‘VAMPIRE WEEKEND’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Truth Vampire with the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz

At long last! I can now talk about ‘The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish! 🙂

It’s amazing how much time has flown by since the announcement was made in July 2024 that Big Finish were doing brand-new ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventures, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and Mandip Gill as Yaz. It was exciting news for me! 🙂

I did a reaction video to the news on my YouTube channel as soon as the announcement was made. And before ‘Vampire Weekend’, Jodie Whittaker made a surprise return as the Thirteenth Doctor in ‘The Reality War’ – the second part of the two-part finale in Series 15.

At the time of this review, the first two audio stories featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz have been released by Big Finish, including ‘Vampire Weekend’ and ‘The Return of the Doctor’. I’m looking forward to when all of the Thirteenth Doctor audio stories are released.

I admit, I wasn’t expecting ‘The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish to happen so soon, as it’s not been that long since Jodie Whittaker exited the TV series. Clearly Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill were keen to reprise their roles, as they enjoyed them so much.

The Thirteenth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ is very special to me. I know it hasn’t pleased everyone, but I look back on Jodie Whittaker’s era of the new TV show with great fondness. It’s an era that I’ll happily revisit, whether it’s for certain TV episodes or the entire era itself.

I’m lucky in that I’ve met Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill in real life at conventions. I’ve met them both at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in February 2022. I’ve also met Jodie at two more events in Birmingham in September 2022 and in London in November 2022.

I’ve also had a chance to do my own take of the Thirteenth Doctor in some of my ‘Doctor Who’ stories. This includes my Short Trip called ‘Hank Prank’, the ‘Zorbius’ story ‘The Two Salvadors’, and the multi-Doctor stories ‘The Prime Factor’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. 🙂

To check out these Big Finish audios featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, as played by Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill, provides the opportunity to venture back into more of the Thirteenth Doctor era that I loved watching when it shown on TV from 2018 to 2022. 🙂

The placement of these ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz is fascinating. They take place between ‘Revolution of the Daleks’ and ‘Flux’, since Graham and Ryan have left the TARDIS and the Doctor and Yaz have yet to meet Dan.

This is fine as far as I’m concerned, especially since this is a part of the Thirteenth Doctor era that wasn’t explored much on TV. There were touches of the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz as a TARDIS duo featured on TV in stories such as ‘Flux’ and ‘The Power of the Doctor’.

But it wasn’t largely explored. Thus, the Big Finish audios allow us into that window of what happened between the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz in their travelling days together since Graham and Ryan left the TARDIS in ‘Revolution of the Daleks’. I’m keen to hear these tales.

I doubt the Big Finish audios will have the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz ending up as a couple, but they might provide some insight into how Yaz feels about Jodie’s Doctor in subtle manners and such. Time will tell regarding how these audio stories will turn out. 🙂

The first story of ‘The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures’ called ‘Vampire Weekend’ is by Tim Foley. Tim Foley is a writer I’ve come across before since he’s penned ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventures such as ‘The Merfolk Murders’, ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’ and ‘The Auton Infinity’.

In this story, Yaz is back home on Earth, driving some friends to another friend’s hen night. These friends included Daryl and Kat, and they’re on their way to a rented manor house in the Peak District. They meet up with other friends as well as the hen night friend’s mum.

Incidentally, the hen night friend in question named Gina doesn’t appear in this episode. I find that quite amusing, since I would have expected Gina to have made a cameo appearance at the episode’s end. She doesn’t get credited in the cast list on audio either.

To Yaz’s surprise, the Doctor makes an unexpected visit at the manor, carrying a pair of chickens whom she’s named Ian and Barbara. I found that moment where the Doctor is carrying the chickens pretty funny. It’s so what I can imagine the Thirteenth Doctor doing.

There’s even a scene where Jodie’s Doctor is talking to the chickens and they’re going ‘cluck, cluck’ whilst she understands them. 😀 The Doctor also must really miss Ian and Barbara to name a couple of chickens by them. How can she tell which chicken is which? 😀

Of course, the Doctor misunderstood the term ‘hen do’ when she brought the chickens along. Trouble ensues however, as the manor house ends up surrounded by a forcefield. It isn’t long before the Doctor, Yaz and everyone in the manor is attacked by a vampire. 😮

I enjoyed the references made to previous vampire stories in ‘Doctor Who’ by the Thirteenth Doctor, including ‘State of Decay’ and ‘Goth Opera’ where the history of the Time Lords and the Blood Lords is unveiled. ‘Monstrous Beauty’ also came to mind for me. 🙂

I did wonder if this story was going to be gory and bloodcurdling, considering this is called ‘Vampire Weekend’. But it turns out the vampire in this story doesn’t really hunt for blood. When it bites into its victims, it forces them to speak the truth before they become drained.

