When Big Finish offered the first in their The Third Doctors Adventures range at a special price (£15 download, instead of £25 download / £30 CD), I was in two minds as to whether to buy it.  I’ve previously listened to a couple of their “recast” Third Doctor efforts – the first episode of The Transcendence of Ephros from their second volume of The Third Doctors Adventures, and Damascus from their Short Trips range.  Both of these impressed me with Tim Treloar’s vocalisation of Jon Pertwee”s Third Doctor, but the former was let down by Katy Manning not sounding particularly like Jo Grant of the 70s.

It was Tim Treloar that won me over in the end.  Whilst Damascus had some issues, mostly with the ending, Treloar convinced me enough as the Third Doctor that I wanted to listen to more.  And so, here we are.

THE THIRD DOCTOR ADVENTURES, VOL. 1

Prisoners of the Lake, by Justin Richards, opens without actually being a Doctor Who story.  Scientists are investigating an underwater structure that seems to be an ancient building, albeit a rather anachronistic one.  Due to the scientists using experimental technology and equipment, Mike Yates (Richard Franklin) is on hand to represent U.N.I.T.’s interests after they learn of artefacts going missing.

Chief archaeologist Freda Mattingly (Carolyn Seymour) investigates the structure and is quickly accosted by a rocky statue that makes threatening motions and words, before returning to its statuesque state.

Meanwhile, the Doctor (Tim Treloar) is working on his own experiments and has a complete disinterest in the under-lake dig until Jo Grant (Katy Manning) reads him the report that includes the actions and words of the statue.  The Doctor rushes off to the lake, complete with a bewildered Jo Grant in tow.  After blustering his way through the dig’s manager, the Doctor encounters Freda in the underwater building.  It doesn’t take the Doctor long to realise that the “building” is actually an alien spaceship, albeit one constructed from a form of stone, and the rocky statue is a robot that’s low on power.

This first 30-minute episode of a four-part adventure concludes with a cliff-hanger.

The star of this story is undoubtedly Treloar’s accurate impersonation of Jon Pertwee’s third Doctor.  Although not entirely flawless, Treloar captures the third Doctor from the 70s rather more convincingly than either Katy Manning or Richard Franklin are able to recapture Jo Grant and Mike Yates from the same era.  Nevertheless, they do work hard at getting their voices as close as possible.  Manning continues to imbue Jo Grant with a little too much of the squeaky-voice air-head quality (Jo wasn’t 100% like this in the 70s, but she seems to be now), and whilst Franklin does better with Mike Yates here than he had done in some of the Hornet’s Nest stories I’ve heard, he lacks some of the youthful enthusiasm he had in the past.

However, having listened to other Big Finish offerings in which actors have struggled to recapture their youthful voices (I think primarily of Gareth Thomas in Blake’s 7 here), this is something we have to accept if we want to listen to our heroes giving us new adventures from their eras of classic Doctor Who.  It’s a small price to pay.

With the sad loss of Nicholas Courtney meaning the Brigadier can be present in narration only, Mike Yates falls into the role of liaison between the Doctor and the “authority figure” well, which is aided by Richard Franklin’s less-active tones.  Given that this full-cast adventure relies somewhat on Treloar’s narration to fill in the blanks between scenes and to describe some of what’s going on to make up for missing visual cues, it’s good that the Brigadier’s presence is felt in the story.  I wonder if, some day, Big Finish will recast him, too?

In short, this is a great start to and adventure that puts a lot of effort into transporting us back to Pertwee’s 70s Doctor Who.  Whilst not entirely convincing, the listener only needs a modicum of suspension of disbelief and they will be transported back to the Third Doctor’s era.  For my part, I can’t wait for the next episode.