You will sing or you will die.
The Demon
Synopsis
Managing to land the TARDIS in Dodo’s far flung future, the 2020s, the Doctor detects a haunting melody on the streets of Camden. People are going missing and one of them is Dodo!
Quick Facts
| Doctor | First Doctor (Stephen Noonan) | Writer | Bob Ayres |
| Companion | Dodo Chaplet (Lauren Cornelius) | Director | Nicholas Briggs |
| Range | The First Doctor Adventures | Music and Sound Design | Toby Hrycek-Robinson |
| Parts | 2 | Producer | Mark Wright |
| Original Release Date | 16th February 2023 |
Cast
| Cast: Henry Nott (Daniel De’ath), Bhavnisha Parmar (Archana Pawar), George Fletcher (Paul Carter), Antoinette Tagoe (Grace Adichie) & Rosie Baker (Helen Fletcher/Station Announcer/Passerby). |
Review
The second audio anthology for Big Finish’s First Doctor Adventures starts with a solid adventure for the First Doctor and Dodo, with an abduction plot and people going missing from Camden’s streets.
That tune…that tune…the same tune…Dodo…she was humming it But there’s something else there. Can you hear it? Something beguiling…something calling!
The First Doctor
The Demon Song sees the First Doctor and Dodo brought into the 2020s. This setting feels almost as alien to this incarnation of the Doctor as any planet or space station. There’s something about this particular incarnation that feels almost enshrined in 1960s Earth, and so the idea of seeing him in a contemporary setting is rather jarring, but in an excellent way. There are scenes at the beginning of Dodo boggling at modern London, from the Tube (which she perceives to be free) to mobile technology to fashion. The Doctor’s usual attire sees him briefly suspected as being a fellow demon hunter by the rather preposterously named Daniel De’ath, who thinks that the Time Lord is interfering on his patch. Although adventures with this particular incarnation tend to be in the far flung future or the past, it is quite nice seeing him interact with a different time period. The lens of the not-so-distant past is an interesting perspective for our lead characters to bring to modern times, and it’s a shame that the story doesn’t focus on this more as the story goes on. Instead it drops this very quickly after the initial scenes, and it would have been interesting to see whether this would have been more fleshed out by writer Bob Ayres if the story had been expanded to four parts.
Stephen Noonan certainly seems much more settled in this box set than the last. That’s not to say that he did not give a good performance in The Outlaws and The Miniaturist, but he does feel as though he has grown in the part in the interim. He is much more balanced here, handling moments of anger and calm really well. In an era where companions get slotted into the Susan role and ensuring a grandfather-grandchild dynamic, Ayres has ensured that the story establishes that the Doctor does truly care about Dodo, who is one of the more short-lived onscreen companions. It is therefore a shame that Lauren Cornelius does get sidelined for a lot of this story, being abducted by the creature. She does have a key role to play, learning that the demon is just trying to open up a gateway to return to its own dimension, but that does not really feel enough for this companion. This is not just a criticism of The Demon Song, but something that I will return to when reviewing some of the releases after this one, which focus more on bringing back another old companion than furthering Dodo’s development.
There are some brilliant bits of sound design here. I was particularly impressed with the way that Daniel’s and the demon’s screams at the beginning of the story meld into the sounds of the Tube train arriving at Camden Town. The titular Demon Song is also effective. It sounds authentically alien enough to be a siren call, as is ultimately revealed, rather than a parasitic earworm. I’ve seen some criticism of this story that the song is not catchy enough, but I don’t think that is what the story intends. Ultimately, the demon is issuing a distress call rather than trying to ensnare people for malicious purposes. The song isn’t meant to be noticed, it is meant to quietly creep into the subconscious of musically minded people. We learn in this story that Dodo plays the piano, for instance, however, Daniel De’ath is not musical enough for it to really meaningfully threaten him.
This is a promising story from Bob Ayres, who clearly understands this era of Doctor Who. The story does potentially lose its way towards the end as it devolves into the madness of the second part, however, Ayres creates some compelling side characters like Archana and Daniel who accompany the Doctor as he investigates the central mystery. It’s particularly fun to see how frustrating the Doctor and Archie find the conspiracy theorist Daniel, who is livestreaming and just generally difficult from the off
Verdict: The Demon Song tells a compelling and solid contemporary story, in which Stephen Noonan truly shines. 7/10
Cast Notes
| Bhavnisha Parmar | Played Sonya Khan, sister to Yasmin Khan, in Series 11, 12 and 13. |
| Rosie Baker | Daughter of Colin Baker. She has also appeared in The Vanity Trap and The Incherton Incident. |
Best Quote
No, do stop fussing, child. I am perfectly capable of exiting a railway carraige without being propelled onto the platform!
The First Doctor
Previous First Doctor review: The Miniaturist
For more First Doctor reviews, click here.
