The Invention of Death from Volume 2 of The First Doctor Adventures written by one John Dorney. Dorney is one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who writers, one of Big Finish’s lead writers and a regular for the Eighth Doctor box sets while occasionally dipping into other Doctor audios, by and large in box sets he tends to steal the show. I can’t even quite put my finger on it, he’s just such a gifted writer teeming with brilliant ideas and concepts, if Russell T. Davies ever brought him over to the show it would be a huge positive acquisition.

This series has close ties to the 50-year celebration of Doctor Who all the way back in 2013 where on top of the 50th anniversary special we also had An Adventure in Space and Time, a biographical television film depicting the origins of Doctor Who and William Hartnell’s time as the First Doctor. The role of William Hartnell was played to perfection by David Bradley who later would morph that role into the First Doctor himself after having appeared in Peter Capaldi’s swansong in 2017. At the same time in December of that year, Big Finish launched a new audio series called The First Doctor Adventures featuring the cast from An Adventure in Space and Time taking on the roles of the original TARDIS crew with the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan and schoolteachers Ian and Barbara.

The Doctor attempts a new theory to try and return Ian and Barbara home only for it to go wrong, as expected. They find themselves on a planet very similar to Earth only inhabited by peaceful creatures that appear to have no fear of anything or anyone, for the simple reason that they can never die. All seems to be going well for the time travellers at first until they make a horrifying discovery that something they’ve brought to this world will change the future of the Ashtalans forever.

This was the first story of The First Doctor Adventures I’d ever listened to and while Jamie Glover’s voice as Ian threw me off quite a bit and it was a little tricky at first to tell Claudia Grant and Jemma Powell’s voices apart, upon further relistens I have grown accustomed to the new cast and feel they do a superb job of giving their own takes on the original TARDIS crew with David Bradley effortlessly embodying the spirit of William Hartnell. But what makes this story stand out as one of my favourites from the First Doctor is its approach to the theme of death (so, cheerful story if you couldn’t tell), not just for what it means in terms of dying but how it can have a positive impact on a society, a motivator to do more and achieve when you know your life is limited rather than just living idly.

This is further enhanced by the involvement of the Ashtalans who are one of the best and most unique aliens I’ve come across in Doctor Who. Beings that do not understand so many terms and words used by our main characters that are second nature to them, which leads to attempts to explain such terms but with great difficulty because they’re terms that aren’t easily defined, they’re just known. This story is probably the most accurate depiction of the possibility of encountering life from other worlds, two species that have very few similarities and struggle to understand one another which is what the first half mostly consists of.

It then leads into the second half where the Ashtalans begin to die, but they don’t know how to react to it because death has never happened on their world. The main characters are faced with the horrible possibility that they’re in some way responsible for this sudden wave of deaths and must act quickly to save the Ashtalans. The reveal of what the cause is and even who’s causing the deaths is a great spin on what would ordinarily be the typical villain of the story. But in this case, it’s not really a villain or someone acting out of evil intentions but rather someone behaving carelessly in the name of science and progress which is understandable but still a terrible act. This all leads to a brilliant ending for the “villain” who comes to understand what death truly means and delivers a beautiful speech.

This one may be a bit of a slow burner for those not used to a Doctor Who story that steps away from the more traditional storytelling but once it gets going it’s an incredible experience and I love it to death (no pun intended).