Whispers of Terror written by Justin Richards and directed by Gary Russell

Softer Six: Or not so softer six perhaps, since Justin Richards, as he has a want to do in both his novels and audios, seeks to capture the authentic voice of the Doctor and companion he is bringing to life. The opening scenes of Whispers of Terror feel extremely authentic to mid 80’s Who with the Doctor and Peri being quite rude to each other, unnecessarily so. I have long been a defender of the sixth Doctor so it pleases me to inform you that things do settle down very quickly as soon as he gets a good mystery to sink his teeth into but the regulars’ scenes bookending this adventure do suggest a return to the pre Trial relationship. Or at least that that spikiness hasn't abandoned their relationship completely. The joy of the sixth Doctor is not only his passion for his adventures and the joys of the English language but how his weaknesses slip through the cracks every now again, suggesting a much deeper character than the initially unnuanced man he appears to be. His shock reaction to Peri’s death in Mindwarp is a great example; suddenly all the bluster has gone and he can barely talk. Whispers of Terror gives the Doctor loads to do; he is as verbose and playful as ever, shouting his head off suggesting people that do so only reveal the paucity of their argument and baiting Peri into raising her voice and proving his point. He thinks he has a better sense of direction than a homing pigeon, a claim made by Hartnell’s Doctor if I remember correctly. His scenes with Beth Purnell are terrific; he seems to enjoy baiting her and manages to sniff her out as the villain straight away. Or maybe it is just because this Doctor treats everybody as though they are a minor inconvenience that they reveal their true colours quickly. In a story of speeches and performances he is the most theatrical of all, especially at the end of episode two where he positively revels in revealing the latest plot development. Can you imagine a story more tailored to this audiophile? He can be quite impatient and snappy, critical of other people’s moments of melodrama (!) and pushes his moral indignation to murder. A supporter of democracy. We’re not quite there yet making Colin Baker accessible to all audiences and the best is yet to come but huge strides are being made here. Just not all at once. Perhaps the transition would be too jarring.

American Attitude: Oh Peri, Peri, Peri….do you know I can never deicide if Peri is an integral part of the show or a complete waste of a character that had enormous potential. I love Nicola Bryant and think she is extremely game and talented, she rocked in her two stories with Davison and managed to be the best thing about The Twin Dilemma. Season 22 saw her turn into a hysterical hang along, not really contributing to the series and just there to get into scrapes and moan. It is such a waste of her character so it is nice to see that Big Finish have given her a new lease of life on audio. Peri is pretty quiet in this story; she has her initial longing to get back to the TARDIS (of course), reveals a curious eye for detail but still runs off blundering into trouble. What's so fantastic is that if you are a Peri fan or a Peri detractor then hold onto your hat because Big Finish is about to take hold of this character and make her the ideal companion for both the fifth and sixth Doctors. All it takes is to take the template of the character and give her agency and intelligence, and to remove all the blatant sexism, disturbing torture porn she experiences on TV and to give her the right amount of emotional intelligence. And that journey starts here. 

Great Ideas: Having a blind character is a stroke of genius and rather than taking the obvious route of having all the characters explain what is happening visually he uses Gantman to conceal a very important plot twist. A life form that has manipulated itself as a sound wave and can escape through any medium that carries sound has so many possibilities. The only thing it can’t do is be absolutely quiet because it exists as sound (I love how this creature could have been any sound that was running through our ears…very creepy). Having the Doctor capture him by taping him onto a CD is inspired. In one of the creepiest sequences of the first 50 releases, Purnell tortures Crane by starting to delete parts of the soundwave. The creature plans to manifest a version of itself everywhere that the broadcast is received and birth millions of mad, homicidal waveforms. This early in the run where the imaginative choices with the audio medium are not exhausted, was an astonishingly creative idea. Purnell’s death scene is a surprise ending, tricked into opening a sound file sent by (the apparently dead) Stenguard and ripping her car to pieces. I was waiting for the twist that the story we are listening to is somehow entirely recorded and the last refuge of Crane. Make the listener terrified that they are the one person that was harbouring the lunatic. 

