"Neverland"
by Alan Barnes

"History," the blurb for Neverland informs us, "is leaking like a sieve". And it's all the Eighth Doctor's fault. Now, after twenty hours of audio adventures, it's time for him to face the consequences of saving companion Charley Pollard's life, and thereby altering the course of history. Alan Barnes - who started this particular arc of stories in Storm Warning - returns for writing duties on this epic adventure, which comprises of two seventy-five minute episodes, and ties up numerous plot threads from previous tales as well as sending the ongoing storyline off in exciting new directions.

A pre-titles sequence shows the listener how extensive the damage to the Web of Time has become, with wailing voices within the Matrix showing that even Time Lord science is unable to cope under the strain. After this effective and unnerving opening, we join the Eighth Doctor and Charley, who are captured by the Time Lords. President Romana is troubled by projections of a future where Gallifrey is unrecognisable, the Doctor is forced to accept that Charley's very existence may destabilise the universe, and it turns out that Gallifreyan nursery rhymes about Zagreus and legends concerning Rassilon may be more than just fiction . . .

As the culmination of over thirty individual episodes, Neverland is under a lot of pressure to draw things together in a satisfactory way, and it unquestionably does so. More information about Don Warrington's shady character, who has lurked in the background of previous stories, is finally revealed; and we finally see why Charley's existence has caused so many problems, despite the fact that she herself is nothing special. There's a lot of exposition to be done, and making that interesting for the audience is difficult, particularly on audio, but Barnes succeeds with a storyline that is exciting, moving, and intelligent. The way in which various things come together isn't quite what I'd expected, but it makes sense, and provides for some compelling listening.

But as well as having a responsibility to significantly further the storyline, Neverland needs to be an enjoyable play in its own right if it truly wants to work. Thankfully, it succeeds on several different levels. Perhaps most obviously, it works as a science-fiction epic - battle TARDISes and time torpedoes threaten the Doctor and Charley, our heroes are confronted by a race of people who never existed, characters and vessels are pulled through into different realities, to cite just three examples. There's an impressive sense of scale here, unlike anything we've ever seen or heard in Doctor Who before, and the intensity of the drama and the unrelenting pace contribute to this.

However, Neverland also works as moving and emotional tale, which is quite unexpected. The relationship between the Doctor and Charley, which has grown to the point where they will admit to loving one another, is tested to the limit, and the Doctor's objection to his people's treatment of her leads to some very effective scenes. At the mild end of the scale, we're treated to some brilliant interaction between the Doctor and Romana, who bounce off one another as brilliantly as ever; on the more extreme side, we have the moments when Charley accepts her fate, and is prepared to sacrifice herself for the greater good, which are absolutely heartbreaking to listen to. The broad sweeping sci-fi concepts are punctuated with and boosted by some detailed character work, which is helped by the magnificent performances of Paul McGann, India Fisher, and Lalla Ward.

Fisher impresses in particular, due to her dual role. As well as playing Charley, a role which she's tackled consistently well, she plays the rather nastier Sentris, a Never-Person who has stolen Charley's form. The actress really gets her teeth into this, avoiding the traps usually associated with playing "the evil double", adding just enough menace and campness but without the character becoming cliched or laughable.

The sound design and direction manage to cope with the range of emotions and tones throughout the play, with the score bubbling gently away in the background rather than going all-out and overpowering the drama. Neverland has a surprisingly visual feel to it, and the range of soundscapes in the story is unquestionably one of the reasons why; there's the mysterious Gallifrey itself, the ships tearing through Charley into the anti-time universe, the realisation of the Never-People, and each one is vivid and easy to visualise thanks to the sound design.

If you wanted a thrilling action-packed romp to round off this season, Neverland is spot-on. And if you wanted a breathtaking and touching story, you'll find that here as well. This is an absolute jewel of an audio, which concludes the second series of Eighth Doctor stories fantastically, and leaves the listener begging for more. It's superb in both concept and execution, and I can only hope that this high quality continues . . .