Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Tim Delap, Richard James, Elizabeth Morton, Robbie Stevens, Wayne Forester.
As the tenth incarnation of The Doctor once remarked with fear in his voice, “Water always wins”; when that water surrounds you, when that impeding sense of doom of being submerged, of being inundated by half truths and a partner that won’t let you go easily, then water doesn’t just win, it erodes to eventually destruction everything in its path.
Amsterdam is not only a city steeped in history, in its own peace and prosperity and occasional folly with a fascination over tulips, it is a city with one overriding landmark that gives the area its distinctive flavour, its canals, calm, beautiful, almost sacred to the livelihood and pastime of the people as they emerged to become one of the leading nations of Europe in the 16th and 17th Century. It was a status that drew jealous eyes to its roots and those of bustling artists ready to capture the citizens, a place in which The Doctor is drawn to explore but something in dwelling deep in The Waters of Amsterdam is enough to send shivers down the spine of history and terrify the future.
The Waters of Amsterdam is a story that Jonathan Morris takes on with relish, the layering of history at his disposal, the inclusion of one of history’s most celebrated artists, Rembrandt Van Rijn, seemingly an honour and the chance to write for the core family of the fifth Doctor’s time, Nyssa and Tegan with a flourish that places a smile upon the writer’s and the audience’s faces. It is a relish that becomes very clear as the story takes on one of those classic style messes with time and the almost pantomime villain like charm of a adversary who understands what Time really means as they conceal themselves away in the dark, hiding from water.
Centre stage of The Waters of Amsterdam arguably belongs entirely to Rembrandt Van Rijn, it is the allusion to the great man and his struggle in his life to go beyond later years in any type of comfort and his disdain of being remembered beyond his passing that brings into sharp focus of what art actually means. That whilst to be paid for what you excel at the time, greed should never come into it, that to be immortal once the bones have become monuments to dust is an achievement granted so few.
The Waters of Amsterdam is a well told tale of greed and memory, of lies and the duel between what is perceived good and evil; Jonathan Morris captures the heart of what success truly means, to be remembered for all the beauty you bring into the world long after you have died; a golden age for the soul. A story of finesse, The Waters of Amsterdam is a great reintroduction to the world of the core family of the fifth Doctor.
Doctor Who: The Waters Of Amsterdam is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall