‘THE GATES OF HELL’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Cybermen with the Tenth Doctor and the Fifth Doctor

It’s nice to hear the Fifth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor together again! 🙂

It’s taken me a while since its release in 2021, but I’ve twice finally been able to listen to the second story of the ‘Out of Time’ trilogy of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish called ‘The Gates of Hell’ by David Llewellyn, starring David Tennant and Peter Davison. And let me tell you, it’s brilliant!

After enjoying the first ‘Out of Time’ story with David Tennant and Tom Baker, it’s no surprise that I would go on to enjoy ‘The Gates of Hell’ with David Tennant and Peter Davison. This is an audio adventure that suits me well, since it features two of my favourite Doctors from the TV show itself. 🙂

I know for Timelord007 that the first ‘Out of Time’ audio story features his dream team of David Tennant and Tom Baker together, but ‘The Gates of Hell’ features my dream team of David Tennant and Peter Davison. And this is all following on from the mini-episode ‘Time Crash’ they did together.

And ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen are in this adventure too. 😀 Apparently, according to producer David Richardson, the idea of the team-up between the Tenth and Fifth Doctors came about before the team-up between the Tenth and Fourth Doctors was even thought about, which was very intriguing.

This was inspired from the aforementioned ‘Time Crash’ mini-episode, but also from the familial relationship between David Tennant and Peter Davison, since David is Peter’s son-in-law and Peter is David’s father-in-law. I’m surprised Georgia Tennant didn’t make an appearance as Jenny in this. 😀

When the Covid-19 pandemic happened in 2020, David Tennant was able to perform more ‘Doctor Who’ audios for Big Finish as the Tenth Doctor. Thus, the idea of the Tenth and Fifth Doctors team-up resurfaced. I suppose it couldn’t have happened at a better time where lockdowns were a thing.

David Llewellyn is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, having written a number of ‘Doctor Who’ audios and books beforehand. He wrote ‘Serpent In The Silver Mask’ and ‘Tartarus’ for the Fifth Doctor. I’m really pleased with how David Llewellyn has written for the Fifth and Tenth Doctors in this episode. 🙂

In the story, the Fifth Doctor visits Paris, France on Earth in the year 1809. He meets a sassy Time Agent called Tina Drake and they take a tour of the catacombs where the Cybermen are present. They’ve been waiting for the Fifth Doctor, who ends up trapped in a stasis chamber for 135 years. 😐

He’s released from the stasis chamber in 1944, where he meets the Tenth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor missed his target and ended up in occupied France, running away from the Nazis. The two Doctors go up to the surface to find history rewritten. The Cybermen are patrolling Paris instead of Nazis. 😮

I like how the Fifth and Tenth Doctors work together in order to solve the puzzle as to how the Cybermen ended up patrolling Paris in 1944. There are some lovely scenes of dialogue between Peter Davison and David Tennant. They do spark off each other very well throughout this adventure.

This includes moments when they’re doing research in a library to determine what happened and discovering ‘transits of Venus’ involving various dates that happened in Earth’s history. I liked it when the Fifth Doctor told the Tenth Doctor to ‘think about it’ and he gradually worked it out in this.

I also enjoyed it when the Tenth Doctor ended up in the Fifth Doctor’s TARDIS and he admired the white console room, having not seen it in a long time. The Fifth Doctor asks the Tenth Doctor to be his co-pilot when they travel back in time and the Tenth Doctor is clearly enjoying himself in the story.

It’s nice that the two Doctors like being in each other’s company and they struggle to part company when they’re saying goodbye to each other by the story’s end. Peter’s Doctor even goes “There is one more thing…” as if to indicate that there could be more to follow up between the two Doctors. 🙂

I’m pleased I can visualise the Tenth and Fifth Doctors as they were from the TV series and looking younger according to the CD cover, as opposed to David Tennant being younger than Peter Davison in ‘Time Crash’. As much as I like the mini-episode, it’s a pity Peter looked older compared to David.

