Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The dark reveals more about our psyche than most of us are comfortable revealing, and when it comes with the pressure of Time adding its weight to the moment, that when The Chimes Of Midnight strike what we see are the ghosts that never made it through the day but somehow remain with us, their presence, their actions, their feelings, the moment they left us in tears as their last breath is subdued, then echoed as the clock reminds us that another day is about to begin…the darkness always wins because midnight is a far more disturbing time for memories than its counterpart of midday.
One of Big Finish’s most endearing and fascinating tales that it recorded, The Chimes of Midnight, starred Paul McGann, India Fisher, and Louise Rolfe, centres upon the idea of Time not only being corporeal but also sentient and by utilising horror, humour, and fantasy to drive the point home, the atmospheric audio drama captured fear in a way that caught the listener’s attention and which would make it a firm fan favourite during the company’s main release run of the classic doctor series.
Robert Shearman’s audio drama is one of those that perhaps arguably deserved to be seen on television, however the fact that it was turned into a novel, with every element of subtly and craft that the audio held dear and reflected into the written word is one of the most bountiful offerings that a science fiction could ever dream if being able to immerse themselves into.
Whilst staying absolutely true to the source material, it is the depth of wit and pathos that is to be found as the situation that the eighth incarnation of the Doctor and his companion Charley Pollard rise to the occasion and one in which the reader is left in no doubt of the power of time, not only living things, but the force they place into the heart of that in which they build, which they live within.
Ultimately the story is one of pain, one that does not shy away from the effects of trauma, of suicide, of the injustice of refusing to acknowledge that even the lowliest of people, the ones to whom we often ignore, still have the required soul to understand and feel the fierce ache of loss, and it is the interaction between Charley and the servants of the period and the realisation that her actions caused the issue to arise which makes it a tremendous read.
The Chimes of Midnight are those we mark down as being the close of day, but every time we forget it also heralds the new day filled with usual patterns, with the same stories, the same hopes, dreams, and terrors…nothing changes from one day to the next, all we do is suffer Time’s relentless march to the end.
Ian D. Hall