Memories of a Tyrant written by Roland Moore and directed by John Ainsworth

What’s it about: What if you’d committed a truly dreadful crime but couldn’t remember? The Doctor takes Peri to the Memory Farm – a state of the art space station where hidden memories can be harvested and analysed. To their surprise, they find the station in lock-down and all its resources dedicated to probing the memories of an elderly man. Garius Moro may, or may not, have been responsible for the deaths of billions of people many years ago, but he simply can’t remember. The assembled representatives of two opposing factions, each with their own agenda, anxiously wait for the truth to be unlocked from Moro’s mind. But when a memory does eventually surface, everyone is surprised to learn that it is of Peri...

Softer Six: ‘At least there are no giant maggots…’ For the Doctor there are plenty memories that he would rather not dredge up again, that he would rather not relive. This was supposed to be a nice break from people pointing guns at them but somehow the TARDIS cannot help but deliver them into the path of trigger-happy people who aren’t happy to see them. He’s still got his bite, electrifying the floor when attacked to subdue his assailant. He hopes he doesn’t regenerate soon, he’s grown rather fond of this body. Much like Azmael, Dastari and ‘Tonker’ Travers, the Doctor reacquaints himself with a friend that he has met previously off-screen. How fabulous to hear the Doctor saying: ‘They won’t kill me! I’m a very famous war criminal!’ Much like The Twin Dilemma and Mindwarp, the Doctor is painted in villainous colours and much like the Doctor of this era and the end of Trial it is all subterfuge to hide the fact that he really is quite a hero. Has a Doctor ever been shaded in such villainous shades before? It’s because Baker plays it so well. He’s finally got the technology to spread a pacifist message and to make people believe that it is there own desire. I’m not sure I approve of this kind of brainwashing but as a way out of the climax, it is frightfully clever.

Busty Babe: It has been an astounding amount of time since Nicola Bryant last turned up in a main range story leading to all kinds of speculation as to why that might be. I’m wondering if it is simply because Alan Barnes (former script editor as of this story) simply wasn’t fond of the character and decided to give others a crack at the whip. Whatever the reason it is a great shame because, as proven here, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant have possibly the best chemistry of any Big Finish line up at this moment in time, a friendship that has been forged over 30 years and a chance to play the relationship between the sixth Doctor and Peri the way they had wanted to on television. In a weird quirk of fate the sixth Doctor and Peri have gone through one of the most loathed combinations on television to one of the most sought after combinations on audio. How things come in and out fashion are wonderful like that. Peri is astonished that the Doctor has gotten her to the right place for once, and he thinks she’s pretty cute for suggesting it. There’s so much that Peri cannot remember about her dad as she was only 13 when he died. It’s rather touching when we start rooting about in Peri’s memories and get to listen to her as a child. Audio has truly afforded this character a great deal of development not bestowed on television. She had a few hiccups with the Doctor but she trusts him totally now. Peri might not remember meeting Moro…but what if she meets him in the future? Her parents are called Janine and Paul.

Standout Performance: Joseph Mydell has a challenging part to play, having to convince as both a subdued, potentially innocent man who’s memories are being sifted and a madman who remembers murdering without apology. Colin Baker hasn’t been given the opportunity to act his socks off in such an interesting way since The Curse of Davros.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘You fainted. I think it was all the stress of trying to avoid being eaten by your lunch.’
‘I remember the feeling of fear. People cowering, hoping they wouldn’t be noticed.’
‘Typical lawyer, obsessed with pedantry.’
‘You don’t seem like a dictator.’
‘I’m the only one who knows and I can’t remember.’

Great Ideas: The Doctor has brought Peri to the Memory Farm, one of the foremost research facilities for the retrieval and assimilation of memories. Every moment you have experienced is all in your mind and at the Memory Farm they can exhume even the most buried of memories. It’s an exciting prospect but what if the memories aren’t what you’re hoping for? Sylanoids are half amphibian, half plant. Garius Moro is a man who was responsible for genocide on an interplanetary scale, wiping out billions of people in the blink of an eye and was never caught. Is the evidence against him compelling or circumstantial? Time to start borrowing into his memories to find out. The Memory Farm is currently positioned in a neutral part of the galaxy and the space security forces are on standby. How fascinating to be able to witness a real memory and not your skewered memory of it. We all remember details erroneously. The machine then matches music to how it makes you feel. If you’ve (potentially) killed billions of people then any of their relatives or friends could be on board trying to assassinate you. Finding an unbiased jury against Moro would be problematic. What if there was a way to make false memories flood through the station? The real perpetrator could point the finger at an innocent and have them believe that it is a fact.

Standout Scene: The build up to the reveal at the end of episode two is expertly handled. Who the hell is Moro? When the truth comes to light I had goosebumps.

Result: How is it possible that a genocidal maniac recognises Peri when she has no memory of him? What a refreshing story for the main range; intelligent and dramatic. It’s an exploration of a fascinating science fiction idea (a machine that can dig up memories as they were rather than how you remember them), a psychological study (is Moro a murderer?), a mystery (how does he remember Peri?) and a whodunnit. John Ainsworth is unapologetic in his willingness to slow things down to allow the exploration of all of these aspects of the story, given the actors space to really impress. Tyrant is produced, directed and script edited by Ainsworth so this is his first attempt to put his stamp on the main range and he’s pulled across the impressive Roland Moore, a writer who is unafraid to put character first, for a memorable debut outing. There’s an entire episode where Peri grapples psychologically with a potential mass murderer to try and stir up some of his memories. The question is in a story about repressed memories…can the ones that surface be trusted? It’s a fantastic story for both the Doctor and Peri, appropriate given we haven’t enjoyed this combination for five years. Peri is particularly participatory (try saying that three times fast) and given a juicy dramatic role, proving the Doctor’s innocence when all the evidence points the finger at him. What I really enjoyed was how naturalistically it all plays out. So many Doctor Who audio dramas are pitched at a hysterical level whereas this story plays out as it really would; procedurally, passionately but not melodramatically. With so many false leads, the mystery lasts the two-hour length and it all comes to a head satisfactorily in the final episode which refuses to dish out easy answers. A main range adventure with some substance…who would have thought it? Should somebody be punished if they cannot remember the crime they committed? You decide: 8/10