Doctor Who Review: ‘Neverland’ (Eighth Doctor Audio)
By James Aggas
The Eighth Doctor, Charley, and Romana face the most dangerous threat to history in ‘Neverland.’ (credit: Big Finish)
It’s the season finale, and it’s a big one. The Eighth Doctor, Charley, and Romana face one of the greatest threats to Gallifrey, the Time Lords, and the whole of history itself in ‘Neverland.’
Well, this is it. The major turning point for the Eighth Doctor and Charley. After two seasons and ten stories, the brilliant pairing face their biggest adventure yet, and by the end, things will never be the same again.
If that sounds dramatic it’s because ‘Neverland’ is a very dramatic story. It’s as much about the Eighth Doctor and Charley as it is about an epic threat. In fact, it’s about many things. It’s about the Time Lords, both their history and their present — which is rather fitting, because the story is also about resolving everything that had been built up to this. It’s also about Big Finish setting things up for the future.
With so much to cover, it’s no wonder that the story’s length is considerably longer than most. Unlike most Eighth Doctor main range stories, it’s split across two episodes instead of four. However, each of those episodes is seventy five minutes long rather than your usual half hour. It seems very fitting, somehow. Despite the fact that listeners get every audio serial in one go, the extended length per episode somehow helps to make this story feel extra special.
And ‘Neverland’ is a very special story. A big indication of this is the return of former companion Romana. Now President of the Time Lords, she’s put in a very difficult position when she’s forced to apprehend one of her closest friends because of his actions.
Lalla Ward is fantastic as ever as Romana, and ‘Neverland’ is another classic example of how Big Finish have helped to develop the character much further than in the TV series. Don’t get me wrong, though. In the TV series, she was one of my favourite companions. Here, however, we get to hear her in a much stronger role — and one that clashes with the Doctor’s complete lack of respect for anyone in authority, even while he aims to make an exception in Romana’s case.
As great as Romana is, it’s really Charley who’s the main focus of this story. It’s her death that she’s forced to finally confront — a death that was meant to be, but had been averted by the Doctor, all the way back in ‘Storm Warning.’
India Fisher is, from start to finish, absolutely amazing as Charley in ‘Neverland.’ It’s easily one of her very best performances, as she’s given such amazing material to work with. McGann is as brilliant as ever, but I think that it’s Fisher who really steals the show.
I’m going to make a point and say that, for the rest of this review, there are some major spoilers which I will be looking at. I usually aim to have my reviews as spoiler-free as possible, but ‘Neverland’ has so much that make an impact on Eight’s audios for a long time to come. More than that, it also sets up a lot of key arcs and themes seen in the New Series.
If you haven’t listened to the story and want to avoid spoilers, then I’ll just say this: ‘Neverland’ is a brilliantly dramatic and epic finale. Over ten years later, and it’s still one of my favourite finales of all time. It ranks up there with ‘The Parting of the Ways’ and ‘To The Death’ as one of the best finales of Doctor Who in any format.
On the next page, I’m going to go into further detail why that is…
Rassilon as he originally appeared in ‘The Five Doctors.’ (credit: BBC)
The first major spoiler I have to cover is the return of Rassilon, essentially the founder of Time Lord society. In the Classic Series, the character had only appeared in the twentieth anniversary story ‘The Five Doctors.’ However, Rassilon had been established as a legendary figure of Time Lord society since ‘The Deadly Assassin’ with Tom Baker.
‘Neverland’ features his return, as portrayed by Don Warrington. He’s a pretty major character in the story, too. (This is only revealed halfway through, hence the spoiler warning.) What’s especially interesting is how the season had built up to the reveal.
In ‘Seasons of Fear,’ we heard the Doctor talking to someone, telling them of one of his adventures. It’s only revealed in this story who he had been talking to, and why. ‘The Time of the Daleks’ also featured Don Warrington’s voice for the opening scene. Again, it wasn’t clear whom he was playing.
Rassilon’s reveal is handled really well in ‘Neverland.’ For it to have full impact, it probably helps to have had some knowledge of Time Lord mythology from the Classic Series. Still, who he is is explained rather nicely overall, for those new to the character.
His portrayal is also interesting. Rassilon is seen as ancient and wise in ‘Neverland.’ He also has a great deal of respect for the Doctor. He seems to be a helping and benevolent figure at this point.
Of course, that’s going to change. And not just because of the character’s more villainous appearances in ‘The End of Time’ and ‘Hell Bent.’ Soon, very soon, the Doctor and Rassilon will begin a confrontation that will last across several incarnations, and eventually lead the Doctor to finally say:
"Get off my planet."
But we’ll get to that later. Another key spoiler I wanted to discuss? Three words. Three words you never hear the Doctor say. Words that he never said to Rose Tyler, but did say to Charlotte Pollard.
"I love you."
For the Doctor to say those words to any companion is an incredibly daring move. If mishandled even slightly, it would’ve come across as horrendously out of character. Even Russell T Davies, who made the Ten and Rose romance as obvious as he could, couldn’t get Ten to actually say those words. (Or at least, not the real Ten.)
So how well is it handled in ‘Neverland’? Absolutely perfectly. Eight and Charley had a close bond since they first met. When he does admit how much he truly cares about her, he’s being forced to choose between killing his best friend, or allowing the whole of history to die. It’s a brilliantly dramatic scene that has McGann and Fisher at the top of their game. It’s one of my favourite all-time moments with the Eighth Doctor. One of two, in fact, that occur in this story.
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The other favourite moment? The cliffhanger. Or rather, the cliffhanger. The one that got everyone talking for the next eighteen months, in the agonizing wait for the fortieth anniversary story that would resolve it.
I won’t say much about it. It’s a cliffhanger that really needs to be heard in context. I will say that, after the Doctor does what he does best and makes a grand sacrifice, it’s a gesture that backfires — and in a big way. And when you hear Paul McGann declare the words, “I am not the Doctor!,” you know that things are worse for the Doctor and Charley than ever before.
The ending of ‘Neverland’ is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest cliffhangers that Doctor Who has ever given us. The New Series has provided many worthy contenders — some that might even beat it — particularly with the penultimate episodes of each series.
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