The Crooked Man (2014)

As this third series progresses, The Crooked Man is one of those stories that quickly seemed to gain a very good reputation. The reaction on twitter was very positive and normally I find myself not quite disagreeing with that feeling but not agreeing 100% with it. I have recently subscribed to the fact that your surroundings help your enjoyment and I started listening to this whilst I was in Aberystwyth waiting for my train.  The first few minutes were very atmospheric and the one thing that I will say straight away is that I really enjoyed this release and part of that is down to the music and sound design. The idea of setting a story on the coast is a good one and that’s just one of many things that I like about this story.

This story has a grim feel to it and it’s not just down to the deaths that occur including one where someone is killed by having pages from a book rammed down his throat. The performance of Neil Stuke who plays the titled Crooked Man helps make this one of the most memorable baddies in recent audio plays.

Tom Baker adds some much needed light relief to what is a dark story. Tom Baker can always be relied upon to insert some funny stuff when its needed and seems to be on exceptionally fine form in this story. I also think that Louise Jameson puts in another solid performance and the two of them work so well together I wish that this is what we   would have got during their TV time. I thought that the supporting cast were also really good. I liked Sarah Smart (Laura Corbett) & Robin Pearce (Simon Corbett). The rest of the cast all work really well to create an

This is my favourite Fourth Doctor story of this series so far and the other stories will have to try really hard to beat this. The Crooked Man is a spooky and atmospheric tale with great performances and also a story that isn’t too complicated and ends at just the right time and doesn’t out stay its welcome or feel like it’s padded to oblivion. This story is classic John Dorney, he wrote the brilliant ‘The Wrath of the Iceni’ and this is just as good and this current series of Fourth Doctor continues its good run of form and long may it continue.