In the latest Big Finish Doctor Who main range story, Ghost Walk by James Goss, there is plenty of spooky goings on, visitations, dark deeds and, of course, ghosts – though in this case tour guide Leanne (Fenella Woolgar) has her own personal ghost, none other than the Doctor! As the story unfolds (in a sequence of flashbacks, visions, and other narrative devices) we learn how the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) became separated from his companions after they’d encountered an alien force, Sabaoth (Stephen Greif). Separated in time, Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and Tegan (Janet Fielding) each approaches their situation confident in the ability of the Doctor to deliver them from peril, and each unaware the Doctor has his own problems – as far as he can tell he is dead!
It’s a story intertwining the standard fare of aliens and ancient mysteries with the prosaic world of professional ghost walk guiding. Elements of humour creep in and serve to accentuate the increasing nightmare into which Leanne descends. And descend she does, into catacombs where unspeakable events have taken place.
It’s not a story to listen to casually as some attention is needed to track just where various characters are in their path, though this is aided by the separation, which gives the companions plenty of time to shine. All three find themselves challenged, and in the case of Nyssa and Adric, historic England has plenty of problems, causing them to wonder just why the Doctor spends so much time on Earth. Nyssa in particular is faced with a rather gruesome challenge, and Sarah Sutton really goes to town here and delivers one of her strongest performances in the part. Yes, we all know the TARDIS team lives to fight another day, but while listening to this story it is just possible to imagine otherwise. That is the power of the writing, performances and direction.
Ghost Walk is an evocative story, challenging some of the tropes of the show but without fuss and in a production packed with superb actors and excellent direction from Barnaby Edwards.
Big Finish released Ghost Walk on February 13th; full details are available on their website for this and the rest of this series.
DOCTOR WHO: GHOST WALK / WRITER: JAMES GOSS / DIRECTOR: BARNABY EDWARDS / STARRING: PETER DAVISON, JANET FIELDING, SARAH SUTTON, MATTHEW WATERHOUSE, FENELLA WOOLGAR, CAROLYN SEYMOUR, STEPHEN GREIF / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
