Meanwhile, Turlough

Fun little story I do wish these where available seperately as well as free with the doctor adventures cause it’s hard to recommend any of them

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

Previous Story: Warriors of the Deep

Turlough might be one of the most interesting companions in all of Doctor Who. His dynamic with the rest of the TARDIS crew is so unique to that of any other companion. This interlude is a superb example of that, subverting the usual format of a Doctor Who story and having it all be focused on Turlough. It's a great way to play off the all too common trope of Turlough getting seperated from everyone else. This story essentially makes his usual B-plot the main focus and it's brilliant. Turlough gets to be scheming and slimy and the story as a whole serves as a great insight into his mind and behaviours.

There's also some great exploration of other characters too, Tegan specifically. Turlough coming to all sorts of realisations about her was a great moment, as was their entire conversation in the TARDIS. The Doctor is not given that much considering he's not there for a majority of the story but even then Jonathan Blum manages to explore the dynamic between him and Turlough, drawing parallels between them both and coming to the conclusion that Turlough reminds the Doctor of a younger version of himself.

Dan Starkey's reading of this is excellent. I've already spoken about his impression of the Fifth Doctor in a previous interlude and it's fairly decent, though a bit too jumpy and excited. His impression of Turlough though, at times it felt like it was Mark Strickson himself reading. He captures all the slyness and condescending perfectly. We get to see a more unexplored side of Turlough, having to face up to his own past. He's noticeably different knowing that he's talking to one of his own people and it's details like those that make this story, Blum's writing and Starkey's reading stand out. This is the definitive Turlough story in my opinion.

Next Story: The Awakening

As this year's run of The Fifth Doctor Adventures features the Doctor's season 19 companions, Vislor Turlough finds himself left out of the action once more, a situation all too familiar to fans of his television stories, and one that this year's entry into the Interludes series plays into. The Doctor and Tegan are out there saving the day but Meanwhile, Turlough......

Written by Jonathan Blum, the story drops you into the deep end of a typical Doctor Who adventure, with the Doctor breathlessly trying to explain the situation - a virus that allows victims to be remotely controlled - to the Over-Secretary, the usual bureaucracy. Unfortunately for Turlough, the Over-Secretary is from his homeworld Trion, from where Turlough is an escaped political prisoner they'd be keen to get back. Turlough has to weasel his way out of being sent home and out of the Over-Secretary's grip, without the Doctor's help.

The story is entirely from Turlough's point of view and Blum has captured the character perfectly. The way he tries to leverage every situation, willing to say just about anything to save his own skin, the little bursts of frustration and the way he views other characters is authentically the Turlough we see on screen, now an open book.

Most of the narrative has Turlough and the Over-Secretary in the same room together, with Turlough's back metaphorically against the wall, struggling for a way out of his grip. It's always great when a story expands on Trion and Turlough's past, a difficult thing to make work and feel natural when the Doctor isn't allowed to actually discover anything. The Over-Secretary with his overbearing threat to report Turlough to Trion is great, but where this exploration really shines is when Turlough meets another like himself.

Gervais is another exile from Trion who Turlough meets along the way, when looking for an ally and met with a mirror you get some really interesting dialogue out of Turlough, trying to get Gervais on-side and venting his frustrations over his own punishment at once. Though without getting into spoilers, the final scenes with Turlough and the Doctor are perhaps my favourite part of the story, coming with some wonderful insight into their relationship, highlighting their common ground and some sombre reflection on how this adventure could've gone, had Turlough been able to take a more spiteful path.

Dan Starkey provides the narration to the story and does an impressive job in portraying Turlough, successfully capturing the vocal mannerisms Mark Strickson had originally brought to the role, . Despite their more limited role in the story, Starkey gets to show his range with the Fifth Doctor, and a Tegan that isn't half bad either.

Meanwhile, Turlough is an interesting listen and a must for fans of the character, this is his moment to shine. Found packaged in The Dream Team - a box set I also view very favourably - you can't go wrong. The Interludes continue to be a sweet extra treat in the Fifth Doctor Adventures range.