Doctor Who review: Relative Dimensions (Eighth Doctor audio)

To make up for his past mistakes, the Eighth Doctor decides to put together a family Christmas for Lucie. But how will Lucie react to meeting the Doctor’s family? Or even finding out that he has a family?

Doctor Who: Relative Dimensions is the second Christmas special in the fourth season of the Eighth Doctor Adventures. It’s a lot more cheerful than Death in Blackpool from the previous year. In fact, it’s one of the lighter and happier stories of the season, as the Doctor tries hard to have a perfect family Christmas.

“Family” being the key word here. While the gesture is partially a way for him to make up for Lucie’s previous, awful Christmas, he makes sure to invite Susan and Alex, too.

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(Not that he tells Lucie that’s who they are, of course. When she finally gets to meet them, Lucie’s reaction to Susan calling him “Grandfather” is brilliant to hear!)

It also feels very natural for Relative Dimensions to follow on from An Earthly Child. Like Death in Blackpool, it had been released a year previously. So it’s nice to catch up with Susan and Alex once again. Hearing the Doctor’s family side is still rare, so it’s always great when you do get to see that side to him.

The Doctor’s family side

And it is a very different side. While the Doctor has mellowed since the grumpy old man he was in the beginning, we see that the Doctor still makes reckless and bold decisions when it comes to his family.

He’s especially interested in the future of his great-grandson, even wanting him to join him on his travels. It would almost sound sweet. That is, if it weren’t for the strong sense that the Doctor is planning Alex’s future a little too much.

As for Alex himself, he’s clearly grown quite a bit since he first met his great-grandfather. It’s still something that he’s getting used to, of course. He isn’t sure what to call him at times, and finds him far too weird.

But at the same time, he’s a lot more accepting towards the idea of aliens. It’s great to hear just how much he’s grown, and how much he’s still learning.

It was also surprising to discover how well Alex and Lucie worked as a team. There are a few great scenes of them really bonding. Particularly since each of them finds the whole situation really weird, at first. Just as Alex is weirded out by the TARDIS and a great-grandfather who looks younger than his mum, Lucie is weirded out by the fact that she’s meeting the Doctor’s family.

The Eighth Doctor celebrates a nightmare family Christmas in Relative Dimensions.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions

A TARDIS Christmas dinner

Marc Platt had quite a tricky job when he had to write Relative Dimensions. Namely, the story of a family Christmas dinner on the TARDIS. It just doesn’t sound very Doctor Who at all. But he definitely did a great job with this one.

There is a timey-wimey plot involving a giant fish (hence the cover). But he wisely focuses the story on how someone like the Doctor would celebrate a family Christmas. That situation, of planning the “perfect little Christmas”, is always stressful. So naturally, there’s a lot of family drama and fighting along the way.

But on the whole, Relative Dimensions is a very sweet story, and probably one of the happiest moments for the Doctor in the whole season. And that’s just as well. Because this Christmas special also both sets up and foreshadows one of the darkest days the Doctor will ever face…

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Do you think the Doctor celebrating a Christmas dinner with his family should be explored on television? Have you listened to Relative Dimension? What did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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