I enjoyed this one, but I can totally see why people wouldn't. Mind you, I just listened to it recently and really went into blind.

If there is anything I can praise, it's atmosphere, it does do a lot of the heavy lifting with this one, because frankly the Plot is a bit odd. There are Aspects to it, the Way Time Travel is used here is done quite well. I do like how Mel-centric this one, I think Bonnie does give a good Performance. I enjoyed Uncle John. And I would be lying if I didn't say it *tried* to do a lot of interesting Things, some of which I wish were fleshed out more, some others I am still unsure what to make out of it. Fleshing out is a good Word, probably, especially for the ending. I do feel like this Story desperately needs an Epilogue with Mel, considering she really went through a rough Time with this one, it doesn't feel quite right how we never really deal with it at the End.

Yet another bizarre Beast to tackle in the Monthlies.

This Sixth Doctor and Mel audio is a story I don’t remember enjoying much on first listen.  I remembered that Mel was thrown back in time and that the Doctor and her uncle went to rescue her, but not much more.  A second listen has made me appreciate it a little more but, as a whole, it still lacks something.

The Doctor and Mel visit Mel’s uncle, John Hallam at the National Foundation for Scientific Research (which is based in the family home of Hallam Hall).  Through a combination of the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits and a special metal alloy created by John, Mel is thrown back in time to the 18th century.  Dazed and confused, she ends up spending six months shut away in the attic of Henry Hallam, her ancestor, until the Doctor and John finally catch up with her.

At the core of this story is a time paradox.  Mel learns of the existence of the mysterious Eleanor Hallam from her uncle’s research into their family history.  On being sent back in time, Mel becomes Eleanor Hallam and, for a paradox to be avoided, the Doctor believes, initially, that Mel must live out her days in the 18th century until Eleanor’s reported death in 1811.

However, unlike Evelyn’s family-related time paradox in The Marian Conspiracy, Catch-1782 is a far more gentle and leisurely affair.  Central to the story is the idea of the ‘mad woman in the attic’ – a common 18th/19th century element of fiction (Jane Eyre, for example).  This is history at a family, personal level.  In a way, this is family genealogy written as a vaguely science fiction adventure.  Mel gets to meet her ancestor and solve a family mystery, whilst becoming part of her family’s murky past herself.

Overall, it is an enjoyable story but it lacks urgency and pace.  The cliffhangers are oddly placed (something which I sometimes find with Big Finish) and there are some frustrating character beats (most notably, the Doctor discovering Mel, who has just suffered six months of drug-induced confusion and is incredibly distraught, and then leaving her locked in the attic whilst he goes and sorts stuff out).

The performances are all very good; particularly Keith (Time-Flight) Drinkel as Henry Hallam – a sensitive and subtle portrayal of a man sent mad with grief and desperately clinging on to any scrap of love he can manufacture for himself.  Derek Benfield is a lot of fun as John Hallam and complements the Doctor nicely as his temporary companion in Mel’s absence.

This is another audio too which cements Bonnie Langford’s ability as an actress.  I’ve always considered Langford unfairly maligned by fandom.  Stereotyped by fans and scriptwriters alike in the 1980s, Big Finish have allowed her to prove she is a consummate actress and capable of delivering a believable character (particularly in this story where she is called upon to deliver some pretty extreme emotions.  At no point does her performance seem strained or over the top). What many fans never seemed to understand is that the ‘pantomime’ aspect they were so scared by (which isn’t really present in Doctor Who truly) reflects a strand of theatre which is incredibly hard work and to be good actually requires actors to be at the top of their game – something evidenced by the recent flurry of names such as Sir Ian McKellen stepping into pantomime during the Christmas season.

Of course, Catch-1782 is as far from pantomime as it is possible to get (have a listen to The One Doctor if you want to hear pantomimic Doctor Who done incredibly well) but I am eternally grateful to Big Finish for rehabilitating Melanie and Bonnie in the eyes of fandom – and to Bonnie for agreeing to return to the role.

One thing about Catch-1782 I find odd is the cover of the CD.  I’ve never been able to work out what/who the figure standing is supposed to be.  Even on second listen I’m not entirely sure.  I assume it is meant to be a ghostly version of ‘Eleanor Hallam’ who’s voice is heard in Episode 1 (although this bleed-through from the past is never really explained later in the story, it’s a reasonable assumption that this is Mel crying out for help after being stranded in 1782).  That said, the open locket with images of the Doctor and Mel is a nice reflection of the romantic angle although maybe a picture of Henry Hallam instead of the Doctor would have made more sense, story-wise.

The Monthly Adventures #068 - "Catch-1782" by Alison Lawson

We’ve been on a bad streak with the audios recently. From disappointing finales to underbaked scripts to whatever the hell The Game was trying to be, it’s been a while since we had something truly great and the air’s starting to get a bit stale around here. And then came Catch-1782. With a cover that intrigued me, looking like an atmospheric, winter-set ghost story, and a plot involving time travel mechanics, which I usually adore, it seemed like it could be a break from the mediocre run I’ve had to endure. I was wrong.

