Live 34 is the most unique play that has been done in Doctor Who. This story is the first contribution from James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown. It sees the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex try and infiltrate a Colony and investigate the dealings of their leader, Premier Jaeger. This story is quite unique because it is told in the form of a genuine radio broadcast. For the only time in the shows history there is no theme tune. All you get is static with a few snippets of sound including the Seventh Doctor theme.
What is stranger is that we don’t hear from Ace until Part 2 and we don’t hear from Hex until Part 3. The first we hear from the Doctor is that he is somehow a leader of the FDP (Freedom and Democracy Party). Its not exactly original but it suits the way that the Seventh Doctor has been played over the last few years. We learn very quickly that Premier Jaeger is someone with a dodgy attitude. The fact that he has delayed elections for five years shows that he is someone who is afraid of people telling him what they think of him. The Doctor increasingly becomes a target for Pro-Jaeger supporters. At one point we are led to believe that he is dead, though that is just a lie because it was just to make Jaeger think he is dead. The companions are given perhaps the best material that they have ever had. Hex’s story in this is that he is a paramedic which is near what he was like back in The Harvest in 2004. He teams up with Charlotte Singh and the two seem to have a nice chemistry. This is part of the Live With series and as this segment reaches it’s climax we discover that one of the people they visit Gina. Hex investigates the hole that is in her living room and when they go down that it contains bones and it turns out that it is a mass grave. Soon after the transmission is cut. Ace’s story is perhaps the most intriguing. In this story she gets the title The Rebel Queen which is quite apt. Her story is told in Wareing’s World. The build up to her first involvement in the story is a slow burner. The reporter is led through a series of mysterious requests but soon encounters The Rebel Queen. When the interview between Wareing and Ace gets started we learn what the planet was like to begin with and it sounds a really nice place. What we also learn is that Ace bombed some buildings which is a truly shocking thing for a companion of someone like the Doctor to do. Even though the buildings were thought to be empty and in a state of disrepair it still seems like a totally strange thing to do. The revelation at the end of part four is totally amazing. We learn that Premier Jaeger is not in fact the real Jaeger. The story was that the real Jaeger contracted a minor disease and that fearing he would be unelectable got someone who looked like him and after some changes to his appearance, this guy would become the face of Premier Jaeger but the real one would work away from the public eye. Soon the fake Jaeger slowly became corrupt and put his friends in positions of power and fearing that with limiting resources and power failures he would soon be out of office and so forced terrorist attacks to delay elections. It was a brilliant build up and the execution of the story was superb.
Sylvester McCoy puts in his best performance to date. His plays the role of Resident Doctor with the realism of a politician. You can sense that he is working hard trying to defend the actions of the FDP whilst condoning the actions of the bombing. There is a question as to whether the Doctor knows that Ace did the bombings but that is never made clear. The announcement that the Doctor is dead comes as a surprise because we all know that the star of the show never dies (well not until the TV Movie) but you know he is up to something and then comes the big reveal which he revels in. Sophie Aldred performs well as the Rebel Queen. Her story had more of a story and she played the role very well. Her acting in episode four had me feeling a little uncomfortable because you could imagine what she went through at the hands of the security forces. Philip Olivier is very good as Hex. This is perhaps his best story since he joined the series. The problem with the Hex character is that unless he has something relevant to his talents then he is just someone who hangs around the Doctor and Ace. His story was the best of the three and that was because of the revelation that the house he is visiting is a mass grave. Olivier shows what he can really do when he is given the right script.
William Hoyland was the star of the show as Premier Jaeger. He was you typical Politian. He pretended that he was for the people but you knew pretty early on that something was up. The truth was denied pretty well and you knew that this Politian exists in the real world and not just in Colony 34. Andrew Collins was also very good as Drew Shahan. Collins has regularly appeared on Doctor Who Confidential and so you knew he was a fan and he plays the DJ very well and gives the perfect employee role when he has to apologise for the comments made in the programs. Zehra Naqvi puts in a great performance as Charlotte Singh. She plays the sort of journalists who work on a local newspaper or on local tv. She is trying to come across as someone who is going places but is struggling with small stories. The character gets her dues though in part four when the truth is made public.
Duncan Wiseby is also very good as Ryan Wareing and his programme was very tense and was enjoyable throughout. Wiseby does the same style of wannabe bigshot journalist that Naqvi puts in but seems to do a better job at it. Joy Elias-Rilwan is good as Lula who we learn has an emotional edge. With the loss of her brother. Her character is the deputy to Ace and then it turns out that she betrayed Ace. She is a character seems to be a likeable one but then turns out to be one that the listener dislikes and Elias-Rilwan plays well. Ann Bryson is the last of the guest stars as Gina Grewal. She is a nice character that serves her purpose and Grewal does well to create the impression she is a lonely old lady who just listens to the radio for entertainment.
Andrew Stirling-Brown and James Parsons have written a truly superb story that has all the elements that are needed for a totally original story. All the characters are well copied from real life and you feel like you are listening to real politicians and real protestors. Gary Russell does a superb job as director and perhaps does his best work for quite sometime. He manages to keep the intrigue going and by using some good music he creates an impression that Colony 34 is a truly depressing place and after the Doctor and co have done their thing the Colony will be a better place.
