Villordsutch reviews Big Finish Audio Production’s Doctor Who – The Crooked Man…
Directed by Nicholas Briggs.
Written by John Dorney.
Starring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Sarah Smart and Neil Stuke.
“Winter at the seaside. The wind blows. The waves crash. People are dying and a strange spindly figure stalks the cold, deserted streets. A typical holiday for the Doctor and Leela in other words. When they stumble across a grotesque series of murders at the coast, the TARDIS travellers realise the local constabulary is out of its depth. Something supernatural has come to town, something evil. And it all seems to be tied in to a particular young family. Monsters lurk behind strange doors. Tragic secrets wait to be uncovered. And somewhere, deep within, the Crooked Man sits. He is waiting for you.”
My first Big Finish review and I’ve started light (or lite if you favour that). No Daleks, Cybermen or Ice Warriors for me as I’ve plumped for the Fourth Doctor in a rather macabre comedy by the seaside. My first thoughts are ‘This is not what I expected?’ I’ve heard radio plays and listened to spoken books, but never Audio Productions nor did I know the difference; what you’re getting here is a full cast driven episode with no narrator carrying you along between each scene. It’s the script, acting, music and direction which are being used to create a Who episode through your ears and in your head, and it works too.
The Crooked Man is a tragicomedy and truth be told a fairly basic one at that. If it wasn’t for the humour and the final dark blow The Crooked Man perhaps wouldn’t have been a strong tale as there really isn’t any element of fear or dread conjured up by said Crooked Man and his companions, but those two elements are there and keep it up and afloat. A couple of stand-out moments include the Bookshop Keeper murdered by being force fed the entire works of Charles Dickens (certainly is the worst of times) and one of the Crooked Man’s companions creating herself (physically and personality-wise) from what I’m guessing is an actress’ tell-all, ghost-written autobiography.
The Crooked Man is a good introduction to Audio Productions for a Who fan I’d say, though I’m unsure how a non-Who fan would find it.
I’ll be reviewing more Big Finish releases over the coming months, and if anyone would like to have a look more of their releases (they do more than Doctor Who) then pop along to www.BigFinish.com.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published March 20, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
