Pier Pressure (2006)

The first story of 2006 is Pier Pressure which is the second story that comes from Robert Ross. Ross’s previous adventure was the 2004 story Medicinal Purposes. Ross wrote in some funny things in this story which worked quite well. The mention of Robert Knox from Medicinal Purposes was an obvious attempt to bring the listeners attention to that story and remind everyone that the two stories have come from the same author. The line about the BBC not taking care of its stars was a nice knock at Michael Grade (Controller of BBC1) and the BBC for its treatment of Doctor Who when it went on ‘hiatus’ in 1985. The line about the TARDIS not liking Blackpool was an obvious reference to the well known plan that the start of the 1986 season would have featured a story set in Blackpool. One of the things that also links Medicinal Purposes and Pier Pressure is that there is a duo that works very well, in Medicinal Purposes it was Billy Hare and William Burke and in this story there was Albert and Emily Bung.

The thing that I always think about stories which have a traditional earth setting with an alien menace is how did the alien threat get started. In this story it is answered. The revelation from Talbot about this story was quite interesting. The fact that a meteorite crashed into the sea which carried the species of Indo. It injected enough of a science element to get me interested and it carried the story. The death of Emily is handled very well and was quite moving. With the Doctor explaining to Emily’s mother what has happened to her daughter isn’t heard in this story but that is perhaps just as well because it would have taken a shine of this story.
Roy Hudd was the stories’ big star. He is perhaps most notable for starring in the popular British Soap Coronation Street from November 2002 and his portrayal of Max Miller was well written and well acted by Hudd. You get the feeling that he is a character that you should feel pity for as it appears his career is not in the best shape it once was. The thing about the character is that it is quite similar to Hudd himself. Hudd has had a distinguished career in the theatre as well as television. Colin Baker was very good in this story and his relationship with Maggie Stables is a very strong one and it is obvious that the pair enjoy working as well. With Baker also having a distinguished career in the theatre it was obvious that he was enjoying himself with this story and the sci-fi element also seem to add to his enjoyment. We do see a different side to the Doctor, when the gets to what has happened here he is not sympathetic to the inhabitants (or former) of Indo. It might have something to do with the fact that his beloved Human beings are at jeopardy. Maggie Stables is perhaps one of my favourite Big Finish Original companions. She isn’t a traditional companion by about 40 years. Albert Potter was played by Martin Parsons and his character is alright but it’s the voice, it is completely annoying and that is because it is a horrible over done Cockney accent. I don’t know what it is about people doing accents that are not normal but it never works. I know that the story is set in 1936 Brighton but that’s’ no excuse really. Emily Bung is played by Sally Ann Curran and she is played in the typical stereotype and by that I mean that she is always treated like she is less of a person than Billy and that is due to the way the world thought then. It was quite obvious that due to the fact she was a nice character and not a baddy that she was going to be a victim and that happened in Part Two. Doug Bradley is very good as Professor Talbot. He is very nice when he is Talbot but when his personality changes he becomes the exact opposite. It is the final 2/3 of the story before he really shines but when it happens then it is really good and the pace of the story moves up a gear.

The story is written well by Robert Ross who has managed to maintain the quality of storytelling that he managed in Medicinal Purposes. He had a big enough character that he could have some serious dialogue. The fact is Ross could have done a sequel to Medicinal Purposes with a different setting but similar in the scheme that the baddy has planned. It was always going to be difficult to top Medicinal Purposes and whilst it isn’t quite as good it is still enjoyable as a lone story. This story has been well directed by Gary Russell. The thing that stands out about Pier Pressure for me is that it has the feel of a Scooby Doo adventure where there are a band of people trying to solve a mystery. He still manages to create a good feel to the story and keep it going well enough. He was picked all the right cast with some more than suitable choices for the more important characters like Max Miller and Professor Talbot.

Overall this is a good story. Baker and Stables are as enjoyable as you would expect from them and they are helped in this story with some actors and some very good music and sound effects. In fact it is the music and sound effects that I think help add an eerie feeling to the story. Its never just the words and the way that they are said that creates an atmosphere, it’s the music and with the absence of any visual effects to help the story it is even more important to get the music and sound effects right. Hopefully we will get another story off Ross but with there being a two year gap between the two it would probably be best to assume that we will be waiting till mid-2008.