PLOTLINE (THE HEXFORD INVASION)
It’s been many months since the Doctor was in Hexford, and Mrs Wibbsey keenly feels his absence. As her grave suspicions about her new neighbour grow, she is in danger of becoming ostracised from village life. When Mike Yates turns up at Nest Cottage with a visitor in tow, Mrs Wibbsey’s life is turned even further upside down. Why has this strange new fellow appeared - and can he really be who Mike thinks he is?
With UNIT watching the skies, and a strange forest growing daily around the village perimeter, it comes as little surprise when an enormous spaceship slides into view and dominates the skyline. Who is watching Hexford, and what do they want? Never has Mrs Wibbsey needed the Doctor more. But can she cope with two...?
Performed by Tom Baker and cast.
COMMENT
SPOILERS.
With the Doctor on a nine-month sojourn to who-knows-where, Mrs Wibbsey attempts, unsuccessfully it seems, to settle back into live at Nest Cottage at the very heart of sleepy Hexford. Not only is the Doctor’s disappearance a concern but also the growing number of ‘bee hives’ installed in her neighbour’s adjoining garden; have the Hornets returned to plague her? (See HORNET’S NEST audio series).
Is DOCTOR WHO – SERPENTS CREST: THE HEXFORD INVASION is the beginning of the end for the Fourth Doctor’s adventures with AUDIOGO, and could the five-part series with this third episode redeem itself from the previous mediocre instalments?
I’ll out you out of your misery and answer with a resounding, yes.
A blessed relief, as I was beginning to think that this third ‘series” from Paul Magrs had become, unlike the iconic capacious scarf, threadbare and stretched beyond enjoyment.
However, THE HEXFORD INVASION is pure joy, and in no part the result of Susan Jameson’s stoical narration and pragmatic performance as the endearing Mrs. Wibbsey, a down-trodden, maladjusted housekeeper out-of-time (but always with a kettle on the Aga).
With the Fourth Doctor only materialising amid the chaos that over-shadow Hexford half-way through the episode (track 10), it is Wibbsey that leads the charge against an alien invasion - not really a spoiler being it’s in the episode’s title - and placating her obstreperous neighbours Deirdre and Tish (acted with pantomime revelry & inconsequence – did this episode have a director? – Nerys Hughes and Joanna Tope). Seemingly, Jameson relishes every line, though a number of the narration lines could have trimmed to tighten the dramatic flow. A minor point.
In the absence of the Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates (once again, played confidently - and it seems more relaxed & less forced than ever - by Richard Franklin), now re-seconded to UNIT holds the fort, well, cottage, together with the aid of ‘The Visitor’ played by David Troughton.
If it was not for a spoiler on the front cover of DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE, David Troughton’s appearance as “Doctor Two” would have been a thrilling revelation. “Doctor Two”? Surely, that is the Second Doctor just by any other name? There lies the intrigue in this episode; is it or isn’t it?
Troughton’s performance as his Father’s character (with an added proviso that it may not be) is garrulously charming, my dear, with dialogue that is bejewelled with “Second Doctor” mannerism though missing the iconic “Oh, my giddy aunt”.
In this review, I don’t want to reveal too much of the involvement of this character but, what I can say for certain, is that he doesn’t disappoint and he will return as quick as you could say, “Crumbs!”
Overall, DOCTOR WHO – SERPENTS CREST: THE HEXFORD INVASION is as thrilling as finding a Satsuma in your stocking on Christmas morning and the knowledge that beneath it lies a gold-foil coated coin fashioned from Cadbury’s chocolate all to be devoured before the main event.
The main event? The final episode, DOCTOR WHO – SERPENTS CREST: SURVIVORS IN SPACE.
