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Doctor Who Review: ‘The Black Hole’ (Audio)

By James Aggas

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The Doctor’s past (and future) is catching up with him, as he faces a choice of whether to save thousands of lives, or flee for the safety of himself and his friends…

The Second Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria arrive on a research station orbiting near a black hole. Thousands of lives are aboard, and all of them in danger, unless the Doctor does something. But there’s a problem – the black hole isn’t a natural phenomenon, and the Doctor knows of only one race that could artificially create one: his own people, the Time Lords…

I can’t lie – ‘The Black Hole‘ is a Doctor Who story that’s going to be very, very difficult to review, because it’s absolutely bursting with so many twists and turns, and the less you know going in, the better. I will say one thing that the story is about: the Doctor meets another Time Lord, and at this point in the show’s history, that is a major problem for the Doctor.

I must admit, I was rather looking forward to this release. I’m usually a fan of Time Lord stories when done right, but the setting of this story makes the appearance of even one Time Lord very, very significant.

Because, at this point in the Doctor’s life, he’s still on the run. And when the Time Lords do catch up with him in ‘The War Games,’ they are not happy. Having even one of them show up before that point, especially the equivalent of a policeman, gives us a chance to explore a rarely seen side to the Second Doctor. In this case: fear.

We’ve seen the Doctor afraid many times, but we’ve rarely seen him wanting to run away, and that’s exactly what he’s prepared to do when he realizes that a Time Lord is near. It’s a really great nod to how desperate the Doctor becomes at the end of ‘The War Games,’ particularly when he finds it difficult to choose between taking the risk of finally getting caught, or leaving thousands of innocent people to die. It’s that kind of great storytelling and drama that Big Finish succeed at doing so well, and allows us to see the Classic Series in a whole new way.

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That’s all I will say about the plot – like I said, the less you know, the better – but Rufus Hound is great as the Time Lord he plays. After recently appearing on the TV series as the highwayman Sam Swift in the episode ‘The Woman Who Lived,’ he gets a more serious role in this story.

In ‘The Black Hole,’ he’s a Time Lord who wants to do his job and doesn’t think too highly of the Doctor, although he still gets his moments of humour along the way. I must say, this role stuck out for me a lot more than the role of Sam Swift did, and you can tell Rufus Hound had a lot of fun playing this particular character. I hope he comes back to Big Finish soon.

I also need to comment on how everything about the story was so evocative of the era in which it takes place. Listening to it, you can actually see the old black-and-white footage, the low budget sets with tons of extras in silly “futuristic” suits, and even the black hole is the kind of special effect that makes you think, “Well, I suppose it was the best they could’ve done at the time.”

I’m certainly not complaining, as I’m a big fan of Troughton’s era on television, and I really appreciated how not just the script, but the sound effects and music really helped to create a strong sixties atmosphere.

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‘The Black Hole’ is another entry that proves that Doctor Who: The Early Adventures is one of the best ranges that Big Finish have given us yet. I had high hopes for this one, and it didn’t just match my expectations – it exceeded them. Another must listen, especially for fans of Troughton’s era.

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