Starring Paul McGann, Hattie Morahan, Nicola Walker, Alex Kingston, John Shrapnel, Tim McMullen & Nicholas Woodeson.Written by Matt Fitton & Directed by Ken Bentley.
15th Century Prague: in the castle dungeons, a prisoner raves about the end of the world. Outside, Liv Chenka seeks out the workshop of a strange Clockmaker to see what he is creating.
England, 1538: Lord Thomas Cromwell finds his duties interrupted by otherworldly forces – clockwork soldiers, an unusual nun, and a mysterious scholar calling himself ‘the Doctor’. Perhaps the truth can be extracted in the torture chamber of London’s Bloody Tower?
Rome, 2016: Helen Sinclair has an appointment with an enigmatic Professor, whose greatest work is almost complete. Only the Eighth Piece is missing…
For nine episodes now, we've all be wondering 'what is the Doom Coalition?' For nine episodes, seemingly random events have been threaded throughout numerous stories (the escape of the Eleven, the unlocking of physic powers in a Time Lord archivist, the attempted destruction of Earth in the 16th Century, the destruction of the planet Syra and the discovery of a time-warping clock in 1998) have been set up in the background (some more subtly than others), but until now everything has seemed disconnected and fragmentary, with the listeners not being clear how all these events connect into each other. Until now. Because, while The Eight Piece doesn't answer all these questions (or even refers to the word coalition), a couple of threads from The Sonomancer are resolved, and there is a feeling. The whole episode screams 'the end is nigh, and the answers are coming', and it makes for a really tense episode to what I expect will be a nail-biting box set.
The plot of this episode seems, at first, a bit scattershot. The Doctor and his companions are separated in three different time periods: Liv in 15th Century Prague, the Doctor in England in the 16th Century and Helen in the present day. In each time period, they're hunting down different parts of the clock found in Absent Friends, and they are coming across different mysteries related to the clock (a madman ranting about the end of the world, mysterious clockwork robots and an exhibition of clocks that contains the nearly completed clock). All of these events build towards a meeting with the Clocksmith, a Time Lord (we presume) who appears to be behind the clock's creation, and who is now hopping through time, presumably trying to find all the different pieces of the clock. Throughout all of this, River Song is also investigating the Clocksmith, and trying to work out what all these pieces do. In the hands of a lesser writer, The Eighth Piece would fall apart under it's own weight. However, Fitton is a very skilful one, and he manages to keep each plot thread spinning without overloading the listener. Neither do we get repeating of information: something that can often happen when a story is set over multiple time periods (just look at The Light At The End to see what I mean). The story that Fitton is telling here is really, really taught, with each scene revealing a greater piece of the picture that the story's working with. I love the scattering of the TARDIS crew: it gives a grand scope to the events, and it genuinely feel like this is a universal danger. The stakes are pushed as high as they can go in this story, and the tension continues to build throughout. Each danger the TARDIS team meets feels really dangerous, in a way few Doctor Who stories actually manage, and, while some time periods are more developed than others, every threat has sufficient menace. I would say, however, that Fitton clearly has the most interest in the 16th Century England setting, which is not only where he places the Doctor and, for the first half of the story, River Song, but also where we spend the most time. This setting certainly feels the most developed and rich out of the three, whereas Prague just feels like window dressing and Rome almost feels superfluous. I'm hopeful that the next episode will build upon the foundations laid here, as, at the moment, these two setting feel a little underdeveloped. However, England in the 16th Century is wonderfully rich, with plenty to interest the audience. Setting a Doctor Who story around the dissolution of the monastery's is interesting, mostly because it doesn't really strike me as being a typical Doctor Who setting. However, Fitton has picked the right type of story, because it's certainly true that, in a story like this, the time period chosen is incidental. It's all about how it can feed into the drama of the story, and the tension radiating from the set-up. Of course, this story also starts to provide answers to some of the questions that the previous Doom Coalition sets posed, mostly questions from The Sonomancer. And, while my issues with that story still stand, I do think the explanations provided here are satisfactory enough to explain away that particular story's place in the narrative of Doom Coalition, namely why Caleera was so keen to destroy Syra, and why the Eleven was even there in the first place. Sure, it's only a couple of mysteries, but the story is certainly hinting that answers are around the corner, something that, at this point, was desperately needed.
