Doctor Who review: The Robots: Circuit Breaker is full-on noir
By James Aggas
In the second episode of Doctor Who spin-off box set The Robots: Volume 3, Toos and Poul begin a new investigation. But will they like what they find?
After being reintroduced in The Robots: Volume 2, Ander Poul (David Collings) and Lish Toos (Pamela Salem) return once more in the spin-off’s third volume with Circuit Breaker by Guy Adams. The last episode got to explore Poul’s skill as an Investigator, something that we only partially saw in his original appearance – the classic Doctor Who serial The Robots of Death.
Is Circuit Breaker another chance for Poul to show off those skills? Initially, that’s the story that Guy Adams seems to be telling: Toos and Poul find a heavily destroyed robot, Toos wants to investigate, but Poul has no interest in the case whatsoever. But, while initially, it seems like just another mystery for Poul to (reluctantly) solve, the case slowly becomes something more complex – and more horrifying…
Listening to this episode, it doesn’t take long to realize that it’s strongly influenced by the film noir genre. Not just by sci-fi takes on it such as Blade Runner, either. This is a detective story as much as it is a character piece – and it’s a rather dark character piece, at that.
Ander Poul (David Collings) struggles to solve a crime while living with robophobia.
Image courtesy Tony Whitmore, Big Finish Productions
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The darker side of Kaldor
One of the key themes of Circuit Breaker is robophobia. Introduced back in The Robots of Death, the deep fear of robots has been a key part of this world ever since. (In fact, Liv Chenka’s first appearance was directly named after it.) How Poul lives with it is naturally a key part of the story. But that’s not the only way that robophobia is explored.
On top of that, the episode is also keen to explore the darker, seedier sides of humanity. Nothing that quite pushes it into the same territory as Torchwood, but enough to leave the listener either horrified or repulsed. This really helps to add to the sense of pure noir style, and fans of the genre should enjoy this story a great deal.
Circuit Breaker can be a rather uncomfortable listen at times. But it’s also an extremely solid story and a highly intriguing look at a key Doctor Who character. The ending also leaves me very excited to see where the series will go next with Poul and Toos…
Next. The Robots: The Mystery of Sector 13 begins to tie the series together. dark
Are you a fan of the noir genre? What do you think are the best takes on it in the Doctor Who universe? Let us know in the comments below.