Doctor Who and the Pirates is one of the silliest Doctor Who stories I’ve ever experienced, and I absolutely love every bit of it for the same reasons that the first Pirates of the Caribbean film is so ridiculous, yet people love regardless! The style and tone of this story is so campy and over the top, but never reaches the point of being annoying. It always manages to keep that fun energetic feel throughout while also having a lot of heart.

Doctor Who and the Pirates sees Evelyn call in on one of her students who’s been out of sorts lately and tells her a story of a recent adventure, one on the high seas encountering pirates in search of treasure. But to make things more fun the story she tells is littered with inconsistencies, certain parts end up having to be retold because she misremembers events in her excitement, the sailors are all voiced by the same actor as Evelyn’s not an impressionist, and then later the Doctor turns up to tell his part of the story which consists of the characters being unrealistically complimentary of his attire. The captain of the pirates, Red Jasper, is brilliantly played by Bill Oddie who’s having an absolute blast with this role. This man was born to play a pirate and he goes all out, being a perfect mix of menacing and hilarious. As an example of the inconsistencies in Evelyn’s story he starts off being portrayed as having hooks for both hands until it’s decided he needs a free hand for a swordfight, and also having two wooden legs until the student points out how ridiculous that is. We get a scene of the sailors agreeing to join the pirates in their treasure hunt and not only are they all voiced by the same actor, but they keep throwing out made up names until Evelyn can’t think of anymore and start throwing out names of other fictional characters.
If you think that’s weird you ain’t heard nothing yet as towards the halfway point the Doctor decides to liven things up by turning the story into a musical! Which leads to Doctor Who’s funniest cliffhanger where the Doctor, much to Evelyn’s horror, starts to sing!!! The entirety of part three plays out as a Gilbert & Sullivan parody with Doctor Who themed lyrics. It even makes fun of the common musical trope of having a song for every conversation…

"I just can’t understand why you would want to work for Red Jasper! Perhaps……you could sing me a song about it!"

This all builds up to the reveal as to why this student is so depressed and the real reason for Evelyn’s visit which is moving and features a beautiful solo from actress Helen Goldwyn. It then ties into the final part where we learn why this adventure was so personal to Evelyn. This story is a brilliant mix of hilarious, silliness, clever, heart-warming and emotional. Of course, you should bear in mind going in that you’re in for something very over the top and ridiculous but it’s all part of the fun, I never get tired of listening to this one, highly recommend!

One of the finest things Doctor Who can do as a framework of telling stories is to experiment and do what had not been done before. Doctor Who and The Pirates is perhaps the pinnacle of this experimentation and what it can do for a series at the top of it's game. This isn't a Pure Historical. This isn't a Sci-fi tale. It's not even, though it tries to convince you, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. This is Doctor Who at it's unreliable best: a bit of lightning in a bottle, the spark to a beautiful cascade of fireworks, something bright, small and new, and you'll never see anything quite like it again. Weird, sad, unapologetic, and mad in all the ways. Love this one to death.

I very much enjoyed this story, and am giving it a 4.5/5. I like how it began silly and making fun of itself, with darker themes such a suicide and grief being handled tactfully. The use of the unreliable narrator (aka Evelyn and the Doctor making things up for dramatic effect (and funsies)) was delightful, and I liked the way the theme music was used as part of the joke, with the music separating the parts repeated at certain changes of narrators. Another absolutely lovely story from Rayner (and, after reading a certain story of hers that I really disliked, this very much restores my faith!)

Oh my, did Rayner just have good ol' Sixie call the Daleks robots?? Someone's getting exterminated!

Depois de uma sequência de histórias regulares é chegado o tão aguardado momento de “Doctor Who And The Pirates” vocês não imaginam o quão ansioso estava para consumir isso, e o melhor é que correspondeu a todas as minhas expectativas. Esse é um dos áudios mais versáteis e divertidos que já me deparei nas minhas inúmeras experiencias com a BIG FINISH que possui um jeito diferenciado de contar sua história - Conhecemos uma aluna de Evelyn chamada Sally que infelizmente acabou causando um acidente de carro perdendo seu amado parceiro, a garota se encontra de luto em estado depressivo, seus sentimentos de culpa faz a escrever uma carta de despedida para sua professora. Depois de receber a carta o 6° Doctor e Evelyn viajam no tempo alguns minutos depois que Sally a escreveu na tentava de alterar sua escolha, contando-lhe uma boa história de piratas. A sacada narrativa inteligentíssima de Jacqueline Rayner torna a experiência mais leve e divertida daquelas que não notamos os minutos passarem, as interrupções de Sally durante a história contada pela Evelyn e o Doctor são hilárias, ela reconhece várias imprecisões históricas como um pirata de duas pernas de pau, marujos que se expressam com frases e reações superficiais e forçadas como "Shiver me Timbers" traduzido ao pé da letra fica “raios e coriscos” abrasileirando seria algo parecido com “macacos me mordam”, também reclamando que todos os piratas soavam iguais. Uma outra ótima sacada foi escolher propositalmente relatar uma história pirata genérica cheia de clichês com direito a luta de espadas, mapa do tesouro, saqueamento de navios e etc – Tudo isso se torna genial quando sacamos toda sua intenção cômica por trás de seu enredo, além de zombar do gênero ele conta com várias transições de tons que vai deis do drama a emoção, comédia, ação até mesmo se tornar um musical em sua terceira parte. O resultado disso tudo é uma mensagem bem emocionante e bonita de querer mostrar as pessoas de problemas de saúde psicológicos que devemos viver uma história de cada vez convencendo seu ouvinte que vale apena seguir em frente e sempre existirá uma luz de esperança, traumas serão curados com o tempo e a importância em ter pessoas dispostas para te auxiliar esse processo. Em resumo, Doctor Who And The Pirates vai muito além de uma tosca história sobre piratas genéricos, na verdade é quase que uma terapia divertida e radiante com momentos de reflexões e mensagens que só provam que Doctor Who é um programa diferenciado.
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This is without a doubt a "must listen" part 2 has the best cliffhanger I've heard out of any of these early stories. The fact they made all of part 3 a musical - something which is not reflected anywhere else in the story is truly ballsy. The chemistry between Evelyn and The 6th Doctor continues to impress and is totally unlike any other companion/ Doctor dynamic. Evelyn as the unreliable narrator is particularly amusing.

Having said all this its got a very thin plot and is deliberately cliched in many ways, so while I say its a "must listen" I wouldn't go as far as to say its one of my favourites. Its a classic though.