On a trip to visit her uncle, Mel is caught up in an accidental burst of temporal energy and flung into the past. The Doctor quickly attempts a rescue mission but realises a horrifying truth: saving Mel means diverting the course of history.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

For a show whose entire premise relies on the mechanics of time travel, Doctor Who explores the concept surprisingly rarely. When it does however, you can end up with stories like Turn Left, which is why I often find stories messing around with paradoxes and time loops and other similar shenanigans a joy. So, is it any wonder I was so looking forward to Catch-1782? Right off the bat, the premise is golden. Mel has been flung back in time and has become wrapped up in her own family history, meaning that if she were to leave she may never have come to exist. Great idea, rife with possibility and it’s not something I’ve seen before. However, the story truly doesn’t deliver.

There were a few aspects I thought were genuinely great here, for instance, the period setting is wonderfully put together and Hallam House feels decently realised. Past that, I also appreciated its attempt at an interesting side cast. Our characters all felt like real people here, which is always a nice touch, and some I outright loved, like Mel’s charmingly humble Uncle, John. However, even here I have a few problems I’ll get onto in a bit.

As for the story itself, I have some glaring issues. I could tell where every single plot beat was going from the very beginning. Is Mel going to become Elena Hallam? Yep. Is Mrs. McGregor going to replace Mel when she leaves? Yep. I was not once shocked and at no point felt an ounce of tension because I already knew exactly how it would pan out. Of course Mel’s not going to become Elena Hallam but with such an obvious solution directly in front of me, there was basically no possibility of it ever happening and therefore no reason to become invested in what was happening. Also doesn’t help that the script has so little drive, meandering along at such a slight and insignificant pace.

I also noticed that the concept just wasn’t thought out very well past the initial premise. For one, we have moments like Mel lamenting on how there’s no way to get home after she’s already realised that McGregor can take her place, which clearly shows this story was published a couple drafts short. There’s also the detail of Mel’s ghost walking around Hallam House in the future, which is never addressed or explained. One line about timelines or time bleeds would’ve been fine but it’s just dropped by the end. There are a couple other kinks I think should’ve been ironed out, like whether or not it wants to portray Henry as outwardly villainous because it wants to portray him like a man with a mental illness but then also has scenes of him right out threatening Mel with violence for not loving him, which I personally feel zero sympathy for.

On top of all that, I think the script can be a little devoid of emotional weight at times. The dialogue for one is very wooden and unnatural throughout and prevents me from getting invested in the character dynamics, especially in the later parts when our cast just begins to outright state their point in their character arcs for the audience. However, it is undoubtedly worst in the ending, which is an overly sentimental string of exposition that completely makes light of the rest of the story. Just to recap, in this audio, Mel is sent back hundreds of years in the past, is trapped with an insane man for six months, all the while being constantly drugged and the ending might as well be a shrug and a wink without any deliberation on the untold amount of mental damage this experience has probably had on Mel. Also, this is the second story in a row where Six has accidentally abandoned Mel somewhere for months, he really ought to stop doing that.

Catch-1782 was disappointingly generic. With a slight script that had far less to say than it thought it did and a constantly declining sense of urgency and a constantly growing sense of levity, I failed to become invested throughout. I’m becoming tired of this sort of story, one that’s less bad and more unimpressive, slipping through the cracks into relative obscurity. There are worse stories but Catch-1782 is at the end of the day an entirely forgettable experience.

5/10

Pros:

+ A unique take on a time travel story

+ Excellent period setting that’s well realised

+ Has an interesting, if flawed, sidecast

Cons:

- The plot was predictable and tensionless

- Full of holes in logic that make it feel like an early draft

- Hokey at times despite a disturbing premise

- The dialogue was often wooden

It is actually insane to me that the story kind of brushes past the (very understandable) intense concern Six has upon realizing Mel was drugged out of her mind, helpless, and essentially trapped in a household with a possessive, intensely not okay man for actual months. Sure, Mel doesn't have any memory of anything that might have happened, but it's still horrific to think about.

It's such an insanely terrifying implication to tuck inside of an otherwise pretty average Doctor Who story.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Juggernauts

This is such a bizarre story - I'd almost call it a non-story. There's no real conflict. Mel is sent back in time to the 1700s and she loses her memory. Based on historical records she's fated to die at the house. This seems like a really interesting premise right? You might be thinking, what time-travel shenanigans will be needed to get her out of this mess? Well the historical records weren't true, they were just made up. There never were any historical records, it was just speculation. To resolve this big issue all it takes is for the Doctor to realise "maybe those rumours were just... rumours" and that's it.

It's also a bit of a weird story for Mel. In the 1700s she runs into this man who recently lost his wife. He takes her in and cares for her and eventually becomes really obsessed with her. It's revealed he's not a nice man at all and just wants to marry Mel and the worst part is the Doctor genuinely considers allowing this. Notice how I said the Doctor, not Mel. She doesn't really get a choice. She doesn't get many choices at all actually. She's just not much of a character in the story. Beyond living at this house for 6 months she doesn't actually do anything in the story. And at the end, when she finally gets back to the TARDIS, she basically shrugs off the 6 months of believing she was stranded in the 1700s, no memory of her life and constantly being "treated" with laudanum. This should be a traumatic experience and she just... doesn't care.

I enjoyed the vibes, and the setting but other than that it was a really strange story.

Next Story: Thicker than Water