The Mummy Speaks! [AUDIO/2022.1.19]

★★★★☆

  Can I ever properly describe just how much I love The Mummy Speaks! in this blog post? How I love it with all its eccentricities and portrayal of Charley and the wonderful sound design and Guy, the gorilla? Well, I can but try. Alan Barnes having a fantastic grasp on Charley was never a question (he wrote her first story, after all), and he truly outdoes himself with this audio drama -- an evocative adventure set in 19th-century Paris, with Egyptian artifacts, mummies, scarabs, public executions and more. From the get-go, a fantastic dynamic between India Fisher and Paul McGann leads you along a story jam-packed with thrills to sate the needs of any Edwardian adventurer, from funfair mysteries to gorillas wearing cravats saving innocent maidens from imminent, unjust death. The mummy in question is presented as a sympathetic sort, played with great conviction by Cyril Nri, before it turns into the big bad villain everybody was waiting it to be. This is a love letter not only to the very first series of the Eighth Doctor monthly range adventures (as I'm assuming that space in continuity is where it fits), but to Egyptology nuts and the novels and films they made during the early part of the 20th century. Eight and Charley fit that atmosphere so well, both are having such a fun time, and the result is such a fun time, such a delight of an audio drama.