Upstairs is a Companion Chronicle which came at the very tail end of the range just before it gave way to the Early Adventures (which are talked about in the interview extra at the end of the story).

It was one which I had not been particularly intrigued by on its announcement.  A bland title and an even blander cover (a publicity shot from Galaxy 4 and some effects which most people can add to photos using their smartphone) had it on my list of ‘I’ll get to it eventually’.

Luck and happenstance, however, lead to it being put on sale a couple of weeks ago just as I was approaching its chronological date of 1900 in my marathon.  The sale coincided with my birthday so I had some money to fritter away and I decided to grab it at a knock down price.

And I was pleasantly surprised.  Upstairs is a cracking story, well read/performed by Maureen O’Brien, with solid support from Peter Purves.  It sees the TARDIS crew materialise in the attic of 10 Downing Street.  It is part of a maze of rooms which, it quickly becomes clear, are more dangerous than they first seems.  At the end of part one, the story introduces its main foe – a ‘time fungus’ – and the Doctor, Steven and Vicki have to prevent the absorption of the human race in the past, present and future.

It sounds equally mad and a bit silly when I write it down like that.  A time fungus, for goodness sake!  But it is very well-written and the raison d’etre of the monster is properly explained and based around the real-world properties of fungus.  The mysteries of the attic make for an intriguing first episode and there is a sense of desperation that creeps in as Vicki, in particular, realises they are trapped with no clear chance of escape.  The second episode does begin with a huge info dump, but the advantage of the Companion Chronicles, with their single reader structure, means this doesn’t slow down the action in any way.

There’s a lovely vein of humour running through the story which is set up at the very beginning when Vicki describes the status quo of the current TARDIS crew.  Steven fooling the Doctor and Vicki into thinking he has a sudden extensive knowledge of British Prime Ministers is amusing and the part where he pretends to be posh to distract the human servants in the thrall of the fungus is hilarious.

Threaded through the science fiction plot is a huge amount of historical fact about 10 Downing Street and its various Prime Ministers.  The presence of the fungus is cleverly tied into the fact that there was a relatively quick succession of prime ministers in the latter part of the 19^th Century and there are some vaguely satirical jabs at politics both past, present and future.

There is also some history of 10 Downing Street such as the fact that it was a very ramshackle, dilapidated building until the mid-20^th Century when proper renovations were made – including the attic area featured in this story being turned into apartments for the Prime Minister and his family.  The fact that many Prime Ministers up to the 20^th century chose not to live at 10 Downing Street is a fact I was unaware of – apparently many of them, being rich, powerful people already, had much more attractive, larger, impressive properties of their own where they preferred to reside.

The ‘Upstairs’ element of what I perceived as a rather bland title is also cleverly played with.  A few stories set in this time period have touched upon the ‘upstairs/downstairs’ stratification of polite society.  This story shows us the servants of 10 Downing Street working for the fungus but being easily swayed by the Doctor, Steven and Vicki assuming the roles of the upper classes.  The servants innate sense of deference means they have no choice but to obey them and this helps get the crew out of their tricky situation.  Of course, the irony of the title is the servants here are ‘upstairs’ rather than ‘downstairs’ but this is, of course, where many servants had their own rooms in the houses they worked in.  This story has a far cleverer title than I gave it credit for.

All in all, Upstairs was one of those Doctor Who stories which doesn’t go for a showy presence with gimmicky promotion but sits quietly within a range waiting for people to discover it.  An audio to purchase sooner rather than later.  You won’t be disappointed.

Loved the first half part 1 was perfectly creepy felt very toymakery then part 2 kinda lost me but all worth it for part 1 tbh

This is a bit of an oddball.

The party arrives at the most wonderful place on earth: Some random attic. After thoroughly examining the place, they discover that they’re in 10 downing street and that they’re stuck in a time loop of sorts.

Basically, anytime they enter a room in the attic, they arrive in another time period. It is discovered this is because of a fungus that grows through time. The staff of 10 Downing Street are loyal to this fungus, and hope to train it to one day become the perfect ruler. Hopefully inspired by all the presidents that live the house throughout the decades.

Small problem with that: You can’t train a mushroom, because it isn’t sentient.

Yet they are convinced. It’s like a cult that has existed through generations, so they ain’t stopping now. The party quickly realizes that might become a problem. Because what will happen when the shroom discover the tardis? It will have infinite feed on everything ever!

So they trick the butlers and maids by… acting haughty, which makes them obedient? And then they save the tardis and fly off.

….Is this a filler story? This feels like a filler story.

It has no real solution. They just leave it alone. Same for the servants. They just leave them be. The moral being: all empires fall anyway, so there’s no need to worry about it.

Yet this took an hour! And there’s very much still a threat! This could maybe have worked as a short trip, but this? What even is it?

Besides the massive Grand Canyon of a hole, the main cast is also a bit off. The entire story has a bit of a pessimistic vibe. The Doctor is rude. The companions are rude. There’s a lot of little snide remarks and insults. There’s no need for all that! It feels like they took the base idea people have of the Hartnell Doctor: Stern and rude, and just applied that to the whole group. Meanwhile other stories on both TV and audio have shown that they can be so, so much more.

There is an understanding in there. Little moments shine through, like Vicki calling Steven her brother. But the overall atmosphere ruins any fun those remarks could hold.

So yeah, there’s not much to gain from listening to this. It has no resolution, no real character moments and frankly, nothing else. Yet it keeps gnawing at me. Looking at the writing credits for Mat Coward, it seems this has been his only contribution to Doctor Who, besides a short trip. And honestly, some part of me wants him to have another go at it. The general idea is very, very out there and there is a fundamental understanding of the characters as well. Those are all the elements of a good Doctor Who story. I do hope he gets the chance. This might’ve been a misfire. But he’s very clearly creative, and it would be a shame to lose that. Let’s see what the future holds.