Could not put this down. Robert Shearman took me on a nightmare journey with The Doctor and his lovely companion Evelyn. It is one of the darkest distopian rides of the Doctor's many lives. It is also not any easier for his brave and loyal companion. After a trip like this one could hardly fault her for wishing to be dropped off at home.
One hundred years before The Doctor had touched down and "helped" the population of that world and time to overcome a terrible genocidal conflict with The Daleks. Then, as usual, he had departed bfore the dust had even settled on that conflict. He trusts those he aided to sort out the remaining messes so that he may fly off in his magical blue box to most likely do the very same somewhere else. Generally there is no harm in such things, the worst having past. Or so we believe, without ever giving thought to how the survivors might put their world back together and what room there is for the old ways in these brave new times.
And what we get is...Jubilee.
As I said I could not put this down. Despite having heard the audio drama it is based on years ago. There are details in the book which never made it into the audio play. Unsettling aspects of that tale which flesh the version out in ways which are even more horrifying. The Dalek is in the details, so to speak. A whole society based around its conflicts and encounters with The Daleks is not going to produce a bed of roses. That is the second time in this review I have mentioned that particular flower, one more closely associated with romance than world wars aand atrocities. Itself not a bad word to be associated wuth Daleks. An Atrocity Of Daleks...
Robert Shearman used the idea of a sole Dalek imprisoned to great effect in his episode during Christopher Eccelson's run; Dalek. That plot thread alone survives in this even darker tale of what one Dalek is capable of doing as well as the terrible things its very presence inspires. The whole thing has a terribly English feel to it, not just the locations but the very dark sense of humour that is one of that nation's most enduring characteristics.
Jubilee sounds like a celebration of something and if it is it remains something probably best laid to rest. The Doctor's past actions, or in some aspects the lack of them, come back to haunt him in a way he does not deserve.
In truth, no one deserves the horrors waiting to unfold for him and Evelyn and the planet he saved.
