Doctor Who review: The Bad Penny (Fourth Doctor audio)
By James Aggas
The Doctor and Leela investigate some very timey-wimey things happening at a hotel, in the Fourth Doctor Adventure, The Bad Penny!
Out of all the stories in this year’s season of Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures, The Bad Penny is definitely the one that will benefit the most from a second listen.
There are a couple of reasons for this. One, the story is very timey-wimey. In fact, this is something that the story virtually makes very clear from the start.
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When the Fourth Doctor and Leela are drawn off course due to time turbulence, the Doctor just has to investigate. For some reason, a seemingly ordinary hotel is the cause of it.
That’s when a lot of little time phenomena starts to happen. Guests from across the hotel’s history are bumping into each other. Meetings are happening in the wrong order. Staff members are even seeing visions of their own deaths.
As a result, all of this gets very confusing very quickly. Especially when the story also gives us a number of little twists and turns along the way.
This is another key reason why a second listen helps. Little things that surprised you the first time show carefully set up hints and foreshadowing during the second listen.
Photo credit: Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.
Dan Starkey
A lot of respect has to be given to Dan Starkey for writing this. Perhaps known best to Doctor Who fans for playing the Sontarans, particularly Strax, he’s also been writing for Big Finish over the past couple of years.
This is a rather confident script too, especially as it would’ve been one of his earlier ones. (Most of this season of the Fourth Doctor Adventures was recorded back in 2015.) Attempting not just a time travel story, but also one that’s very complex, is a challenging task for any writer.
Thankfully, he seems to have handled it rather well. It helps that the story is filled with a number of distinct and colorful characters. As fun as the timey-wimeyness of the script is, the number of strange hotel guests and even stranger staff help to add a fun and intriguing layer to the story.
The character of Ron Tulip is particularly interesting. A hotelier who’s already given up on his hotel, he meets someone who wants to change his life. And, more importantly, the whole of history.
For those wanting a puzzle box of a story, while still fitting the Fourth Doctor’s era really well, The Bad Penny is a great listen. Another impressive entry in a very strong season this year.
Next: Review: Jago & Litefoot Forever (audio)
Do you have any favorite timey-wimey stories? Have you listened to any of Dan Starkey’s stories and enjoyed them? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.