The Whispering Forest

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

Previous Story: Cobwebs

Well the 'Older Nyssa' arc has fully kicked off. I like that we're continuing with the Richter's syndrome plotline and I enjoyed the way that was incorporated into this story. Because we have a rather large TARDIS crew, I'm going to give my thoughts on them one by one for all these stories starting with;

• The Doctor, he's no different to how he usually is, Peter Davison puts in a solid performance but nothing remarkable.
• Nyssa, her character feels different, I'm beginning to see signs of her experience but otherwise Sarah Sutton's performance barely differs from her younger version of Nyssa and she doesn't get much of a role in this story anyway.
• Tegan, she gets probably the best role in the story, but still nothing impressive though it doesn't help that it's a very mediocre story. That Mara cliffhanger at the end was great although it is rough that this is so soon after Snakedance.
• Turlough, the best parts about his character (the ambiguous morality and deceitfulness) aren't really present here leaving him quite generic. Mark Strickson's performance is notably duller because of this

Character's aside, this story had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, due to the large cast, I don't feel like enough time was spent on all the elements of this adventure leaving it feeling a bit muddled. It does really evoke the feeling of 80s Who though, so if that's something you really care about I suppose this might be interesting. The perspective on purity and cleanliness is decently interesting, similarly there's some elements of radicalisation and extremism that I liked. I wouldn't call this story a waste of two hours, but there were much better things I could have done in that time.

Next Story: The Cradle of the Snake

Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#137. The Whispering Forest ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

Civilisations can spring up in even the most unusual of circumstances, the terminology of their surroundings becoming corrupted – two warring tribes, Business and Economy, living inside a long abandoned spaceport. A planet stricken by natural disaster, whose people worship the clone families of the giant orbiting warehouse.

We’ve accompanied the Doctor and his friends to many of these odd societies, but now it’s time to visit another. Scrub your hands with the carbolic soap provided, and hold tight to purity.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The TARDIS arrives in alien woodlands, where a small group of humans hold tight against the menace of the Takers – strange creatures who come by night to spirit away members of their settlement.

But if there’s one thing that the inhabitants of Purity Bay fear more than the Takers, it’s the dirt and disease spread by strangers. Strangers like the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa…

The fanatical Sister Mertil and her hygiene-obsessed acolytes are victims of a terrible corruption – but not in the way they think. Only the whispering forest knows the truth…

◆ The Fifth Doctor

Peter Davison delivers a pretty good performance in ‘The Whispering Forest’.

The Doctor suggested to the TARDIS that she have a little listen in on the mutterings of the universe, asked her to prick up her metaphorical ears at any mention of Richter’s Syndrome. Seksa claims that “Doctor” is an ancient name for power.

◆ Tegan Jovanka

Janet Fielding spends most of ‘The Whispering Forest’ alongside Davison, and I really enjoyed her performance here.

Tegan threatens to start coughing over the inhabitants of Purity Bay to stop the Doctor getting electrocuted! At the end of the story, she claims to be suffering from headaches… and it soon appears that the Mara is returning!

◆ Vislor Turlough

Mark Strickson’s performance in ‘The Whispering Forest’ was weird. It was by no means awful, it just felt like he wasn’t really trying. Turlough doesn’t get much to do here, except getting struck with a spear during the first part.

◆ “Older” Nyssa

‘The Whispering Forest’ is the second adventure in this story arc, and I genuinely thought Sarah Sutton’s character would be put front and centre (given the medical themes) but she gets lumbered with Turlough and the lacklustre b-plot. Sutton’s performance also feels a little wooden here too.

Nyssa is horrified by the truth of the Shades, that they are shapeless chimera trapped in immense pain.

◆ Story Recap

The TARDIS team land on Chodor, a planet largely overlooked by travellers due to its complete lack of strategic and mineral importance, only to come across an incredibly germophobic society.

The inhabitants of Purity Bay completely lack hair, their skin is red raw and the consistency of leather, all thanks to a lifetime of scrubbing themselves with carbolic soap. They believe that they should hold tight to purity, that “Sir John” will watch over them… but they believe themselves to be in terrible danger.

Members of the settlement are being spirited away by the mysterious Takers, including the Bay’s leader. A search party has been sent to find him, but tension is growing between his wife and daughter (both of whom are vying for control of their people). While the Doctor and Tegan get to know the people of this society, Nyssa and Turlough discover the true nature of the Takers.

◆ Germophobia

‘The Whispering Forest’ follows a story formula that I absolutely adore, one where a society surrounded by modern amenities has devolved and taken names relating to their surroundings and history. BigFinish would tackle this kind of adventure a few times, and I alluded to some of the other scenarios in the introduction to this review.

Steve Cole decides to build his devolved society around medicine, with the technology and terminology originating from a hospital ship that crash landed on Chodor in the distant past. For example; the people of Purity Bay believe that “Doctor” and “Sir John” are names of power, the latter being an obvious corruption of the word surgeon.

I think the setting of this adventure has become a lot more poignant in recent years, given the fact we’re all still reeling from the Coronavirus Pandemic. The idea of society constantly scrubbing their hands at every given opportunity might have seemed like overkill when this was released, but that sort of became a fact of life in 2020. It’s also why when Tegan threatens to cough on the inhabitants, it shocked me a little bit.

I can actually sympathise with the people of Purity Bay myself, as even before the pandemic I was massively germophobic (the amount of hand sanitiser I go through in a month is actually ridiculous, and it’s also why public toilets are the bane of my existence).

In many ways, you could actually compare this story to ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’, because the Takers serve a similar purpose to the siren from that story. They were the medical robots aboard the hospital ship, and have only been taking people who are severely ill or on their death bed. The ship may have crash landed, but it didn’t prevent them from obeying their programming. If you want to hear a perfect execution of this story formula – which I personally like to call ‘The Face of Evil’ formula – then I highly recommend giving ‘Spaceport Fear’ a listen.

◆ Sound Design

With a title like that for a story, I really expected a lot from the sound design. Fox and Yason certainly do a good job at creating a nice forest, but the audio landscape does feel a little bit bare.

Echoing voices inhabit the forest. Twigs cracking underfoot, as Mertil and Seska search for the leader of Purity Bay amongst the trees. A night breeze drifts lightly through the air. Splashing water, as Turlough and Nyssa swim across the filthy river. Spears woosh through the air. The Doctor gets repeatedly shocked with a sparking defibrillator unit.

◆ Music

Fox and Yason are also handling the score for ‘The Whispering Forest’. The action of this adventure is accompanied by beautiful twinkling piano music, for the most part, and it honestly helps add a sense of mystery to Purity Bay.

◆ Conclusion

“Hold tight to purity!”

The TARDIS team encounter a germophobic society who are living in fear of the constant threat of disease… and of being spirited away by the robotic Takers.

‘The Whispering Forest’ is another of those stories which focuses on a society that has devolved, their terminology based upon corrupted words from their old lives. If you’re familiar with my reviews, then you will know I have a real soft spot for these kind of adventures.

The medically obsessed society of Purity Bay is really interesting, and takes on a new level of poignancy when you consider what we’ve all been through in the past few years. I was incredibly shocked to see so many low-scoring reviews for this one, though I will admit that the performances did let it down a little bit (with Strickson and Sutton both really phoning it in). ‘The Whispering Forest’ is nothing outstanding, but it is a fun story to spend two hours with.