Ya’ like jazz?

• Paris, France, 1946. Artie Berger isn’t doing so well. He’s lost his musical gift, and a creature from another world is hunting him. Luckily, his moody manager, his musical partner and a strange Northern bloke are going to help him.

Fright Motif acts as the pseudo-historical story for this set. A story type that is apparently very hit and miss with this range. I will say however, Fright Motif is one of the better ones. Fright Motif excels in small character moments. Artie himself is a character you can’t help but like. And Zazie and Maurice are character’s I genuinely wanted to hear more from. Maurice is a particular highlight, especially in the latter half. Tim Foley’s bread-and-butter is drama, and Fright Motif is ultimately a story about how we deal with losing people. In that respect, this is a story perfect for the Ninth Doctor in particular. Which is weird because according to the behind-the-scenes interviews, this was originally written for the Seventh Doctor, Chris and Roz for the Seventh Doctor New Adventures box set. I do respect the story for acknowledging how grief never really goes away and it is something we just have to live with, but not ignore. Equally, the bittersweet message about how losing someone has the rather nasty habit of sometimes improving your craft.

If you glazed past that part because you’re still focused on “what do you mean this was meant to be for the Seventh Doctor New Adventures: Volume One box set” well that’s the story’s major snag. The pacing and point-to-point progression feels very stop and go. Which is good for the characters in the latter half, less so at the start. Especially in Notre Dame, the story feels like its searching for the plot itself and going in circles. It’s hard to say where and how the VNA trio would’ve slotted into this story and if it would’ve worked better, or where specifically the pacing could be tightened. All I do know is that this is an audio that’s very easy to drift in and out of. It pulls me back in near the middle and end, namely the blanket fort bit, but it doesn’t stop parts of the story feeling a bit aimless.

Fright Motif is ultimately the weakest story of the set, but really shouldn’t be written off. Tim Foley still shines when writing layered characters, the post-war Paris setting is very vivid and I do really admire the emotional core of the story. You can also tell that Tim Foley has a musical ear himself with his descriptions of music itself. I think I have a thing for Doctor Who stories about music. The Year of Intelligent Tigers, The Devil’s Chord and yes, even Fright Motif…