It’s a question that’s been underlying much of what Big Finish has produced for the last twelve years: what if you overlaid the modern Doctor Who revival’s sensibilities onto the characters and situations of the classic series? Mostly it’s been addressed either with subtlety or tangentially, the occasional nod to the new series’ more emotional engagement with its audience, or a more involved level of plotting that adds a slightly post-modern touch to the simplicities of the past. Here the Paul Spraggs Memorial Opportunity winner for 2017, Selim Ulug, sets any considerations of delicacy to one side, and throws the third Doctor right into the kind of circumstances it’s almost impossible to imagine any Doctor prior to Christopher Eccleston fetching up in.
As an attempt at trying something out of the usual toolbox, it’s perhaps more brave than it is successful – but it’s still a fascinating listen as much for what it says about the character of the third Doctor than how it goes about saying it.
Told from the perspective of Ronald Henderson, the Doctor – alone in Bessie – arrives in the small seaside town where Henderson runs a pub, having once been the captain of a merchant ship, and the parallels between the two characters are quickly explored over a pint of ale and a glass or three of fine vintage wine. Following an early fight sequence which sets the tone for the third Doctor’s characterisation – he’s on his downers but he’s still a man of action, standing up for the little man against thuggery of any kind – much of the rest of the play takes the form of conversations, ideal for audio if not necessarily for a narrated play (Nicholas Brigg’s third Doctor is recognisable if lacking authenticity, although his storytelling skills are not in question). The rest of the plot is almost instantly guessable, the interesting thing being the exploration of how the characters react to the turns it takes, rather than in those developments themselves.
The obvious symmetry between the two characters is highlighted by the name of the play, each of them arriving in the relationship having lost the ship that facilitated their wanderlust in circumstances that mightn’t have seemed fair. The journey the Doctor then takes Henderson on is as misguided as it is well-meant, a reflection as much on the Doctor’s mental state as it is on his alien sensibility, prior to a coda in which a satisfying change of fortune is achieved all around.
Landbound doesn’t really explore its themes or the potential complexity of its plot as deeply as it might, and ultimately ends up feeling rather superficial. Nevertheless it’s far from a waste of half-an-hour or so of your time.
DOCTOR WHO SHORT TRIPS: LANDBOUND / DIRECTOR: NEIL GARDNER / WRITER: SELIM ULUG / NARRATOR: NICHOLAS BRIGGS / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW FROM BIG FINISH
