Tag: Will Hadcroft

Doctor Who – Dark Contract

After the success of his first BBC Audiobook, Will Hadcroft is back with a new Doctor Who short story, this time featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric, and read by Matthew Waterhouse. He’s delivered an entertaining little SF adventure with a subtext about human exploitation by both other humans and extraterrestrials.

Cover artwork

Still trying to return Tegan to Heathrow airport, the Doctor instead lands the TARDIS in 1830s London. Happily the air hostess turns out to be something of a Charles Dickens fan, so her disappointment is mollified by a chance to explore the setting of most of his novels. The Doctor warns his companions that the real London is much more squalid and dangerous world than is usually shown in the movies. In fact he’s so cautious he even insists they all change into appropriate period clothes for once, which is a fun idea and leads to an entertaining reveal sequence when they step out of the Ship. But the listener already knows that sinister forces are at work. A retired admiral has become an investigator into the odd and inexplicable. He has heard of unexplained disappearances around the workhouses, and desiccated bodies being discovered, killed in a manner beyond human capabilities. Before the Doctor and his friends can begin properly investigating, all four of them are abducted and separated by different parties.

In his first Doctor Who audiobook The Resurrection Plant, Hadcroft had shown a particular interest in darker, exploitative side of the Industrial Revolution and he continues the theme in this story, arguably to even greater effect since much of the unpleasantness he describes is historical fact. Splitting the team up, he depicts the workhouse, the streets and criminal gangs trading in women’s lives with an interesting but balanced amount of detail, illustrating the harshness and injustice without descending into gory shock value. In fact this story would have worked as a pure historical, with a little reworking. Without giving too much away though, there is an alien antagonist to be faced. Bodies drained of life is something of a staple in Doctor Who adventures, as is beings who regard humans as a resource rather than sentient equals, but ultimate resolution to the main mystery is pleasingly Doctorish and ultimately hopeful.

All the regulars are well-depicted. Tegan and Nyssa get some moments of sisterly banter and later prove to be adept at rescuing themselves for once. Adric is headstrong and feels a bit of an outsider in this decidely messy human enviroment, giving some hints of his growing homesickness. There’s a striking moment where he admits to mourning the ‘death’ of the older Fourth Doctor who fitted the father-shaped hole in his life, replaced by a younger man with whom he struggles to connect with, in same comfortable way Tegan and Nyssa appear to. Meanwhile the Doctor is enthusiastic, a touch rueful and there’s an amusing moment where he is annoyed with the “youthful whine” in his voice when he attempts to assert his authority. Matthew Waterhouse does an pretty credible impersonation of Peter Davison’s voice, can still sound convincingly younger as Adric, but makes Janet Fielding sound like a cockney. His natural reading voice is very listenable to though and he does a good job with the guest characters. David Roocroft’s sympathetic sound design does a great job of illustrating Victorian London without drowning us in street barkers, steam horns, and clipclopping carriages.

Doctor Who – Dark Contract is an assured, entertaining trip back to Doctor Who circa 1982. Written with intelligence and with something deeper to say both about our fairly recent past and our responsibilities to each other. It can only enhance Will Hadcroft reputation as an author.

You can buy Dark Contract from all good bookshops and online retailers.

The Chocky Trilogy – Very British Futures

Chocky was a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, the final one published in his lifetime (1968). It tells the story of an 11 year old boy named Matthew, who begins to exhibit strange behavior and abilities that concern his parents. They learn that Matthew has an imaginary friend named Chocky, who is actually a highly advanced alien being with a mission to help humanity. The novel was adapted for radio, but most famously into an ITV television series which led to two original sequels, all written by Anthony Read. In the first series, closely based on the novel, Chocky saves Matthew and his sister’s lives following a boating accident, This leads to press attention and Matthew being kidnapped by a mysterious secret organisation, who hypnotise him to contact Chocky directly. After Matthew is released, Chocky bids him goodbye, not wanting to endanger him more. Chocky’s Children reunites Matthew and Chocky when he discovers he has a psychic link with Albertine, a maths prodigy of similar age but a more fiery temperament. She too, has a connection to the alien and together they discover new powers, including telekenesis and a psychic attack. In the final series, Chocky’s Challenge, Matthew has moved to New York, but Albertine has joined forces with three more of Chocky’s human contacts to create the first cosmic energy generator. Once again the secret organisation tries to control them and even captures Chocky within a prison. This time it is the teenagers who must rescue their extra-terrestrial ally.

