‘WILD PASTURES’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Wild Pastures Rest Home and Sylvia Noble with the Tenth Doctor
The third story of ‘The Tenth Doctor Chronicles’ called ‘Wild Pastures’ is by James Goss. James has written for the Tenth Doctor era before, since he penned ‘Death and the Queen’ with Donna Noble.
It would also be remiss of me not to mention the fact that James Goss previously contributed to ‘The Ninth Doctor Chronicles’ where he wrote ‘Retail Therapy’. Here, James is writing a similar adventure.
But instead of Jackie Tyler this time, this tale has Jacqueline King return as Sylvia Noble, Donna’s mum. The story takes place during Series 4 of the new TV series with Donna travelling with the Tenth Doctor.
I was disappointed that Donna didn’t feature in this story as I expected. There is a small appearance of Donna at the beginning during a flashback scene, but the story is mostly about her mother Sylvia.
It would’ve been nice if this story was about the Tenth Doctor and Donna finding Sylvia at this nursing home called Wild Pastures and trying to find out why she’s there. Sadly, it’s not what this story is about.
I’ve met Jacqueline King before at the ‘Dimensions 2015’ convention in Newcastle, October 2015. I had a nice encounter with Jacqueline. She seems to be a really nice lady and easy to get on with.
That’s not something I can say about the character she plays in Sylvia Noble, Donna’s mum. Sylvia is a rather snooty and rude person in the TV series and it’s clearly demonstrated in this audio adventure.
I found it interesting how Sylvia Noble gets to have a major part to play in this audio story as opposed to the guest appearances she’s had in the TV series. This is something that rarely happens.
I don’t think Sylvia would make an ideal companion for the Tenth Doctor, since she tends to be a bossy boots and complains about everything. She’s not the sort of lady you’d have a nice cup of tea with.
In this story, the Doctor is investigating the strange occurrences that are happening in the Wild Pastures rest home. He leaves Donna behind and goes to the Nobles’ house to ask Wilfred for help.
Instead, the Doctor gets Sylvia Noble to help him out with his investigations. This is bizarre, since why would she want to get involved, considering she doesn’t take a big interest in the Doctor’s activities.
She also passes herself off as one of the residents in the Wild Pastures rest home by having a bad ankle and uses a frame. This is also equally bizarre, since Sylvia isn’t an elderly person as Wilfred is.
Just to say, the nursing home atmosphere of this story reminded me of the nursing home my parents and I visited when we saw my mum’s aunt. I could easily visualise the setting whilst hearing the story.
Jacob Dudman again excels in his performance and narration of this story. I enjoyed his voice for Donna Noble early on in the story. It’s such a shame he didn’t do Donna a lot throughout the story.
There were times when I felt the Doctor took a backseat in this story, especially when he got captured and Sylvia found him in the basement. He also got erratic with his short-term memory loss.
There were occasions where the Doctor referred to Sylvia as ‘Dodo’ and ‘Rose’ when he forgot her name. The interaction between the Tenth Doctor and Sylvia was enjoyable to listen to throughout the story.
There is an alien plant in the basement featured in the story that causes memory loss for many people living in the nursing home. Eventually, Sylvia soon takes charge and defies against the aliens.
Jacob Dudman and Jacqueline King in ‘Wild Pastures’.
‘Wild Pastures’ is a decent adventure in ‘The Tenth Doctor Chronicles’. I don’t think it’s the best one, as I missed Donna in it. But I enjoyed Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble as well as Jacob Dudman.
The CD extras are as follows. There are behind-the-scenes interviews with Jacob Dudman, Jacqueline King, director Helen Goldwyn and writer James Goss, conducted by producer Scott Handcock on ‘Wild Pastures’, which I enjoyed hearing.
‘Wild Pastures’ rating – 7/10
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Possibly the weakest out the four stories, I always think sidelining the Doctor never works in storytelling which it proves here, I didn’t find Sylvia a likeable enough character to hold my attention and as you say seems strange she helping the Doctor which I just don’t buy.
Brilliant review Tim summed up to perfection, gets 5/10 from me.
Hi Simon.
Glad you agree with my thoughts on this audio adventure. Yeah this is probably the weakest out of the four stories in this box set. Had Donna appeared, I would’ve enjoyed it more. Sadly, I found it a little hard-going and wasn’t engaged to find Sylvia Noble likeable to listen to, as she came across as unlikeable.
Thanks for your comments, Simon.
Tim. 🙂
I was a bit hesitant going into this one knowing Tennant wouldn’t be voicing tenth, but I was completely blown away by Dudman! My immersion only broke a bit in the more dramatic moments where he had to yell, but his impression is incredible otherwise.
I may be in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed this one lots! It’s such a different angle than most Doctor Who stories and I really like when companions get to take center stage (not that Sylvia Noble is more than a one-off companion and thank god for that!). I also like when the Doctor (especially tenth) is in trouble and his companions get to be the hero for a little while. Admittedly though, the memory-loss thing got a bit repetitive I wish they tried doing something more with it than just having the Doctor phase in and out of his state of sanity in the same way over and over. And I was also a bit disappointment with how little Donna appeared in this one, as she is my favorite of tenth’s companions.
I’m normally not a huge Sylvia Noble fan, she’s hard to like, but she gets a surprising amount of depth here I quite enjoyed it. I found it interesting how she started the story not seeing the point in caring about the elderly patients going missing, and in the end changing her mind and seeing the humanity in them and being appalled with what was happening to them. And I also in general love when the Doctor has a bossy companion, I think it suits him, takes him off his pedestal a bit.
Hope you don’t mind a long comment on such an old review. I listened to this audio story just this week and I always read your reviews afterward after an episode or audio story 🙂
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Wild Pastures’. It’s been a while since I’ve heard this story and I had to re-read my review to recall what it was about. I’m glad you enjoyed ‘Wild Pastures’. I can’t claim to regard this story highly and I’m not really a fan of Sylvia Noble, even though Jacqueline King is great in the role (I’ve met Jacqueline twice at conventions since this review – the first in Newcastle, October 2015 and the second in London, March 2019). I will admit though, it was intriguing to hear Sylvia take centre stage for a change and interact with the Tenth Doctor instead of Donna.
I would have liked it if Donna was in the story more than just appearing in a flashback scene, but this was an interesting attempt to have Sylvia be a one-off companion in a ‘Doctor Who’ story. I like how you compared Sylvia in how she behaved at the beginning with not caring about the elderly to changing her mind about them at the end. It’ll be interesting to see how Sylvia has changed as a character in the upcoming 60th anniversary specials when she returns with Donna and the Fourteenth Doctor.
I’m pleased you enjoy reading my reviews after checking out a ‘Doctor Who’ story(s). I hope you’ll enjoy more reviews by me and I look forward to your thoughts on them.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