| EXILE by Nicholas Briggs |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Warlord receives his sentence for his part in the War Games. But when it's the Doctor's turn, the Time Lords find he's skidaddled. He commits suicide, causing himself to regenerate in a different gender. She then gets a job working for Sainsbury's, on the principle that the Time Lords will never find her. But she becomes disaffected by her humdrum life, and begins to grow addicted to alcohol. She sees images of her previous self, and makes a mistaken attempt to prevent an alien invasion and assassination attempt on Princess Anne. This only gets her the sack. She sobers up and decides to find the TARDIS and give herself up. But she is finally tracked down by the Time Lords and brought back for sentence. Because she has added to her original crimes by evading sentence and changing sex, they sentence her to dematerialisation. Thinking she's been let off, she mistakenly lets it happen. |
| Review:- The most controversial Unbound story? Well, the idea of a woman playing the role of the Doctor has been around for a long time, and I must say I am amongst those who think it's a very stupid idea and should never happen. Having said that, I didn't really have too much problem with this story. Considering that in addition to my above complaint, this story has more swearing and drunken misbehaviour than any other Dr Who story (presumably), my view is more remarkable. The credit for the success here, modest though it is, must go to Arabella Weir, as the Doctor, and Nicholas Briggs, writer, actor and many other jobs besides. Weir makes a good case for the idea that almost anyone could play the Doctor. Having made a desperate last-chance bid to evade the Time Lords, she's become unwittingly imprisoned in a dull nowhere-ish life. Just like many people on Earth do. Her struggles with drink and tedium are interrupted by the hauntings of her angry previous incarnation, and misguided attempts to do good. Once she starts to get her act back together, then she becomes all the more impressive, leading to the tragicomic section where the two Time Lords who have been trying to track her down, succeed, and bring her trial back to an end. There is a certain extra value gained now from the fact that one of the Time Lords is played by David Tennant, who at the time of this story's release was a mere actor on the rise, and is now (in 2006) playing the Doctor as well. He and Toby Longworth make the most of their comic roles. As with other Unbound plays, the ending is particularly notable, and downbeat. Here, the Doctor, having been sentenced to life imprisonment, is tricked into taking her own life (probably). It underlines how well Weir played her role, that she remains serious to the end. Despite her earlier attempts to escape the law, it's hard not to feel sympathetic with her punishment. As a one-off experiment, this works fairly well. But I wouldn't want it tried again. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |