Starring Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant & Jamie Parker
Originally Written by Brian Finch
Adapted by Paul Finch
Directed by Ken Bentley
No one lives to old age in the village. When their Time is come, they are taken and never seen again. That is The Way. And, should anyone try to break with the established order of things, then the fury of Herne the Hunter is unleashed...
When the TARDIS materialises near a castle in this medieval society, the Doctor and Peri befriend Gurth, a terrified youth who is attempting to flee his fate. And Herne is closing in...
Why does the local baron impose the culling? What is the secret of Zeron? And who are the Sentinels of the New Dawn?
The answers lie within a cave...
Leviathan was a Lost Story that, when it was released, I knew barely anything about. I assumed it must have been dropped because it wasn't very good, especially as it was coming from the pen of an author who had never written for the show before. However, I must say this is probably the best story from this first season of Lost Stories, in every way it's a minor classic. Well written, acted, directed and produced, this story is a real hidden gem. No wonder this story was tacked onto the schedule at last minute because of an email from Doctor Who Magazine, because even from the sound of the script it's such a great sounding drama.
Brian Finch's original plot is so interesting and dynamic that it beggars belief as to why it never appeared on screen. I imagine that it may have stretched the budget to breaking point, but they may have just about get away with it. However, like Foe From The Future or First Sontarans, it's a real feather in Big Finish's cap to have this story, and, if it had been made on TV, I imagine that the realisation of this story would have suffered. There obviously massive advantages to doing this story on audio, and it actually fits really well into the audio medium. Part of me wonders if having Brian's son, Paul Finch, to write it helped, as it's impossible to work out where Brian began and Paul ended. The plot is so strong, with wonderful twists and turns that manage to excite the audience. That first episode really builds up to a wonderful cliffhanger that manages to work as a visual piece and an aural piece as well. The location as well is so distinct that it's so easy to visualise. Sometimes alien worlds in the future and spaceships and extra dimensional beings become very difficult to visualise differently. However, an English castle near a small town in a wooded clearing is very easy to visualise and that means it's a very distinct location for this story. The 'green world' theory is usually present in comic dramas, but it's used well and manages to give it dramatic legs and it makes a nice contrast to the corridors of the spaceships we find ourselves in in the second episodes.
The characters are a very distinct bunch, each of them different and interesting. The rebel youths are more than the goody goody heroes of Robin Hood legends, but are more shades of grey. Normally, youths in Big Finish audios never come off very well, but in this instance they manage to pull it off reasonably well. It's nice to see Big Finish managing to do something very different to how they normally do, especially considering the poor acting talent of the youths in the previous story Mission To Magnus. The three scrap merchants, however, are a little more cliched, but never the less still very interesting. One thing that we really should note is the number of doubling up between actors. Normally these Lost Stories require a lot of doubling up anyway, but in this case there's actor's playing three characters and in some cases even four characters. But Big Finish have such a strong cast of regular actors in this story. Beth Chalmers, John Banks, Derek Carlyle, Jamie Parker and Howard Gossington all play more than one character. But all of them manage to sound completely different and they do make each character very interesting. And once more, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are one more fantastic at recreating there parts from 1985. But unlike in the previous two stories, certainly in Colin's case, but this does apply to Nicola too, there personalities match better those of you would see (whoops, I mean hear!) in the main range. Ken Bently's direction and Simon Robinson's sound design and music is phenomenal, really coungering up this rustic paradise, with it's horses and dogs and castles. It is a very rich and strong soundscape.
So, Leviathan is such a wonderful story, with all it's elements coming together perfectly to form a wonderful storyline. After 25 years, it was so nice to hear what would have been a very good slice of 80's Doctor Who. As it is, it's an excellent Doctor Who story with a wonderful premise, a strong plot and a good cast. Everything element comes together to create one of the strongest Lost Stories money can buy.
TARDIS Rating - 9/10
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