Starring Paul McGann, Hattie Morahan, Nicola Walker, Jeremy Clyde & Ian Puleston-Davies.Written by John Dorney & Directed by Ken Bentley.
Earth. The late 20th century. Across the world, the mobile phone is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age.
But for the residents of a sleepy English town sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost.
When the TARDIS veers off-course, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well.
After eight episodes, the Doom Coalition arc seemed to be going nowhere really, merely laying hints for the future that didn't really seem that interesting or exciting. I hoped that, with this third box set, the questions that the first two sets had built up would begin to be answered. And, while Absent Friends is only one quarter of Doom Coalition 3, if this story is anything to go by, then the answer will be no. But, in this one in a million instance, it doesn't matter. Because, for one very special hour, we can put the whole of the Doom Coalition arc, all the talk of Sonomancers and Gallifrey and the Eleven to one side. For one hour, we are treated to quite possibly the best character material that Big Finish has ever put out, in it's eighteen year history. Absent Friends is, quite possibly, one of the best Doctor Who Big Finish audios ever, and actually gets close to being one of the best Doctor Who stories in any medium.
The story concept is devilishly simple: people have been getting random phone calls from friends and family members who have passed away. It all seems to be linked to Superville Com, a telecommunications company that have just built a new mast outside the village in question. The Doctor believes that the company is a front for an alien invasion. He intends to investigate, find out what they're up to... Only, aside from some dodgy (but mostly innocent) business practices, they're entirely innocent. These phone calls are, as the Doctor puts it, natural. That's a fantastic conceit from Dorney, and one that means that, once the story gets past the half-way mark, you genuinely have no idea what is going to happen next. Of course, there is a sci-fi explanation (naturally, this is Doctor Who after all), but it's so naturally integrated into the story, you wouldn't find it jarring or intrusive. In this story, it's all about how the sci-fi McGuffin affects the characters, rather than what it is, and that's where Dorney scores big time. Because it's about how it affects the people involved, it becomes more than what you would expect from a regular Doctor Who story. Normally, any good bit of characterisation is kept to a minimum in the background, but here it's the whole reason for the story to be. And, in the past, most Doctor Who stories that place a heavy focus upon the characterisation fall flat because they're too busy trying to make us feel something for the characters that the story that they're in just falls apart around them. In fact, there are only a couple of stories (like Master and Vincent And The Doctor) that manage it successfully. Most of the time, when doing character work, Doctor Who stories usually masquerade it behind heavy sci-fi elements (such as The Waters Of Mars, Midnight, Turn Left or Lucie Miller). However, Absent Friends is one of those few stories not to bother with such trappings, and actually just tells a strong, emotion-driven story. And this does play with your emotions, to a very severe degree. Writer John Dorney makes no secret of the fact that he expects you to be crying your eyes out by the end of the play. And while I wasn't, I was so nearly that I'm tempted to call it a success, just because it's so hard to get me to that stage anyway. The emotion throughout this story is real, and it comes from a real feeling, you can be sure of that. The scene where Liv angrily explains to the Doctor about her father can't have been made up, the feelings are so strong that they have to be genuine emotions that Dorney has felt. It has been mentioned this story was born out of the death of Dorney's father, and everything Liv says and feels here it can be reckoned that Dorney felt the same way about his own loss. And that totally comes through: not in a maudlin way that somehow feels like Dorney is trying to place himself inside his own script, but rather in a totally natural and organic way. It's still the character of Liv speaking, but Dorney uses his own experience to make the reaction of the character feel more real, which is absolutely the best way to do it. It that extra layer of detail that makes the story much stronger, and that's why it shines so much.
Of course, the plot of this story is of minimal interest. It's all about the character work. Now, I've been unsure as to Helen's place in the TARDIS crew since The Galileo Trap, as while she has brought a degree of realism to the rather confident crew of the eighth Doctor and Liv, she's not really had all that much to do. Besides her introductory outing The Red Lady and Scenes From Her Life, I've not felt like she has been pushed into any situations which really showcase either her talents or her insecurities. Unsurprisingly, both those previous instalments were written by John Dorney, and it's clear it's a feeling he's had about the character too, as here Helen is pushed into a situation that forces us to look at her. She decides that, with it being 1998, to go to London to find out what happened to her family after her hasty departure in The Red Lady. And, of course, because she was believed to have stolen the collection of artworks featuring the eponymous Red Lady, it was believed that she was a criminal. So, we see how that has affected the family, and how each member of Helen's family tried to deal with it differently. Helen's relationship with George is the driving force of the whole story, as she comes to terms with the damage that she did to them. It's a beautiful few scenes that show very succinctly the relationship between Helen and the rest of her family. Helen, of course, is put in the difficult position of having to try and defend herself, even though she's masquerading as her own daughter, and her inability to properly explain herself becomes a major conflict for the character. It's this kind of material I've been asking for since Helen joined the TARDIS crew, and it's nice to see it finally arrive in some form or other. And it's certainly Hattie's best performance in the role, as she gets the chance to explore all these layers that previously haven't been open to her. She has a wonderful rapport with Jeremy Clyde (who is equally fantastic as George), and is able to play to her strengths as an actor really effectively. It's the first time we've been able to view Helen with anything other that quizzical wonder, and it's a really, really