Ken Bentley

Reviews

The Magic Mousetrap, written by popular Year of the Pig author Matthew Sweet, is a release that many Big Finish devotees will have really been looking forward to.

On the face of it, Sweet’s two plays have much in common in terms of when and where they are (apparently) set, however The Magic Mousetrap feels much quicker and more plot-driven, not to mention altogether more claustrophobic. Further, in terms of tone, The Magic Mousetrap is a much darker play than Sweet’s last. Much darker.

Having the seventh Doctor’s companions play ‘out of position’ is certainly not a new idea by any means, but even so I still found it tremendously invigorating to see Ace and Hex in the driving seat, pulling the strings whilst the Doctor ran around scratching his head (and snow-boarding, at one memorable point). I think that a lot of this fresh feeling is attributable to the exuberant performances of both Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier. Sweet may have skilfully littered his first two episodes with a glut of clues about where this story is really set and who might be responsible for whatever is going on, but not to such an extent that it would lessen the impact of the second episode’s climactic reveal.

Incidentally, the sound design on this whole story is absolutely breathtaking. From the realisation of the (villain) to the sound of oversize chess pieces scraping across a colossal chessboard, or from avalanches to even the attenuated interior of a Swiss cable car, Richard Fox and Lauren Yason have really outdone themselves. Even their score is beautifully apposite.

E.G. Wolverson
Doctor Who Reviews

April’s Big Finish Doctor Who release begins with that old trope which will make hardcore Who fans roll their eyes – amnesia. Yes, that’s right... as we join the Seventh Doctor in a cable car travelling up the Swiss Alps, it quickly becomes apparent that our hero has even less idea about what’s going on than we do.

Fortunately, it gets better.

For one thing, he does, at least, have some interesting company in the form of one Queenie Glasscock (Mrs, not Miss, thank you very much), who is on the way to visit her dear daddy in Ludovic Comfort’s sanitorium. The audience can be forgiven at this point for thinking that a sanitorium is an appropriate port of call for the Seventh Doctor. In fact, they don’t know the half of it.

Things get weirder when Bunty and Bobo Stetterton show up, sounding an awful lot like Ace and Hex affecting posh accents. Oh, wait – it is Ace and Hex affecting posh accents. And so the story’s brilliant idea is revealed: in The Magic Mousetrap, Ace and Hex are the ones with the master plan, and the Doctor is the one being manipulated.

This concept would probably be enough to carry a story on its own, especially given the poorly-concealed glee with which Ace carries out her role as chess master, and the misgivings with which Hex carries out his. However, it is helped further by a cast of wonderfully eccentric – not to say do-lally – characters including Queenie’s father, Swapnil Khan, fading Weimar cabaret star Lola Luna, and the delightful Mrs Kerniddle, who comes to vivid life through the audio medium despite not having spoken a word in over seven years.

The Magic Mousetrap is an enjoyable way to kill two hours, and should leave you with a smile on your face. The regulars’ relish for the chance to swap roles is obvious, as is the gusto with which the guest actors tackle their wildly eccentric characters.

All in all, The Magic Mousetrap is highly recommended listening.

Rachel Steffan
Unreality SF