AudioThis Eighth and Audacity adventure is part of anthology of stories released this past Halloween along with outings for nuUNIT, Stephen Noonan's First Doctor and Jon Culshaw's Twelfth. We open pretty generically with the TARDIS team following a strange vision to a vessel in a need of repair and a paranoid crew. But there's plenty of meat on these bones, or rather bark on the trunks (see below) through rich characterisation and some genuine mystery. It's also a rare chance to hear this TARDIS team without Charley around (she's left in the house on Baker Street) demonstrating my point from the Causeway review about how more than one companion can soften these central relationships. Noga Flaishon's script also continues the cross franchise effort to bring species evolved from trees together under the description of "arboreals" which includes the likes of the Forest of Cheem (although not enough to warrant their own TARDIS Wiki entry).
Placement: Presumably set during Twenty-Four Doors in December from the In The Bleak Midwinter boxed.
"For most of her adult life, Niro Feliciano's checklist for the holidays looked like this: Host the family gathering, write greeting cards, shop for gifts, decorate and peel carrots for Santa's reindeer — all while raising four kids and going to work every day."
"As Wham! top singles chart, Minogue draws level with David Bowie, Eminem, U2 and Rod Stewart in the album league table, thanks to a reissue of her 2015 Christmas LP."
"One baby Jesus lies in a manger in the snow, wrapped in a silver emergency blanket with his wrists zip-tied. Mary stands nearby outside the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, wearing a plastic gas mask and flanked by Roman soldiers in tactical vests labeled “ICE.”"
"As the festive season approaches, Christmas trees have been lit in towns and cities across Lithuania – each brighter, more striking and more inventive than the last."
"Annie Gray always rejects turkey and the trimmings at Christmas. She believes they are a construct of a bygone era and will often eat pizza on the big day instead."
Editor's Note: Nothing much new to see here other than a recommendation - I swapped to Deezer from the now ridiculously unusable Spotify a couple of weeks ago and wholly recommend it. The interface is clean, easy to navigate and feels a lot like a streaming version of the CD racks in a record shop with logical genres and a sense of wanting you to be able access all music and not just whatever is being pushed that week.
Audio Although I've been pretty open to Audacity's presence, like C'rizz before her (or after her if you like) and other multiple companion combinations, the character has the effect of splitting the dynamic between the usual duo of leads. Which means the writer either has the Time Lord with one of the companions or a guest star or the two companions off by themselves. This does make the interactions between, in this case the Eighth Doctor and Charley, all the more precious (much as it would if they were split up for narrative reasons) but it also does a disservice to the third wheel companion, who rarely feels like they have agency and often ends up being a puzzle to be solved. Often that actually resolves itself when there are three companions, although in one recent Doctor Who era that turned into two tragic blokes acting as a distraction from us seeing Thirteen and Yaz making each other happy on a weekly basis.
Lost Amongst the Stars
"Who turned out the lights?" For a good proportion of the story's run time I was convinced the monster reveal would be the Vashta Narada and the resulting beasties feel like they could be part of the same phylogenetic tree. As the review in this month's parish circular indicates, there are shades of Event Horizon and Alien in the grim inevitability of humanity paying the price for venturing where they probably shouldn't given all of the warning signs. Outside of the Doctor's perspective, there is a certain element to most stories set in deep space which mimics Star Trek but almost everyone involved is wearing an imaginary red shirt. This is a grim slice of body horror which highlights this early Doctor's pragmatism. Even when all evidence suggests everything is lost, he continues to fight, something which is less apparent in later stories.
Causeway
As those of us who've been lost in these narrative thickets for many years know, a franchise this broad and deep is inevitably going feel repetitious and Causeway locks itself firmly in those patterns like a sailboat in a magic eye creation. For much of the story's running time loads of it felt very familiar but not in three main genres of Doctor Who sense but something far more complicated than that. Turns out the Causeway is an organisation which at this point in their existence are attempting time travel thanks to some technology from party unknown, almost literally dropping in their laps. Somewhat like City of Death, the TARDIS team are drawn to their front door after their experiments have a indigestive effect on the time ship's innards. Given this is such a recent release, let's keep things spoiler free and just say "OK, kid. This is where it gets complicated."
