The Witch Hunters (Audio Book)

Read + Performed By David Collings   
Written By Steve Lyons  
BBC Digital Audio/  Audio CD

·  Published 7th January 2016
·DURATION:  480 Minutes Approximately

Salem Village, Massachusetts, the late 17th century. The Doctor's two companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright persuade the white haired old man to keep the TARDIS on Earth, as opposed to the ship making a trip to the Vortex so as to save them waiting. This is due to the lack of trust in the 'Fast Return Switch' which almost consigned the quartet of heroes to an undignified and fiery demise.

Hence, in order to pass the time, Ian, Barbara and Susan decide to experience history once more, as they did in Mexico, France and China. Initial assumptions are made by the time travellers that they are present in 1691, and so a comfortable year away from the Witch Hunts which demonstrated rampant paranoia in the fledgling colonial societies of the 'New World'.

Despite her affection for her former school teachers, Susan quickly looks for new friends and finds them in the form of Abigail Williams and several others. However, she makes the mistake of joining in a 'séance', and this supposed game takes a turn for the worst when Abigail foresees terrible events and has a fit. This panic spreads to the other four girls; one of which is Susan. And from then on, one dangerous event follows another as both the TARDIS crew and various Salem citizens become associated with Satan and the arch crime of witchcraft. Even those previously considered good and 'godly', like John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth, face their good names and safety in dire jeopardy.,

The Doctor however is able to remain relatively safe and try to build a strategy to save his friends and granddaughter. He also is able to establish that the initial assumption was wrong. Because some people were behind with switching their calendars, it is in fact 1692 after all. The Doctor has already warned Barbara before of the dangers of interfering with history, and now it seems it is own kin who must  learn in the most difficult of fashions.
 

I must acknowledge just how much of a gem this book is, and how easy it was to read from cover to cover, when I first acquired it back in Spring of 1998. Offering a reasonably simple plot, but choosing to tell it in a non-linear fashion, Steve Lyons was also able to get a fine balance between edgy atmosphere and philosophical discussion. That this story was republished in 'The History Collection' some considerable time later to help remind modern Doctor Who fans of the show's rich archive of novels was thus no surprise.

And now we have a fully-fledged audio book to enjoy as well. David Collings was never less than watchable in classic Doctor Who when co-starring with Tom Baker and Peter Davison respectively. He also had a distinctive and evocative voice, and could elevate his dialogue effortlessly, regardless of the quality of the story. As such then, I was very happy to learn he would be the narrator (and performer) of this unabridged version of the Lyons tale. The best voices for the regular heroes are predictably enough Ian and the First Doctor, with the latter suiting Collings' natural intonations very well. This is not to take away from very authentic work for Barbara, and especially Susan - who as previously described is vital to the plot and themes of the story.

I approve of this 'missing' adventure building on the stronger material Susan was granted in her TV appearances - which did admittedly happen intermittently and thus prompt Carole Ann Ford to leave somewhat earlier than her other co-stars Russell and Hill . Also noteworthy is the attempt to give more context for Susan being a sufficiently wise and adult figure by the time of the climax of the second Dalek TV story.

One of Susan's best TV yarns was (the sadly missing) Marco Polo, in which she bonded with a girl of the 13th century. Despite the two having a gulf of experience dividing them, they were able to forge a meaningful short-term friendship, perhaps aided by their appearing to be of a similar age to anyone who knew nothing of Gallifrey and the wider cosmos. But, on that occasion Susan did not end paying a price for trying to act like 'another human being'. By contrast here, Lyons explores Susan's need to be someone other than an outsider, and being so determined that she very nearly throws the entire fate of herself and her 'travelling family' into jeopardy. Another Season 1 call-back involves the Susan's latent telepathy - a power of hers which was introduced in The Sensorites - and how it can have potential pit-falls when combined with a society dominated by religion and a set way of thinking.

As for her savvy grandfather, this is an especially fine showing. The Doctor is frequently able to gauge just how much he can use his rhetorical gravitas, but also when to be more subtle too. William Hartnell would have made fine use of the many dialogue highlights that feature here. There is also a decision made by the Doctor near the story's end that reminds us of his alien set of values, but also prevents the story from feeling unrealistic or having an easy solution.

If one were to try and imagine this story actually being made in black and white in the 1960s, it would not be too great a leap of imagination. Obviously a lot would need to be truncated, and the interlude featuring a visit by TARDIS to the production of The Crucible in the mid-20th century would also be outside time and budget resources. But the core of the story, with all the drama that it commands, explores 'then and now' ethics just as well as John Lucarotti's two scripts had done in the maiden season of the Doctor Who saga. 

The production of this audio release is respectable, but given the substantial length perhaps a little more frequent use of music, and also variety in that music, would not be out of place. Yet taken as a listening experience, and most likely over the course of a week, the story is relatively easy to follow. True, the plot does jump around a bit chronologically, but the CD/ audio track format makes bookmarking and re-listening a mere formality. If you have not yet read the novel - and I do recommend finding it either as an eBook or in print form - then you can do far worse than acquire this terrific audio book.