Although the novel is narrated from the viewpoint of Matthew’s father, the series are much more from the children’s perspective. Very popular at the time with CITV viewers, the series has been released on VHS and DVD several times and continues to gain new fans.

As part of the research for this episode, I spoke to producer Richard Bates (A Touch of Frost, The Tripods) who originally obtained the rights for a television adaptation of Chocky, and served as both creative consultant and producer of the third and final series. I had intended to include clips from our conversation in the final show but annoyingly I lost the file. Joining me for this edition is my regular guest Dr Rebecca Wray, and author, publisher and old friend Will Hadcroft. Both of them coincidentally have also talked with Richard Bates in the past. We had an excellent conversation and it was hard to edit it down to even the generous 90 minutes I have given this episode. There was also time to talk about Will’s writing career and Rebecca’s new podcast I Don’t Do Sci-Fi.

You can hear the podcast on all major podcast platforms, including YouTube, or you can find it here on the web.

Doctor Who – The Resurrection Plant

It’s surprising to realise that Doctor Who has rarely used the Industrial North as a setting. We have seen adventures set in futuristic factories and warehouses, visited the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Mark of the Rani and had a few romps into Steampunk. Big Finish has touched on it in The Peterloo Massacre and Industrial Evolution but that landscape of terraced houses, looming smoke-belching factories and municipal buildings that could be found from Birmingham to Newcastle has remained the province of Coronation Street and contemporary drama. So having the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land on the corner of a cobbled street in Will Hadcroft’s The Resurrection Plant feels quite fresh.

Not that this is the actual North of England. In fact the TARDIS has brought our friends to Calico Three, a small habitable planet where the rural colony the Doctor remembers is in the grip of an unexpected mechanisation. What’s more the factories are capitalism run wild, with human workers mere expendable cogs in the machine. But nobody minds because on this planet everyone can be brought back to life thanks to the Resurrection Plant, even if occasionally they change gender along the way. The travellers investigate but are soon captured, just in time for a factory accident to lead to the creation of a terrifying mutation in the newly grown humans.

The author captures the the characters of the regulars extremely well. Patrick Troughton’s Doctor can be hard to capture in print, since so much of his character is in his delivery, but here he’s compassionate, curious, mischievous and has moments of righteous indignation. Jamie and Zoe both get moments to shine on their own too. The story seems to be setting up as a Frankenstein-influenced piece about Ren, a technocrat facing up to consequences of treating his workforce as commodities, together with a fearsome but misunderstood monster, but there’s a second act twist which takes us into another kind of drama, one that I was worried was going to ruin the authentic Sixties atmosphere that Will had recreated. Thankfully he skilfully avoids this.

Fraser Hines has been sharing his enjoyable Troughton impersonation for a while in Big Finish audio plays and books. It’s great to hear it again. Elsewhere he is an excellent reader in general and tells the story with animation and a good pace. Similarly impressive is the soundscape.

There are echoes of The Rebel Flesh and The Quatermass Experiment, but ultimately this is a great original adventure. It tells a story probably too difficult for the television series of the time to realise well, and instead takes advantage of the freedom of prose. An excellent addition to this year’s mini-Troughton celebration, along with the recently released animated recreation of The Abominable Snowmen.

CD cover

Will Hadcroft of course is a friend of mine and its been marvellous to see him achieve the ambition of writing an official Doctor Who story. He’s previously written several novels and many moons ago an adventure for my old fan audios Fine Line, called The Chattath Factor, which has recently been re-released on Youtube. It was a marvellous story to end my fan series on.

Doctor Who – The Resurrection Plant is available now from all good bookshops.

