The Ninth Doctor and Rose stories continue on with a genuinely creepy and very original story despite being once again set on the Powell Estate and featuring Jackie Tyler for the second release in a row. We get a fun villain, a fun new guest character and a big dramatic Time War speech from The Doctor for oddly the first time in Eccleston’s long audio run, so let’s take a look…
The story opens with a young man called Ellis Coates (Harki Bhambra) who is filming the dilapidated remains of the Powell Estate for his online show a few decades into the future when he meets The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper), the latter of whom is surprised that her beloved home has fallen so fast. As the three investigate they find proof that its all the fault of an entity the residents dubbed “Mr. Fingers” due to it tapping people on the shoulder twice and if they turn around a second time they die, the Doctor however says they’re called “Hyphens” because they come from in between dimensions and rarely cross into the physical world. As it turns out the way the Hyphens work is they essentially block off a period of time and then kill everything within that period and wouldn’t you know it? The start of the period in question is 2006, so despite The Doctor’s plea Rose calls her mother Jackie (Camille Coduri) and her friend “Brainy” Bettie (Mandi Symonds) and together they find a man who has been oddly absent in the block of flats recently and sure enough, he’s been Fingered… um, actually, scratch that, he’s been Hyphened, I guess… Ahem. As everything closes in on The Doctor and co he tries to rig a trap that requires both sets of people in both time periods to work together, but it may already be too late…
It’s a fun and very atmospheric story with great sound design all round. The lead villain is a treat as well and is extremely well realised despite not being traditionally voiced.
The Continuity:
A good cover, though The Doctor looks far too pleased with the deadly threat for my liking…
Not much to say, beyond connecting to the previous story in this run, “Snare”, via odd things happening in the Powell Estate. Otherwise creepy other-dimensional entities are too plenty to list, which is odd but that’s a 60+ year running sci-fi series for you!
Overall Thoughts:
“The Last Days of the Powell Estate” was a great hour of tense sci-fi horror with some great ideas and some fun dialogue to break up the tension from time to time. It all comes to an end with a fantastic (Ninth Doctor catchphrase intended!) speech from Christopher Eccelston, finally confronting the war-weary mentally battered version of the character he often played on TV. Top marks from me!
Before The Doctor can put his plan into action Ellis is killed, much to Rose’s distress, then they soon use materials Jackie and Bettie placed in a run down old shed in the past and use it to create a trap for the creature, but in order to lure it into the trap someone needs to be afraid. Despite resisting the idea The Doctor stands in the middle of the trap and laments all the deeds he did in the Time War and how afraid he is of himself and what he was capable of in a great speech that lures the Hyphen into the trap, and a short while later its ejected back to where it came from by Rose lighting the fire needed to seal the trap. By doing this everything it did in its time loop is undone, which means the victims, Ellis included, are fine though Ellis himself isn’t around as the Powell Estate wasn’t a creepy location he could film for his show any more. The Doctor and Rose head back to the TARDIS, Rose supporting her friend after his emotional outburst on the way.
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