(DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A STORY WRITTEN BY GARETH ROBERTS, A FIGURE WHO HAS MADE HIMSELF INFAMOUS IN THE DOCTOR WHO COMMUNITY THROUGH REPEATED VILE AND NASTY COMMENTS MADE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. THIS REVIEW IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF HIM AS A PERSON, PURELY HIS WORK. DO NOT TAKE ANY PRAISE I LEVEL AT HIM HERE AS ADMIRATION TOWARDS HIS UTTERLY BACKWARDS VIEWPOINTS. ANYWAYS, WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, PLEASE DO ENJOY).

The Monthly Adventures #027 - "The One Doctor” by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman

Comedy in Big Finish is always something I find impressive. Non-visual comedy will rely a lot on script and performance and very rarely can you cheese it, so when it works, it really works (and by extension, when it doesn’t it very much doesn’t). Gareth Roberts, for all his many, many, many faults, is a rather accomplished comedy writer and whilst his efforts in the show rarely land for me - although whether that’s his fault or James Corden’s I’ll never know - his expanded media often do and even, dare I say it, emulate the legendary Douglas Adams’ and his ultra-specific brand of dry British sci-fi comedy. So what happens when the Doctor gets his identity stolen?

Chasing a distress signal, the Doctor and Mel discover a planet in celebration, for he has saved them, along with his plucky companion Sally-Anne. But how could that be? And what will these imposters do when a real alien invasion comes a-calling?

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

A self-parody was a concept that, by this point, was very overdue in Doctor Who, and I don’t think that there could’ve been a better execution of the concept than this. It is very unfortunate that Gareth Roberts is this good at writing comedy. Centre to this glorious pantomime are Banto Zame and Sally-Anne, the respective Doctor and companion con artists that are paired with our main cast for the duration of the episode and they are an absolute joy to have around. Christopher  Biggins is certainly the stand out performer here: he manages to blend a genuinely good impression of the Doctor with a two-bit crook swindling his way out of situations with Saul Goodman levels of bullshitting. Sally-Anne also is shockingly endearing as a companion and, though the main focus is on her having an oddball romantic fixation on Sixie, she makes for an honestly great one-time traveller. These are two characters that I feel wouldn’t work in pretty much any other context, and I think the creative team of Hickman and Roberts pull it off so well because of their Adamsesque comedy, which encourages mundane absurdity and a teatime perspective of the universe at large. But enough about their imposters, how does the real Doctor and companion fare in this story? Really very well I say; we are on the furthest side of the Big Finish to Twin Dilemma spectrum and Six is very much like a pompous teddy bear, constantly arguing with the vocabulary of a thesaurus and getting hurt by Banto’s less than flattering impersonation - his inherent ego makes me consider him to have been the best choice of Doctor for this story. And I think it’s time we talk about Mel, because she was one of my least favourite companions ever until a few months ago; her lineup of stories and reputation as the 80s’ screamer caused her image in my mind to turn sour, and only because of some of her Big Finish appearances and her glorious return to the revival (or revival’s revival) have I become aware of the more nuanced and interesting side of her character. Bonnie Langford is the main reason I enjoy Mel so much (Langford is just magnificent in the role) but I also feel that, whilst not working quite as well as somebody like Evelyn, she worked so much better as a companion to Six than Peri; their personalities just seemed to fit together well. Her and Seven however? I am yet to be convinced of that pairing’s worth. One other thing I’d like to note is the music, which I found to be incredibly immersive this time around and very reminiscent of the scores found in the 80s era, which is great since the inherent camp of this script is very much a product of JNT’s loud and proud era.

As for negatives, I find that The One Doctor slips up in the same way as many other audios - story troubles. Whilst I found the middle section to be some excellent, witty shenanigans, like trying to end a game show that's been running for millennia or attempting to build the universe’s most egregious IKEA shelf, the beginning and end both stumble. For one, this story takes surprisingly long to start moving - we’ve barely seen our inciting incident and already Part One is over - and really the story only gets good when Banto and Sally-Anne get grouped with our regulars. Also, I found the script to lose steam somewhat by the end and Part Four to be a bit of a drag. Spending twenty minutes waiting for a slime-man’s  (oddly enough voiced by Matt Lucas) package to arrive is a concept that just doesn’t sustain itself for the whole runtime and by this point you’re just waiting for the neat little conclusion at the end, which we do get but only after a peculiar musical number from the aforementioned Matt Lucas slime man.

The One Doctor really was a breath of fresh air, a witty and unique trip that feels as if Douglas Adams wrote for Who in the 80s. A great cast and some absolutely sidesplitting antics make this whole thing an absolutely great time but I find the jokes to take over from the story sometimes, leaving the narrative to fall just shy of the mark.

8/10

Pros:

+ Genuinely really funny

+ Banto and Sally-Anne were really fun as one-time TARDIS members

+ Six and Mel’s dynamic was great, with stand out performances from both actors

+ Great score that really captured the 80s

Cons:

- Part Four didn’t land as well as the previous three

- Takes too long to get going