Yes, well, alright, this story pretty much confirms there isn't some grand narrative conspiracy, this early doors (at least in Big Finish terms) Eighth Doctor and Charley and these stories are supposed to be set between the first and second OG series which makes Audacity one of those companions who appears in an earlier narrative gap and is never mentioned again. So we can comfortably say there are three key tranches of episodes in the Eighth Doctor era at Big Finish, with the first running from Shada through to The Girl Who Never Was, the second from Blood of the Daleks through to his ongoing adventures with Liv and Helen and then the Time War (with Time Lord Victorious its own thing just before). All power to Paul McGann for continuing to somehow make each version of the character so distinctive, backed by his excellent writers.
"Before its fall from grace, the Chinese-American dish chop suey was a holiday tradition for families who don't celebrate Christmas, even being immortalized in songs and film."
"In Catalonia, Christmas involves a hollowed-out log with a painted face, stick legs, and a little red hat. Children feed it nuts and dried fruit for weeks, keep it warm under a blanket, and then on Christmas Eve, they beat it with sticks while singing songs commanding it to defecate nougat."
Editor's Note: As an alternative to the usual reporting on Christmas being ruined because a council in the Midlands forgot to put the lights on the city centre tree or which supermarket makes the best Leach of Almonds, I thought I'd aggregate the international cinema on UK terrestrial TV as featured in this year's Christmas Radio Times (£6.50? How much?).
Various research projects I've undertaken across the year have led me to look enviously through the old Christmas schedules and the rich pickings available. The results for this year are disappointing with some incredibly safe programming across the linear channels and only the following which could be described meaningfully as "world cinema".
"The Marquis d’Urfé finds refuge in the home of a strange family after becoming lost in a hostile forest while working as an emissary for the King of France."
"As a patriarchal family yearns for the birth of a son to continue their family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for its transgender starlet."
"The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is."
"Fatima-Zahra and her teenage son Selim move from place to place, forever trying to outrun the latest scandal she’s caught up in. When Selim discovers the truth about their past, Fatima-Zahra vows to make a fresh start. In Tangier, new opportunities promise the legitimacy they each crave but not without pushing the volatile mother-son relationship to the breaking point."
Of course times have changed and streaming offers access to a near infinite amount of content from across the globe via the likes of MUBI, the BFI Player and Criterion. All of the UK channels would argue that they do show films made outside of the UK and US during the rest of the year and have some available via their own streaming services.
But it still feels very insular that during the festive period English language films should predominate with the vast majority originating from Hollywood and it poorly serves those of us who can't afford all of those services or to rent films on a rental basis and want an alternative Love Fucking Actually.
At the very least there could be presentations of festive favourites from elsewhere at a reasonable time of the day. If we were still a proper country, BBC Four would be showing My Night at Maud's (1969) at Christmas with Malmkrog (2020) seeing us into the New Year.
"The winter holiday period is meant to be joyful, yet for many of us it comes with a heavy mix of responsibilities and social pressure to go to parties and events we don't want to."
"The holiday season means holiday movies, films that can be counted upon warmth and holiday cheer, also probably some snow, a little bit of magic, and grumpy/greedy/workaholic protagonists who need be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas."
Editor's Note: Worth it for the Love Actually discourse: "It's Ed Sheeran before Ed Sheeran existed."
"Preparations for Christmas are underway across the globe with landmarks lit, markets open, shop windows decorated, a jet skiing Santa in Rio and even the T-Rex at London’s Natural History Museum wearing his Christmas jumper."
Editor's Note: Trigger Warning for shots of the current White House.
"Aside from the two old chestnuts of Hamlet criticism—Hamlet’s character and Hamlet’s delay—probably no other topic has engaged Shakespeare fans more than the thorny problem of his age: is Hamlet sixteen or thirty? Whether you’re wandering through classes discussing Hamlet, lurking the boards at rehearsal, eavesdropping in the bar after a performance, or perusing the online discussions, you find people of all stripes tangling with this key contradiction."
"Cerys' weekly round up of the blues you need to hear, from all around the world and in all shapes and sizes! This week Cerys unwraps a festive gift from the BBC Archive: BB King's Christmas Blues! Recorded in 1997 with the late Johnnie Walker, B.B. King shares some of his favourite records! Featuring tracks from Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt."
"The festive season is a rich time for tradition, storytelling and folklore. A time when different belief systems and traditions clash and combine into symbolic acts, we take part in without a second thought. At a time of year when the days are shortest and the outdoors is a less inviting place to be, many of these Yule traditions involve our wildlife."
