Doctor Who and the Pirates is one of the silliest Doctor Who stories I’ve ever experienced, and I absolutely love every bit of it for the same reasons that the first Pirates of the Caribbean film is so ridiculous, yet people love regardless! The style and tone of this story is so campy and over the top, but never reaches the point of being annoying. It always manages to keep that fun energetic feel throughout while also having a lot of heart.

Doctor Who and the Pirates sees Evelyn call in on one of her students who’s been out of sorts lately and tells her a story of a recent adventure, one on the high seas encountering pirates in search of treasure. But to make things more fun the story she tells is littered with inconsistencies, certain parts end up having to be retold because she misremembers events in her excitement, the sailors are all voiced by the same actor as Evelyn’s not an impressionist, and then later the Doctor turns up to tell his part of the story which consists of the characters being unrealistically complimentary of his attire. The captain of the pirates, Red Jasper, is brilliantly played by Bill Oddie who’s having an absolute blast with this role. This man was born to play a pirate and he goes all out, being a perfect mix of menacing and hilarious. As an example of the inconsistencies in Evelyn’s story he starts off being portrayed as having hooks for both hands until it’s decided he needs a free hand for a swordfight, and also having two wooden legs until the student points out how ridiculous that is. We get a scene of the sailors agreeing to join the pirates in their treasure hunt and not only are they all voiced by the same actor, but they keep throwing out made up names until Evelyn can’t think of anymore and start throwing out names of other fictional characters.
If you think that’s weird you ain’t heard nothing yet as towards the halfway point the Doctor decides to liven things up by turning the story into a musical! Which leads to Doctor Who’s funniest cliffhanger where the Doctor, much to Evelyn’s horror, starts to sing!!! The entirety of part three plays out as a Gilbert & Sullivan parody with Doctor Who themed lyrics. It even makes fun of the common musical trope of having a song for every conversation…

"I just can’t understand why you would want to work for Red Jasper! Perhaps……you could sing me a song about it!"

This all builds up to the reveal as to why this student is so depressed and the real reason for Evelyn’s visit which is moving and features a beautiful solo from actress Helen Goldwyn. It then ties into the final part where we learn why this adventure was so personal to Evelyn. This story is a brilliant mix of hilarious, silliness, clever, heart-warming and emotional. Of course, you should bear in mind going in that you’re in for something very over the top and ridiculous but it’s all part of the fun, I never get tired of listening to this one, highly recommend!