The Shroud

One Time Lord is quite enough, let me assure you.

The Second Doctor

Synopsis

Arriving on the planet Ninevah, the Doctor and Jamie find a desperate human colony fighting the effects of a devastating super weapon – the Shroud. Nullifying all light, the Shroud has rendered the humans blind in the face of aggressive alien invaders dubbed ‘Squids’, and it’s only a matter of time before the colony falls.

The Doctor and Jamie are caught between helping the humans fight back against the ‘Squids’ and investigating their latest mission for the Time Lords – but as they haven’t been told what that mission is, the pair are in the dark in more ways than one.

Review

The Shroud rounds out the second box set in Big Finish’s foray into Series 6B, with a story that highlights the darker side of the Doctor’s own people. The show prior to The War Games had not shown the Doctor’s people at all, and in this series that sees the Doctor working with them between his Second and Third incarnations, we see how manipulative and devious they can truly be.

The Shroud appears to be a straightforward base-under-siege story. Bob Ayres takes that format and flips it on its head. We are led to believe that the Hearken, a race of squid-like aliens, are attacking the human colonists, but this turns out to be a situation constructed by the Time Lords. It’s a really good twist, which does help and Raven, of course, ends up being well and truly embroiled in the whole situation. With the Doctor and Jamie unaware of their mission, it does feel as though their quest is to find a peaceful end to the conflict and save Nivenah from the perpetual darkness that the Shroud inflicts on the planet. When this turns out to be a Time Lord weapon that has gained sentience and the Doctor and his loyal companion are there to clean up their mess, it works really well. It’s well written and directed, and really the only flaw that I could highlight would be that the story could be longer to build the characters up a bit more. There are a lot of characters here, with a lot of cast pulling double duties, so it might have helped them feel more distinct from each other.

The Shroud, of Cloak of Rassilon, is a piece of Time Lord kit that has gained sentience, and plunges worlds into darkness to prevent scientific development. It is a perfect example of Time Lord hypocrisy, allowing them to cling to their facade of non-interference whilst controlling who can hold technology that might lead them to time travel. Whilst the Celestial Intervention Agency are the Time Lords’ dirty tricks brigade, the indifference to the loss of innocent lives on Nivenah is truly shocking and makes this story really creepy. Plunging the action into darkness is a really good idea for the audio medium, and helps to conjure up the world really well. The Hearken are a sightless race and set up to be the big villains until the start of the second part, and are good visual foes. The fact that they turn out to be benevolent and helping the humans is all part of the strong twist. Ayres has written a story about not judging by appearances which feels powerful and affecting.

There are strong performances from all the cast, but Emma Noakes is the standout performance as Raven. This is a story that sees the usually unflappable Raven rather rattled by the Doctor, and her calm exterior begins to slip. She is undermined by Paul, who is an avatar of the sentient Cloak, who develops a conscience after seeing one the human colonists, Donya, sacrifice herself to save him. He himself takes the form of a man who was killed in the opening of the story along with his family, trying to escape the Shroud. Ultimately, Raven is trapped alone in the Shroud, and sent to the Time Lords for judgment at the end of the story, seemingly to face her comeuppance. Otherwise, Gary Turner provides a good performance as the scientist Eskander, as does Pepter Lunkuse as Fariba.

Michael Troughton and Frazer Hines have really strong chemistry as the Second Doctor and Jamie. Troughton’s performance playing his father’s role is getting the point of being virtually indistinguishable. In three stories, he and Hines have managed to recapture the chemistry shared on screen in the 1960s, and the story really flies when the Doctor and Jamie are together. With the Doctor chosing to allow himself be captured by the Hearken at the end of the story, he shows a great deal of faith in Jamie to be able to rescue him if they are in danger. There are also moments of comedy, especially in Part One, where they are clearly getting into mischief in the dark. It is nice to see the Doctor get one over on Raven, even if it is not initially what he intended, having played catch-up for a long time.

Verdict: The Shroud is a story that shines, with a great twist. 8/10

Cast: Michael Troughton (The Doctor), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Emma Noakes (Raven), Eva Savage (The Hearken/Daria/Boots), Gary Turner (Eskander/Jack), Pepter Lunkuse (Fariba/Negs), Ony Uhaira (Donya) & Mickey Knighton (Paul/Kaz/Guard).

Writer: Bob Ayres

Director: Nicholas Briggs

Producer: Mark Wright

Composer: Toby Hyrcek-Robinson

Sound: Mark Hendrick

Release Date: 25 July 2023

Cast Notes

• Eva Savage has played Miss Daxel in One for All and The Murder of Oliver Akkron.
• Gary Turner has also appeared in Fugitive of the Daleks, The Conservitors and The Quintessence.
• Pepter Lunkuse has also been in Warzone, Conversion and Operation Dusk.
• Ony Uhiara has also appeared in The End of the Line, The Seeds of War and Planet of Dust.

Best Quote

They’ve got him on a piece of string, doing their dirty work. They’ll drop him in deep water, watch him to see if he’ll sink or swim.

Jamie McCrimmon

Previous Second Doctor review: The Green Man

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