Paul McGann. We all know him, we all love him, we all think he deserved a far better screen outing as the Doctor than that bizarrely characterless TV Movie. But where television has failed, audio drama courtesy of production company and Doctor Who licence holder Big Finish has succeeded.
Paul McGann’s 8th Doctor has often been the poster-child for Big Finish’s more audacious releases. He was the first audio Doctor to have adventures with an ongoing storyline rather than separate releases. He travelled to a different universe and was left TARDIS-less. After he came back to our universe he broke off from the main Big Finish range entirely, instead gaining his own range of 45 minute adventures closer to the style of the TV series post-2005. And when he did briefly return to the main range for three adventures, they were with Mary Shelley as his companion!
The first Dark Eyes boxset, consisting of 4 hour-long episodes, was devised as a new era for the 8th Doctor, providing a natural jumping-on point for new listeners, and requiring no knowledge of previous 8th Doctor audio stories. It just so happened that this new era coincided with the 8th Doctor’s re-appearance on film in the short The Night of the Doctor, which effectively reintroduced this incarnation to a casual audience. With a new haircut and costume, a new companion and a new mission, Dark Eyes effectively functions as a soft reboot for the 8th Doctor.
This first box set was a huge success – as well as selling very well indeed, it also won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Online or Non-Broadcast Drama. As such, the Dark Eyes concept was extended into a series of four boxsets (all imaginatively named Dark Eyes). I’ll be tackling each of the 16 different Dark Eyes stories individually, and providing a series review after each set of 4 to assess the ongoing storyline. Major spoilers will be avoided, but certain plot details will be given so use your discretion.
So tune in next time for Dark Eyes: The Great War.