"The multiples and chain stores have been growing since the beginning of the century, and in the past 15 years they have grown very fast."
Editor's Note: Another brilliant upload to the BBC Archive YouTube Channel, this looks at where Tesco and WH Smith were in 1970. Smoky boardrooms filled with men shouting over women, brutalist concrete shopping centres, retail floors where hygiene is anathema and sales meetings in which the livelihoods of producers and authors are shot down on a whim. Watch out for the very TV Creamy cameo at a store opening.
"Knowsley food aid organisations have been badly hit by the demise of the Knowsley Foodbank distributer. We are raising ££ to help the Stockbridge Village pantry give people a nicer Christmas."
"Kylie is the biggest challenger for Christmas number one 2025. Her new song XMAS, was recorded for the 10th anniversary edition of her Kylie Christmas album."
"Mariah Carey has lodged a record-tying 19th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” rides the holiday wave back to the top of the charts."
"For many Swiss, the Christmas tree is part of the Christmas tradition. According to the Forest Owners Association, around 1.7 million Christmas trees are sold every year. The Nordmann fir is by far the most popular."
Editor's Note: Since it's Doctor Who night on the BBCs this evening, here is a collection of free festive tales from across the official websites and other places too.
"As he strolled through the foggy streets of London’s East End he became aware of the footsteps following him and immediately wondered if it was them. He began walking faster. The footsteps – a soft pad pad pad pad – remained close behind. Now, straining to hear them, the old man caught something else. A low, velvety snarl."
"The Doctor, Peri and Joe land on the planet Naxios, where they discover the body of Father Christmas. Who killed him? The strange individuals dressed in Shakespearian costume or the talking animals wearing waistcoats digging in the tunnels?"
"The engines roared, and time roared back, washing over the hull of the TARDIS in waves of icy blue and burning gold. Reality unfolded for the spinning wooden box, funnelling it through a storm of seconds, then folding back into place as neat as wrapping paper."
"'I haven't been ice-skating since my seven hundred and twenty-first birthday,' muttered the Doctor to himself, as he raced to the other side of the console to pump the vortex loop."
"The boy's name was Tom Wake, and he was nine years old. And perhaps because the year was 1920, or perhaps because he was the sort of boy who liked to believe in things until there was a reason not to, he believed in Father Christmas."
"'What do you think?' Beth Summers turned round and burst out laughing as her grandma brandished a bright red feather boa around her shoulders. 'This used to belong to my mother,' continued Beth's gran as she jiggled her hips, causing her 12-year-old grand-daughter to laugh even more."
"It had been nearly four hours since Mason Valentin managed to convince his mother to let him stay home from school. Every moment since then seemed to tick away with the weight of eternity. He wasn't sick exactly. His fifteen year old heart though was very sick. Love sick, that is. Staring out the bay window, his thoughts wandered to Ana Comparetto, the American girl who'd only just transferred that year."
"Something was wrong. David Kershaw looked down the station platform and was left open-mouthed by what he saw. Not just a little bit wrong, but a big fat what on earth is going on? wrong."
"‘Lost satellite reception…’ Geoff Bluth glared at the GPS device on the dashboard of his car. It was late, he had been driving for hours and all he wanted was to find his hotel, have a nice hot shower and collapse into bed. And now it was snowing. Terrific. He pulled over to the side of the road and called the hotel. "
"Deep under the sea, Nessa, Freng and Strong are trying very hard to be nice. Because if they are naughty, then Santa won’t come and give them presents. And they do want presents very much. But what does Santa really want from them? And what does being nice *really* involve..?"
"Lucky you! You're on Mr Colchester's Christmas Card list. He brings tidings of comfort and joy and a terrible warning. Whatever you do, open this card first. Season's Greetings."
"Three Christmas editions were released: Christmas Story Teller 1 (1983), Christmas Story Teller 2 (1984) and Christmas Story Teller 3 (1985). Each had a “bumper 64 pages”, roughly the equivalent of two normal Story Teller issues. These three special editions had a fantastic mix of festive stories and popular carols."
Editor's note: Beautifully designed website which allows you to listen to the cassette audio whilst reading the book, as nature intended.
