‘A STAIN OF RED IN THE SAND’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

A Zoe statue and the Second Doctor

This story is by David A McEwan. It features the Second Doctor and is read by David Troughton. The story focuses on two residents – Roger and Indigo – who live on the thirteenth floor of the Slab – a council estate. There are alien Caretakers who watch them and Roger sculpts this statue of Zoe Heriot.

On early listens, I found this adventure very disappointing. I’ve been able to gain clarity on what it’s about after listening to it again, but I still don’t find very good. The Doctor barely features in it and as much as I tried, I couldn’t get excited by what was going on in the story either which shouldn’t happen.

It was interesting to hear Roger sculpt a statue of Zoe made out of something called ‘memory meat’. I’m not sure if the statue eventually became the real Zoe or not. It’s unclear. The story’s ending didn’t clarify what was happening with the Doctor as he confronted these Caretakers on an unnamed planet.

I mean, the story could be set on Earth. Roger and Indigo are human. The story also focuses events from Indigo’s point of view when she visits Roger at his flat sculpting Zoe. But Indigo doesn’t have a connection to the Doctor or that Zoe statue. It was very unclear why Roger sculpted Zoe to begin with.

The Caretaker creatures aren’t very clear either. I get they’re insect-like creatures, but I struggled to understand their motivations and why they were threat to this society within a council estate. David Troughton is a pretty good reader, but I struggled to appreciate this in a literal and metaphorical sense.

‘A Stain of Red in the Sand’ rating – 2/10