A Life in the Day

The 8th Doctor is now travelling with Liv Chenka, Molly O’Sullivan having, apparently, been returned home by the Time Lords.  Seeking to find their old friend, they have arrived in London, 1921, and are trying to have a bit of a respite from their recent troubles.  Liv is staying at the Ritz Hotel courtesy of the Doctor whilst he tries to track down Molly.  His first port of call is the home of Kitty Donaldson, an alternative version of whom he met in 1914 when he first met Molly.  Molly is not there, but the Doctor is introduced to Kitty’s brother, Martin.  Martin is a survivor of the Great War although he lost a leg in the conflict.  The Doctor is intrigued to find that time is in flux around Martin.

Before he discovers this, though, the Doctor has already set Liv and Martin up on a bit of a date.  When he does realise the danger, though, much of the story involves the Doctor and Kitty trying to track Martin and Liv down as they enjoy their day out around London.  Added trouble comes from a group of androids who are attempting to capture the TARDIS.

Paul McGann is on top form as the Doctor.  The quiet tragedy of much of Dark Eyes seems to have momentarily passed and he is back to his bouncy, loveable, irritating self.  Even when being chased down by killer androids, everything still feels fun.  There’s a great sequence at the Ritz as he realises that something is amiss with the receptionist and his interplay with Kitty (who becomes this episodes ersatz companion whilst Liv is enjoying her day out with Martin) is natural and endearing.

Beth Chalmers plays Kitty.  Chalmers tends to get a raw deal from BF fans on the forums as she is an actress who pops up all over the place doing a variety of small roles – and of course originated the role of Raine, the 7th Doctor’s ‘lost’ companion.  A bit like with Nicholas Briggs, it is merely her ubiquity which draws negativity because, as an actress I find her perfectly pleasant.  She is suited to the ‘posh’ roles and it’s a shame this is her only proper outing with McGann as Kitty (they don’t really interact much in The Great War) because, as I say, their interplay is fun.

Nicola Walker is one of those coups that Big Finish so often gets.  She is an actress who appears in quite a few prestigious dramas on television and has a public profile far outside of a niche company such as Big Finish.  To have her play Liv Chenka once as a guest star in the 7th Doctor story Robophobia, was exciting but to have her return for such a long run as the character throughout not just Dark Eyes, but the Doom Coalition and now Ravenous story arcs, is quite something.  And she’s brilliant.  She’s dour and wounded by her experiences, but she’s also seeking something better – not just for herself but for humanity.  Her friendship with the Doctor is an interesting one as, having listened to the whole Dark Eyes saga and the first box set of Doom Coalition, I’m not convinced she actually ‘likes’ the Doctor all that much.  I often get the impression she sees him as a means to an end.  She survived by herself for a long time without the Doctor, facing up to the horrors being perpetrated by the Daleks (she often reminds me a little of Susan Mendes from the Dalek Empire series).  As such, she is under no illusions about how horrific and hard the universe can be.  But, being with the Doctor means she can make more of a difference than she could by herself.

Here, in this story, she cannot quite bring herself to ‘let her hair down’.  As Martin shows her around London she agrees to his suggestions for activities but with a slight ‘whatever you want’ attitude rather than a genuine enthusiasm for experiencing a time and place far, far removed from her own (let’s remember that her home time and place is Kaldor).

A key sequence in this story is a trip to the cinema.  Martin takes Liv to see a Buster Keaton movie and much is made of Liv not really understanding the humour of this style of entertainment but eventually getting into it, more through Martin’s infectious enthusiasm than anything else.  She is wanting to see the good in people, wanting to see that life can have joy.  In a way, Liv and Martin have both emerged from horrific conflicts and there is an unspoken bond between them, I think, because of this.

Walker also brings some real emotion to the final scenes displaying grief and confusion at the sacrifice of a man who gives his life to save hers despite – as far as she is aware – only having known her for a day.

And herein lies the crux of the story.  The time anomaly detected by the Doctor turns out to be a time loop that only Martin is trapped in.  Consequently he has been living the same day over and over again.  Every day he meets Liv and takes her on a tour of London, doing different things each day.  This is how his love for Liv has grown and partly why, although she doesn’t remember their previous days, she forms such a close bond with him so quickly.  Intriguing details from the episode begin to make sense as it becomes clear that Martin is trying to lead events to the point where he can best save the lives of the Doctor and Liv.  He reveals that he has tried many ways but they have all ended with him dying and re-awaking back at the start of the day.  But this is no Groundhog Day comedy escapade.  There is a real tragedy in Martin’s predicament and a melancholy in the way he has attemped to make the best of his strange life.  A Life in the Day.

This is a story which rewards relistening as Martin’s slightly strange reactions to the Doctor and Liv begin to make more sense and the clever plotting is clearer.

The only weak link, for me, are the killer androids.  Very little background is given to these enemies but they are merely a plot device – the reason for the time loop.  This is a four-hander between the Doctor, Liv, Martin and Kitty and, as such, it is hugely successful.  The Dark Eyes saga has its up and downs and, being so Dalek-centric, is never going to top my personal polls but in between the ranting metal pepper pots and the machinations of the Master are these individual episodes which shine.  Indeed, The Day in the Life is so tangentially connected to the whole arc that it easily works as a standalone.  It’s just a shame it has to be bought as a set (a discussion for another day, maybe).

Historically, we find the Great War continuing to cast a shadow over Great Britain despite having ended three year prior.  Martin is affected by his experiences in ways it is difficult for people who haven’t lived through such conflict to understand.  But his experiences seem to be what drive him to deal with his strange circumstances with the grit, determination and continual self-sacrifice that he does.

But contrasting against this darkness is the sequence at the cinema.  Just as with Harry Houdini’s profile in this era, we see a world trying to turn away from it’s grief and build a new world – particularly in Great Britain and the USA.  Already in Young Indiana Jones we witnessed jazz, Broadway and the ‘Silver Screen’ and here we have Martin and Liv watching a Buster Keaton movie.

Keaton, like Houdini, is a high profile ‘celebrity’ of this era.  His films were hugely popular and, even today, he is remembered as a star.  Coincidentally, my family and I recently visited a Steam Fairground in Surrey which has a ‘Bioscope’ which shows old silent movies.  Although this time it was clearly being run from a DVD (they do it properly with a piano and film at special times) the Buster Keaton film they showed fully entertained my 10 year old son, as well as the rest of the audience.  His style of slapstick humour and hugely dangerous stunts continues to appeal to people around 100 years since they were made.  That’s quite some achievement.

From the details given by Martin and Liv when discussing the film, it would seem to be that they watch The Goat.  This was released in May 1921 and involved Keaton’s character continually escaping the long arm of the law after being mistaken for an escaped criminal – Deadshot Dan (who appears in a number of Keaton films including the one my family saw recently).

A Life in the Day is an excellent story, with great performances, which slots effortlessly into this era and the way these stories reflect how the world, at this time, was changing.  The next story, The Monster of Montmatre is an unusual follow-up in that it was the subsequent story in the fourth Dark Eyes box set (which starts with A Life in the Day) so therefore also features the 8th Doctor and Liv.  But not only that, but it is also set in 1921, although this time in Paris.