Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Christopher Benjamin, Trevor Baxter, Lisa Bowerman, Conrad Asquith, Toby Langworth, Duncan Wisbey, Stephen Thorne, Peter Silverleaf, Alex Mallinson.
When a dead body is found on the Circle Line on London’s Underground, it seems as if this could just be another death that the metropolis has seen another subject pass untimely away into the arms of Lady Morpheus’ elder sister Death. Nothing that should concern two of London’s eminent amateur detectives, nothing out of the ordinary to vex the brain power of Professor Litefoot and his friend with the knack of finding himself either in debt to theatre productions or flustered with his use of alliteration which he uses to great and stunning effect.
This though is Victorian London and for Gordon Henry Jago and Professor Litefoot, nothing really is ever what it seems since The Doctor made their acquaintance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang and when poor unfortunate man who resides in the arms of Morpheus’s sister is already to be determined to have already died once before, then alarm bells ring and the pair become embroiled in a mystery with foul machinations at its vey heart.
The series has already had one excellent story in the opener The Bloodless Soldier written with great care and attention by Justin Richards and The Bellova Devil carries on the entertaining richness and full enjoyment required in which to carry the heavy burden of a spin-off series, especially one in which the two main characters have not had much of a mention since that 1970s cautionary tale. The richness and deft writing which captures the imagination of these two Victorian gentlemen is only topped by the two actors themselves, the sensational Christopher Benjamin as the Theatre manager and the stern but medically knowledgeable and affable Professor. Christopher Benjamin excels as the well-meaning but slightly cowardly Jago, a part that in all honesty he was built for, worldly-wise, honour bound and full of the stuff that made the 1970s period of Doctor Who with Tom Baker and Louise Jameson a delight to watch week in and week out.
Aside these two greats, the shadowy world of Doctor Tulp makes a re-appearance as the head of The Far-Off Travellers Club and it is this web of intrigue that starts to pull at the loose threads of the series, blink and you will miss the clues as there are bigger, more dangerous games afoot.
Lisa Bowerman, no stranger to fans of the Big Finish range, proves that she is a splendid addition once more in the way she handles the twin roles of playing interesting characters such as Ellie Higson and the difficultly of directing an ensemble primed to perform perfectly. In both tasks she makes Jago & Litefoot a wonderful diversion away from the monthly audio series of Doctor Who. Some mysterious in life need the human touch to solve them, Jago & Litefoot are the men to do it.
The Bellova Devil is available as part of Jago & Litefoot Series One from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall