The Ghosts of N Space

Again with that retro-stylin artwork

The Brigadier has taken some time off to visit his Uncle Mario in Sicily. Mario owns a castle on an island which has become an object of interest for an American thug gangster, Max and when the Brigadier witnesses some supernatural occurrences he can’t help but believe there is a connection. Without hesitation he calls in the Doctor. Sarah is also in Sicily; she’s on vacation with Jeremy and contemplating her future as a journalist. When she spots the Brigadier there she knows there’s something going on, and she is not entirely surprised to eventually encounter the Doctor. The barriers between this universe and the next are breaking down at the castle, allowing N-forms from the other side to cross over. And Max wants to be the ruler of the domain on the other side, of a virtual Hell.

Banking on the success of The Paradise of Death BBC Radio went back into the studio with the third Doctor, the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith and…. Ugh, Jeremy Fitzoliver. Well, three out of four isn’t bad I guess. But yes, here’s that team again together for another adventure and this time it’s a six episode epic, one whole instalment longer than before.

I think though that the novelty of the audio itself might have let the production team get a bit lazy on this outing; I found this episode actually felt long and some of it felt a bit forced, like the long and ultimately fruitless journey the Doctor and Sarah take into the past in the TARDIS. The dialogue seems a bit strained when there is an action sequence taking place; there’s a painful blow for blow by the Brigadier as he watches Jeremy fending off a floating monk with a device provided by the Doctor. And speaking of pain – Sandra Dickinson’s voice as the gun moll. Yikes.

But that’s all really small stuff – this is an extra episode of Doctor Who made in a time when we

didn’t think we would get any new material aside from the novels being published by Virgin. This script actually made it to the Missing Adventures novels range so we got that double dose of fun with it, and the fact that it was made for radio kept that little fire of hope going for those of us back there who still believed that one day the Doctor would be back. These days the worst that happens is the new generation of fans wait a whole year for a new series. Poor things. But without this episode as well as the previous, there’d be less of a chance for Big Finish to get itself established in the future and give us so much more. It’s just sad that all three leads in this one have passed away and we’ll not hear from them again together.

The Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he does believe that the barriers between realities can wear thin here and there and anything can get across, including himself and Sarah at one point. But N-Space? There’s a bit of a collision there in the lore of the series, as N-Space was referred to as the “normal” space time continuum that we live in as opposed to an “E-Space” or an exospace time continuum. This time though, it’s just some hell place where monsters live.

As far as fitting in with the season it’s placed in, Ghosts of N Space makes Sarah’s association with the Doctor seem a bit more loose than it seems when they are roaming around together from planet to planet. In Paradise of Death Sarah was still in awe of what went on with Irongron, even if she couldn’t sell the idea to her editor, Clarinda. Here she is again unable to capture anyone’s attention with “the Dalek piece” which would be her adventures on Exxilon as a feature, although given that the Daleks have been around already when they tried to murder Sir Reginald Styles it’s more likely that there’s some sort of publication ban on any reference to them. Which also makes her acceptance at UNIT a bit more interesting; did the Brigadier decide to allow a journalist free access to a top secret military establishment just to keep an eye on her?

All just speculation of course, but fun nonetheless. Just don’t call it a fan theory please.

NEXT EPISODE: THE MONSTER OF PELADON