Overall there is nothing more than fantastic that can be said about this story. I honestly can’t think of a single thing that is wrong with this story and that’s rare in Doctor Who. I would love for Big Finish to do something like this in the future. Good stuff from everyone involved.
What is stranger is that we don’t hear from Ace until Part 2 and we don’t hear from Hex until Part 3. The first we hear from the Doctor is that he is somehow a leader of the FDP (Freedom and Democracy Party). Its not exactly original but it suits the way that the Seventh Doctor has been played over the last few years. We learn very quickly that Premier Jaeger is someone with a dodgy attitude. The fact that he has delayed elections for five years shows that he is someone who is afraid of people telling him what they think of him. The Doctor increasingly becomes a target for Pro-Jaeger supporters. At one point we are led to believe that he is dead, though that is just a lie because it was just to make Jaeger think he is dead. The companions are given perhaps the best material that they have ever had. Hex’s story in this is that he is a paramedic which is near what he was like back in The Harvest in 2004. He teams up with Charlotte Singh and the two seem to have a nice chemistry. This is part of the Live With series and as this segment reaches it’s climax we discover that one of the people they visit Gina. Hex investigates the hole that is in her living room and when they go down that it contains bones and it turns out that it is a mass grave. Soon after the transmission is cut. Ace’s story is perhaps the most intriguing. In this story she gets the title The Rebel Queen which is quite apt. Her story is told in Wareing’s World. The build up to her first involvement in the story is a slow burner. The reporter is led through a series of mysterious requests but soon encounters The Rebel Queen. When the interview between Wareing and Ace gets started we learn what the planet was like to begin with and it sounds a really nice place. What we also learn is that Ace bombed some buildings which is a truly shocking thing for a companion of someone like the Doctor to do. Even though the buildings were thought to be empty and in a state of disrepair it still seems like a totally strange thing to do. The revelation at the end of part four is totally amazing. We learn that Premier Jaeger is not in fact the real Jaeger. The story was that the real Jaeger contracted a minor disease and that fearing he would be unelectable got someone who looked like him and after some changes to his appearance, this guy would become the face of Premier Jaeger but the real one would work away from the public eye. Soon the fake Jaeger slowly became corrupt and put his friends in positions of power and fearing that with limiting resources and power failures he would soon be out of office and so forced terrorist attacks to delay elections. It was a brilliant build up and the execution of the story was superb.
Sylvester McCoy puts in his best performance to date. His plays the role of Resident Doctor with the realism of a politician. You can sense that he is working hard trying to defend the actions of the FDP whilst condoning the actions of the bombing. There is a question as to whether the Doctor knows that Ace did the bombings but that is never made clear. The announcement that the Doctor is dead comes as a surprise because we all know that the star of the show never dies (well not until the TV Movie) but you know he is up to something and then comes the big reveal which he revels in. Sophie Aldred performs well as the Rebel Queen. Her story had more of a story and she played the role very well. Her acting in episode four had me feeling a little uncomfortable because you could imagine what she went through at the hands of the security forces. Philip Olivier is very good as Hex. This is perhaps his best story since he joined the series. The problem with the Hex character is that unless he has something relevant to his talents then he is just someone who hangs around the Doctor and Ace. His story was the best of the three and that was because of the revelation that the house he is visiting is a mass grave. Olivier shows what he can really do when he is given the right script.
William Hoyland was the star of the show as Premier Jaeger. He was you typical Politian. He pretended that he was for the people but you knew pretty early on that something was up. The truth was denied pretty well and you knew that this Politian exists in the real world and not just in Colony 34. Andrew Collins was also very good as Drew Shahan. Collins has regularly appeared on Doctor Who Confidential and so you knew he was a fan and he plays the DJ very well and gives the perfect employee role when he has to apologise for the comments made in the programs. Zehra Naqvi puts in a great performance as Charlotte Singh. She plays the sort of journalists who work on a local newspaper or on local tv. She is trying to come across as someone who is going places but is struggling with small stories. The character gets her dues though in part four when the truth is made public.
Duncan Wiseby is also very good as Ryan Wareing and his programme was very tense and was enjoyable throughout. Wiseby does the same style of wannabe bigshot journalist that Naqvi puts in but seems to do a better job at it. Joy Elias-Rilwan is good as Lula who we learn has an emotional edge. With the loss of her brother. Her character is the deputy to Ace and then it turns out that she betrayed Ace. She is a character seems to be a likeable one but then turns out to be one that the listener dislikes and Elias-Rilwan plays well. Ann Bryson is the last of the guest stars as Gina Grewal. She is a nice character that serves her purpose and Grewal does well to create the impression she is a lonely old lady who just listens to the radio for entertainment.
Andrew Stirling-Brown and James Parsons have written a truly superb story that has all the elements that are needed for a totally original story. All the characters are well copied from real life and you feel like you are listening to real politicians and real protestors. Gary Russell does a superb job as director and perhaps does his best work for quite sometime. He manages to keep the intrigue going and by using some good music he creates an impression that Colony 34 is a truly depressing place and after the Doctor and co have done their thing the Colony will be a better place.
Overall there is nothing more than fantastic that can be said about this story. I honestly can’t think of a single thing that is wrong with this story and that’s rare in Doctor Who. I would love for Big Finish to do something like this in the future. Good stuff from everyone involved.
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