Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures - The Defectors Review

The Seventh Doctor has been transplanted in time with his Third incarnation! But will Jo Grant believe he's really the Doctor? And can he solve the mystery of Delphin Isle?

The CD cover for "The Defectors", designed by Tom Webster.

Starring Sylvester McCoy, Katy Manning, David Graham & Richard Franklin.

Written and Directed by Nicholas Briggs.

In celebration of the Monthly Adventures reaching its landmark 200th release, Big Finish came up with three special releases to mark the occasion. Unofficially known as 'the Locum Doctors trilogy', these three stories saw the Doctors of the 1980's transplanted back into the timelines of the first three Doctors, and partnered with iconic companions from the era. The first story, "The Defectors" sees Sylvester McCoy's quirky and enigmatic Seventh Doctor sent back to the Jon Pertwee era, specifically the UNIT family era, dominated by the strong presence of UNIT, military action, officious civil servants and the Master. And "The Defectors" absolutely reeks of the Pertwee era, with a tone, setting and plot torn straight out of the Barry Letts/Terrence Dicks playbook. Sure, you can easily argue this story isn't very original, but there's a lot of love for the era being aped here, and the unusual combination of the Seventh Doctor and Jo Grant makes for a great paring, and adds just enough new elements to give this a touch of spice.

The Seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester
McCoy, in a promotional photo from "Time and
the Rani".

As I mentioned above, the plot is full of elements you would expect to see in any Jon Pertwee era stories. You've got the village with strange events going on ("The Daemons"), some kind of security threat pushing UNIT to the side-lines ("The Ambassadors of Death", "The Claws of Axos"), a race of aliens wronged by the human race ("Doctor Who and the Silurians", "The Sea Devils"), a top secret installation ("Inferno", "The Time Warrior"), betrayals ("The Ambassadors of Death", "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"), officious military figures (take your pick!), and more. There's so many little tropes you can pick out in there, some of which are conscious little look backs or jibes at the era, others which are probably completely unconscious. Writer Nicholas Briggs clearly knows this era like the back of his hand, as this is obviously written by someone who is a die-hard fan. It isn't just dry tropes and staples here, but a love of the era and what it was doing that makes this such an enjoyable listen, and a pitch-perfect evocation of the era. But, of course, what's really interesting in this story is how it draws a contrast between two very different eras of the show. When I was growing up, it was hard to notice all that much of a difference between the Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy eras of the show: they were all classic Doctor Who, and, as such, automatically amazing (I mean, I wasn't wrong there!). It's only as I have grown up do I realise that there's such a huge difference between the two. This story makes that difference completely clear: this is a lot darker than the Pertwee era, while a little bit more action-packed than the McCoy era, and this works as a nice blend of the two. It feels much more like an active 'look-back' than a lot of Big Finish's material, which normally goes for pitch-perfect evocation of the era it hails from. This examines the type of stories this era was common for, while not being afraid to maybe push the envelope a little further than they would have done on TV at the time. The idea of aliens being experimented upon, but then turning the tables on their captors isn't exactly a new one, but this story explores that in a rather gnarly way. And because of the island setting, we can see that control last for many years, rather than having to come in as it begins. The aliens, the Europans, are treated sympathetically, despite the fact that they have done terrible things in order to survive. In many ways, it brings a theme common to the McCoy/Pertwee eras to the table: that the human race can be the greatest monsters of them all. Briggs takes the time to understand why the humans have done what they have done, but, at the same time, doesn't just turn the Europans into another alien menace to defeat. There's something more nuanced than that, and that helps give this story shades of grey I think it could have so easily missed. The plot isn't perfect, though: the pace isn't all that great, to be honest. I'm not sure Briggs can quite stretch it to four episodes, and the middle does feel a little leaden as a result. It never got the point where I was board, but I did think that, had this maybe been pared down to three episodes, this might have had more of a punch about it. 

Jo Grant, as played by Katy Manning, in a
promotional photo from the announcement of her
casting in Doctor Who.

The liberal borrowing of tropes from the Pertwee era also extends to the characters as well. The guest characters all fulfil roles that were common in Pertwee stories like this, adding to the feeling of this hailing from the era. You have the officious base commander, who's perhaps a little too smarmy for his own good. You have the second-in-command, who's much rougher and tougher, and more forceful. You've got the slightly dazed underling, who breaks his place in the chain to help the Doctor and Jo. There's the nice-but-dim locals. All these tropes crop up time and time again in the Pertwee era, and bringing them into "The Defectors" helps ground this story even more in the era that it is meant to hail from. What makes it exciting is seeing the Seventh Doctor interacting with characters who are perhaps more clear-cut than usual. The Seventh Doctor's era was notorious for complex characters, with deep personal motivations, so these characters are different to the ones he normally faces. That's not to say the characters are shallow or un-developed, just that they never get pushed beyond what they would have been on TV at the time. There's no problem with that, though, because I think it helps to reinforce this as part of the era it hails from. Hedgerton is probably the most interesting character of the bunch, as he starts out as very confused, possible even unstable. However, over the course of the play, you start to realise that he has such a strong will, and such a determination to break the Europan conditioning, that pushes him beyond your initial first impressions of him. It helps that David Graham (yes, you're right, the voice of Parker from Thunderbirds!) is wonderfully sympathetic as the character, and you get a real sense of what his character is like, and what he had to go through in order to fight the conditioning imposed on him by the Europans. The rest of the cast are great in their roles as well, with special mentions to Jez Fielder and Rachel Bavidge as the rather bitchy Europans (although I would argue that the voice effect might be a little OTT for audio). They come across a little bit as a married couple, which I'm sure was completely inadvertent, but just made me laugh. But, out of everyone, the two standouts are, without doubt, Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning. They are wonderful together, and they make all the sections where Jo is questioning the Doctor a joy to listen to. McCoy's Doctor is a little lighter here than in most stories, but I think that contrasts quite well with the harsh setting and severe characters. Its nice as well that Jo falls into a much stronger role than on screen, as she's the one that uncovers the alien involvement, and, ultimately, provides the story with its climax. Richard Franklin does also feature in this story, though I would say Mike Yates only really appears in a special cameo role, which is a bit of a shame, but understandable considering the nature of the story. The whole thing is held together by Briggs' direction, which is considered and, like the writing, evocative of the era. This extends to Joe Kramer's post-production work, which reeks of the work of Brian Hodgson and Dudley Simpson. The music, particularly, combines the work of the early 1970's with more modern stylings you would expect to see in the Monthly Adventures. It all adds up to a very confident production, that you would expect of Big Finish, but still managing to surprise and delight in equal measure.

The Doctor that made this era so loved: Jon Pertwee, together with Katy Manning as Jo Grant, in a promotional photo from "Terror of the Autons".

Overall, then, I really enjoyed "The Defectors". As a huge fan of the Third Doctor era, I suppose I was predisposed to love it from the start anyway. But I think the story acts as a wonderful summery of the era, even if, in many ways, it's taking a sideways look at it. I don't think many would say that it was blisteringly original, and some may find it a little too trad Who for something made relatively recently. But, honestly, its a good start to the Locum Doctors trilogy (even if, at this point, we have no idea what is going on with regards to the Doctor being translocated in time), and, for fans of the Pertwee era and/or Sylvester McCoy, its the chance to enjoy something a little bit different with both elements. "The Defectors" gives me a warm, nostalgic glow, and I'll love it, if only for that reason.

You can get "The Defectors" from Big Finish Productions' website:

https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-the-defectors-870

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