Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#025. Colditz ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

I’m absolutely fascinated by stories set during World War II, especially those that teach me about a place or event I had little knowledge of: it’s time to dive into one of the greatest early Seventh Doctor plays.

Surrounded by fellow prisoners of war in the infamous Colditz Castle, getting away alive will be the least of the Doctor’s concerns… especially when confronted with a walking, talking Wolfenstein paradox!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

October 1944: As World War II draws towards its conclusion, a Nazi defeat begins to seem almost inevitable. But that might be about to change...

Two intruders are captured in the grounds of Colditz Castle, the most secure POW camp in Germany. At first, the guards think they're dealing with British spies. But the strangers arrived in an advanced travelling machine, the like of which they've never seen before.

With this TARDIS in their hands, the Third Reich might triumph after all.

◆ The Seventh Doctor

Sylvester McCoy delivers one of his best performances in ‘Colditz’.

The Doctor expects that interrogation, threats and torture have already been lined up for him by the camp Commandant. He takes great pleasure in frightening Schäfer, who has clearly realised that he’s an alien. He can get out of anything, according to Ace; he can pick locks, distract people with slight of hand, or just bluff his way out of a situation. The Doctor knows that in the wrong hands, his TARDIS is an extremely dangerous weapon, but he’ll give it up if the alternative is seeing Ace shot dead! When discussing paradoxes with Klein, he informs her that you cannot just dismiss history… because it’s more fragile than she could ever imagine.

◆ Ace

‘Colditz’ gives Sophie Aldred a lot of excellent material to work with, and she more than rises to the occasion here.

Ace feels safer than usual already; if the Doctor doesn’t know where they are, then she can’t be walking into one of his big master plans. The main reason she knows about the various escape routes at Colditz is because she’s played the board game. Her real name is Dorothy, but if Tim repeats that she’ll bray him! Following the events of this adventure, Ace wants some time off to think about things, without anybody trying to kill her. She also decides that it’s time to grow up, and decides to ditch her nickname… it’s just McShane now.

◆ Story Recap

Colditz Castle gained international infamy during World War II for its use as a Nazi prisoner of war camp. Often known as the “escaper’s prison” due to the fact its inmates had often made repeated escape attempts from other POW camps, it was believed to be the most secure prison in Germany at the time.

The Doctor and Ace arrive slap-bang in the middle of the castle grounds during 1944, and soon end up joining the large number of Allied detainees. Whilst Ace garners the unwelcome attention of the vile Feldwebel Kurtz, the Doctor comes face to face with a loyal servant of the Reich… a time traveller who claims to have come to Colditz from 1965, in the Doctor’s own TARDIS!

◆ The Oldest Paradox in the Book

There are some BigFinish releases where I just get a major boost of dopamine from reviewing them, and that is most definitely the case with ‘Colditz’. What starts out as seemingly another sublime pure-historical adventure, soon strays into the path of alternate history and the oldest paradox in the book. That is reason alone to kick off this section of the review by discussing one of the greatest creations in BigFinish history – Elizabeth Klein.

The idea of the Nazis somehow gaining a last-minute advantage and winning the Second World War has been present in the world of fiction for donkeys years! Whether your point of reference is the work of Phillip K Dick (The Man in the High Castle) or the critically acclaimed Wolfenstein franchise, you have likely encountered this idea on your travels before.

Klein makes her presence known towards the end of the first part; a fervent believer in National Socialism and the benefits of fascism in general. The Seventh Doctor is the incarnation most likely to be in control of a situation, most likely to be pulling the strings, but Klein sweeps into Colditz and immediately feels like she has an advantage over him. She’s an incredible force of nature, utterly ruthless and in control.

In her timeline, Ace accidentally left her CD Walkman behind at Colditz Castle, which allowed the Third Reich to reverse engineer its laser technology. That technological edge catapulted them to an unprecedented victory, and helped them to win the race against America to create the first atomic bomb. A timeline that the Doctor managed to avert in this adventure. By the end of ‘Colditz’, Klein has become a refugee in our reality… and it’s only a matter of time before she crosses paths with the Doctor again!

Klein is such a phenomenally interesting character, and Tracey Childs does an incredible job at bringing her to life. I absolutely cannot wait to dive into the trilogy where she returns, because it genuinely features what I consider to be the greatest Seventh Doctor adventure of all time (‘The Architects of History’).

◆ Sound Design

Anybody who has read my reviews of the early ‘Bernice Summerfield’ range will be aware that Toby Richards and Emily Baker have gained a fair bit of notoriety. I use this saying a lot, but their sound design is genuinely enough to make me take an orbital sander to my eardrums! So imagine how shocked I was to hear that they did an absolutely excellent job with ‘Colditz’. The titular POW camp is brought to life with a really high degree of quality, and I was genuinely very impressed.

Floodlights wink into life as Nazi soldiers storm the castle’s courtyard, their heavy boots marching in unison on the stone ground. Gunfire, as Feldwebel Kurtz shoots the Doctor in the shoulder. Modern dance music blasts out of Ace’s CD Walkman. A piercing siren acts as a morning chorus for the inmates of Colditz Castle. Allied prisoners chat amongst themselves in the castle’s courtyard, with one even playing a harmonica. Clanking cutlery and crockery in the prison canteen. Klein fires her pistol at a fleeing Doctor. Kurtz and a pack of dogs chase after Ace and Gower, as they make their escape attempt. The ending of this story is extremely gruesome; Kurtz is ripped apart as the TARDIS dematerialises, with only half of him aboard!

◆ Music

Richards and Baker are also handling the score for ‘Colditz’. They make excellent use of hard-hitting drum beats, which almost act like an analogy for the jack-boot of Nazi oppression. It’s an extremely well composed piece of music.

◆ Conclusion

“It’s never worth it Klein. There’s no excuse for genocide!”

The Doctor and Ace get stuck at one of history’s most infamous prisoner of war camps, only to be confronted by a woman who claims to be from the future… a future where the Third Reich lead a new golden age following their victory in the Second World War.

‘Colditz’ starts out like any other superbly written BigFinish pure historical, before veering into the realm of alternate history. Like the Doctor says in this adventure; it’s the oldest paradox in the book. What if the Nazis won the war? But more importantly, how can this horrifying fascist future be averted?

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred both deliver some superb performances, and a pre-Tenth Doctor David Tennant does a fantastic job as the utterly vile Feldwebel Kurtz. However, it’s Tracey Childs who steals the show here as Klein.

‘Colditz’ is one of the best written stories the Seventh Doctor has ever received, and that is a hill I’d happily die on.