Short Trips – The Horror of Bletchington Station (Subscriber Bonus)

Big Finish gets around to everyone, even Dodo Chaplet, whose actress Jackie Lane was treated so badly that she’s the only living companion I can think of who hasn’t participated in Big Finish.

This audio is one of those bonus half hour short stories included with a Main Range subscription, accessible for download if your subscription included The Peterloo Massacre. I’ve never liked the cover art for subscriber Short Trips, so I’ve created my own custom covers in Photoshop (see link in sidebar).

It’s a nice little horror/monster story. Dodo and the Doctor land on a dark and stormy night in the 1860s, and stop by an inn where a congenial landlord puts them up for the night. He gossips about something odd that’s spooked the local navvies (a word I actually know thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, not to be confused with George Litefoot). Uncharacteristically, the Doctor exhibits no curiosity whatsoever and is determined to leave without investigating.

Dodo, of course, is bound to stick her nose in, dragging him in as well. There’s a double mystery here, and a clever ending that looks ahead to the Doctor’s future.

Narrator Stephen Critchlow does a fine job of capturing Hartnell’s mannerisms and presumably Dodo’s, although I don’t remember her voice very well.

Spoilerific Comments

A wonderful sneaky way of slipping the Time Lords into a First Doctor audio without mentioning them explicitly. The ending nicely foreshadows the Time Lords coming for the Second Doctor in The War Games.