Eighth Doctor / Lucie: Series 2

This second season is generally solid stuff, with none of these stories being duds, and the Doctor and Lucie getting on with developing a working partnership now that they are no longer being pursued by the Head-Hunter and entangled with the Time Lords. I particularly enjoyed The Zygon Who Fell To Earth.

We have a decent start in Dead London, by 2000AD stalwart Pat Mills, which has our heroes land in a city whose different historical periods are rubbing up against each other. Lots of rather good audioscaping of the various eras. I was not quite satisfied that we sorted out reality from mental constructs adequately in the end, but the ride was fun.

Max Warp was also moderately good fun, with Graeme Garden guesting as a Jeremy Clarkson character whose equivalent of “Top Gear” is at the centre of tensions in a delicately balanced peace process. Which makes more sense than at first sounds. I have never knowingly watched Top Gear but I still enjoyed it.

Brave New Town was my second favourite of these: we start off in what appears to be an English village which is mysteriously repeating the events of 1 September 1991. The answer to the mystery turns out to involve Uzbekistan and Autons, with guest appearances from Adrian Dunbar and Derek Griffiths; another solid piece from Jonathan Clements.

Well, one of my wishes has been fulfilled: Barbara Flynn is in The Skull of Sobek as a peculiar nun, which means that all four of the doctors of A Very Peculiar Practice have now done at least a little Who. It’s a good piece about hidden skulls, crocodiles (which terrify Lucie) and bizarre rituals, with a slightly silly ending which is more or less in keeping with the spirit of the story.

The next in sequence is Grand Theft Cosmos, but I listened to it in January.

My favourite of these second season plays: we have the return of Lucie’s aunt Pat, but also Stephen Pacey (Tarrant from Blake’s Seven) as her husband Trevor, the eponymous Zygon Who Fell To Earth, and Tim Brooke-Taylor of the Goodies as the Zygon second-in-command. It’s a really fun tale of nostalgia both for and in the 1980s; I loved every minute of it.

I was least satisfied by the season finale, the two-parter Sisters of the Flame / The Vengeance of Morbius. The basics are good, taking up the story of Morbius and the Sisters of Karn, and following on from the Gallifrey depicted in the previous Eight/Lucie season, with a strong showing by Nickolas Grace as the guest baddie. But there wasn’t really enough story for a two-parter; and I thought it was a bit feeble not to allow Lucie some closure on her relationship with the Doctor. The ending is a pretty massive cliffhanger, apparently resolved earlier this month. I shall report back.

One thought on “Eighth Doctor / Lucie: Series 2

  1. I’m another who threw Vernon God Little against the wall and feel no guilt for it. In fact, I now wish I’d thrown a bit harder and a bit sooner.

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