Upstairs (Big Finish)

It’s gratifying in the concluding months of Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary year to have Big Finish confirm that the show’s origins are still of prime importance to their audio range. The Companion Chronicles range offers a natural means through which the studio can resurrect the adventures of the First Doctor despite William Hartnell’s passing almost four decades prior to this year. Upstairs is a subtler, less bombastic piece than The Light at the End, Fanfare for the Common Men and other recent celebratory releases, a distinction which works to its favour for the most part.

Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves take on narrating duties here, the former inhabiting the roles of both Vicki and Hartnell’s Time Lord and the latter both Steven and the play’s central antagonist. While Purves’ portrayals are unique and engaging, undoubtedly O’Brien takes centre stage, her renditions of her own character and the First Doctor synchronising effortlessly with their original 1960s adventures. As has always been a key strength of the Chronicles range, Upstairs wouldn’t feel at all out of place if it were placed within one of the programme’s earlier seasons.

At the same time, though, this tonal accuracy extends to the audio drama’s markedly unambitious narrative. Writer Mat Coward’s premise of a trip for the TARDIS crew to 10 Downing Street is intriguing at first, begging the question as to whether some form of interaction will be struck between the Doctor and a British Prime Minister other than Winston Churchill. That’s not to be, however, the storyline which Coward crafts more intent on exploring the history of the building and the institution themselves rather than the lives of the men who have walked its corridors over the years. To say that this seems a missed opportunity is a severe understatement, and one which left this particular reviewer underwhelmed upon reflection of what might have been had the storyline fitted in with a different era to the Hartnell years.

The play may falter in the audacity of its narrative execution, then, but it compensates to dazzling effect with its haunting sense of atmosphere. From the moment the Doctor, Stephen and Vicki step from the TARDIS into an abandoned cellar, the tangible transformation the listener undergoes from a passive, detached observer to an immersed, engaged player in the play’s events is astonishing. Lisa Bowerman’s direction leaves nought to be desired, the subdued yet somehow vivid soundtrack a particular highlight in terms of the so-called ‘aesthetic’ elements of the piece. If fans are yearning for a Doctor Who audio drama to provide the same level of atmospheric immersion that City of Death and Human Nature once lent to their respective settings, then Bowerman comes notably closer in this regard than her competitors have in quite some time.

Neither an outright gem nor a futile endeavour from the minds of Big Finish, Upstairs is instead just an above-average entry in the Companion Chronicles range which is elevated substantially by O’Brien’s performance and Bowerman’s direction. Hardened fans of the Hartnell years of the show will find an additional outing which fits seamlessly into the First Doctor’s travels, yet most of those veterans would likely admit that the era in question was often inconsistent at best, and similarly this is an inconsistent audio drama with its fair share of perks and shortcomings alike. You’ll find titles aplenty released this year which are superior to this one, although keep in mind that it betters a considerable number of its predecessors atmospherically and in its strong lead performers. Not a flawless trip to Number 10, then, and yet it’s not a venture without its merits. If Upstairs is but a foundation for future Companion Chronicles post-2013, then things can only go up from here, a doubly thrilling concept in itself.