The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook

Fourth Doctor Adventures #10.3

Released: 10 February 2021

Listened: 3/2/22

We’re jumping a ways ahead from a production standpoint, but it’s made clear in this story that Leela is still learning to read, so it belongs here. In later seasons, the Fourth Doctor Adventures converted back to full-length stories, so this one stands out at two hours. The Doctor and Leela run across the titular Thadeus and his girlfriend, who have stumbled into possession of a rather sketchy time machine, one that causes temporal damage when used. Thadeus doesn’t know that, though, and he’s running tours to critical flashpoints in history, like D-Day and the Kennedy assassination. Leela ends up with him, with the Doctor trying to catch up. Leela expresses a lot of confidence in the Doctor’s abilities, which is partially unwarranted. There’s something bigger going on, though, involving acolytes of a dead warlord who want to change history. It’s a very mobile story, with scenes in lots of different places and times, which wouldn’t really work on TV, so Andrew Smith is really taking advantage of the medium here. The secondary characters are well developed, with Brendan Murphy playing the con man with a good heart, and Laura Riseborough as his long-suffering girlfriend who sees him as more than what he is. The baddies don’t make as much of an impression, but that’s OK, because it’s the character growth that’s important. Running across other time travelers is always good fun, and this story plays with the conventions nicely.