PLOTLINE  

Tiermann's World: a planet covered in wintry woods and roamed by sabre-toothed tigers and other savage beasts. The Doctor is here to warn Professor Tiermann, his wife and their son that a terrible danger is on its way. The Tiermanns live in luxury, in a fantastic, futuristic, fully-automated Dreamhome, under an impenetrable force shield. But that won't protect them from the Voracious Craw.

A gigantic and extremely hungry alien creature is heading remorselessly towards their home. When it gets there everything will be devoured. Can they get away in time? With the force shield cracking up, and the Dreamhome itself deciding who should or should not leave, things are looking desperate...

COMMENT

Paul Magrs' SICK BUILDING captures both the peril and the child-like excitement of Russell T Davies' re-imagineering of DOCTOR WHO like no other previously released NEW SERIES novel.

There, that could be the review but it would "short change" you. Sometimes less is more, more or less.

With a threat so large and so devouring that not a single "whirring" of the iconic Sonic cannot defeat it - unlike in several of the NEW SERIES storylines - the Doctor (and, in this instance, Martha Jones) has to utilise his wit and experience of millennia to resolve the seemingly unstoppable.

And that is as refreshing as is the ".and the kitchen sink" performance - and it feels that at times it's a one-man show; "An Evening with." - of Will Thorp.

Following as less than stunning abridged reading of FOREVER AUTUMN, Thorp relishes the diverse characters that he has to conjure up from thin air. Though, like all the abridged readings, the actor could be supported by voice treatment & non-royalty (i.e. no fee paid) sound effects.

From the charmingly erratic Tenth Doctor, to a sinister & single-minded Professor Tiermann, to the "Repertory" household sentient servants (elements were drawn from Walt Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or from the influence of HITCHHIKERS creator Douglas Adams?) of Barbara (the Candy Dispensing machine) or to Walter (the Gin totting, bottle-slinging Drinks Cabinet) or to Toaster (the Sunbed machine) which is aurally manifested by Thorp as the love-child of Graham Norton & Sandy Toksvig.

Whilst the broad often burlesque performance may not to be everyone's taste - especially the DOCTOR WHO purists - one often forgets that the performance is due to what is written on the page. Having read the novel, BBC AUDIO's version of SICK BUILDING is, like RONSEAL, what it says on the tin. If you were to record the novel this is how it would sound. Genius.

As is the opening line:

"She was running through the wood as there was death in the air".

Like a former Royal Butler in a sting by THE SUN, I was hooked.

The plotline is very START TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION in many ways - without the "fantasy" aspect. If that makes sense - of an alien menace (the Voracious Craw - a vast space slug that simply exists to devour) threatening an entire planet's population (Tiermann's World: population 3) whilst there is an enemy within, battling with its own conscience & "prime directive".

SICK BUILDING is one of the more entertaining BBC AUDIO presentations due to the considerable voice talent of Will Thorp and the multi-layered adaptation of Paul Magrs' novel that forces out heroes to race from one seemingly inescapable situation to another.

I've said it once so it's worth saying again; genius.