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Memory Lane

OCTOBER 2006

(4 EPISODES)

Simply put, Memory Lane is outstanding. Every aspect of it - from Eddie Robson’s inventive debut script, to the cast’s performances, to the post-production - is flawless.

What I think stands out most about this one is its ingenuity. Lest and Argot, the villains of the piece, are a far cry from your usual Doctor Who baddies – they’re just television presenters who haven’t invented video tape, or any other means of recording events. This means that,

in order to keep their viewers entertained, they have to continually remount significant events. Significant events such as a human astronaut crash landing on their planet. They can’t help

it if this means they have to keep said human astronaut incarcerated and pacified, trapped  inside his childhood mind on a street of identical houses.

However, Memory Lane is also a wonderful character piece. This particular TARDIS team has an edge over those comprised of Doctors five through seven as their adventures are consistently, subjectively linear. Whereas we might have to go six months or more without hearing from the sixth Doctor and Evelyn, each eighth Doctor story follows the previous one. And more importantly, each eighth Doctor story builds on the previous one, something that Robson has clearly relished doing here.

“Perhaps, just for once, the voices can do something for me.”

And the last eighth Doctor audio almost pushed Conrad Westmaas’s C’rizz over the edge. He has fought for so long to stop himself getting lost amongst the myriad of voices that all exist within his head, but after being taunted by Tessa and gruesomely tortured by Rawden and Mr Twyst, C’rizz very nearly unleashed his darker side. To his credit though, in the Cube he managed to control the voices. Here though, C’rizz finds that he has an impossible choice to make. The only way to save his friends is to give in and unleash these voices, with all their different desires...

Similarly, whilst Charley’s recent

development may not have been

quite as intriguing as her cohort’s,

she isn’t to be dismissed lightly.

Memory Lane is an inspired title

for this story, at least for her, who

once again has to come face to

face with a representation of her

mother. Former television series

regular Anneke Wills reprises her

role as Lady Louisa Pollard once

again, and does nothing but impress. The scenes between Charley and her illusory mother are both charming and touching, and from listening to them it’s easy to infer that Charley is

terribly homesick. It can’t be long now before the C’rizz angle is played out, and from there

where is there for the trusty Edwardian Adventuress to go? With BBC7 on the horizon for Paul McGann and new companion Sheridan Smith, perhaps the idea that Charley’s days

are numbered isn’t so hard to believe, and if that is the case, then perhaps Lady Pollard’s appearance here could either be foreshadowing Charley’s ultimate return home, or making her failure to do so all the more torturous.

“I’ll find out by using my super Time Lord powers of looking out of the window.”

However, whatever becomes of his companions, the Doctor will always remain, and this script really caters for McGann’s vibrant portrayal. Robson’s take on the incarnation seems to have been infused with a lot of both the new series’ Doctors’ traits - not just the running around munching ice cream, watching snooker, and blundering into trouble, but also the deadly earnestness that both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant have brought to

the part.

In fact, when I was listening to it, Memory Lane conjured up a lot of imagery from the revived series, particularly from the recent episode Fear Her. A lot of this is down to its setting (or at least, supposed setting) - a normal suburban street. Who’d have thought that anyone could make those distinctive Ice Cream van chimes sound ominous? More than that though, this story feels contemporary. The dialogue refers to sport, to Star Wars Lego, and to a million and one other anachronistic things. I’ve noticed this inevitable new series influence seeping through into other plays recently too and I can’t fault it. It’s wonderful to see the new life that has been breathed into Doctor Who insidiously infecting and refreshing all branches of the Whoniverse.

And the supporting cast hold their own with the regulars, particularly Sara Carver as Kim, who sounds uncannily like Christine Adams in The Long Game; and Nina Baden-Semper, who manages to make the two dimensional character of Mrs Braudy sound enigmatic and uncannily wise, a bit like The Oracle of The Matrix movies.

At the end of the day, you just have to take your hat off to Big Finish. Every month when my subscription arrives, I still get every bit as excited as I did when the series was thought dead and buried. The stories are moving with the times and are arguably better than ever, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz when we catch up with them next .

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.

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