The characters certainly aren't as much the focus of this story as they were in the last episode, and perhaps should have been developed a little further. However, with this only being the first half of what is clearly a two-part story, I'll save any criticism for The Doomsday Chronometer. That's not to say that there aren't any good characters: the characters of Cromwell (no, not that Cromwell - he's in The Settling) and the Clocksmith are very well-rounded creations, and Octavian presents a fascinating mystery to the audience. Thomas Cromwell is an interesting choice for a 'historical celebrity' as I didn't know all that much about him going into the story. Sure, I'd certainly heard of him, and remembered that he was involved in the dissolution of the monastery's, but other than that I wasn't really aware of him. If Fitton's story is accurate (I have no desire to go and check), then he is certainly an interesting character that certainly has some excellent material with the eighth Doctor. There are is one slight niggle with the character, however, which is that characters of his type are common in historical Who stories. He fits into the same mould as Kincaid from The Witch From The Well, Redcliffe from The Devil's Armada or even Tlotoxl from The Aztecs or Grey from The Highlanders - an obstacle who will stop at nothing to hound out our heroes and have them killed. Sure, he's slightly more sane than those examples, but he, for the most part, fits into that same category. However, what helps is the dynamic performance from John Shrapnel, who manages to play with some rather different angles to the character than those in the script. It's a really strong guest performance for a role that perhaps doesn't deserve it. The Clocksmith is another really strong character: he's evil, but he's totally informed by his love of art. His brutal murder of Rosalia is one of the story's strongest moments, and a lot of that is because of the reasons why the Clocksmith does it. It's all about art, the beauty in things, and a lot of the standard villain clichés are subverted with him. For example, when interrogating Liv, he comments on how banal he finds the whole situation, which is an interesting little character trait. Since I suspect he's being made out to be the big bad of the box set, he's possibly got the most interesting line of the three villains 'presumably' in the coalition so far (the other two being Caleera and the Eleven), and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing that developed. What helps is a really sinister performance from Nicholas Woodeson, who really emphasises the sinister nature of the character to great effect. I love the brilliant little nuances that he brings, the ticks you can hear in his voice. That's the sign of a great actor right there, someone who can convey little moments of characterisation that might not have even been in the script with his voice. It's a wonderful performance, and a clear highlight of the series. Finally, of the three guest characters, there's Octavian, who isn't given an awful lot to do, but is certainly an interesting character. There's definitely a mystery surrounding him, and considering that there's also another mad character in the Prague time zone, must mean that there's some link. As to what that link is, well it's not really hinted at in this episode, but, as I've said, this is a two-parter, so it might be explored in the next episode. Tim McMullan does give a fantastically subtle performance, however, and doesn't overplay the madness that he has. The rest of the guest cast are slightly wasted in one-dimensional roles, as Kasia Koleczek, Glen McCready, Emma D'Inverno and Janie Dee are great, just they don't have much time to shine. The regulars are great here, too, with Paul McGann and Alex Kingston being the standouts. McGann is clearly loving the Doom Coalition saga, and that shows here with an amazingly breathy and excitable performance that recaptures the eighth Doctor in the heady days of the TV Movie. As for Kingston, she is great when she can be allowed to do her own thing, and here, she gets that chance, with a lovely performance that pushes River front and centre. As for Nicola Walker and Hattie Morahan, well their characters aren't given as much to do as in the previous play, but they acquit themselves admirably, with Walker's confrontations with Woodeson's Clocksmith being a particular highlight.
The production on this release is as consistently strong as with every Big Finish release, so maybe I should stop saying it by now. Ken Bentley's direction is great, as he doesn't signpost the changes in time and place, just letting them flow naturally out of the script. He also keeps the whole production carefully under control, and nothing feels unnecessary or unwanted. Benji Clifford and Jamie Robertson have settled into an excellent working pattern at this point, with Clifford's sound design for the clockwork men being particularly creepy. Finally, Tom Webster provides another excellent cover, with River's nun costume being a particular highlight.
While it's hard to judge The Eighth Piece without having heard the next episode, I can say that is a strong instalment, that starts us down the road towards the conclusion of the Doom Coalition saga. The story is strong, the tension is palpable and Fitton introduces plenty of exciting elements into play. While the characterisation could be stronger, and I still feel like questions are being posed without answers, The Eighth Piece is a really enjoyable story that manages to ramp up the stakes and tension, and, for the first time in this series, it really feels like everything's at stake. Very enjoyable.
Rating - 8/10
Other Reviews of Big Finish Products:
The Boundless Sea - http://fandoctorwhoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/the-diary-of-river-song-boundless-sea.html
I Went To A Marvellous Party - http://fandoctorwhoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/the-diary-of-river-song-i-went-to.html
Signs - http://fandoctorwhoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-diary-of-river-song-signs.html
The Rulers Of The Universe - http://fandoctorwhoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-diary-of-river-song-rulers-of.html
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