‘THE DOLL OF DEATH’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Mrs. Killerbrew with Jo, the Third Doctor, the Brigadier and U.N.I.T.

This is Katy Manning’s first return to ‘Doctor Who’ in a Big Finish audio adventure! 🙂

For a while, Katy had been reluctant to return to the role of Jo Grant in ‘Doctor Who’ following her departure from the TV series in ‘The Green Death’ in 1973. Eventually, in a chance meeting with producer David Richardson, Katy was persuaded to return to play Jo in a ‘Companion Chronicle’ story.

‘The Doll of Death’ is a two-part story by Marc Platt, featuring Katy Manning as Jo Grant alongside other memorable characters from the Jon Pertwee era of ‘Doctor Who’, including the Third Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton. It’s quite an exciting nostalgia trip. 🙂

Released in September 2008, ‘The Doll of Death’ takes place between Seasons 8 and 9 (specifically between ‘The Dæmons’ and ‘Day of the Daleks’). Like most ‘Companion Chronicles’, the story is taken from Jo’s point of view, when she recounts the time she had with the Third Doctor and U.N.I.T.

It starts off with Jo narrating this story at a time where she’s currently married to Professor Clifford Jones from ‘The Green Death’. I’m pleased Big Finish had it confirmed that Jo and Cliff are still married. This is before Russell T. Davies himself actually confirmed it in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’.

It also contradicts the notion that Jo and Cliff were separated, according to the BBC Books adventure ‘Genocide’, which I haven’t read yet. I myself have had Jo and Cliff married in my Fifth Doctor story ‘City of Monsters’. ‘The Doll of Death’ is a story that Jo recounts when she’s writing up her own blog.

Ah! Great minds think alike, Jo. 😀 No doubt, ‘The Doll of Death’ story would be read by Polly Wright in ‘The Three Companions’, which eventually got taken down by the Brigadier. I don’t think Jo’s blog has reappeared in other post-TARDIS/U.N.I.T. stories featuring dear Jo, which is unusually intriguing. 😐

Anyway, in the actual story set in the 1970s – or is it the 1980s, the Third Doctor and Jo find themselves investigating a temporal anomaly in Central London. They meet Professor Harold Saunders, who has an unstable alien artefact in his possession and is haunted by the ghosts of dolls.

The Doctor and Jo soon meets up with the mysterious Mrs. Killebrew who is determined to have the artefact herself. She’s connected to a doll who calls herself HannaH (I believe that’s how it’s spelt) and there are a pack of hounds hunting in reverse? Can Jo and the Doctor solve what’s happening? 😐

In all fairness, this is actually an enjoyable Third Doctor adventure by Marc Platt. He manages to capture the spirit of the Third Doctor being exiled to 1970s/80s Earth with U.N.I.T. and he writes well for Jo’s character. This is especially when Jo is so willing to her lay her life down to save the Doctor. 🙂

Mind you, with that said, the story can be quite complex to listen to at times. This is especially with the ‘time in reverse’ sequences – or ‘Retrocausation’ as the Doctor calls it. It can be a challenge to visualise, especially when Jo is describing scenes to you. This would be more suited for TV audiences.

This is a spooky atmosphere to this story though, especially involving the China dolls who often say “Mama! Mama!” in that freaky sort of way. Jo, the Third Doctor and most of U.N.I.T. end up at Killerbrew’s Toy Hospital in Oxford Street where the troubles involving toys and reversed time occur.

Katy Manning is very good recapturing Jo Grant’s voice in a Big Finish audio. She’s also very good in capturing Jon Pertwee’s voice as the Third Doctor. Before Tim Treloar and Jon Culshaw came along, I was convinced that Katy Manning was the perfect person to voice Jon Pertwee’s Doctor on audio. 😀

She’s also very good in voicing the Brigadier, as I was able to visualise Nicholas Courtney as the character with Katy playing him. It was fun to hear the gruff military mannerisms of the Brigadier, especially when he has arguments with the Doctor and he’s out in action ordering his soldiers about.

The voices for Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton aren’t so exaggerated compared to the Third Doctor and the Brigadier, but I was able to visualise Richard Franklin and John Levene as the characters with Katy Manning voicing them. Benton has a lot more to do in ‘The Doll of Death’ compared to Mike. 😐

Apart from calling Jo Grant ‘Jemima Bond’ when she’s about to go for her ‘spy school’ lessons and taking her out on a date, I can’t think of anything else that Mike Yates did in the story. This is especially when he’s on office duty back at U.N.I.T. HQ, which Jo does get frustrated about in this story. 😀

Sergeant Benton on the other hand, gets to be with Jo when they’re visiting Killerbrew’s Toy Hospital in the second half of ‘Episode One’ of the story. I liked it that Benton had a voice in the story when Katy Manning played him. I also liked it when Jo went to rescue Benton at the end of ‘Episode One’. 🙂

On a side note, I had to send my cuddly toy dog Cuddles to a toy hospital once to have one of his eyes repaired in 2016. It was quite a scary experience, but thankfully I had him returned to me in the post with his eyes intact as well as his new mouth. I’m sure Cuddles is over-the-moon in being fixed.

