Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Ruth Bradley, Alex Macqueen, Chris Porter, David Dobson, John Dorney, Nicholas Briggs, Brian Shelley, Ian Brooker, Adrian Mackinder, Andrew Knott, Joseph Radcliffe, David Silby, Jo Castleton, Ian Hallard, Jacqueline King, Natalie Burt, David Shaw-Parker, Frank Skinner.
The thing about not having Paul McGann in the Doctor Who monthly series by Big Finish is a double edged sword. At times it seems so much longer between having arguably one of the great Doctors and his voice nestling between your ears, so long that time drags longer that if spent having to watch five minutes of any reality television programme. On the plus side the collection of tightly bound stories that constitute the Dark Eyes series are more than compelling enough, more intriguing than a night at the cinema with a Dalek with a sense of humour as your companion, so much so that the story flows supremely well.
Dark Eyes 2 sees Paul McGann’s incarnation of the Doctor once more come into the life of Molly O’ Sullivan but in such a way that it allows some of the more interesting characters of the Big Finish world to come back into play, chiefly Liv Chenka, portrayed by the great Nicola Walker, the Viyrans who stalked Colin Baker’s time with the much loved Charley Pollard and of course The Master as played by the outrageously good Alex Macqueen.
The four interlocked stories written by Big Finish luminaries Nicholas Briggs, Alan Barnes and Matt Fitton see the world of time once more turned upside down and not knowing exactly where the beginning will start. It is that cleverness, that sense of cunning and dexterity of writing that allows a script to take a life of its own whilst retaining some vestige of past exploits from any Doctor is worth celebrating.
The interplay between Paul McGann and Alex Macqueen is highly enjoyable in the fourth episode Eyes of The Master and really makes Mr. Macqueen stand out as the highly charismatic man that he is. Coming of the back of the Unit: Dominion story, his portrayal of the Master is as good as the late Roger Delgado but also with that impish charm that John Simm bought to the television character during David Tennant’s era on the show. Paul McGann and Alex Macqueen naturally spark off each other and it is a shame that they weren’t together longer that just one episode.
Away from the male Timelord gathering, Dark Eyes 2’s stories, The Traitor, The White Room, Time’s Horizon and the aforementioned Eyes of The Master, the big selling point of the story is the continuation of the adventures of Irish nurse Molly O’ Sullivan. This is a character which has grown in between the two serials and Ruth Bradley who plays this complex personality seems even more assured and confident than when she first came into Doctor Who 12 month ago. However the character still isn’t quite rounded yet and by having Nicola Walker involved as Liv Chenka the overall arc is one that revolves more around her plight and sense of adversity than just who is the nurse that The Doctor keeps bumping into.
What filters through the story is the sense that Big Finish are gearing up for something monumental, something extraordinary as it races towards its 15th anniversary of producing the Doctor Who audios. Littered like tiny breadcrumbs on a walk through the woods is the smallest hint, the unseen clue in the corner of the eye, that the start of the Time War might just be seen. The Doctor’s time is perhaps running out and the first shots that were fired when the Time lords sent back Tom Baker to the point of the Dalek creation is now going to start having those repercussions long since shown in the sister television show.
Dark Eyes 2 is four hours of untold bliss and whilst fans might have to wait a long while before Paul McGann is back in his leather jacket and short haircut, the storm is coming ever closer.
Dark Eyes 2 is available to purchase from Worlds Apart in Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall