodes. The murder-mystery solving aspects of this tale are very compelling, especially involving character development.
Peter Davison is very good as the Fifth Doctor in this story. I like how he plays the role of detective in this adventure, particularly in ‘Part Four’ where he gathers all the suspects to reveal the true culprit.
Janet Fielding is equally good as Tegan. It’s intriguing how Tegan encourages the Doctor to be the investigator. It’s also nice she doesn’t get to complain so much and be more compassionate in this. 🙂
Sarah Sutton is brilliant as Nyssa. She plays her own part in solving the murder mystery and I like how she interacts with Private Aurek Kowalski. There’s an almost sort-of connection between them.
Matthew Waterhouse is terrific as Adric. It was fascinating how he deduced things during the crime-solving of this story, and how he forms a close connection with Henry Cuthbertson in the audio tale.
Tom Alexander in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
The performances of the four main regulars are a treat for me to listen to. I’m pleased Sarah Sutton enjoyed this audio story, especially as crime and murder mysteries is a genre she can easily get into.
The guest cast includes Pearl Appleby as Athena McDonnell and her sister Anna. Pearl Appleby has been in a ‘Call the Midwife’ episode and has starred in ‘Girl, Deconstructed’ in ‘Respond to All Calls’.
There’s Angus Imrie as Sebastian Callow, who seems aware of the Doctor being in the ‘Orion Hood’ stories. I have seen Angus Imrie in the 2019 film ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’, which I’ve enjoyed. 🙂
Josie Lawrence guest stars as Professor Margo Hodgson, who’s in charge of the Merfolk society. It was quite shocking how Margo’s involvement with the murder victim escalates to a certain tragedy.
There’s also Will Kirk as Henry Cuthbertson and Tom Alexander as Private Aurek Kowalski. Like most murder mysteries, I had a challenge in working out who did the deed and I ended up being wrong. 😀
Will Kirk in ‘The Merfolk Murders’.
‘The Merfolk Murders’ is an audio story I greatly enjoyed listening to. It’s one I’m happy to relisten to again, especially to get over the complexities concerning who did the murder and how it was done. 🙂
It’s also been nice to listen to the performances of Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse along with the guest cast. They seemed to clearly enjoy doing this audio story.
At the end of Discs 1 and 2 of ‘The Dream Team’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews on ‘The Merfolk Murders’ with the cast and crew, including Peter Davison and Janet Fielding; Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse; Pearl Appleby, Will Kirk and Tom Alexander; Josie Lawrence and Angus Imrie; and director Ken Bentley.
‘The Merfolk Murders’ rating – 8/10
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