Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 6.04: The Many Deaths Of Jo Grant

Jo Grant & Third Doctor

Cast:
Jo Grant - Katy Manning
Rowe - Nicholas Asbury

Synopsis:

""I wasn’t going to let this happen. After all we’d been through, the Doctor wasn’t going to die like this, on his knees, in the mud."

When Jo Grant was very young, her grandmother told her that there was a time for everything. A time to laugh and a time to cry. A time to live and a time to die.

Since meeting the Doctor, Jo has laughed till she thought she might burst. She has also shed a few tears along the way, but has lived more than she ever thought possible.

But now, as a strange spaceship materialises over UNIT HQ and a heavily injured Doctor returns to Earth, it is Jo's time to die. Again, and again, and again…


Review:

I like how this starts, very quickly gets into the action leading to a great scene where Jo Grant dies, and as the title implies, the first of many deaths. This first death however, the musical arrangement and sound effects added to the emotional impact of it. It was beautifully done. The subsequent deaths, whether it's because the impact of her death has lessened but to her repeadedly dying or just not quite as good stories, I'm not too sure, but they were entertaining enough. The revelations and reasons behind the deaths were also handled well, but to bre honest, I was expecting something more from Cavan Scott and Mark Wright. Sure, I enjoyed it and it was entertaining, but I expected more of an emotional impact from them considering the title. Still, worth a listen.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided

4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it

5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection


Writer: Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: October 2011

AUDIO REVIEW: Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 5.10 - The Sentinels Of The New Dawn

Liz Shaw & The Third Doctor

The first half of this passes somewhat uneventfully, which is something the writer realised towards the end when he decided to throw a monster in the middle of political intrigue. Maybe anticipating the audience would be asleep by then and needed waking up. There was almost a hint of the Third Doctor going all Seventh on us but he quickly chickened out of that and ruined what could have been an interesting (but predictable) twist to the story. This was just after the monster had been wrote out of the story just as quickly as it had appeared.

I think the writer may have been wrestling his integrity as a writer to write something interesting and possibly trying to win a bet he that couldn't write something boring. Maybe he just takes pleasure in getting people's hopes up before ripping them away. The story trundles on, never promising much and never delivering much.

On a good note however, they're mainly points about how it could be improved, because for all the 'it could have been so much better' - the story was pretty solidly told and never got complicated. I didn't really lose my attention to it and it entertained me for an hour. There were things wrong with it, and as mentioned, could have been better. Overall, it was okay.


Score: 4/7

Publisher: Big Finish
Writer: Paul Finch
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Release: April 2011