It was great to hear the Cybermen in this audio adventure. Since David Tennant and Tom Baker fought Daleks in the first ‘Out of Time’ story, it makes sense for David Tennant and Peter Davison to fight Cybermen in this story. And it’s no secret the Cybermen are one of Peter Davison’s favourites. 🙂

I’m pleased that Big Finish chose ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen as opposed to the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen. I would choose ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen any day over ‘Earthshock’s. 😀 ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen are also closer to the new series Cybermen in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ that I also love. 🙂

Nicholas Briggs is great in terms of voicing ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen on audio and it’s great how Peter and David’s Doctors get to confront them when they’re in different time zones throughout Paris’ history. It’s also great to hear the Cybermen be in pain when Tina Drake shoots one of them. 🙂

I’ve also noticed that in the incidental music by Howard Carter, there’s a clanking of metal tones to indicate the Cybermen’s presence. I think that’s featured in most of the Cybermen stories by Big Finish nowadays. I welcome that. It indicates their presence and menace for the Doctor to deal with.

Shelley Conn guest stars as Tina Drake, the Time Agent whom Peter Davison’s Doctor meets in Paris in 1809. This isn’t Shelly Conn’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’, as she played Asha Qureshi in the Big Finish audio story ‘Situation Vacant’ with Paul McGann. I enjoyed her performance in this story. 🙂

Tina Drake clearly has the traits of being a Time Agent, with being sassy and owning her own vortex manipulator. She even has the American accent similar to Captain Jack. 😀 She abandons the Fifth Doctor in his stasis chamber in 1809, but she becomes a helpful ally to the Fifth and Tenth Doctors. 🙂

Mark Gatiss guest stars as Joseph Delon, a tour guide in the catacombs of Paris who’s working with the Cybermen in this story. Mark Gatiss gets everywhere, doesn’t he? 😀 I know he’s a good actor and he’s a competent writer in and out of ‘Doctor Who’, but… Mark Gatiss gets everywhere, doesn’t he? 😀

I enjoyed his performance as Joseph Delon in the audio story. It’s interesting how his character is unveiled when the Fifth and Tenth Doctors travel back in time to work out how he ended up being recruited by the Cybermen. At an early point in his life, Joseph Delon gets saved from the Cybermen.

The story also features Glen McCready, who is no stranger to Big Finish and ‘Doctor Who’, having performed a variety of characters in various productions. In this audio story, he plays Marcel Delon, Joseph’s father, who tragically gets killed by the Cybermen, and he briefly plays King Charles VI in the tale.

Something else to mention about the Cybermen is that they’re depicted with giving a golden orb to King Charles VI when he wakes up from his sleep. A bit odd, considering the Cybermen are supposed to be allergic to gold. Perhaps this audio story takes place before the Cybermen’s allergy to gold kicked in.

I liked the subtle references made to ‘City of Death’ and the Fourth Doctor in this audio adventure, as that is one of my favourite TV stories from the Tom Baker era. Romana and K-9 get mentioned. A shame that companions like Nyssa, Tegan and Adric didn’t get mentioned throughout this audio story.

‘The Gates of Hell’ has been a worthwhile audio adventure to listen to in the ‘Out of Time’ trilogy. David Tennant and Peter Davison are excellent as the Tenth and Fifth Doctors and ‘The Invasion’ Cybermen are great to listen to. The audio story leaves you wishing for more of this two Doctors team-up.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of ‘The Gates of Hell’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including David Tennant, Peter Davison, Shelley Conn, Mark Gatiss, producer David Richardson, writer David Llewellyn, etc. There’s also a suite of incidental music to enjoy.

‘The Gates of Hell’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Helliax Rift’ (Audio) For the Tenth Doctor was ‘Echoes of Extinction’ (TLV) (Audio)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘Son of the Dragon’ (Audio) For the Tenth Doctor is ‘The Ordeal of Peladon’ (Audio)
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