Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Alex Austin, Hannah Brown, Camille Coduri.
The reunion many have actively awaited for, for one of the shortest runs that a companion had with a single Doctor that certainly deserved more than a single season, more than just 13 episodes, and yet from the revival episode of Rose through to The Parting Of The Waves, Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper captivated a nation of fans with their dynamic and emotional resonance as they fought Autons, The Gelth, members of family Slitheen, and Nanogenes that rewrite human physiology, and all the while, and despite the darkness of one of the biggest surprise endings to a series ever concocted, they faced the universe with humour and a friendship that arguably hadn’t been seen on screen in the Who Universe since Jon Pertwee’s incarnation of the mad man from Gallifrey and the marvellous Sarah Jane Smith.
The reunion of Rose Tyler and the then thought of ninth Doctor is possible because of Big Finish and the way they are able to insert history within the already established timeline of the television series, that audio dramas can find a way to add extra depth and even tension to where the initial thoughts of the viewer had never been able to experience.
In Snare, the first episode of the Ninth Doctor’s fourth set of audio adventures, the listener is taken back to a time when the perimeters of the relationship between the pair wasn’t firmly set, there is a undercurrent of squabbling, of dare it be said, antagonism that flows underneath the pair’s relationship, and as they are thrust into an adventure in Rose’s own community of the Powell Estate, as a figure from the past is shown that what they believed regarding a death was built on a deception of kindness, so the duo are faced with the toughest of choices, to tell the truth to this wandering youngster and risk destroying them, or to allow the lie to persist so that they can keep the past close, but dealt with.
Snare, written by Tim Foley and produced by Matt Fitton, is a wonderfully gentle tale that brings back the reunited actors with subtly and focus, it offers a reveal of the feeling of anger and perhaps grief that Rose harboured after seeing the world in its final minutes before the Sun enveloped it in a ball of flame, of being unable to save her father once again, and of being at times wanting more from the man from beyond her field of vision but having to settle for being no more than a curated, human observer of Time.
In these details Snare is a great reintroduction to the dynamic of the stars behind the revival, and with Camille Coduri reprising her role as the forceful but golden hearted Jackie Tyler, the fourth series of the Ninth Doctor’s audio dramas for Big Finish gets off to a suitable and entertaining start.
Ian D. Hall