Dead London

Eighth Doctor Adventures #2.1

Released: January 2008

Listened: 9/22/21

This is the beginning of the second series of Lucie Miller stories, although no longer transmitted on BBC radio 7. Lucie seems to have had her hair done in between seasons, as she’s portrayed as blonde on the covers. This story is a bit on the lightweight side, but still with that new-series feel of dropping the characters into the middle of the action, where they spend half the story trying to figure out what’s going on. In this case, really in the middle, as Lucie and the Doctor start out already separated, and already in trouble. Lucie had wanted to go shopping in London, 2008, but both she and the Doctor quickly discover that London is shifting time zones with its geography, except for the rivers. This allows for lots of accents and archaic language from the guest cast, with the Doctor frequently needing to translate for the audience. Claire Buckfield returns, having last appeared in “Horror of Glam Rock,” but this time she’s playing a circus performer who moonlights as a thief. She makes a decent substitute companion while Lucie is missing, and there’s a bit of friction once she returns, but the story is too short to make much out of that. In fact, the plot doesn’t so much resolve as stop, with the Doctor and Lucie leaving without really setting everything to rights. It’s an OK episode, not a slam-bang opener like last season had.