return of an old enemy
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Third in the series of audios entitled companion chronicles, in which someone who played one of doctor who's travelling companions on screen returns to their role to tell another story of their character having an adventure with the doctor. This time it's the turn of caroline john to return to the role of liz shaw, whom she played during john pertwee's first season in 1970.
These stories are told in the style of talking books, and this one involves liz visiting an old friend in cambridge, only to walk slap bang into a mystery and a plot by the cybermen. The third doctor never met them on screen, so this is an encounter that's long overdue. A bit of a shame that the cover has to give their presence away.
This is in four parts, none longer than seventeen and a half minutes, and as a result is quite decently paced. Caroline John clearly enjoys herself and does a very good reading, liz getting scared when remembering bad memories and sad when remembering unhappy ones and the like. She does an interesting impression of some of the other doctor who characters delivering their lines. But think of it as liz shaw doing that rather than caroline john and it works rather well.
A slight problem with this story is that liz isn't that proactive, and is pretty much just tailing round behind the doctor for most of it, but all in all, it's a good recreation of the era, and there are a couple of powerful moments in the last part you won't forget in a hurry. Worth a listen
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Tooth Ache,,,
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Caroline John returns as companion Liz Shaw for this stand-alone dramatized talking book, as the long-wished for encounter between the 3rd Doctor and the Cybermen finally becomes reality. At it's heart this story is basically the usual tale of Cybermen converting humans for invasion, but author Nigel Fairs manages to add a few new variations along the way thanks to a new form of living metal and a novel use for the Cybermats. Minor quibbles are the fizzling out of the initial promise of an exploration of Liz Shaw's off-screen departure from UNIT, and Carolne John's rather comical impersonation of the Brigadier, but all in all this is an enjoyable, and enjoyably gruesome, outing for the 3rd Doctor.
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