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Doctor Who Unbound


Sympathy For The Devil


What if after the second Doctor was forced to regenerate and became the third, and he arrived on earth later than he did?


Its 1997, Hong Kong, the day before the handover to the Chinese. The Doctor meets an old friend or two.


Its possibly the first time I’ve heard this since its release. Having taken advantage of a Big Finish sale and purchased the Benny Summerfield Unbound adventures that features this Doctor it seemed a good opportunity to go back to listen to this and the Masters of War.


Its quite a cast, Nick Courtney, David Warner, David Tenant and Mark Gatis - to be honest two of those names I wasn’t aware of in 2003. It is strange listening to the Doctor Who audios David Tenant did before he became the Doctor himself. In this he retains his Scottish accent and plays the rather angry Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood. Mark Gatis is the Master is is really good at portraying the evil side of his nature.


It feels a bit odd to have the Brigadier in the nineties, not to mention running a bar in Hong Kong, with the (unbound) third Doctor. The Brig here being a bit of a failure- if you think about the new series episode Turn Left - its a little like this. All the stuff the Doctor did or helped The Brig to achieve he wasn’t there for so everything kind of went wrong. Mentions of some of third Doctors actually stories: mars probe 7, Silurians, plastic etc.


The Master is great too, he’s been hanging around for 20 years, waiting for the Doctor as its also his only escape from Earth. 


There's the tension of the fact that in a few hours Hong Kong will no longer be a British colony. Chanting monks and something best left where it is - not that that's going to stop the Master.


All in all an engaging tale, and worth a listen

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