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| Phantasmagoria by Mark Gatiss |
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Being Doctor Who, of course, the
sense of period is evoked by the clichés of television and film-an era of
highwaymen, fops, card sharps and maybe something darker. In fact, it
practically writes itself once you add on a comparatively slight tale of
an alien war criminal hiding out in historical London; it also helps that
Peter Davison’s Doctor keeps the spirit of ‘The Visitation’ very much in
mind. No, Gatiss’s interest is very much in the characters and in some
particularly ripe dialogue- not least in writing the character of Jasper
Jeake for himself and being allowed to ham it up shamelessly, again with a
theatricality reminiscent of Richard Mace. In short, it’s very
conventional Doctor Who and all the more enjoyable for it- there
are precious few formats which could attempt the same story in the same
setting and in that sense it’s exactly what the nascent Big Finish range
needed. A straightforward story without too many narrative tricks (apart
from one rather good one) which is comfortably still Doctor Who but
uses the audio format to fill in for location filming and detailed period
interiors. The performances are generally solid-
Peter Davison slips effortlessly back into the Doctor’s role and Mark
Strickson has no difficulty in becoming Turlough once again, while Mark
Gatiss as Jeake just about manages to keep the lid on his performance and
David Ryall as Sir Nikolas Valentine sounds exactly as the villain of a
historically-set Who ought to. There’s a problem, though, and its
name is David Walliams. As Quincy Flowers and as Cotton the watchman, he’s
instantly recognisable as he tries out what would in retrospect become
some of his Little Britain voices, especially in crowd scenes where
he should be unobtrusive. Still, as a fop or as a man of sentiment,
Flowers does come across well as a comic foil for Jeake and never quite
becomes the caricature he threatens to be. So, a good second release for Big
Finish; one which as an overall package stands up comfortably against the
period of televised Who which it purports to recreate and has no
obvious weak links. In many ways it provides exactly what the range needed
in the crucial second slot- it’s more than just nostalgia for its own sake
as there’s a sense of genuine care being taken to write an original but
recognisable Fifth Doctor story for audio. In retrospect it’s less of an
event than some of the releases to come; it lacks either a name actor (at
the time) or a truly compelling and original villain, but it’s thoroughly
enjoyable and most of all feels right.
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It’s
only in retrospect that you realise that Mark Gatiss has pulled off the
same trick three times as a Doctor Who writer. With
‘Phantasmagoria’, as with ‘The Roundheads’ and most recently with ‘The
Unquiet Dead’, he’s written a solid, historically-based story which also
succeeds in being successful traditional Who to set the tone for a new
development of the series and reassure the core market of fans that yes,
this is still the same character albeit in a new format. In the case of
‘Phantasmagoria’, it’s the early eighteenth century- the early scenes are
constructed so as to give us the exact date, measured by the death of
William of Orange and the accession of Queen Anne. Not an era normally
frequented by the televised series, the late Stuart setting has both the
familiarity of historically-set Who and the comparative novelty of a
period not generally known these days.