Phantasmagoria is a very special story.  In my eyes, it was the first ‘proper’ Doctor Who story that Big Finish released.  Yes, I know, of course The Sirens of Time came first (and very exciting it was too – I still have photographs of my two friends and I on the train back from an autograph signing at the 10th Planet store in Barking clutching our signed copies of that CD with ridiculous expressions of glee) but it isn’t really representative of either Big Finish’s output or the ‘classic’ Doctor Who they were trying to emulate in the early days.Phantasmagoria, on the other hand, is a traditional Doctor Who story (although with its 5th Doctor/Turlough pairing it could still be argued that ‘proper classic’ Doctor Who doesn’t appear until Whispers of Terror with the 6th Doctor and Peri seeing as Turlough only ever appeared as a ‘solo companion’ with the Doctor once and that was when he was leaving, Peri was joining and the production team suddenly remembered that Kamelion was still on board the TARDIS).

There are three Big Finish releases I can remember precisely where I was when listening to them.  ‘Dust Breeding’ was in my bedroom at my parent’s house with the CD in the stereo sitting on my sofa.  I had to replay the cliffhanger to Episode 2 about 3 times because I couldn’t believe the reveal that had just occurred.  ‘Scherzo’ was whilst driving to work one day because I almost crashed the car when a sound effect was used to shocking effect.  Phantasmagoria was sitting on the floor of my bedroom.  I punched the air moments before the reveal at the end of Episode 3 of who Major Billy Lovemore was as I finally twigged.

I love Phantasmagoria.  I remember thinking at the time that 18th century England was a time and place Doctor Who rarely visited (as this marathon’s upcoming schedule proves) and as a result this felt like something a bit different and a bit, for want of a better word, exotic.  Mark Gatiss’s script is a little rough round the edges and does betray a lack of experience with audio only writing as a few too many characters talk to themselves (Turlough is a particularly bad offender in the early episodes) but his characters and plot more than make up for it.  Every character is well written with some brilliant dialogue (similes spout forth from practically every character and I lost count of the number of glorious outbursts such as ‘tish’ and od’s fish as characters reacted to the bizarre events unfolding around them) and this is rewarded by performances which are top notch.  Particularly delightful are David Walliams as Quincy Flowers (and Ned Cotton) and Julia Dalkin as Hannah.  Mark Gatiss himself takes the role of Jaspar Jeakes and although he sounds a little ‘League of Gentlemen’ he clearly loves playing such a grotesque character.  David Ryall is simply wonderful as Sir Nikolas Valentine, the villain of the piece.  He is gloriously over the top towards the end, but it fits the florid, hyperbolic nature of the story.

The plot is interesting as it revolves around apparent supernatural occurrences, which seems to be a bit of a running theme for the 5th Doctor in Big Finish’s productions.  The 5th Doctor also faced spirits in Winter for the Adept and elements of the supernatural such as werewolves and living gods like Kwundaar in Primeval.  What’s interesting is the contrast in approach to the supernatural in Phantasmagoria and Winter for the Adept.  In the latter, the Doctor seems very open to the idea of supernatural beings such as poltergeists and doesn’t set out to find a rational explanation.  In Phantasmagoria however he is the rational foil to Dr Holywell’s believer in spirits.

The atmosphere of the piece is fairly horrific, even when the science fiction kicks in during the final episode.  Valentine’s ‘house of blood’ is gruesome.  Much of this story was, apparently, inspired by a League of Gentlemen sketch which I can well believe.  I’m a big fan of The League of Gentlemen and their dark humour and there is, in fact, a section in the film, League of Gentlemen Apocalypse which very much echoes the atmosphere of this piece (and features Sir Isaac Newton himself, David Warner as a villain not far removed from Valentine.

Historically, Phantasmagoria probably has more in common with The League of Gentlemen and Blackadder the Third than it does with anything approaching reality.  That said, it is very specific about its placing in 1702 and the recent death of William of Orange which discussion about who will ascend to the throne (with the agreement that Princess Anne is the most likely candidate).  Also, the presence of gentlemen’s clubs and the foppish nature of characters such as Quincy lend a historically atmospheric air to proceedings.  What I found interesting was how this background to the story hints at a shift in English society.  So far in this marathon, the historical stories have had a clear divide between royalty and peasants.  Here I believe we see the beginnings of the middle classes.  Characters such as Jeakes, Quincy and Holywell and not nobility but nor are they servants like Hannah (and even she is not really poor).  They are people who have money (either through inheritance or work) and are free to spend it how they wish, whether that is collecting antiques and curiosities (in Holywell’s case) or gambling, drinking and eating (Jeakes and Flowers).  The nearest we’ve come to characters like this, so far, have been people such as Richard Mace and Shakespeare, but they have been stand out characters among the more traditional divides between rich and poor we have been accustomed to.  Phantasmagoria is populated by this new breed of character.

The other aspect of note is the first Doctor Who appearance of a highwayman.  This romantic notion is immensely popular throughout literature with the likes of Dick Turpin, but is something mysteriously lacking from Doctor Who, at least on television.  Again the closest we have is Richard Mace in The Visitation.  Big Finish finally delved into the highwayman trope with The Doomwood Curse, but even that is not straightforward.  The Hannah/Lovemore reveal in Phantasmagoria owes a lot to the common conceit of highwaymen being women in disguise but even that is given a science fiction flourish and consequently it seems we are still waiting for Doctor Who to do a ‘proper’ highwayman-based adventure.

One weird thing I did notice was how obvious it was that certain people were playing more than one part.  It’s probably because I’ve listened to this story quite a few times and also because David Walliams character voices are so familiar now from Little Britain and his other projects.  Also, the duality of Hannah and Lovemore is actually really obvious when you know its coming and there are plenty of clues littered throughout the first three episodes before the big reveal at the end of Episode 3. But then, that’s a bit like watching The Sixth Sense once you know the twist (and no, I didn’t get that one till about five minutes before it was revealed – I’m a bit thick like that sometimes!)

Phantasmagoria is, as you can probably tell, a favourite of mine.  It is fun, atmospheric and has a good villain at its heart.  The cast are clearly enjoying themselves and it shows how, even right at the beginning, Big Finish knew exactly what they were doing, rough round the edges though it might be.  The presence of Big Finish stalwarts Steven Wickham and Jez Fielder adds to the nostalgia value for me and all in all this is a story I could revisit time and time again and never grow tired of.