It’s literally called the Truth Vampire, which is an interesting concept for a ‘Doctor Who’ monster. It still sounds pretty vicious when it attacks its victims. It also tests the Doctor and Yaz’s relationship when they and everybody else try to evade its deadly clutches. 😐

Jodie Whittaker is excellent as the Thirteenth Doctor in this audio story. She’s able to bring across that energy and enthusiasm that she brought so well to TV screens on audio. There’s no awkwardness in the transition between TV to audio and it sounds so natural. 🙂

I enjoyed how Jodie’s Doctor tackles investigating what’s going on with the manor house and how she deals with the Truth Vampire. There’s one point where she’s bitten by the Truth Vampire. She gets helped by Yaz to the TARDIS where she also spouts a lot of truths.

Mandip Gill is equally excellent as Yaz in this audio story. It’s intriguing for this series of Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz audios to start with her on Earth and with friends she knows for a ‘hen-do’. It showcases more of Yaz’s Earth life compared to what’s in the TV show. 🙂

I liked that scene where Yaz talks to the Doctor when she’s working using her sonic screwdriver. Yaz doesn’t get much response from her. She becomes anxious about whether she’s a control freak or not. I like how it turned out the Doctor did listen to Yaz when she talked to her.

The story’s guest cast includes Anna Crichlow as Zoya and Kat, who are two friends of Yaz’s. Anna Crichlow has been in Big Finish ‘Doctor Who’ before, since she played Nairobi Starclair and Princess 1 in ‘The Great Beyond’. She’s also been in the ‘Vam PD’ audio series.

Zoya is an easily stressed person who was chosen as the maid of honour for Gina’s wedding as well as the hen do. She accuses Yaz for being a micromanager in this story. Kat is somebody who doesn’t appear much, since she gets attacked and becomes comatose.

Daniel Walford guest stars as Daryl, another friend of Yaz’s at Gina’s hen do. I believe Daniel Walford did theatre work beforehand, including productions like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ and ‘Starlight Express’. 🙂 This is his first Big Finish.

The character of Daryl happens to be non-binary, which was interesting to discover when listening to the audio story. Apparently, Daryl is in a relationship with Kat and wants to keep their relationship with her going. I wish that had been explored further in this story.

Jeremy Ang Jones guest stars as Mason, another friend of Yaz’s at Gina’s hen do. Jeremy Ang Jones has done several Big Finish audios over the years, including the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘Interstitial’. He’s also been in some ‘Torchwood’ and ‘Cicero’ audio stories. 🙂

Mason is someone who likes to use his phone a lot, I believe. The Doctor asks if he mind her checking out his phone for a moment and he’s unwilling to let her. Once the Truth Vampire attacks him, Mason reveals his private thoughts, including he’s attracted to Gina’s fiancé.

Mandi Symonds guest stars as Gina’s Mum. This is one of several Big Finish audio appearances for Mandi Symonds, as she’s been in ‘Doctor Who’ audios like ‘Night of the Stormcrow’ and ‘The Legacy of Time’. 🙂 She’s also been in a ‘Star Cops’ audio episode. 🙂

It’s funny that Gina’s Mum isn’t given a name in ‘Vampire Weekend’ and isn’t mentioned at all in the episode. Gina’s Mum dots on a dog named Boo Boo, I believe, and becomes upset when she dies. It turns out though that Boo Boo may not be as cute as she seems.

In fact, Boo Boo happens to be the Truth Vampire itself, voiced by Daniel Walford. It was enlightening how the Truth Vampire was unveiled, and it turns out to be Gina’s Mum’s dog. It takes a while for the Truth Vampire to gain its own voice once it taunts Yaz in this story. 😐

From looking at the CD cover for ‘Vampire Weekend’, you could be forgiven for easily mistaking the Truth Vampire for being a Weevil from ‘Torchwood’. You’d have to look closer on the cover to see that the Truth Vampire has pointy ears out from its purple hood.

The story concludes with the Doctor sorting out the Truth Vampire and saving Yaz and her friends via the TARDIS. Yaz confirms that she wants to continue travelling with the Doctor, even though she wants to find a better balance between her Earth life and her TARDIS life.

‘Vampire Weekend’ has been a very enjoyable beginning to the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz audio adventures by Big Finish. It’s been good to hear Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill reprise their roles as the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, after enjoying them in the TV show. 🙂

I’m looking forward to where this particular audio series will go next. It’s going to take me a while to check out every story featured in ‘The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish, but it’ll be worth checking out, since I’m a fan of the Thirteenth Doctor era anyway.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of ‘Vampire Weekend’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill, Anna Critchlow and Daniel Walford, Mandi Symonds, writer Tim Foley, producer Noga Flaishon, director Ken Bentley, etc.

‘Vampire Weekend’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Thirteenth Doctor was ‘Thawing Tensions’ (DVW) For Yaz was ‘It’s Cold Outside’ (DVW)	The next story For the Thirteenth Doctor is ‘The Return of the Doctor’ (Audio) For Yaz is ‘The Return of the Doctor’ (Audio)
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