Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Simon Williams, Pamela Salem, Karen Gledhill, Hugh Ross, Oliver Cotton, Gemma Saunders, Gerald Kyd, Alisdair Simpson.
No matter where The Doctor goes in time and space, it seems there is a small part of that is drawn like a moth to wibbly wobbly ball of flame to the events circulating around the year 1963. Of course it is a natural time period to write about as well as being the birth of the television programme that would go on to be a world-wide phenomenon.
From the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962 to the moment the programme aired, the world seemed to be on the verge of annihilation, the Cold War perhaps at one of its three greatest peaks, along with the blockade of Berlin and the tensions that ran so high before East and West met in a meeting of minds that saw Mikhail Gorbachev become a Russian leader of absolute integrity and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. 1963 it seems is a natural stopping off point for the Doctor to be hanging around London.
The year also saw the United States lose its innocence and the final Big Finish special celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary culminates in the John Dorney story 1963: The Assassination Games. With the hefty dollop of imagination that John Dorney brings to all his scripts, the writer delves back into the past and brings back some of the characters not since the 25th Anniversary of the programme and takes the original writer’s, Ben Aaronovitch, story, Remembrance of The Daleks and brings some old friends back together again.
Whilst it is not necessary to watch the old four part story unfold to get a handle on the characters Ian Gilmore, Rachel Hensen and Alison Williams, there is never a good reason not to, even if that 1988 series was not particularly well received in some quarters, it still puts flesh onto the bones of the audio drama by John Dorney.
With the assassination of President Kennedy still very fresh in the memory of all around the world, the planet is a tinderbox waiting for the next political motivated killing and just days after, the news of the assassination of a high ranking V.I.P. by an unknown hand is enough to make some people nervous and The Doctor go undercover, acting as an independent member of Parliament and with Ace, portrayed once more by the delightful Sophie Aldred, serving tea to those the Doctor suspects of being behind the fast moving events, little does he realise the extent of the horror that awaits him as he finally sees The Light.
With the great British actor Simon Williams, Pamela Salem and Karen Gledhill reprising their television roles, it really is a family affair that brings the classic series and Big Finish together. A very good way to finish the series of commemorations! For Big Finish though the celebrations are only just beginning as they stride towards their own upcoming 15th Anniversary of producing Doctor Who stories.
1963: The Assassination Games is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall