Short Trips - Rulebook (Big Finish)

Producer & Script Editor: Ian Atkins

Executive Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery & Nicholas Briggs

Written By: Tony Jones

Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

Cast: Nicola Bryant (Narrator)

After helping save Beadledom 3, and it’s inhabitants the Ellani from an invasion by the Valtor, a cybernetic race, the Doctor and Peri find themselves on Beadledom 3 caught up in a mind boggling loop of continuous red tape, forms to complete, rules, then more rules and cheerfully mindless local authorities to contend with. The Ellani are a race whose society is totally dependent on the rules, they literally have rules for everything. Our two heroes are separated from the TARDIS, and as the story progresses, it looks less and less likely that they will be reunited….

We have all had jobs, or found ourselves in situations where we have been stuck in some awfully pathetic and petty internal issue where one department is quoting one rule at you and another doing the same, and there you are, feeling very frustrated and caught in the middle, exasperated, and not knowing which way to turn. That is the basis of Rulebook. You feel for the Doctor and Peri, especially when the rules are manipulated in the Ellani’s favour when it suits them in order to settle a local dispute.

Toby Jones brilliantly paints a picture of a society that knows nothing of spontaneity. The listener can really relate to the Doctor and Peri’s plight, and share their frustration. Of course, scratch the surface, and the story is a satire on our own world today, somewhere where risk has been removed, and if something goes wrong – well it is always someone else’s fault – the rules say so.

Nicola Bryantis a true joy to listen to, you can really feel the frustration in her voice when she is voicing the straight talking American Peri. Counter this with the monotonously calm and cheerful Ellani, and the contrast is perfect. I also thought that it was great to hear a new adventure with this Doctor and companion pairing. Although Big Finish have done the Fifth Doctor and Peri proud, I still feel the pairing as being a tad underused on television. When I think of the character of Peri, I always put her in the TARDIS with Colin Bakers doctor. I loved a chance to hark back to an era on television that seemed wrongly abrupt.

Rulebook is an easy listen, from a brilliant new writer, the story is available now from Big Finish.