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

#4.03. Winter of the Demon ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

One last adventure before the Midwinter melts away. Scotland is undergoing a period of economic expansion following the Industrial Revolution. One man believes he can illuminate the capital city, thus making it the jewel in the crown of a new electric empire.

Everything has been prepared for, and the winter solstice is rapidly approaching. Edinburgh shall enter a new era of illumination… but will that be because the city is awash with light, or ablaze with fire?

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The TARDIS brings the travellers to Victorian Edinburgh. Industrialist Donald Shaw plans to transform the city with electric light, but people are dying, found horribly burned…

What ancient power has Shaw summoned? Can the Doctor prevent the Winter of the Demon?

◆ The Eighth Doctor

‘Albie’s Angels’ was one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve ever heard. I made the mistake of listening to it whilst at work; which meant I was wandering round the aisles of a Sainsbury’s, blubbering like a whale, at 5am! Looking back, my only complaint would be that the Doctor got sidelined for most of the runtime. Roy Gill thankfully makes up for that with this script.

‘Winter of the Demon’ features a great performance from McGann. I loved the scenes with the pathologist towards the beginning, which heavily reminded me of Jago and Litefoot.

The Doctor has learnt to trust the Tardis’ instincts. Swords and pistols aren’t his style. He admits to Archie that he knows a little of time and navigation. The Doctor usually pokes around, finds things that don’t fit or people that need help – he always stumbles on something – and then things get exciting! If he knew everything, he would give up travelling and stay home.

◆ Charley Pollard

Charley is afforded some of the best material in ‘Winter of the Demon’. Gill sets up this adorable little romance plot where she falls head-over-heels for a captain in the Scots Guard. Charley and Archie make for a really fun pairing, and I wouldn’t mind the character returning in a future box set with this team.

As previously mentioned, this episode features some delightful material for India Fisher to sink her teeth into, and she really has fun with it. Giving her character a romantic interest would only be a success if the performers worked well with each other, and they really do. Fisher and Scougall have a wonderful chemistry with each other; you could easily have convinced me that they’d been working together for years.

Charley suggests that they take Archie to see his family, for one more Midwinter feast.

◆ Lady Audacity Montague

This is the closest we’ve been to Audacity’s original time since her debut, so she knows exactly how to work society in her favour. She quickly acquaints herself with the guests at Sir Donald’s party; picking up scraps of information like a magpie picks up shiny things. Roy Gill has done a really nice job writing for this character.

Jaye Griffiths rounds off her second box set with another spectacular performance. There’s an incredibly gruesome scene where the Cramond Lioness comes to life and murders a local archaeologist by essentially melting her. Audacity is utterly horrified by what she has just witnessed. That shock and distress really shines through in Griffiths’ performance.

Audacity believes that if you can’t bend convention to your will, it’s best to abandon it altogether.

◆ Story Recap

Arriving in Edinburgh during the Industrial Revolution, the Tardis crew find themselves investigating a series of inexplicable deaths, where all the bodies have been badly burnt.

Joe Coghill is the seventh victim. The Doctor disagrees with his death being put down to electrocution rather than intense heat, believing that he might have disturbed something in the tunnels where he was installing cabling and discovered a priceless Roman coin.

Deciding to investigate Coghill’s employer, Audacity and Charley manage to blag their way into a party organised by the Edinburgh Power Corporation. They discover from the guests that similar Roman coins have been found at a nearby archaeological dig, but perhaps more interesting and dangerous artefacts have also been uncovered.

As the winter solstice approaches, a plan is being enacted to unleash a fire demon that will provide limitless energy for the city… but Sir Donald wont be able to control it!

◆ Sound Design

I was interested to discover that members of the Scots Guard have been firing the One o’clock Gun since 1861; though I think it’s used more nowadays as something to interest the tourists than to allow ships in the Firth of Forth to set their maritime clocks. The Gun is one of the first things you hear in this episode, and it certainly gives the soundscape some character.

◆ Conclusion

“Edinburgh will be an electrical pioneer; the glittering jewel of a new empire!”

A villainous industrialist is going to unleash a fire demon during the winter solstice. He then plans on imprisoning it inside of his power station, so he can illuminate the whole of Edinburgh.

This episode is totally unremarkable, and just by skimming over previous reviews I see I’m not alone in thinking that. An attempt has been made to cram as much content as possible into an hour, but most of it has been recycled from other stories; the villainous Sir Donald is just a less interesting version of Mrs Gillyflower from ‘The Crimson Horror’. Then you have the concept of creating a renewable energy source from something capable of decimating the entire planet, which has been ripped wholesale from ‘Inferno’.

Ultimately, ‘Winter of the Demon’ is a story severely lacking in fresh ideas. I had an alright time listening to this episode – which I’m putting down to the excellent performances from our regulars, and Charley’s romantic sub-plot – but I definitely wont be coming back to it anytime soon.