"In 1843, a festive tradition was born in Shere. Simon Furber visits the Surrey village to discover who was responsible for the humble Christmas card."
Simon Guerrier: "First published in hardback and paperback on 21 October 1976, this novelisation opens with an attention-grabbing first paragraph: “The tall white-haired man lay still as death. The girl leaning over him could find no pulse, no beat from either of his hearts. His skin was icy cold to the touch.”
"The autumn has delivered an exceptional display of colour, and the trees have been laden with generous gluts of fruit. We have been truly fortunate this season, with traditional store cupboards now struggling under the weight of chutney and jam made from the abundant harvest."
"These events are meant to make Christmas magical, and while many do, a few fall spectacularly short. Here, in no particular order, are some of the worst offenders."
"Michelle Pfeiffer’s familiarly overworked, taken for granted mom stands out from the typical holiday fare."
Editor's Note: I loved it. It's a bunch of actors who usually spend their time in costumes and indie dramas or both having a marvellous time making a Hallmark movie with high production values. Come for Felicity Jones's American accent, stay for Chloe Grace finally playing her truth.
"A festive exhibition at the Museum of Cambridge is taking a look back at Christmas 100 years ago. Tom Jackson spoke to engagement officer Alex Horn about the most wanted gifts of the 1920's."
"The Mari Lwyd is a Welsh tradition in which a group of people carry a horse skull mounted on a pole — draped in a white sheet with the operator hidden underneath — to your door at Christmas and demand entry through song."
"Every year for Christmas since my husband and I started dating we’ve done Christmas Day at his mom’s house. My family is very chill, whereas my husband’s mom is a little uptight so it was never worth the argument."
"For more than 30 years, residents on Auckland's Franklin Road have decked out their properties with Christmas decorations for the rest of the city to enjoy."
"The bronze monument depicting the eponymous star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi satire was installed Wednesday, nearly 15 years after a viral tweet."
"From a cranberry katsu curry to a dozen thickly glazed doughnuts, the biggest chains are getting Christmassy. I found out which seasonal meals will leave you carolling and carousing – and which will leave you cold."
"An Italian mayor has apologised to the family of opera star Luciano Pavarotti after the town of Pesaro encased a statue honouring the late singer within a Christmas ice rink."
"My tree is ornamented and my mantel is garlanded, but I have yet to realize my holiday-outfit vision. There are a couple of contenders, but I’m still searching for the right accessories to take each potential look to the next level. I don’t think it will require much — just a pair of tights and some festive shoes — but they have to be special. Here’s what I’m considering."
"To honour the winter break on the horizon, Letterboxd crew and contributors share twenty underseen holiday favourites: where Christmas and Hanukkah deep cuts and surprisingly festive noir and stop-motion delights all have a seat at the table."
"…and a couple of Doctors too, as Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s a Wonderful War and Other Stories is released today, featuring four brand-new stories set across the Whoniverse. "
From Stephen Gallagher: "This year’s stocking-filler chapbook in aid of Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is The Adventure of the Seven Unnatural Women, a Sherlock Holmes story written at the invitation of J R Campbell and Charles Prepolec, editors of the Gaslight series of Holmes anthologies [...] Whatever it makes for MSF, I’ll match."
"The twinkling lights on a Christmas tree at Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, are getting their power from an unusual source... live electric eels."
"As Christmas nears, towns and cities across Aotearoa are hoisting their giant trees into place — symbols of the season that, for many, now come with a hefty price-tag."
"Have you ever wondered where to send your Czech Christmas wishes to? It’s not to Santa Claus at the North Pole, but instead to little Baby Jesus (or Ježíšek) whose “official” Christmas address is the post office in Boží Dar, the highest-located town in Czechia."
"It can be the greatest pitfall of the social year. And it can be followed by a 12-month hangover. If your boss hasn't spoken to you since, it's a fair bet that you had a good time at your office Christmas party. Traditionally, it's the one night of the year when the firm's hierarchical structure, that normally so rigidly holds sway, totters towards anarchy. [via LMG]"
"Belgian authorities are mystified over a brazen theft over the weekend from a Christmas Nativity scene of an icon of infant Jesus Christ that had been widely scorned online."
"A fairy-tale image captivates millions: a festively lit Christmas market, framed by stalls, strings of lights, and a magnificent tree–right in front of the world-famous Buckingham Palace. The images quickly spread on social media. But anyone tempted to travel to London by this scene was bitterly disappointed. This Christmas market doesn’t exist."
