I know I’ve skipped ahead of a few Big Finish releases here but, given its significance I wanted to get this review up a little quicker as yes: here we are, another Doctor has joined the world of Audio Drama and it’s the Thirteenth Doctor herself! “Vampire Weekend” doesn’t break any mould but what it does do is give us a fun story re-establishing The Doctor and Yaz’s personalities / relationship before, hopefully, doing some more interesting things with the characters going forward. I don’t know about a “full on Sixth Doctor rehabilitation” as some are hoping, but it’s safe to say that this era free from Chris Chibnall can only be a good thing. Let’s take a look!
The story kicks off with Yaz (Mandip Gill) heading to an old friend’s hen do, which is funny as at no point in the show has Yaz’s personal life ever really been shown, beyond a flashback and family, so seeing her social life gave her instantly more of a sense of being an actual person. Now there is some friendship circle drama here, Mason (Jeremy Ang Jones) or Daryl (Daniel Walford) comes out as gay, can’t remember which because Yaz’s friends were so bland they kind of blended in together, Zoya (Anna Critchlow) is the annoying one who everyone was surprised to find out was given the bridesmaid position instead of Yaz, and the bride herself, Gina, didn’t end up getting invited, though her mum (Madni Symonds) did and she spends the whole story talking about and then crying over the loss of her dog Boo-Boo. Then again, they’re not really the point of the story, they’re the dressing, as a Vampire has invaded the house, one that can shapeshift, leading to a series of attacks with a proper “whodunit” vibe.
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) arrives, with two hens called Ian and Barbara who she’s been travelling with in search of this very Vampire and apologises to Yaz for creating a forcefield around her friend’s hen do in order to trap the deadly creature within, but those are the breaks sometimes! Jodie’s performance here is very off-kilter, very manic as she often was on screen, and thankfully she hasn’t lost a beat there. The story has a few twists and turns, like for example the Vampire in question is a special type bred during the war with the Time Lords that forces bitten people to be unable to lie, a “Truth Vampire”. A fun idea, one that wasn’t really played with, even when the Doctor was bitten towards the end…
I’ll leave the rest for the Spoilers but I will say there was a scene where Yaz is worried that The Doctor had seemingly had such a fun time with two hens that it meant she wasn’t interested in Yaz coming back, which The Doctor denies, and generally Yaz confesses that she doesn’t know how to “navigate” The Doctor now she’s the only person with her, so we get some good character beats and a “goal” in mind for this run of stories in terms of development, the word that seemed to escape Mr. Chibnall during his era. Looking forward to seeing it, but as for this? It was light fluff to open, a “scene setter” and that’s fine for the start of a 12 episode, two year-ish run!
The Continuity:
Nice cover to kick us off, and a reminder that this is the start of a whole new era of audio Who and the story WASN’T written by Nicholas Briggs!
The Vampires, otherwise known as The Great Vampires, are ancient enemies of early Time Lords, a fact that was first revealed during the Fourth Doctor TV story “State of Decay”, but as The Doctor points out in this very story, despite being wiped out during the Dark Times the odd straggler appears from time to time, and that’s indeed true, like the Fourth Doctor book “Blood Harvest, the Fifth Doctor book/audio “Goth Opera” and comic “Blood Invocation”, the Sixth Doctor audios “Project: Twilight” and “Project: Lazarus”, and the Eighth Doctor book “Vampire Science” and audio anniversary special “Zagreus”, plus more…
Apart from that, nothing else, well apart from the two hens being named after The Doctor’s original human companions, debuting all the way back in “An Unearthly Child”. If you’re wondering this story/run of stories is set after “Revolution of the Daleks” but before the whole Flux storyline starts with “The Halloween Apocalypse”, so The Doctor and Yaz get to spend some quality time together without the universe-ending baggage…
Overall Thoughts:
“Vampire Weekend” won’t blow you away with its amazing fresh take on Doctor Who or the Thirteenth Doctor’s era, but it will give you an hour of fun adventure and start to show some effort towards building Yaz up as a character and her relationship with The Doctor, two things Mr. Chibnall often shied away from. A fun, light-hearted way to kick off this audio “Series”, and I’m looking forward to hearing more.
As more and more people are being bitten and Barbara the Hen winds up dead the location of the Vampire is eventually narrowed down to… Boo-Boo the dog, as the Vampire took over the dog and faked its death so it could move around freely. Unluckily for it though as it bit the Doctor it meant she could pop into the TARDIS and whip up a cure to save everyone, meanwhile Yaz and the Vampire have a quick chat, the creature admitting defeat but still giving some ominous warnings before turning to dust due to the sunrise. Yaz makes peace with her friends while The Doctor pops around to all the places she’d tracked the Vampire to in order to spread the cure and then comes back to pick up Yaz (and hypnotise Gina’s Mum into thinking she’s always loved her hen Ian and never had a dog called Boo-Boo, to save her the trauma I guess, and for the sake of a good gag!) Now ready to resume their travels as a pair, The Doctor and Yaz head to the TARDIS together…
Hogan Reviews 