STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS STORY TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE BIG

 FINISH AUDIO DRAMAS

 "CATCH-1782" AND

 "THE WISHING BEAST."

 

 THE FLASHBACK SCENES

 IN THIS STORY DEPICT

 THE EVENTS THAT LED

 TO EVELYN ULTIMATELY

 PARTING COMPANY

 WITH THE DOCTOR.

 

 PRODUCTION CODE

 7C/U

 

 WRITTEN BY

 PAUL SUTTON

 

 DIRECTED BY

 EDWARD SALT

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 BIG FINISH CD#73

 (ISBN 1-84435-159-9)

 RELEASED IN SEPTEMBER

 2005.

  

 BLURB

 THREE YEARS AFTER

 Világ was all but

 laid waste by the

 Killorans, the Doctor

 is back alongside a

 different companion.

 And a lot has

 changed.

 

 Now elected Principle

 Triumvir, head of a

 tripartite

 government, Rossiter

 is working to secure

 a peaceful future for

 the planet by

 researching the

 technology the

 Killorans left behind.

 But he has to contend

 with opposition from

 his daughter, Sofia,

 who heads a public

 campaign demanding

 the destruction of all

 alien artefacts.

 

 Politics has caused a

 rift between father

 and daughter, and as

 if that weren't

 enough, Sofia doesn't

 approve of her new

 step-mother either.

 Emotions soon boil

 over into violence, a

 violence that seems

 to have gripped the

 entire city.

 

 Friendships bind

 people close, but they

 say that blood is...

 

 PREVIOUS                                                                                  NEXT

 

Thicker Than Water

September 2005

(4 EPISODES)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

I am glad that Paul Sutton was given the opportunity not only to write a sequel to his wonderful play “Arrangements For War,” but also to give Maggie Stables’ popular companion Evelyn Smythe the send-off that she deserves. Her gentle romance with Rossiter in “Arrangements For War” felt at the very least unresolved, and I believe that marrying Evelyn off to him to live (for however long she may have left) happily ever after is a far more befitting fate than those posited by either “Real Time” or "Instruments of Darkness" (fates that I am sure Gary Russell will ‘fix’ when “Real Time II” is eventually produced!)

 

“Thicker Than Water” does its job perfectly. The Doctor and Evelyn’s “last dance” is every bit the emotional rollercoaster that one would imagine, but in the spirit of their adventurous friendship it is also a damn good science fiction story. Sutton weaves these two strands together perfectly, with the threat at first appearing to come from Rossiter’s own daughter, Sofia. Ultimately though, it is Sofia’s mentor, Szabo, who is revealed to be the real villain of the piece; Sofia guilty of nothing more than feeling resentment towards her new step-mother. Moreover, despite many of the original characters from “Arrangements For War” being either dead or incarcerated, Sutton strongly ties this story to its predecessor by once again involving the Killorans who invaded Világ during that story. This time, however, they are the victims – prisoners of war ruthlessly experimented upon by Szabo – as are many of Világ’s natives… including Evelyn who has been infected with Killoran blood. Sutton’s title “Thicker Than Water” ultimately proves to be truly inspired as Evelyn’s life is saved by a transfusion

of the Doctor’s blood! Sheer poetry.

 

This parting of the ways is truly touching, especially after all the heartache the Doctor and Evelyn have been through together. Two years prior to this story, the Doctor would not even go to Evelyn’s wedding. Now, he talks freely about what a calming influence Evelyn was to him and how much he misses her. Over the course of this story all the secrets between the Doctor and Evelyn are finally laid bare; he learns of her fatal heart condition, and she, well…

 

“Evelyn never forgave you, right up to the end.”

-   The seventh Doctor to his clone in “Project: Lazarus”  

 

For the second time the seventh Doctor makes an uncredited appearance in a sixth Doctor play. This time, however, it is far more profoundly effective, and serves to effectively heal the wounds of both characters and also to have ramifications much later on in the Doctor’s life. Cassie died horrifically in “Project: Lazarus” and the Doctor could do nothing to stop it. Evelyn never forgave him. In the final moments of “Thicker Than Water,” the seventh Doctor crosses his own time stream to fill in his former companion on something he feels that she simply must know. Something that will bring her comfort. Cassie (from “Project: Twilight”

and “Project: Lazarus”) had a son who she always spoke of, little Tommy. Little Thomas Hector Schofield. Thomas ‘Hex’ Schofield… finally the Doctor’s understated epiphany in “The Harvest” is explored: Hex is little Tommy, all grown-up. The knowledge that out of the horrors of the Forge could come some good is enough for Evelyn to finally forgive her former travelling companion, to make amends with the sixth Doctor before he takes off into space and time forever.

 

“I love you.”

 

And so as one door closes, another opens. It cannot be long now, chronologically speaking, before the Doctor casts away the shell of “the Colourful Jester” in order to eventually become “Time’s Champion” and, thanks to Big Finish Productions, Colin Baker’s Doctor has become far more than a mere jester. His performances alongside Maggie Stables, Robert Jezek, and even Bonnie Langford have been amongst the best of the entire range and have cemented his place in history as the audio Doctor; the definite article.

 

And if “Thicker Than Water” does indeed mark the chronological end for the Doctor and Evelyn, it does not necessarily have to be the end for Colin Baker and Maggie Stables. Big Finish could easily pick up their story somewhere in between “Arrangements For War” and Evelyn’s return to Világ, or even after "Instruments of Darkness", if they are feeling really brave!

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

 

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

 

  

It is difficult to reconcile these events with the novel Instruments of Darkness, published four years earlier, in which Evelyn and Mel first met.

 

We take the view that the Time Lords lifted Mel out of time (to give evidence at the Doctors trial) shortly after Instruments of Darkness, and that her resultant memory loss (precedent for which was set in The Trial of a Time Lord) is why she isn’t able to recall Evelyn in Thicker than Water. Evelyn’s memory is a little trickier to explain, but it could feasibly be ascribed to aging.  

                                                                                                                       Thanks to Jason Robbins

 

Unless otherwise stated, all images on this site are copyrighted to the BBC and are used solely for promotional purposes.

Doctor Who is copyright © by the BBC. No copyright infringement is intended.