Doctor Who: Only the Monstrous

The TV show's 50th anniversary introduced us to the War Doctor, a “missing” incarnation between the 8th and 9th versions. Naturally, he only really appeared in that one episode, leaving us knowing that there was a whole series of stories that we never got to see on screen. Fortunately, despite already suffering from what proved to be terminal cancer, John Hurt agreed to appear in a series of four audio releases, of which this is the first.

It's a single three-hour story, albeit structured into three individually titled episodes. Nothing much happens in the first of these, but that turns out to be a wise decision, allowing this part of the story to focus on introducing us to this “new” Doctor and his personality. Of course, we already have some idea of that from Day of the Doctor, but here he has the freedom to be the focal point of the entire production and Hurt is (unsurprisingly) magnificent as the tortured and war-weary central character who refuses even to acknowledge his own name.

From there, however, we are into a classic type of war story, with the Doctor placed behind enemy lines to rescue a captured Time Lord strategist. The story is rather more complex than this - Briggs cites Where Eagles Dare as an inspiration in the sleeve notes, and it's easy to see why - and there's a strong tie-in to a certain classic era TV story as well.

Having said which, this is undeniably Nu Who, and those who aren't familiar with the classic series won't be missing out on anything - it's just a reference that longer-term fans will probably appreciate. Part of the Nu Who feel comes from the superb orchestral arrangement of the theme tune, strongly reminiscent of that in the Eccleston/Tennant era, but with added military bombast.

If there is a weakness, it's that the Daleks are rarely interesting foes, and it's hardly possible to write a War Doctor story that isn't largely about them. There is also, of course, no companion, although this is alleviated by having a guest character partly filling that role (as is often done in TV “specials”) and serving as the conscience and soul of the story, off-setting the Doctor's more sombre tone.

Nonetheless, the production as a whole is very high quality, with a good plot, excellent acting (and not just from Hurt) and a real insight into the Time War and how this un-numbered Doctor differs from all the others while still identifiably being the same character underneath. It'll be interesting to see where this goes once other writers get to show us their takes in the remaining three releases...