The Green Man

I’ve got a thick skull, Doctor, and I’ll shake the hand of any beastie who can crack it open.

Jamie McCrimmon

Synopsis

Perched hundreds of miles above the forest canopy of Florestus Prime, The Grove rehabilitation centre promises to help the staggeringly rich of the galaxy cheat death. When a reunited Doctor and Jamie are despatched by Raven to investigate the disappearance of a Time Lord, they are greeted by Chief of Medicine, Overseer Fuller.

Watching from his room at The Grove, an incapacitated Doctor helplessly observes the facility from afar. Who is the lone patient waving from across the courtyard? Why is Overseer Fuller doing rounds late at night when the Grove appears to have no other patients? And what precisely does Raven know about the ‘Green Man’?

Review

The Green Man takes the post-War Games adventures for the SEcond Doctor in a more conventional direction, but that does not mean that they are any less enjoyable. This story features the return of a foe that genuinely made me gasp the first time I heard it.

If you thought you could control it, you’re a bigger idiot than I gave you credit for.

The Second Doctor

The Green Man is influenced by the Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window, which I must admit that I have never seen, but I am aware of it through other pastiches and parodies of it. Being a child of the 1990s, The Simpsons has meant that I am able to notice homages of movies that I’ve never seen! There are certainly references to make this into a thriller, from the music to the general tone. Paul F Verhoeven creates a string visual setting for the story, with the Grove being suspended in a forest, which I found to work really well for me. Things like the Doctor watching events transpire through a telescope are also good and easy images to conjur to mind, in almost grainy black and white. The story has a really creepy feeling to it, which makes it all the more disappointing that it all wraps up quite so quickly and easily. That’s probably the biggest flaw in what is quite an enjoyable and well-directed story, but a problem with stories told over two parts.

With the Krynoid not speaking in this story, we need an antagonist, and Overseer Fuller steps into this role admirably. When you can just call an actor of the calibre of Nigel Havers to step in to be the third part in what is essentially a three hander, you’re onto a winner. Fuller is using the Krynoid to create a super-virus without a cure, and wants the Doctor for his ability to regenerate, which would allow the virus to continue to evolve. Having absorbed the diseases and patients who have been unfortunate enough to come to the Grove, this would be the final part of the puzzle. Havers is suitably charming and unhinged when he needs to be, and feels perfectly cast as the boss of this health retreat, with his exterior of being a respectable gentleman falling away as the story progresses.

Then we have the mysterious Raven. Having put the Doctor and Jamie to work across time and space, she now sends them to the Grove on the pretext of finding a missing Time Lord. Whilst she is a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency, she seems to be answering to a higher power that the Doctor is unaware of. Emma Noakes plays Raven with an icy detachment, and is unflappable, something which the Doctor clearly finds infuriating, beyond the fact that he doesn’t like being told what to do! Both Noakes and Michael Troughton are great in the final scene of the story, with the Doctor sending Jamie away so that he doesn’t see how angry he is. The ultimate reveal that Raven would have been happy regardless of the outcome and that the Time Lords were after Fuller’s super virus shows that their intentions aren’t always good.

You know the evil I have fought out there in the universe; more than you’ll ever encounter in your cloistered Time Lord life. Don’t underestimate what I have learnt from that evil and how I may turn it against you if put in a corner.

The Second Doctor

Whilst the story is certainly more conventional, what it really allows is for Michael Troughton and Frazer Hines to cement their relationship. Given a run around hunting an alien entity is certainly more straight forward than the previous story Jamie, and we even get flashbacks to previous adventures, including The Annihilators, which ended up being the first story released with both Michael Troughton playing the Second Doctor with the older Jamie. It’s safe to say that Troughton and Hines have hit the ground running here, successfully recreating the chemistry that Hines had with the original Second Doctor. There are moments of gentle ribbing between the two, along with the affection and warmth that makes this one of the most popular Doctor and companion pairings.

Verdict: The Green Man is a solid and engaging three-hander, returning to more conventional Doctor Who roots, with a surprising returning alien force. The only disappointment for me would be the rushed ending. 8/10

Cast: Michael Troughton (The Doctor), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Emma Noakes (Raven), Nigel Havers (Overseer Fuller) and Barnaby Edwards (The Green Man/Beltraxian/Patient/Small Robot).

Writer: Paul F Verhoeven

Director: Nicholas Briggs

Music: Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Sound: Andy Hardwick

Original Release Date: 25 July 2023

Behind the Scenes

• The first audio story to feature the Krynoids since Hothouse.

Cast Notes

• Nigel Havers played Nick Zimmerman in the Eighth Doctor audio story No More Lies.
• Barnaby Edwards is a Big Finish director and writer, as well as being a Dalek operator.

Best Quote

Fun? You call being in mortal danger several times a day fun?

Well, isn’t it?

Well, perhaps a little Jamie, but that’s hardly the point.

The Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon

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