The Stuntman

Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions #2

Released: 14 September 2022

Listened: 10/31/22

Moving on from Leela, Nyssa is up next. In her personal timeline, she’s commanding the hospital ship Traken, just as she was in “A Heart on Both Sides,” but that doesn’t seem to have happened for her yet; she hasn’t started her family yet either. However, the Doctor finds her as a stunt person in a massive movie studio, with a protective stuntman father. Which is a strange thing for Nyssa to be doing, because it’s a virtual reality simulation. Nyssa’s “father,” Kent Novum, is actually K-9, who entered the VR to protect Nyssa, but got caught in the narrative. Which allows John Leeson to play a human, and one his own age as well. Kent is a fantastic character, quite a bit braver and more emotional than one might have expected for K-9. Leeson manages to carry the scene in which “Kent” realizes he’s in fact a robot dog, which has got to be a challenge for any actor. Unfortunately, the bad guy isn’t nearly as well realized, and Nyssa spends rather too much time in distress, and not being herself. Writer Lizzie Hopley seems to be trying to focus on the relationships here, and John Leeson overshadows the other actors, making this story probably the weakest of the set.