Doctor Who Review: ‘Scherzo’ (Audio)

The Eighth Doctor and Charley are alone in a new universe, as their third season continues.

Continuing directly from where ‘Zagreus’ left off, ‘Scherzo’ begins with the Doctor and Charley entering a new universe. With no friends, no time travel and even no TARDIS, all they have left is each other. But after everything they’ve been through, is even that too much for them to face?

I’m going to be honest and just come out with it – I adore ‘Scherzo’. It is absolutely one of my favourite audio stories. It’s not as easy to dip into as ‘The Chimes of Midnight’, Robert Shearman’s other Eighth Doctor story. It is however an undoubtedly brilliant piece of drama.

It’s also incredibly minimalist. With just Paul McGann and India Fisher, it’s perhaps the most minimalist story in the entirety of Doctor Who. At least, until ‘Heaven Sent’ came along.

There are some interesting parallels between the two stories. Both feature the Doctor trapped in a small environment. Both focus on them dealing with rather strong emotions.  They’re also keen on using the drama to explore the psychological consequences of recent, traumatic events.

Of course, one crucial difference is that unlike ‘Heaven Sent’, the Doctor isn’t entirely on his own. He still has his companion Charley with him. Ordinarily, the Doctor would be pretty happy to have her by his side. But in the previous two stories, they had both done and said a lot of things to each other. And, due to the choices they both made in ‘Zagreus’, there’s still a lot that they need to work through.

Make no mistake, this is a story that contains very little plot. While it still has some great science-fiction ideas, it’s the two main characters that are entirely the focus of the story. It would’ve been so easy for a story like this to be perceived as nothing but filler.

A lot of credit for why this story works so well must be given to the performances of McGann and Fisher. They work with a lot of really challenging material that’s given to them. Yet they always perform it so beautifully and really throw themselves into it. Listening to ‘Scherzo’ is not just listening to two people you love go through hell with each other. It’s also joining in and sharing that incredible rollercoaster of emotions with them. What more can you ask for from great, character focused drama?

I suppose the answer is of course a damn good script. It’s unsurprising that Robert Shearman gave us exactly that. Focusing on the dialogue in such a story, it becomes increasingly obvious that Shearman was completely confident in the abilities of McGann and Fisher to make it work. And I’m really grateful that he had that level of confidence to be able to write such a brilliant story.

It’s not just the drama that ‘Scherzo’ is remembered for, after all. It’s also the insane, horrific and occasionally messed up ideas that Shearman was keen to throw in. I won’t give too much away, but there’s some gloriously grotesque imagery in the story. There’s a reason that this story virtually has its own community on tumblr, after all. Imagery that mixes ideas like evolution and love and twists them completely. And don’t get me started on the fairy tale that McGann narrates before each part of the story!

Related Story: Review: ‘Zagreus’ (Audio)

It’s genuinely hard for me to rank the Eighth Doctor’s adventures. Even just on audio, there are far too many brilliant stories out there for me to pick a favourite. Of the original Eighth Doctor and Charley era though, ‘Scherzo’ would definitely be in my top 5, if not my all-time favourite.  Character-driven and incredibly minimalist, it’s not what Doctor Who should be all the time. But it is a story that’s very, very special.