| PIER PRESSURE by Robert Ross |
| Story 78 Synopsis: Hoping for a holiday at Blackpool, the TARDIS lands instead at Brighton, 1936, where the Doctor and Evelyn soon meet Max Miller, and investigate a connection between an unearthly noise on the beach, and missing people. Suspecting a connection with an illusionist believed dead for 15 years, the Doctor makes a nocturnal journey to the pier, where he finds that the missing Professor Talbot is alive, but harbouring some sort of secret. The Doctor gets Evelyn to take Max to the TARDIS for safety. Back on the beach, he hears a monstrous screech. He eludes it, joining his friends in the TARDIS. He theorises that something evil and alien crash-landed many years earlier, and is animating Talbot for its own ends. Using a rowing boar to take a closer look at the end of the pier, the Doctor comes under attack when Talbot mentally takes control of Max and Evelyn, sending the Doctor into the water. He recovers in the TARDIS, Talbot having apparently saved him. The Doctor realises Talbot wants him as back-up. He works out a way to sabotage the alien's underwater craft, and uses Max and Evelyn to create a suitable diversion. The alien thwarted, its release on Talbot is lost and he dies. The Doctor and Evelyn leave Max to get back to normal, letting on that there'll be a statue to him in Brighton one day... |
| Review: Having utilised a comic acting legend in Leslie Phillips in his previous BF play, Medicinal Purposes, Ross strikes gold again with radio and stage comic legend Roy Hudd. He adds to it by having Hudd play another comic legend, Max Miller, in a play set in Miller's patch, Brighton, in the mid-1930's. Strangely, rather than imitate Miller's distinctive voice, Hudd plays it pretty much as himself. But it's still a good part. The play itself is sadly not as exciting as the usage of Max Miller is. The other main guest star is Doug Bradley, more famous for playing the monstrous horror film character Pinhead. Here, he plays the mysterious Professor Talbot, who turns out to be up to no good. Alas, the small scale nature of the play means that everything is very straightforward, and consequently succumbs to boredom. The cast are excellent, no question about that. Hudd and Bradley shine, and the gallant Albert and his luckless girlfriend are also vital characters. The sound effect heard on the beach is an impressively scary alien screech. But that's the end of it. The low-point of the play comes shortly into part 3, where the Doctor sits and yammers away for a few minutes, theorising what could possibly be causing Talbot so much trouble. And it turns out that his rather wild and feeble assumptions are quite correct! With such lack of conviction, it's no wonder there's time for Max and Evelyn to play I Spy in the console room of the TARDIS... The lousy punning title refers to the alien problem which has been using Talbot for 15 years (Miller's reveal of this at the end of part 1 makes for an unexpected cliffhanger, which is much the best of the three here). All we learn of these aliens is the name Indo, and that they fancy their chances on Earth. And that it just takes a bit of metal and a convenient self-sacrifice to nobble them! As a simplistic runaround, it's still blandly disappointing. As an excuse to pay homage to Max Miller, then he deserved rather better. As a thrilling adventure in time and space, it's too wet. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |