Review: Eighth Doctor Audio - Dead London

The TARDIS lands in London. But which one? The Doctor and Lucie find themselves trapped in a maze of interlocking Londons from Roman times to the present day.

But they are not alone in this labyrinth: a killer is on their trail.

So whats good about it? Dead London is the perfect opening audio to what is a brilliant second season. The story, while fast paced and spread out among many different areas of the one location, never allows you to get lost along the way and is full of action and suspence. Dead London really is a romp of a tale with a great script and perfect casting in all the supporting roles, though Rupert Vansittart who plays the villain of the story, The Sepulchre, manages to upstage absolutely everybody. Dead London is a brave choice for an opening story because it drops you right in there and isnt like any that have come before, but it holds up well and the risk pays off and is nice to see rather than just playing safe. Sheridan Smith and Paul Mcgann are also spot on with their roles. The detail and 'audioscape' are described and detailed brilliantly and you can't help but bring it to life in your head as you listen and the Doctors dig at the Sixth Doctors outfit got a laugh out of me.

But whats wrong with it? Dead London finds the Doctor and Lucie seperated for what feels like forever and while the story moves along nicely you kind of start picking up on missed opportunities throughout the story where they would have worked better as a team rather than seperately and the seperation doesnt itself feel as though it needed to be part of the larger story. Elements of the story have obviously been borrowed from other Doctor Who stories, both televised and on audio, and while some people may not notice or care, it made me start thinking of the other stories and my took me out of the story somewhat.

The Verdict: Dead London is a brave and exciting opening for the second series of the EDA's with a brilliant cast and a rich and interesting story. The current TARDIS team have really found their groove together and possibly even tops the Eighth Doctors pairing with Charley Pollard.

Dead London gets 4/5 TARDIS's   
 
Extras: The audio is 50 minutes long and comes on a single disc with extras. Its currently at the bargain price of £7.69 on Amazon

This audio was reviewed by Peri-Peri on our forum. You can follow her on Twitter HERE and read her full review plus user comments on our FORUM