Doctor Who – The Eighth Doctor Adventures: In the Bleak Midwinter

#4.02. The Empty Man ~ 8/10

◆ An Introduction

Some people would argue that Christmas is the perfect time to cuddle up in the warmth and tell ghost stories; something to chill the blood whilst you down your eighth mug of eggnog! But I’m an unsociable cynic, which is why I listen to one of Joseph Lidster’s exceptionally creepy adventures every Christmas Eve.

The tradition of festive ghost stories can be traced all the way back to Charles Dickens, with your reference point likely being A Christmas Carol or the sadly overlooked The Signal Man.

I wonder what would happen if the ghost stories came to life… and began haunting their writers!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Good evening, faithful listener. It's time for Eldridge Brinkwood, that splendid scribe of scary stories, to tell another of his tales this Christmas Eve.

Except this is a horror like no other. The Doctor and his friends have stirred something in the dark, something ruthless and relentless. And the Empty Man must feast…

◆ The Eighth Doctor

Someone was always going to draw the short straw in an episode that only features four characters. The Doctor doesn’t really get much in the way of character development, though Tim Foley does include a pretty fun scene where he completely ruins an antique Chrysler!

‘The Empty Man’ featured another brilliant performance from Paul McGann, and there’s not really much more I can say than that.

The Doctor has difficulty distinguishing how old a human being is; forty and four-hundred both look the same to him. He likes to collect the Christmas editions of the Radio Times, likes to keep them pristine. Charley believes that sometimes he is so delightfully alien, and other times he is a typical man.

◆ Charley Pollard

Tim Foley does an excellent job at writing for our Edwardian Adventuress. Charley has been travelling through time and space for some time now, so understandably takes a lot future history in her stride. That being said, it was shocking to hear her just shrug off the fact there had been a Second World War! That’s the sort of information that causes one to pause for thought.

India Fisher delivers another fantastic performance, exuding confidence in every scene she appears in.

Charley mentions that they’ve met creatures in the vortex before, even tried to tame one (lovely little reference to Ramsay the Vortisaur there). If the Empty Man took on Eldridge’s shape because it thought he was going to die, then why did it also take her shape?

◆ Lady Audacity Montague

Audacity receives some excellent material in ‘The Empty Man’. She’s taken to time travel much in the same way a duck takes to water, but experienced traveller or not, she can’t just take the knowledge that two world wars have happened in her stride.

I hope that whoever was responsible for casting Jaye Griffiths has been given a pay-rise; she really is an exceptional actress. This episode only features a single guest star – Nickolas Grace – who Griffiths develops an instant rapport with. Their scenes together are just fabulous.

She isn’t sure how many false alarms there are with the Doctor. Audacity explored the Tardis a little when she first came aboard, but it seems as though new passageways spring up everywhere she turns. Upon discovering that they’ve crashed near Hampstead Heath, she wonders if they still have the shutter telegraph; she made them teach her semaphore there. She has no compunctions about expressing her impressions. In other words, she likes to say the quiet part out loud. Audacity doesn’t know the laws of various times, and frankly doesn’t care, because surely there are some principles which are timeless. She wonders if travel with the Doctor gnaws away at one’s morality, one’s empathy even.

◆ Story Recap

Whilst showing Audacity around the Tardis, Charley answers a telephone and, although she cannot hear anything on the line, she gets a strange feeling from it. The Cloister Bell rings and the two of them run to the Doctor in the control room when they see a double of Charley in the corridors.

The Tardis is being torn apart, so the Doctor initiates a double landing in 1940s London to shake the double loose, after which he uses a tracking device for temporal anomalies which leads the trio to a radio station.

Eldridge Brinkwood is finishing broadcasting a ghost story for his radio series when he encounters the mysterious double, who morphs into a copy of himself. Rescued by the Doctor and bundled into a car, they find themselves being chased by a creature from within the vortex itself: the Empty Man.

◆ Doppelgänger

The Empty Man is shrouded in mystery throughout the adventure. All we’re told is that they originate from the time vortex, and that they appear to those who are near death. Some people have complained about their lack of backstory, but that makes them all the more unsettling.

◆ The Causeway Dilemma

Marcellus Strange was a renowned surrealist painter from the mid-twentieth century, and the former romantic partner of Brinkwood. In the hopes of escaping from the Empty Man, our heroes resort to barricading themselves inside of his country estate, but the Doctor notices something strange amongst the artist’s possessions; a golden business card featuring three parallel lines.

The eagle-eared amongst you will remember that this business card belongs to a time-travelling organisation known simply as the Causeway: Oberon Fix previously received one such card whilst developing his super-weapon aboard the Aurum.

I mentioned during my review of ‘The Great-Cyber War’ that I would be making a note every time this organisation made its presence known, and I will keep doing so until we get some answers… though that may take a while. BigFinish recently announced that the next Eighth Doctor release – titled ‘Echoes’ – would be continuing the adventures with Liv and Helen, so who knows when we’ll see this team again.

◆ Sound Design

One of the earliest scenes features the Doctor and Brinkwood coming face to face with our titular villain: the only sounds you can hear are the buzzing of fluorescent strip lighting, an ethereal wooshing, and footsteps getting faster and faster as the Empty Man begins its pursuit.

By keeping the sound effects to a bare minimum, the whole episode feels ominous and oppressive. Benji Clifford has demonstrated an excellent understanding of the “less is more” principle.

◆ Music

‘The Empty Man’ had an ominous atmosphere right from the word go, opening with some deep choral vocals during Brinkwood’s broadcast. Things then settle into a more traditional Howard Carter score; polished and bombastic, as the titular villain begins chasing our heroes.

◆ Conclusion

“I may have died on Christmas Eve, but at least I got to tell my own ghost story.”

Eldridge Brinkwood tells ghost stories on the radio, but finds himself pursued by one on Christmas Eve; a shapeshifting figure which has taken on his appearance. Sightings of doppelgängers have long been considered an omen of misfortune or bad luck. In some extreme cases, they signify that your death is fast approaching…

Nickolas Grace puts in an excellent performance as Brinkwood. Considering he is the only guest character in the story, a great deal of time is spent fleshing him out and making him feel like a real person. His interactions with Audacity are particularly good; I also think the closing monologue he delivered, as the Doctor took him on a final trip before his death, was incredibly emotional.

The Empty Man is shrouded in mystery throughout the adventure. All we’re told is that they originate from the time vortex, and that they appear to those who are near death. Some people have complained about their lack of backstory, but to me, that makes them all the more unsettling.

It’s traditional for people to tell ghost stories during the festive period, and ‘The Empty Man’ was a particularly good one.