"There are almost certainly worse holiday songs than Paul McCartney's 1979 "Wonderful Christmastime." But in a genre famous for cheesiness, it stands out as among the most polarizing. And it's notable for being written by the same Beatle who penned "Let It Be" on the band's final album."
"Eco-fir trees are a clear niche in Germany, one of the main suppliers of Christmas trees in Switzerland. Artificial trees are not necessarily sustainable either."
"Solstice and yuletide celebration food traditions have changed over time but some nuances have persisted. Ancient beliefs say we should eat plenty to bless the next year."
"Luxury advent calendars mash up tradition and modern consumer culture. But with exorbitant prices come high expectations — and sometimes spectacular PR disasters, such as Chanel's infamous advent calendar."
"Notes and Queries: The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts."
"The writer-director talks about the art of dialogue, his love of marital fight scenes, and how his new film, “Jay Kelly,” helped him rekindle his affection for the medium."
"A company in southern Poland specializes in creating unique Christmas decorations for clients like Swarovski and Harrods. GlitterLab’s process is entirely manual, making each piece unique and its owner hopes the ornaments will bring joy to customers all year round and not just during the festive period."
"Christie's expects the Winter egg, one of just seven of Peter Carl Fabergé's creations still in private hands, to sell for more than £20 million when it lands on the auction block Tuesday."
"Every so often, when struggling to analyse what I love about a TV show, I reach for the phrase “a complete comedy”. It’s a bit of a shitty, half-arsed idea. Let me at least try to explain what the hell I mean."
"Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, a four-time Tony winner for his plays “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Travesties,” “The Real Thing” and “The Coast of Utopia” and an Oscar winner for his script to “Shakespeare in Love,” has died, according to The BBC. He was 88."
"An English city council’s decision not to host an official event to switch on Christmas lights has been misrepresented online as a decision to scrap the illuminations."
"The countdown to Christmas is on and it’s feeling pretty cold when that northerly wind blows. But will we get a White Christmas this year? Here’s what you need to know if you fancy a flutter on festive snow."
"Ok. This comes up a lot and I kind of covered this topic in my Winter in Tokyo with kids blog post but it’s time I talk about christmas on it’s own. Japan for Christmas can be special BUT you kind of need to put in the effort to make christmas feel christmassy in Japan."
Audio Hello. We'll get to the one(ish) line reviews in a moment but your writer has been trying to get to grips with what we're supposed to consider series or lines at Big Finish in recent years. Here follows a rant about numbers. The Eighth Doctor Adventures are now covering three distinct eras: the gap between Seasons One and Two of the original Monthly releases, the continuation of the story thread which began with the Lucie Miller adventures, continued through Dark Eyes and the Time War. Except the spine labels on the boxes flow between the first and second eras and even then without really making much sense.
Here's a rundown (which could be a list but I don't want to mess up the blog's formatting). They begin with the stand-alone Liv and Helen stories apparently set in the final moments of Stranded (between the TARDIS leaving and returning), What Lies Inside? (1) and Connections (2). But then there isn't a new sequence for the new strand of Audacity and Charley stories. Audacity and In the Bleak Midwinter are given (3) & (4) presumably because they share the same release months as the previous boxes. But then Echoes (more Liv and Helen) which came out the following May is (5) and finally Deadly Strangers and Causeway are (6) and (7).
All of which means if you want to keep the boxsets in continuity on your shelf, you're left with a number sequence which is all over the place and equally, if you stick to this number, the Doctor's portrait on the top shifts between TV Movie and Dark Eyes faces. Us Doctor Who fans (and U.S. Doctor Who fans) are quite used to spines on media releases not matching (apart from the BD releases so far which still sport the Whittaker logo despite us enjoying a whole new era in between) but this feels like a very weird choice, especially since they're being created by fans for fans.
Unless both strands are going to dovetail at some point. Despite the pictures on the box, I'm still not unconvinced that these stories aren't going to be revealed to be set after The Charlotte Pollard Adventures with Eighth and Charley reunited somehow. As I've said before, she sounds more mature and there's a moment in one of these stories where they talk about Ramsay the Vortisaur as though he's a distant memory which doesn't make sense given the context in which he's mentioned in the second original series. Something very strange is going on here.
