Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: David Warner, Susannah Harker, David Collings, Michael Chance, Kate Dyson, Suzanne Proctor, Linda Bartram, Neil Cole.
Time is full of tricks, it has the ability to knock humanity off its perch repeatedly and humble the species to the point where it doubts itself and can turn against rhyme and reason in the pursuit of self-satisfaction and self-interest.
The idea of survival in the modern age has changed arguably substantially since the days when the plague, the absolute haunting visage of The Black Death haunted Europe, North Africa and Asia in the 14th and 17th Century, and whilst current diseases, hopefully, don’t have the same far reaching devastation as the one that caused acral gangrene to be prevalent on the hands of the afflicted as one the symptoms, we should still be wary of the lesson that Time has taught us.
Time is not a teacher that will carefully guide the soul through every moment, instead, as is shown quote deliberately by David Bishop in his contribution to Big Finish’s audio drama Sapphire and Steel collection, All Fall Down. Instead it is a harsh master, the kind that would see the pupil as errant, frivolous, deserving of all that would befall them, and if the lesson is humility, then what better way than reintroducing the elements of the Black Death, the nursery rhymes, the fear, the danger, that goes with it.
The other staple of Time’s shadow is the restoration of other worldly character’s to the show, namely in the case of this particular story, the much- missed David Collings as Silver, a positive reinforcement of the power of Peter J. Hammond’s original foresight for the series. As a connection between the two eras, one for television, the other for audio, there is/was nobody finer.
An industrious story line, one that reminds modern listeners of the certainty of Time repeating itself, of the menace and vulnerability of our species when we ignore grave lessons. All Fall Down is the action of intent, driven by a very real threat that we have no control over.
Ian D. Hall