Station To Station

It doesn’t matter what you do, there’s no escaping the Grimminy Grew…

The Grimminy Grew

Synopsis

A deserted railway platform can be the loneliest place on Earth. But when Saffron is stranded at Underbridge station, she meets echoes of the past – and a fellow lost traveller. And the Doctor knows that something is hunting them…

Review

Station to Station is a story with its basis in horror, and feels separate from anything else we’ve seen the Ninth Doctor deal with, in the shape of a fairytale-esque foe. It is a creepy and atmospheric tale, which opens the second series of Ninth Doctor audio stories with a real bang.

Robert Valentine has based this story on his experience on occasionally ending up at the wrong station when travelling out of London, and smaller stations which don’t see much footfall. Train stations can be quite creepy places when they are deserted, especially at night or in winter, and the story does a good job of creating that atmosphere as the Doctor and Saffron investigate their surroundings. I felt that the story felt very in keeping for the type of story that we could have expected to see Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor experience on television, especially the cold open which sees the Grimminy-Grew take Cate. Valentine writes a compelling story about the nature of choices and decision, family and hope, which I found to be really moving and kept me gripped from beginning to end.

It’s just some ancient creature of the Vortex, hunkering down in a cosy little pocket of reality.

The Ninth Doctor

The Grimminy-Grew is an effective and creepy villain for this piece, and is well played by Ian Bartholomew. The cold open effectively sets him up as being creepy, although I did find the name slightly amusing before I realised the roots of the name, which lie in the roots of the story in Grimm fairytales and the idea of the creature being a boogeyman. Valentine makes the decision to have his dialogue rhyme, which feels as though it is would have been a challenge to write, but it does certainly make the character more creepy. Even when the character disappears in the second act, I felt as though his presence could still be felt, which is credit not only to Robert Valentine, but also director Helen Goldwyn and both Howard Carter and Iain Meadows. The story also wisely has a suitably epic showdown between the Doctor and the Grimminy-Grew in the third act, which features great performances from both Bartholomew and Christopher Eccleston. The Grimminy-Grew  is the last one of a species defeated by the Time Lords, and defeated in a Rumpelstiltskin -esque manner.

In setting these stories before Rose, Big Finish have chosen to give the Doctor a number of one-off characters to fill in the companion role. In Station to Station, that place is taken by Saffron, played by Indigo Griffiths. She feels very fleshed out and her internal conflict is well-written and well-performed. She has recently got engaged to her fiancée, and is travelling to see her parents to tell them about her news, but she knows that her parents will not be accepting of it. She is caught in indecision, admitting to the Doctor that she is thinking about turning back and going home rather than travelling halfway across the country. She does feel as though, if circumstances were different, she would be open to going and travelling with the Doctor, asking the right questions and showing incredible bravery, shown when she encourages the Doctor to try and get through the underpass to Platform 4. Ultimately, she makes the decision that she will return to her fiancée, Erin, rather than continuing to travel on to her parents. Griffiths brings a real warmth to the character and certainly does a good job with the character, making me care about both her ultimate fate and her decision at the end of the story. The rest of the guest cast are solid, although they aren’t given the same level of development as Saffron. We do get some glimpses into their difficulties that have led to them being trapped by the Grimminy Grew, but this is not something that Valentine develops much. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, as the important part of the story is the group of Cate, Mrs Hodgkin, Witherow and Gordon forming those bonds, and giving them more focus would mean that Saffron did not feel quite so developed.

It’s not about losing hope, it’s about never forgetting that hope’s always there, even if you can’t see it.

The Ninth Doctor

I don’t think that it has quite sunk in that we have had Christopher Eccleston back to play the Doctor at all, let alone for a second run of audios. I’ve written previously about how well he has quickly recaptured the energy of playing the Doctor and clear enthusiasm about the scripts that he is performing. Having followed a time contusion, he finds himself trapped with Saffron and the other spirits of trapped travellers in the cracks of causal time at Underbridge Station. This is something that terrifies the Doctor, which he can’t hide from his psychic paper, and ultimately to Saffron, who he seeks to reassure. I really liked the relationship between the Doctor and Saffron, which felt suitably warm and the Doctor genuinely wants to understand the cause of her feelings of despair. The fairytale elements feel like something that we haven’t seen Eccleston’s Doctor tackle before, but he seems game for the challenge, and then we get the epic showdown as the Doctor and his foe engage in a mental battle to try and find each other’s names.

Verdict: Station to Station is a solid story, with great performances, especially from Eccleston, Indigo Griffiths and Ian Bartholomew. 8/10.

Cast: Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor), Indigo Griffiths (Saffron), Sean Baker (Witherow), Patricia England (Mrs. Hodkin), Shazia Nicholls (Cate/Erin) & Ian Bartholomew (The Grimminy-Grew/Gordon).

Writer: Robert Valentine

Director: Helen Goldwyn

Producer: David Richardson

Music: Howard Carter

Sound: Iain Meadows

Release Date: 4 May 2022

Behind the Scenes

• Ian Bartholomew was interviewed to play the Seventh Doctor, before Sylvester McCoy was cast.
• The title of the story is taken from both a song and an album by David Bowie.

Best Quote

I know parents are meant to love you unconditionally, that’s what being a parent’s supposed to be all about, apparently. But turns out some don’t. Turns out there are some pretty fundamental conditions for being loved in some families.

Saffron Windrose

Previous Ninth Doctor review: The Forth Generation

For more Ninth Doctor reviews, click here.