TRAIL OF THE WHITE WORM

Now this is more like it!

Whether it’s because this story continues on a second CD, thus making it a four-parter (I guess), is something that’ll be made clear later however, the first episode is much better than anything else of this first season of the 4th Doctor Adventures from Big Finish.

The TARDIS lands apparently in the middle of a hunt, in the North of England judging by the dodgy “up north” t’accents, but the dogs and hunters aren’t chasing foxes.  Leela describes their prey from the tracks and the Doctor deduces that it’s some kind of serpent, but we don’t find out what it is just yet.

The hunters are on the hunt because a girl has gone missing and they’re blaming the “you know what” without saying what it is because they’re too terrified to speak the words.  The sudden arrival of the Doctor and Leela makes them the likely kidnappers or, at least, sympathetic with the “you know what”.

On finding an electric fence, Leela tries distracting the hunt away from the Doctor, but is then separated by a distant voice of an elderly “great white hunter” and a remote controlled tank blasting away at her.  She eventually reaches the owner’s mansion, and seeks help from the “blue guards”.  The man takes her to his manservant who does that kind of thing for him.  Only, his manservant appears to live in the basement hewn out of rock.

The Doctor, meanwhile, charms his pursuers and helps offer observations when they discover a dead man in a ditch with a shoe missing.  A woman turns up in a car, with the missing girl in her boot, claiming that she found her trying to hitchhike her way to London.

Back at the house, Leela meets the cowled manservant only to discover that he isn’t the man’s servant.  Indeed, it’s the man who’s the servant and the cowled man is the Master, who has a creature that needs to be fed on a fresh new Leela-sized victim…

The episode proceeds at a good pace with a slowly unfolding narrative.  Enough to tell the story, to keep the interest, without overwhelming the listener with loud noises, too many characters, or too much shouting.  Without the need to rush the “big villain” into the story, and avoiding all the unnecessary PC box-ticking we’ve had before now, what we’re left with is a thoroughly entertaining first part.

This is very reminiscent of the TV series with, probably, its closest comparison being something like Image of the Fendahl.  Definitely one I would recommend at this point.