Scenes From Her Life [AUDIO/2016.3.3]

★★★☆☆

  After the dullness of Beachhead, what Doom Coalition needed was a jolt of imagination and excitement. An introduction of another central character to the arc in the form of a story set in a Gothic monstrosity that is a decaying TARDIS, zigzagging between past and present in two different perspectives? Well, it certainly entertains me far better than its predecessor, I'll give it that.

  Paul McGann is, oddly enough, not the strongest point of Scenes From Her Life. Oh, he's fantastic as always, but it's Hattie Morahan's Helen Sinclair that takes center stage due to her role in sympathising with the central character, Time Lord Caleera. There's something to be said about Time Lord society and their inherent elitism, and John Dorney weaves this expertly with the hint of a character journey of Caleera's allowing her to manipulate Helen by pretending to understand the latter's own experiences of having her career hindered by an ancient and misogynistic power structure. It's a fantastic way of allowing Helen to display her own character traits, to show that she has a spot in the current TARDIS crew — although, I suppose, it's ultimately not the most flattering moment for her since she acted as the catalyst to Caleera's escape. It's a beautiful moment indeed, then, when Helen apologises to the Doctor and Liv for falling for the evil Time Lord's trap and the Doctor comforts her by saying she couldn't have known better, and that he was the one who pressed the button anyway. Despite all the things he's been through from the final series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures to the end of Dark Eyes 4, he's still a compassionate fellow.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  Scenes From Her Life is a vast improvement on Beachhead, with John Dorney letting his creative brain on the loose again and creating both a fascinating villain and a wonderful setting to bring to life on the audio medium. Think one or two drops of Gothic horror in a puddle of surreal imagery and twisted black-comedy characters, with a twist two-thirds of the way in that's honestly pulled off really well.