The Spirit Trap (2010)

2010 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Jago and Litefoot

The third instalment in this series of four sees a return to what I liked about the first story. A simple yet brilliantly told adventure. Written by Jonathan Morris (Bloodtide, Flip-Flop, Max Warp and the 2008 Toms Tardis Award Best Story Winner – The Haunting of Thomas Brewster). The story sees Jago and Litefoot attend a séance which is being attended by Ellie who wants to speak to her dead brother one more time. What is actually happening is that the soles of people who are attending these séances are being removed and replaced by other soles. The story spends the first half trying to portray that psychics are frauds who prey on vulnerable people who have lost a dear one and then the truth is revealed that Mrs Vanguard is being used and actually doesn’t recall what is going on.

I thought that part of the plot about spontaneous combustion was handled very well. I originally took it as something that wasn’t really relevant and a bit of a red herring but it was explained very well. The process that put soles back into the bodies wasn’t perfect and the body would get too hot and burst into flames. The scenes where Ellie and Jago were in the ‘afterlife’ only really worked thanks to the music and sound effects. I was glad that there was a little tension created when Ellie started talking about how her brother died. Jago and Litefoot kept a terrible secret over Ellie and there was a genuine possibility that it could have been revealed in this story. Thankfully it didn’t because it would have distracted from the main story.

It was nice that Lisa Bowerman got to do something substantial with Ellie. Apart from the loss that she suffered when her brother died in the first story, she hasn’t really developed in this series. However in this story she was the main character to drive the story. I also thought that Janet Henfrey was very good as Mrs Vanguard. The character was presented as a charlatan and whenever she was shown up as such she always came up with a great excuse. When she became free and herself her reaction to where she was was very funny. I also found Lex Shrapnel to be very good as Toby. He was very written perfectly. Not being too big to take centre stage but not been too weak and feeble to be forgotten. Last but by no means least Christopher Benjamin and George Litefoot were very good in this story. In fact I thought that Benjamin thrived as Jago because he got to show that the character could spot when things weren’t right when Litefoot would take them at face value.

This story is a well written piece by Morris and also Lisa Bowerman did another sterling job as director. This was a story that had plenty of drama and also characters that were sensible and well played. After the last story my confidence in the series dipped but was restored due to the wonderful nature of this story.