Starring Colin Baker, Leslie Phillips & Maggie Stables
Written by Robert Ross
Directed by Gary Russell
Edinburgh, 1827.
The infamous body snatchers William Burke and William Hare are at large. The local prostitutes dull their fear with cheap whisky. The graveyard owls are hooting. Business is good.
When accidental tourists the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe stumble upon one of Britain's most lurid, illuminating chapters in history, a simple case of interest in the work of dedicated man of science Doctor Robert Knox quickly turns sour.
Just what is that time-bending Scots mist? Whatever it is may put the very fabric of the universe under threat...
As always.
Medicinal Purposes is one of those of audios that never seems to get recognition, despite the fact that it has some particularly good elements. It's actually quite an enjoyable little piece, self contained and admitly small scale, but not every story can deal with alien invasions and the destruction of the universe. The atmosphere conjured up by this story gives it it's distinct flavour, and, while yes, it maybe slow going, but the period details and distinct flavour of the story give it it's rustic charm. However, one thing that really does let this story is it's plot. It's trying to do what The Aztecs was doing in 1964, but without the idea that the companion is trying to change history. At times it just seem like a dry rehashing of the facts of what happened, rather than an actual story.
The plot starts out as an intresting mystery that sees a change in history that The Doctor and Evelyn have to fix, but then starts to twist into something more percuilar. I think that Robert Ross would have better cutting the sci-fi elements of the plot, but I suppose that if that had been done, we would have had to loose the wonderful Dr Robert Knox, elegantly played by Leslie Phillips. The twist that he has a TARDIS all of his own is a brave choice, especially considering that inevitable comparisons between Knox and 60's foe The Meddling Monk would have been drawn. However, Leslie Phillips is a wonderful actor, and manages to make the part all his own. In fact, I couldn't imagine another actor playing the part. However, most of these sci-fi ideas just aren't needed, rather it would have been better to present the story as a historical, or at least remove the alien parts of the plot and instead trying to just show Knox messing with history, rather than working for someone else. The second half therefore turns into a tawdry runaround which is just going 'oh no, Mary's going to die!' The fist half was rather more intresting, with a moral debate about the work of Burke and Hare, but the the second half just sufferes from the sci-fi elements of the plot. The idea that the events in Edinburgh have been pre-planned is a rather silly one and the whole second half twists upon itself. The answers that we get just aren't good enough to justify 130 minutes of audio drama.
The cast in this one do bring it up a little more, espcially the aforementioned Leslie Phillips. Some have been critical of David Tennant's performance in the past few years, but frankly it's not actually that bad. It's quite difficult to play characters with a mental disorder, so give Tennant some due. He does, in actual fact, does it quite well, and Glenna Morrison is excellent as his friend, Mary. She does seem quite a tortured character, and Glenna is an excellent actress. Tom Farrelly and Kevin O'Leary make up the classic Burke/Hare duo, and there both admitly the steriotypically Irish thugs that you would expect, but there not really the main characters. There just window dressing for a much grander storyline. Gary Russell doesn't try to do anything exceptional with his direction, neither David Darlington's music and sound design, instead just trying to give us a generally average production. And that's not bad, it's just not very inspiring.
Sadly, this is a story that is let down by it's poor plot rather than any other fault. It meanders too much and never really gives us any strong answers. The rest of the elements are all strong, but without a plot to hold them together, they just fade away into the Scots mist.
TARDIS Rating - 5/10
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