Doctor Who: Stranded 3 by James Kettle, Tim Foley and Lizzie Hopley (audio review).
All hail the return of the Baker Street team accompanying Doctor Number Eight, played by Paul McGann in ‘Stranded 3’. This time around, the team are spreading their wings a little as the TARDIS is able to move again.
3.1 Patience by Tim Foley
‘…I’ve been walking for a lifetime. I’ll need new feet soon and that’s always a gamble…’
While investigating the limits of the paradox, the Doctor finds they have been tracked down by the Judoon. The team need a hiding place but how patient will they be?
As the team are split into pairs, Liv finds she has to deal with Andy’s Hawaiian shirts and his general indifference to exploring his surroundings and Helen has to deal with Tania’s distraction.
The air of mystery and the narration of a story by the Doctor add to the general unreality and mysticism of the environment.
It’s a really enjoyable drama and a little bit different from the average. It makes you think and creates strong internal visuals. There are elements of humour as well which offers a little chuckle. The character of Andy (Tom Price) is suited to this, as he rarely takes himself seriously. Overall, a great listen.
3.2 Twisted Folklore by Lizzie Hopley
‘Long ago in the heartlands of Rarkeila there lived a song…the Doctor listened ‘do not listen to the song…’
Trying to find out why the future has gone so wrong within the paradox, the Doctor and team try a little guerrilla warfare on the planet of Rarkeila. There are consequences and how far will the team go to make things right?
This is an odd one as we follow all of the TARDIS team individually. The themes here echo the other stories again with a lot of interesting topics including the Doctor’s many lifetimes of sticking his oar in and just how often it all goes wrong.
3.3 Snow by James Kettle
‘If I’d never met you I wouldn’t feel the way I do now.’
My favourite episode, ‘Snow’ is a treatise on how grief affects us and what happens when we know too much about the future. The TARDIS has taken the team minus one to the 2030s and time has taken its toll.
Snow is falling in the garden of Baker Street, it stays all winter but there is no more snow in the rest of the world. There are strong emotions here not least in the cafe down the road where Andy in shorts is seen as a ’proper man’.
3.5 What Just Happened? by John Dorney
‘That’s not what happened. You made it happen.’
Commencing with a plot bombshell, here’s your chance to study narrative structure as this episode plays out from the end to the beginning. Starting with ‘I can’t believe they’ve done that we follow back to the beginning and reveal the inevitability of the tragedy and find out that even that is not the worst thing that has happened.’
This has an interesting twist because, with each five minute time segment, you are constantly processing and rearranging the story to make it comply with your expectations. Even the end credits are put at the beginning in a deliberate attempt to confound the listener.
What the Doctor gets here are some home truths from an impeccable source. It’s cold and clear that he is responsible for everything, even this. Especially this! We have come full circle in this series but I’m sure it’s not over yet. Will there be time to heal not just the TARDIS but the people in it?
The standard of stories is once again very high and the character of the Eighth Doctor who directly precedes the War Doctor is an interesting study. It seems he just can’t help himself. Like all the others before, he thinks he knows what he’s doing but is confounded by events. At the end of the fourth or the beginning, there is a very real consequence of both his presence on Earth and his interactions. The fact that everything looks like it is contained within a paradox may be the ‘get out of jail card’ for the next series but meantime it’s not looking good for anyone. Along the way, the humans learn a lot about themselves, well some of them do and we are treated to some very profound interactions between our friends in the TARDIS. This series of so far three ‘Stranded’ boxsets has set the bar very high for other dramas, it’s been intense but we’ve also had some laughs, like any friendships.
Sue Davies
January 2022
(pub: Big Finish, 2021. 4 CDs 294 minutes 3 stories. Price: £24.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-83868-169-2. Download: £19.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-83868-170-8)
cast: Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Hattie Morahan, Rebecca Root, Tom Price, Nicholas Briggs, Aurora Burghart, Joel James Davison, Avita Jay, Anjella MacKintosh, David Shaw-Parker, Sam Stafford, Robert Whitelock and Michael Wildman
check out website: www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-stranded-3-2171
