Doctor Who review: River Song is on trial for her life in Barrister to the Stars
By James Aggas
In the third episode of Doctor Who spin-off box set The Diary of River Song: Series 7, River finds herself accused of murder (which is understandable). Can barrister Rodger Hodgkiss clear her name?
The third episode of The Diary of River Song: Series Seven goes for something a little different compared to the last couple of stories. While River essentially played the role of investigator in the previous two episodes of her own Doctor Who spin-off, here, she has someone do a lot of the investigative work for her. More than that: she needs someone who can defend her in court, as she’s currently accused of murder.
Roger Hodgkiss, a barrister from the 20th Century, finds himself in that position. He also finds himself far away from home, on a space station in the 31st century. Unsurprisingly, he’s rather amazed by it all. But it’s not long before he throws himself into his work. Especially as his client is facing the death sentence if she’s found guilty…
This is a rather enjoyable episode. Definitely lighter than both Colony of Strangers and Abbey of Heretics, new writer James Kettle has a lot of fun with Barrister to the Stars. There are a lot of alien races and sci-fi concepts that appear in this story, but he makes the very smart decision of primarily focusing on both River and Hodgkiss.
River finds herself accused of murder (which is understandable). Can barrister Rodger Hodgkiss clear her name?
Image Courtesy Adrian Rogers/Big Finish Productions
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Rodger Hodgkiss
Hodgkiss is a fantastic character. He’s extremely old-fashioned in many ways, but after a while, he takes everything in his stride. Aliens, psychics, warlords – he gets used to all of it and more rather quickly.
It helps that he genuinely cares a great deal about his job and he’s extremely good at it. It would’ve been easy for him to be portrayed as someone rather ineffectual for comedy purposes, so it’s nice to see him be really great at what he does and allow the comedy to come from him dealing with the new environment.
His relationship with River is also great to listen to. A mutual feeling of respect develops between these two characters, and while they lead very different lives, they do get on rather well during the course of the episode.
It also has to be said that David Rintoul is perfectly cast in the role of Hodgkiss. He brings the character to life rather well, and helps to make him feel believable and real. Considering the fantastic environment the barrister finds himself in, Hodgkiss sees things in a very grounded way, and Rintoul portrays that nicely.
Overall, Barrister to the Stars is a rather light and fun episode in The Diary of River Song: Series 7, which is certainly no bad thing. Another extremely enjoyable adventure for River.
Next. When the Doctor previously met Ada Lovelace. dark
What kind of crime stories do you enjoy? Dark noir mysteries like Colony of Strangers? Or something light and fun like Barrister to the Stars? Let us know in the comments below.