Doctor Who: This fanmade Christmas audio is a dark but important story to listen to
By James Aggas
While dark and dealing with very difficult themes, the Doctor Who fan audio Sorry is an amazing and beautiful story, one that’s well worth listening to.
We don’t have a Doctor Who Christmas special this year, at least not on television. But that hasn’t stopped actor and impressionist Chris Walker-Thomson, who’s given us something very special, indeed.
Sorry isn’t a story about alien invasions or evil tyrants. It deals with something far darker and closer to home: loneliness and depression. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t an easy listen, and deals with very difficult themes. In fact, the video itself has the following warning at the very start:
"WARNING: Contains scenes you may find distressing."
It’s an apt warning. Sorry is a story that tackles a serious issue in a very full-on way, as the Doctor talks to someone who’s about to make a terrible decision. But it’s also a story that handles that subject matter perfectly, treating it with the seriousness that it deserves.
Walker-Thomson also gives us a fantastic dual performance. Not just as James, Sorry‘s main character, but also as the Second Doctor. His impression of Patrick Troughton is very strong, and works well in the story.
There’s more that I need to discuss, but before I do, watch the story below, and enjoy.
When it’s set (and why it’s important)
Have you finished listening? That was quite something, wasn’t it?
Along with the subject matter, one key thing that impressed me with Sorry was when it took place. And I don’t mean Christmas Eve, either.
Initially, the story sounds like it’s taking place during season 6, as the Doctor asks James if he’s seen his two young friends. But then it’s revealed that the story actually takes place during season 6B.
For clarification, season 6B is the popular Doctor Who fan theory that, due to major continuity errors, particularly in The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors, the Second Doctor’s life didn’t end in The War Games, his last TV story.
While that story ended with his Doctor getting captured by the Time Lords and apparently sentenced to exile on Earth, the season 6B theory suggests something different.
The theory is that the Second Doctor traveled for some time, doing the Time Lords’ work and delaying his sentence. Eventually, at some point, the sentence was carried out in full and he was sent to Earth while forced to regenerate.
Why it works
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I’ve mentioned before that, personally speaking, I’m not a fan of the theory. Particularly since The War Games is one of the stronger regeneration stories of the Classic Series and an absolutely perfect finale for Troughton’s Doctor. Imagining anything after that almost seems to cheapen it.
But the way Sorry uses it is actually perfect. Walker-Thomson imagines a Second Doctor on his own, facing the end of his own life, at least for this specific incarnation. It allows him to emphathize with James on an even greater level.
The fact that it ends with Two finally meeting his fate, just so he could help one single man change a terrible decision, is just perfect. If anything could get me to change my mind about season 6B, it’s this story.
Overall, Sorry is a beautiful fan audio, and shows us exactly why the Doctor Who fandom is one of the most creative.
Next. The Unquiet Dead – how well suited is it for Christmas?. dark
Did you listen to Sorry? What did you make of it? Were you affected by the story at all? Let us know in the comments below.