Cuddles: Yes! I’m very, very happy indeed.

As well as Katy Manning, this ‘Doctor Who’ story also features special guest star Jane Goddard as Mrs. Killerbrew. Jane happens to be a life-long friend of Katy Manning’s and she also happens to be the wife of writer Robert Shearman, who wrote ‘Dalek’ in the new TV series. It’s quite a coincidence. 😀

I enjoyed Jane Goddard’s performance as Mrs. Killerbrew. There are times where I’m not sure what Mrs. Killerbrew’s motivations are, especially when she wants the artefact from Harold Saunders, which she claims belongs to her. But the toy doll HannaH may be affecting her in terms of her mind.

There are details that are interesting to think about after hearing this story. According to Jo, alien invasions seem to occur on Fridays. I’m not sure if that’s the case, but…poor, poor end of the week. Imagine looking forward to a very nice weekend and you end up having your home invaded by alien menace. 😀

Then again, this could be a tongue-in-cheek joke by Marc Platt to the fact that ‘Doctor Who’ was transmitted on Saturdays in the 1970s during the Jon Pertwee era. According to this story, Jo was 18 when she began working for U.N.I.T. This reinforces the continuity issues that involve U.N.I.T. dating.

According to a Short Trip audio story by Big Finish called ‘The Other Woman’, Jo was 19 when she met the Doctor in ‘Terror of the Autons’. However, in another Short Trip story called ‘/Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet’, which was released in the year 2004, Jo happens to be born in 1951.

If Jo was born in 1951, that would mean she’d have to be 18 in the year 1969 and 19 in the year 1970. That does contradict things when you consider ‘The Invasion’ is claimed to take place in 1979. Already, I’m confused in trying to unscramble the continuity issues about Jo’s age and U.N.I.T.’s dating.

I know I shouldn’t harp on this aspect too much since this is ‘Doctor Who’ after all and it’s sci-fi fantasy in the end. But it’s frustrating when the TV show and other mediums like the audios, books and short stories can’t agree on all aspects involving when the U.N.I.T. stories are supposed to take place and how old Jo is meant to be.

It turns out that the Third Doctor has become a British citizen by this point in the series and he has to fill in a number of tax return forms when the Brigadier thrusts them upon him. I wonder if the Third Doctor ever did fill in those forms for the Brigadier during his time with U.N.I.T. Probably not. 😀

The story ends abruptly with ‘the Doll of Death’ defeated and Mike Yates about to take Jo out on a date. I think an epilogue depicting Jo still at the hotel where she writes her blog while Clifford Jones is at a conference needed to be included at the story’s end. Almost like Marc Platt forgot to put it in.

The CD extras are as follows. There’s a trailer for ‘Empathy Games’ with Louise Jameson as Leela. There are also behind-the-scenes interviews with Katy Manning and director Lisa Bowerman, conducted by producer David Richardson on the story. I enjoyed Katy Manning sharing her thoughts about reprising her role of Jo in this audio story as well as talking about Jane Goddard.

‘The Doll of Death’ is an enjoyable audio adventure in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe featuring Katy Manning as Jo Grant. It’s complex in places and the story’s ending was abrupt, but I enjoyed Katy narrating this story as Jo and how she gets to voice Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, the Brigadier and others. 🙂

I’m sure I purchased ‘The Doll of Death’ for my Dad one Christmas time, as he was into Jo as a character at some point when we were checking out the classic TV series. I’m lucky to have met Katy Manning in real life at conventions as well as pen stories that have Jo in them, like ‘City of Monsters’.

‘The Doll of Death’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Third Doctor was ‘The Dæmons’ (TV) For Jo was ‘The Dæmons’ (TV) ‘Faithful Friends’ (ST) For the Brigadier was ‘The Dæmons’ (TV) For Mike Yates was ‘The Dæmons’ (TV) For Benton was ‘The Dæmons’ (TV)	The next story For  the Third Doctor is ‘The Man in the Ion Mask’ (Comic) For Jo is ‘Freedom’ (ST/Audio) ‘Killing Time’ (WM) (Audio) For the Brigadier is ‘The Man in the Ion Mask’ (Comic) For Mike Yates is ‘Harvest of Time’ (Book/Audio) For Benton is ‘The Man in the Ion Mask’ (Comic)
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