Doctor Who review: Sympathy for the Devil gives us a very different take on several major characters
By James Aggas
Sympathy for the Devil, the first Doctor Who story to feature David Warner as the Doctor, explores a world very different to the one we know…
The second story in Doctor Who Unbound, Sympathy for the Devil by Jonathan Clements asks an intriguing question. Like the rest of the stories in the Unbound series, it was a “What If…?” question. In this case, the question was:
"What if… the Doctor had not been UNIT’s scientific advisor?"
It’s a very clever idea that Clements explores in this audio. In some ways, the Doctor explored in this story is one that we’re very familiar with. Arriving on Earth directly after The War Games, he’s still getting used to both his new incarnation and his new sentence of exile.
But something has gone horribly wrong. While he was supposed to arrive on Earth during a time when it was being attacked on a regular basis by alien invasions, he’s instead arrived in 1997 – far, far too late. During his absence, UNIT had to cope on their own. And Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart isn’t happy about that…
Sympathy for the Devil introduced David Warner’s Doctor. How well did it establish his unique incarnation?
(Photo credit and obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
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Beginning a beautiful friendship
What’s particularly fascinating about this story is getting to hear the Doctor’s and the Brigadier’s friendship begin anew. Yes, they still have shared history thanks to the Second Doctor helping out during the events of The Web of Fear and The Invasion. But on television, their friendship really developed during the Third Doctor’s era. So we’re given a fresh take on that friendship.
Unsurprisingly, the Brigadier isn’t happy. The choices he’s had to make during his time at UNIT have left him in disgrace. As a result, he’s become rather bitter over the years. He’s still a gentleman, but he has no time for the organization he once lead, and he’s not entirely sure if he should trust this strange man who claims to be someone completely different that he knew decades ago.
What also stands out in this story is “the devil” in the title. Mark Gatiss gets to play a new take on a major character. One that pays a lot of tribute to previous actors, while still making it his own. The scenes between him and Warner really are fantastic to listen to, and give us a good glimpse of what makes each character tick.
Doctor Who Unbound was an extremely uneven series – there seemed to be as many stories loved as there were loathed – but Sympathy for the Devil has always been one of the more popular entries from it. It’s not hard to see why. The “what if?” explored is interesting; the new takes on classic characters are all intriguing and fantastic, and the story itself is a strong one. A great listen that’s well worth checking out, and it’s not hard to see why Big Finish wanted to explored this Doctor and his universe further.
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Have you listened to Sympathy for the Devil? What did you think of it? Do you think it was a strong introduction to Warner’s Doctor? Let us know in the comments below.