The Resurrection Plant and The Folklore Podcast

Several fun news items to report on today. My old friend Will Hadcroft has achieved one of his personal ambitions (and mine too someday) of having an official Doctor Who story released. The Resurrection Plant is being released on CD and download by the BBC and Penguin Books on 4th August 2022. It features the Second Doctor (as played by Patrick Troughton), together with Jamie and Zoe and is read by Frazer Hines, who not only played Jamie in the television series but in recent years has been acclaimed for embodying the Second Doctor in new adventures for Big Finish. Here’s the description:

The TARDIS brings its occupants to Calico Three, an Earth-like planetoid where industrial foundries are worked alongside sophisticated technology. The Doctor is staggered to learn about the Resurrection Plant, which re-births anyone mortally wounded in the line of work. While Jamie is put to work in the foundry, Zoe and the Doctor investigate the Plant – but when the machine goes terribly wrong, they must work with the locals to combat a horrifying monster. The Doctor also uncovers a shameful secret that, for him at least, hits close to home.

You can buy Doctor Who – The Resurrection Plant from Amazon and all good bookshops as they say. Or directly from Penguin

Will’s been on the publicity trail for his audiobook and was recently extensively interviewed by Greg for the YouTube channel The Time Scales. He’s also just guested alongside myself on The Folklore Podcast.

Hosted by author, lecturer and folklore expert Mark Norman, The Folklore Podcast is a long running series which “…began in the summer of 2016, after it became apparent that there were very few podcasts which dealt with folklore in an accessible and yet informative way. Most were of the storytelling, ‘campfire’ variety. The ethos of this podcast is simple. To bring world-class experts in the fields of folklore and its associated areas of interest to a wide audience, completely free of charge.” (taken from the official Folklore Podcast website)

Will mentioned my name to Mark after being invited on to talk about the crossovers between Doctor Who and folklore. What followed was an entertaining hour and a bit of conversation between the three of us, looking at the ways the programme had used not just British myths but legends of other cultures too, such as China and Greece. A theme developed that in an almost Scooby Doo fashion, whatever was introduced as supernatural was almost inevitably unmasked as alien by the end of the story. We gave special attention to The Daemons, The Awakening, The Curse of Fenric and The Shakespeare Codex. Our debate moved into the show’s educational remit, its treatment of religion and the often thin line between genuine folk stories and cinema inventions. I enjoyed guesting a lot, and you can listen to the finished episode on your favourite podcast platform or directly from the website.

Speaking of podcasts I have recorded two conversations so far, covering The Aliens and The Flipside of Dominick Hide and I am currently editing them for hopeful release later this month. So watch this space.

I am pleased to say that I have graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University after four years, having achieved a First Class honour in BSc Digital Technology and Solutions Apprenticeship.

Finally, I have begun work as the sound designer/operator on Bolton Little Theatre’s forthcoming production of ‘Allo ‘Allo by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. Based on the hit BBC sitcom it will be running from 12th to 17th September and you can book tickets now. This includes me using QLab extensively for the first time and to support this and future web design work I’ve bought my first MacBook after a lifetime of PC use.

Thanks for reading and I’ll post again soon.

Tripodscast – The Saga Concludes

Last week, the tenth and final episode of The Tripodscast was released. It’s fittingly one of their best episodes, a lively discussion of some of Samuel Youd’s (aka John Christopher) other novels, interspersed with an interview with his children Nick and Rose. They now run The SYLE Press, a small imprint dedicated to putting their father’s work back into print. It’s an interesting conversation, not only for what it reveals of the author in his private life, but as a picture of what is involved in being an independent publisher. Samuel Youd wrote in great many genres over his career, from gothic romance and family sagas to more literary portraits of the time he was living in.

You can listen to this episode and the rest of the series on your favourite podcast app or at https://anchor.fm/the-tripodscast Of course I am biased but I think it’s a quality mini-series for anyone wanting to hear more about the books or the TV series.

It’s been fascinating to watch this podcast develop in confidence and ambition. Initially intended as discussion podcast between three friends looking at the SF series The Tripods Trilogy in books and TV, it has developed into an in-depth examination of Samuel Youd, the making of the television series and its ongoing fandom. It’s scored interviews with all four lead actors, some of whom have rarely been interviewed before, plus the series producer and television veteran Richard Bates, whose career includes script-editing or producing The Avengers, The Darling Buds of May and A Touch of Frost. Writer Will Hadcroft, was another excellent contributor, not only as a viewer but as someone who corresponded with and met Youd.

You’ll be hearing from John Isles, Rebecca Wray and Dani Wray in forthcoming episodes of Very British Futures.