Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Samuel Anderson, Abigail Eames, Jayden Harris-Wallace, Ashley Foster, Harley Bird, Michelle Gomez, Siwan Morris, Harry Dickman, Jenny Hill, Eloise Barnes, James Weber Brown, Michelle Asante, Curtis Flowers, Kate Tydman, Nana Amoo-Gottfried, William Wright-Neblett.
In a series that has welcomed new writers to the home of Doctor Who, none perhaps come more equipped to weave a tale of intrigue, fun and the very essence of danger whilst highlighting humanity’s need to depend on the natural world more so than Liverpool’s Frank Cottrell-Boyce and his debut story, In The Forest Of The Night. .
A group of emotionally damaged children from Coal Hill School is navigated around a very different London, a capital city that has seen a new forest take root over-night. The forest has grown further than the confines that border between Islington and Whitechapel, between South Bank and Hyde Park, every single corner of the world has been affected and in terms of invasion, The Doctor it seems is far too late to stop it, Humanity has lost to the Trees…It seems there really is trouble in the forest, but there is nowhere for the creatures to flee.
Doctor Who has at times touched on the very nature of ecology and Humanity’s part in the destruction of the delicate eco-system but perhaps none more in the modern series so that In The Forest Of The Night. It arguably is more prevalent at the moment, especially in the North-West and perhaps more so in the surrounding areas of Liverpool and The Wirral where Mr. Frank Cottrell Boyce resides with the threat of the Mersey coast line being ear-marked for the untold wrath being sought by those who wish to test nature by Fracking, yes it may bring money to the Jabba the Hutt like creature that is the Economy but at what cost. Not since the classic Jon Pertwee story Inferno, arguably the best Doctor Who story of all time, has a writer poured so much out of a warning of the dangers of further hell-bent destruction on the ground beneath our feet. For that alone, Mr. Cottrell Boyce has by the power of words done much for the standing of Doctor Who within the environmental arena!
An enchanted tale is nothing without the eyes of a child to see it through and whilst in a lot of cases the story-lines that use children are hit and miss, The Empty Child being a fine example of a story that worked well and The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe being one that almost sank without a trace, In The Forest Of The Night is one that utilised the power of children’s imagination fully. The untapped potential in us all, the things that we can all be if allowed to be nurtured and cared for is a perfect way to look at the world, the potential of the world to be our home is ruined by greed, the same as the child’s potential is robbed by the arrogance, insatiable meddling and form filling of Government and at times parental selfishness and materialism.
Harmony and balance is not just a nature ideology, it also relates to the way we treat each other. Divided by the propaganda of hate by press and Government, at times it is no wonder we cannot see the wood for the trees.
Doctor Who continues next week.
Ian D. Hall