Standout Performance: Lisa Bowerman who I simply adore as Bernice Summerfield makes a surprisingly uncharismatic villain which is quite refreshing in Doctor Who. She is a plain speaking, conniving, political Nazi. I love her casual ‘How dare you!’ when the Doctor starts accusing her of manipulating the speeches – she can’t even be bothered to sound genuinely hurt. Her nonchalance in the face of Colin Baker's brashness is very amusing. Bowerman is too good an actress to be giving a lazy performance and so this is a deliberate acting choice. 

Ham Fisted: Rebecca Jenkins is a little too hysterical in places. Sometimes less is more.

Sparkling Dialogue: This is a Justin Richards script so I expected some gems…
‘Something grand and theatrical from the old school of acting no doubt, loud, bombastic, not my sort of thing really.’ – the nerve of this, coming from the sixth Doctor. 
‘I think there’s more to this than meets the ear!’
‘Strange, I was there when Barclay searched you but some how he missed this knife. Those voices must have really screwed you up.’ This was a really creepy scene.
‘If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it!’
‘I hope it gets better than this' - dangerous ground for a script. At least this one is a zinger.
‘Democracy – an outdated, unworkable system that disperses power so thinly it hardly exists. A morally justifiable way of doing nothing. Procrastination made politic!’
‘We’ll drop by in a few years to hear how you’re getting on.’
‘Now I’ve heard everything.’ The TARDIS dematerialisation sound described succinctly in am audio all about sound. 

Audio landscape: Gary Russell’s first step into the directors chair is mostly magnificent. It's a challenging script by Justin Richards, who is asking him to create an audio landscape with a sound creature, several murders, cars crashing and all sorts of audio jiggery pokery. The death of Fotherill lingers in the memory, creepy voices, manic laughter, screaming…it is an assault of disturbing sounds. The end of the first episode reminds me strongly of The Face of Evil (‘Tell me who I am!’) and is chaotic and surreal.

Musical Cues: This is an genuine 80’s score, intrusive, synthesised, bold and occasionally atmospheric. Even Nick Briggs hates some of it but apparently it was written in quite a rush. Big Finish are still taking their baby steps, soon they would abandon trying to imitate what has been and forge their own path.

Isn’t that Odd: That the middle of the CD booklet is a disgusting sickly yellow colour. Whose idea was that? The end of episode three is really badly directed – it feels like it should be an important moment but its plain with a minimum of sound effects. Russell is learning his art. Before the end of his run he would have created some of the finest aural set pieces in Doctor Who. Some of which have never been bested. 

Something I learnt from The Inside Story: Justin Richards reads the first episode to test its length and it came out at 45 minutes long. When he asked Gary Russell if he could do another audio and what he was after, Russell replied ‘Something simpler!’

Standout Moment: Purnell causing her own political suicide was punch-the-air good. The Doctor secretly broadcasts her confession to murdering Crane. His Doctor was rarely written as being crafty on television and so it is beautiful that in his first full story from Big Finish that he walks the villain into a situation where they are hoist by their own petard. 

Result: An interesting story written by a strong storyteller who has put some real thought into how to construct a tale on audio. What's odd about Whispers of Terror in retrospect is that Justin Richards knocks it out of the park with his first script and dynamically uses sound in some wildly experimental scenes and yet as the range progresses he would become the go to writer for more pedestrian, traditional affairs. Highlights include the very idea of the Museum of Aural Antiquities, a sound creature, speeches holding the narrative together and creative use of a (brilliant) blind character that can disguise plot twists. At times the story is a little too authentic to the time period it hails from as the music drones on and the Doctor and Peri bicker but the plot and direction are more than good enough to see you though. Colin Baker seems to relish being back in the driving seat but his best work is still to come and butts heads memorably with Lisa Bowerman here, a world away from their very different (but equally memorable) roles in the Bernice Summerfield audio Birthright. I like experimental stories (and this is range that pushed away from that in it's latter stages so lap them up while they are being attempted) and Whispers of Terror stylishly commits to telling a audio tale as intriguingly and as intellectually as possible: 8/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/