Our adventures with Harry Houdini continue with the Destiny of the Doctor’s story Smoke and Mirrors. Released as part of the AudioGo celebratory box set, but produced by Big Finish, Smoke and Mirrors was the 5th Doctor segment (each story featured a different Doctor from 1-11 with 11 making cameos in all the stories leading up to the finale).

Smoke and Mirrors is a classic 5th Doctor, Season 19 story. It has the historical aspect of The Visitation and Black Orchid; the interplay of the three companions; the Master as the main villain and, in a plot device popular with authors of the Virgin Missing Adventures, Nyssa being possessed by the baddies.

And it has Harry Houdini.

But this is an older Harry. A Harry who has finally got fed up with the Doctor teasing him and tantalising him with stories of other worlds and technology beyond his comprehension. This is a man who hates to be kept in the dark and, it eventually is revealed, has come under the thrall of the Master because of his burgeoning disenchantment with the Doctor.

It’s a really fascinating dynamic to play with and sits remarkably well with Harry Houdini’s War. Clearly the creative team behind Harry Houdini’s War did actually consider the storyline of Smoke and Mirrors and the seeds to Harry’s disillusionment are definitely sown in that story. Listening to them in chronological order allows this character development to pay off and gives Harry a satisfying arc.

The idea that the Doctor should meet an old friend – one of those historical characters he’s always boasting of being besties with – and discover he’s actually working for the enemy is a great hook for the story and works particularly well with that most vulnerable of Doctors, Number 5.

A Harry Houdini Doctor Who story wouldn’t be complete without a water-based escape and Smoke and Mirrors is no different with Houdini trapping the Doctor inside one of his own illusions, but with little chance of escape. The rest of the story is set around a carnival which makes for an evocative atmosphere and a contrast to the other theatre-based Houdini stories. In my ill-spent youth, I once tried to write my own Doctor Who story based around an Edwardian funfair (it had the 4th Doctor, Leela and K9 and a murder plot which revolved around K9 being a key witness but having lost his voicebox – I’m rubbish at endings!).

Despite the presence of four regulars, Steve Lyons, the writer, manages to find enough incident for all of them. Nyssa, as mentioned, comes under the thrall of the Master; Tegan and Adric are menaced by an escaped tiger and there is a great sequence where Adric climbs atop a fairground ride to escape it. The Doctor, meanwhile, is dealing with Houdini’s betrayal as he finally works out that events are the result of a previous adventure he had with Houdini whilst in his first incarnation.

This unseen adventure serves to provide further background to this complex relationship Houdini has with the Doctor and it highlighted to me how Houdini is possibly the historical character with the most established relationship with the Doctor – even moreso than Shakespeare, for example, which didn’t seem to be as deep a relationship as he has with Houdini. There is a friendship there, but also complexity and a touch of darkness. It’s a very different approach to the way the Doctor relates to humans and is a real success of these stories.

Janet Fielding does a good job at narration and her performance as Nyssa is spot on. There were a couple of occasions where she got Sarah Sutton’s intonation spot on. Tim Beckmann (who BF had originally wanted to return in Harry Houdini’s War) is excellent as an older Houdini and portrays Houdini’s complex character very well.

Smoke and Mirrors is a perfect companion piece to Harry Houdini’s War and will be interesting to see how Theatre of the Mind builds on the character arc established in these two releases.