Vampire Weekend

Maybe Yaz was right. Maybe there will be trouble. It’s all I’m good for these days.

The Thirteenth Doctor

Synopsis

It’s Gina’s hen-do and her Maid of Honour has booked a large manor in the Peak District. All her friends should be here – including Yasmin Khan, who’s been mysteriously quiet whilst away on her travels.

But Yaz is bringing a guest. Someone who isn’t invited. Someone who might prove a little disruptive.

The Doctor is joining the celebrations. Unfortunately, so is an ancient enemy…

Review

Vampire Weekend marks the start of full cast adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, a relatively short three years after they exited the roles. By the time of release of this story, Jodie Whittaker had also made a return to televised Doctor Who, appearing to the incumbent Fifteenth Doctor as he prepared to regenerate in The Reality War. The Thirteenth Doctor’s era is divisive, but I did enjoy bits of it when it was on television. It’s by no means my favourite era, but it’s not as bad as some corners of the internet would have you believe.

Tim Foley has penned a fun reintroduction to this era of the show. It has a good premise, set in modern times, but set in a remote manor gives this a horror vibe from the start, but this is a story that balances those elements with comedic elements too. For all the terror of the Truth Vampire picking off Yaz’s friends one by one, there are bits like the Doctor naming two chickens after her first companions, the fact that Zoya has forgotten to invite the bride to her own hen do, or the fact that Yaz and her friends cannot remember the bride’s mother’s name. It all rolls along nicely, and the comedy is rather enjoyable – a lot of Chris Chibnall’s era feels like it’s trying to play things painfully straight, even if the premise is ultimately ridiculous. This story ultimately boils down to being an episode of The Traitors, albeit with a much smaller cast. It’s a very confident beginning to the Thirteenth Doctor’s era on audio.

It is directed well by Ken Bentley, who is a veteran Doctor Who audio director at this point. We also have good sound design and music by Joe Kraemer, which never feels incongruent with Segun Akinola’s theme. The music playing in Yaz, Daryl and Kat’s car on the way to the hen do feels very in keeping with an early-2020s setting. I do have one small niggle regarding reusing the TARDIS door sound effect for doors in the manor. This particularly confused me on first listen as to where one of the last scenes takes place. On first listen, I thought that all the characters were entering the TARDIS, rather than a room in the house.

The hen do is terrorised by the presence of a Truth Vampire, one of the Great Vampires and ancient enemies of the Time Lords. Tim Foley does a very efficient job of introducing the vampires and gives all the information we need to know. The Vampire makes it’s way through all of the guests of the hen do, and is only ultimately defeated following biting the Doctor and encountering sunlight. Having the villain of the piece be something established in society generally and within Doctor Who itself serves as a narrative shorthand. The twist that the Truth Vampire is disguised as Gina’s mum’s dog, Boo-Boo, did definitely come out of the blue.

The guest cast here are really good and build a believable dynamic of old friends. Anna Crichlow is probably the standout of these as the disorganised maid of honour, Zoya, who doesn’t get on with Yaz.

One of the strengths of Vampire Weekend is the focus on this two person TARDIS team. Yaz is one of the underused companions of Doctor Who. She is almost an afterthought in Series 11 and 12, and then there is suddenly a romantic dynamic that comes from nowhere. The one television story in which she is the main companion, she is overshadowed by the return of Ace and Tegan in The Power of the Doctor. Having her be the sole companion to the Thirteenth Doctor in these audios means that we have the opportunity to get to know her better. Here we get to meet some of her friends, although it would be nice to have had some more moments of them together to build the relationships between them. We get a sort of confession following Yaz being bitten by the Truth Vampire that she doesn’t know how to balance things around the Doctor now that Graham and Ryan have left the TARDIS, which is a nice moment and not something that I feel that we would have got on television.

Jodie Whittaker manages to translate her Doctor to audio really well. The manic moments do come across well, but Tim Foley also gives her moments of calm and introspection at times that really help her character. What comes through clearly in this story that the friendship between Whittaker and Gill comes through to the listener.

Verdict: Vampire Weekend is a strong and promising start to the Thirteenth Doctor’s adventures with Big Finish. 8/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Anna Crichlow (Zoya/Kat), Daniel Walford (Daryl), Jeremy Ang Jones (Mason) & Mandi Symonds (Gina’s Mum).

Writer: Tim Foley

Director: Ken Bentley

Producer: Nora Flaishon

Music and Sound: Joe Kraemer

Release Date: 3 July 2025

Behind the Scenes

• The first audio drama to see Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill return to their respective roles of the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan.

Cast Notes

• Anna Crichlow has also appeared in The Great Beyond and Revolution in Space.
• Jeremy Ang Jones also appeared in the Big Finish audio plays Interstitial, The Secrets of Det-Sen and The Children of the Future.
• Mandi Symonds has also appeared in The Last Days of the Powell Estate, Afterlife and Revenge of the Swarm, amongst others.

Best Quote

You didn’t really think I bought chickens because it’s a hen party, did you?

The Thirteenth Doctor

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