Bernice Summerfield

#5.01. The Grel Escape ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

When it comes to these stories, I’m usually already listening to the next series by the time I come round to reviewing an episode (the latest Benny story I actually listened to was ‘The Crystal of Cantus’). Due to this, I’ve already heard this entire series in full, and would easily call it the best run this range has ever had.

Enough beating round the bush, as it’s time to kick off Series Five… and I’ve got a good fact for you – the Grel are back! For the glory of the Grel! The glory of the Grel!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Young children can be difficult. Tantrums, toy-throwing, not wanting to go to bed, whisking their mothers on dangerous journeys throughout all of time and space.

Jason wants Benny's son Peter to have a normal childhood. Peter has other plans. And unfortunately, Peter also has Benny and Jason's Time Rings. And knows how to use them. Even more unfortunately, the fact-obsessed, tentacle-faced Grel have built a time machine, and they're after Peter.

So Benny finds herself on the run, landing in frightening festivals and deadly deserts, facing ridiculously inaccurate robot doubles and hideously accented tourists, in what can only be described as a sort of chase.

◆ Prof. Bernice Summerfield

Lisa Bowerman kicks off the fifth series with a phenomenal performance.

Benny was told that some debauched layabout had ran off with her kid, luckily she knew who it was before she called the galactic space-port. I love how she just completely forgets about the Grel when the time rings take the gang to Ancient Egypt, where she is keen to show off her love of archaeology to her son… something that backfires when she gets shot by a Grel. Benny knows there is something to worry about when Jason starts agreeing with her.

◆ Jason Kane

Stephen Fewell’s performance in this adventure is genuinely marvellous.

Jason mightn’t be the biological father of baby Peter, but it’s clear he still cares a great deal about the kid and is happy to treat him like his own son. He thinks that when you’re a kid you need a bit of magic, there may be crap behind it, but you don’t know that back then. He only ever went to the seaside once as a kid – yeah, the sea was probably polluted, the ice cream full of e-numbers and dogs had probably shat on the sand, but he didn’t notice any of that. He brought a huge lump of seaweed home that day and hung it above his bed, and used to look at it and remember being happy for that one day. Jason wants to do right by his step-son and make sure he gets a good childhood, and make sure that he has a good father figure. It was mentioned in ‘Just War’ how abusive and vile Jason’s dad could be to him and his sister, so it’s really understandable why he wants Peter to have a good childhood, it really is. He’s not going to be stupidly reckless and let something happen to Peter, but thinks that his loving ex-wife needs to let the poor kid breathe once in a while.

◆ Joseph

I cannot believe that I’ve neglected to discuss the demented ping-pong ball in past reviews, because I’ve adored this character since he first appeared in Series Three. Steven Wickham delivered a fab performance here.

Joseph has loads of resources that he could use to perform a variety of high-tech and amazing functions… and he’s instead wasting them on tracking down 20th century television signals for Jason!

◆ Story Recap

Following the downfall of the Fifth Axis and the liberation of the Braxiatel Collection, Jason has gotten back with his ex-wife and is trying to be the best possible step-father to baby Peter. He didn’t exactly have a good childhood, and his own father is best described as something that sounds like “bar steward”, so it’s no surprise that he wants Peter to have a happy and normal life… so hatches a plan to take him back to his native time of the 20th century, even if it’s just to go to a funfair or the zoo.

Jason intends to do this by using his and Benny’s time rings, cause things went so well the last time they got dragged from the back of the wardrobe; Ancient Babylon nearly got atomised, and they nearly perverted the entire course of the Second World War thanks to radar technology!

Benny is furious when she finds out about the plan, but her protests fall on deaf ears… as herself, Jason, baby Peter and his godmother Sophia find themselves being flung throughout time and space. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Grel appear to have mastered time travel… and they want to kidnap baby Peter!

◆ Father Figure

Despite being a blindingly obvious parody of ‘The Chase’, this episode ended up being a hilarious comedy romp. It’s also a rather personal experience for one of our regulars.

I’ve come to absolutely adore Jason Kane throughout my journey with this range, and I can relate to him a lot: both of us have abysmal fathers. Whilst giving a baby two highly sophisticated time travel devices sounds like the most idiotic decision imaginable, Jason’s motives for doing so are rather sweet. His own childhood was absolutely abysmal, so he wants to do right by Peter and make sure he gets a good childhood. Like Jason says to Benny, he only wanted Peter to see a funfair.

I know the writers painted him as a right royal pain in the backside during the first series, but Jason has grown exponentially since then, something I really appreciate. It’s also worth mentioning that Stephen Fewell stole the show during ‘The Grel Escape’.

◆ Sound Design

‘The Grel Escape’ bounces from location to location, which means Simon Robinson has the perfect opportunity to showcase his sound design talents with a variety of colourful audio landscapes.

A roaring lion on the television programme that Joseph is relaying for Jason and Peter. Time warps around our gang as the time rings activate, and send them hurtling through the vortex. Distorted electronic jingles at the Festival of Piranha, which has clearly seen better days (though given that the funfair segments actually take place during 2022, I can imagine this being a fairground that’s been wrecked by the pandemic). The rattling of the ghost train heading along its tracks. The growling voice of Anubis in Benny’s nightmare. Tropical birds chirp in the jungle, whilst insects can be heard going about their business on the jungle floor. The Great Grel Gun reduces two Aussie women to atoms. The sound of F1 cars flying round a racetrack.

◆ Music

The score takes on an Egyptian flavour when our gang find themselves in the shadow of the Sphinx. It’s all rather polished.

Simon Robinson has also created what is now the third theme tune for this range… and it’s one of the absolute best – beaten only by the remix that would be implemented in the next series. It’s got this wonderful techno vibe to it, feeling very reminiscent of the Metroid games.

◆ Conclusion

“I just wanted him to see a funfair!”

‘The Grel Escape’ is one of those stories that manages to stick a stupidly large grin on my face for the entire runtime, making me chuckle like some demented clown. It’s campy and stupid, but we need that brand of mindless fun in the era of “let’s all rush to Twitter and get involved in an argument about Gatwa’s sonic screwdriver!”

Dark and disturbing adventures can be absolutely amazing – just look at ‘The Draconian Rage’ from the last series – but there is nothing more enjoyable than something that can turn me into a grinning idiot for sixty minutes! I’d also say that if you’re looking to dive into this range casually, I cannot recommend this one enough: it doesn’t really rely on any storylines, because it’s just a good old fashioned romp.