Puccini and the Doctor
Which could just as easily have been called Unfinished Business since it's exactly that for both the Doctor and his writer for this adventure, Matthew Jacobs, who wrote the TV Movie with the Pertwee logo, oh so long ago. It's a celebrity historical in which the Time Lord meets the composer again before he's written some of his greatest operas and comes face to face with a creature who wants to steal and destroy humanity's creativity. Just astonishingly good. Jacobs had apparently only heard Chimes at Midnight before taking the gig, but caught himself up and then wrote this which despite using a similar method, AI never could.
Women's Day Off
Whilst highlighting a moment in women's history I shamefully wasn't previously aware of in which all of Iceland's women went on strike for a day in October 1975, McMullin's script plays not unlike something from The Sarah Jane Adventures as a young girl finds herself infused with magical powers which she can't control and the TARDIS team can only see disparate elements of the mystery in their own parts of the story until everything neatly dovetails at the end. Thoroughly entertaining, especially hearing the time ship's translation circuits giving Icelandics various UK regional accents rather than the actors affecting Nordic vowels.
The Gloaming
Almost as Route One Who as it gets, The Gloaming features an indomitable group of human survivors in suspended animation being threatened by an alien intelligence which is trying to spread itself across the galaxy. But in choosing the Mara, the writers have found the perfect monster for audio, especially the dream world which becomes two voices, one threatening, the other scared, voiced by the same actor demonstrating their range. Because the victim can't awaken without outside help, they're simply trapped there, the evil presence using their own anxieties against them. Chilling.
Placement: Between In The Bleak Midwinter and Invaders from Mars. For now.
Film The Guardian has a piece today about Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite in which Mike McCahill says various things about the film, but like a lot of critics he doesn't seem to have found the virtues I found in how the story is structured and particularly the climax, which I won't spoil for those of you who haven't had a chance to watch it amongst the firehouse of stuff released every day.
The number of film writers who've missed the point of A House of Dynamite are worryingly large. It's not a thriller, it's a character study. The repetition is the point. We're seeing the calamity through the lenses of much smaller and less knowledgeable groups as the decision on whether to retaliate ends up on the shoulders of someone who even less qualified than they are. At a basic level, don't give human beings world-ending weaponry. It's bad.
On each iteration we hear exposition and dialogue and then discover their significance as the narrative elements repeat. In the first couple of rounds, the President sounds Trumpian and incompetent. But when we finally meet him, he's an affable, smart person who is then handed the worst decision in the world at a moment's notice and has a series of near or total strangers advising him.
Which is utterly disturbing and in sharp relief to something like Fail Safe (both versions) and most of these kinds of films, in which almost all Presidents are portrayed as some kind of academic and diplomatic paragon in a fantasy world in which someone is elected based on how smart they are, which has *rarely* been the case. Unlike those films, the heads of state wouldn't immediately be on the phone with one another. The contact takes place way below the chain.
There's a terrific article in Slate by Fred Kaplan (ht, Allyn), a Pulitzer Prize nominated author of a book about just this subject which offers much greater depth on how realistic the film is and if anything it's even less terrifying than the situation we're in now when all of the key positions shown in the film are filled with people whose only qualification is they're willing to tell the President what he wants to hear all of the time.
But my overall point is that a lot of critics have missed that it isn't a traditional Clancyesque thriller. They've gone in expecting The Sum of All Fears or By Dawn's Early Light (which shares a similar story) and been disappointed. It's an "art house" film wearing the trappings of a mid-budget Summer blockbuster which asks the viewer to make a psychological leap beyond what they expect it to be into what it is.
Audio A neat bit of pure blood Eighth and Charley with the original theme, which at the time was pretty rare (2019), with India Fisher reading all the parts. Running just under forty minutes, it's a relatively complex story about the horrors of war and those who continue to live with the consequences. The TARDIS team visit a gallery to see one of the Doctor's favourite artists, who is pretty quickly revealed to be a megalomaniac who has destroyed thousands of lives because the righteousness of her ideology has become drowned out by her methods. This is Hidden Empire writer Jaine Fenn's only contribution to Doctor Who, yet she captures the two main characters perfectly, especially Charley, who has a fine moment when she uses some true/false logic straight out of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth.
Placement: Probably between seasons with the cluster of Short Trips.