effective approach. Another member of the cast given ample material is Nicola Walker as Liv. Ever since the beginning of Doom Coalition, Liv has been very much set in the position of the sure companion, the one who knows everything. Here, however, those barriers are pulled down, as Liv is faced with a fear she can't overcome simply by being brave. Nicola Walker possibly gives her best ever performance as Liv here, she slowly crumbles once she gets the phone call from her father, and she just can't cope with everything the Doctor is making her do. The moment where she throws the phone against the wall, shouting out what she wanted to say to her father, but can't, is utterly heart-breaking, and Walker is phenomenal. With this one story, she's proved to us why she's possibly one of the best companion actors we've ever had in Who: she is utterly in command of the part, and knows exactly what emotions to pull out and when. And as for Paul McGann, well he's phenomenal. McGann has long campaigned for stories that show how 'alien' the Doctor is, and there have certainly been a few. But this is possibly one of the strongest in his run, as here, it's a very ordinary thing that the companions don't understand why he just doesn't get it. His dressing-down of Helen is brutal: he's only trying to protect her, but the way he tells her that she can now never go home is almost McCoy levels of brutal. Together, the three leads give possibly their best performances in an age (and in Morahan's case, her best yet), as they try to work their way through the emotional minefield that this story presents. Dorney gives each character rich material, and the three actors all rise to the occasion, and prove that, in terms of acting ability and range, this has to be one of the strongest TARDIS team actors in Who's history. I just hope that now continues to be stretched in the rest of the set, and future adventures this team might have. The guest cast is small, but excellent. Aside from the aforementioned Jeremy Clyde as George, we have Iain Puleston-Davies as Angus Selwyn, who runs Superville Com. At first, you think he's likely to be the villain, so insidious and sinister he plays it. But, when it turns out that he's just a businessman, everything that he says earlier is placed into it's proper context, and it makes sense as to why he'd be like that. Finally, we have Richard Hope and Anna Acton in a couple of small roles (Hope plays Liv's father), and both are as excellent as the story demands them to be. Acton, in particular, downplays the loss of her son fantastically, so it doesn't feel too over-the-top and melodramatic. But really, when the story comes down to it, it's about Helen's abandonment of her family, Liv's final chance to say goodbye to her dad and the Doctor's aloofness and alien nature preventing him from feeling the same way as his companions. And Dorney doesn't give us a typical happy ending either: Liv doesn't get the chance to say what she really wants to her father because of the Web of Time, Helen never gets the chance to make it up to her brother, and when the phone rings for her, it's him, and just as you think the Doctor's going to get away, the phone rings for him. Now, there will be speculation as to who the Doctor answers the phone to at the end of the story. Is it his family from Gallifrey? His great-grandson Alex? One of his deceased companions, like Sara, Adric or C'rizz? Well, without wishing to throw my hat into the ring, it's clear who we're meant to believe it is. There's only one person who would be calling the eighth Doctor on that phone at this point in his life. And that was where I nearly lost it - any possibility of my favourite ever Doctor Who companion being involved or referenced in a story is special, and in this context, is utterly heart-breaking. I'd like to thank Dorney for that special moment, simply because it fits in perfectly, and the whole story is building up to that moment. Any chance to even remotely feature Lucie Miller is greatly appreciated, and I don't care what anyone else will say. It's her on the end of that line. There's no one else it would be.
The production on this story is as first-rate as it is on every Big Finish audio, although it feels like the team really pulled out all the stops on this one. Ken Bentley's direction is the best it's been for ages: every line, every scene change, every effect feels perfectly placed. Bentley's sharp eye for detail I perfectly employed here, and everything feels appropriate for the story being told. Benji Clifford produces some fantastically subtle sound design, that makes each scene feel like it was recorded in that location. It's amazingly natural in a way few sound designers can manage, and Clifford never over does it. He's ably supported by another fantastic score from Jamie Robertson (seriously, when isn't this guy on fire?) that is dramatic when it needs to be, but subtle at others. Finally, the production is rounded out by a superb cover from Tom Webster that captures the emotion heart of the story, but feeds into the subterfuge that Dorney works at in the beginning of the story. Often covers can want to hint at the twist, meaning they have a reason to exist once said twist has been revealed. However, Webster doesn't do that, and scores big time, because the listener has no idea about what is going to happen in the story. That's a skilled cover artist.
Overall, Absent Friends is phenomenal. The writing, the acting, the direction, the production, every element of this story is produced to perfection. With a strong emotional core, and fantastic moments for this TARDIS trio, Absent Friends is possibly one of the strongest Big Finish releases in recent years. It's strengths lie in it's amazingly mature and honest emotional writing, it's gusty attempt to try and avoid the typical sci-fi tropes that Doctor Who normally revels in, and it's brilliantly tear-jerking ending. Without doubt one of the best ever Paul McGann stories, and the best 8th Doctor Big Finish release since To The Death in 2011. It's that far back, but that's because this is so, so amazing, that it's broken the standard of top-quality Big Finish. This is something very, very special.
Rating - 10/10
Other Reviews of Big Finish Products:
The Great War - COMING SOON
Fugitives - COMING SOON
Tangled Web - COMING SOON
X And The Daleks - COMING SOON
The Traitor - COMING SOON
The White Room - COMING SOON
Time's Horizon - COMING SOON
Eyes Of The Master - COMING SOON
The Death Of Hope - COMING SOON
The Reviled - COMING SOON
Masterplan - COMING SOON
Rule Of The Eminence - COMING SOON
A Life In The Day - COMING SOON
The Monster Of Montmartre - COMING SOON
Master Of The Daleks - COMING SOON
Eye Of Darkness - COMING SOON
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