The Fourth Doctor Adventures #402 - The Darkness of Glass

Written by Justin Richards
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson
with Sinead Keenan, Rory Keenan, Mark Lewis Jones and Julian Wadham
Released February 2015

The second in Big Finish’s new series of Fourth Doctor Adventures sees the Doctor and Leela arriving in Edwardian times on a gloomy coastline, shin-deep in rising tide. They soon stop at an old house straight out of a Hammer film, where a crowd has gathered, as an eminent Magic Lanternist is preparing to put on a show in tribute to the late Mainwaring Caversham, greatest Lanternist of them all.

It goes without saying that the guest list starts to shrink the moment the TARDIS crew get into the dry. Something has got in. Something in the shadows.

The Fourth Doctor and Leela have had a fair few adventures on audio now, and have visited Victorian and Edwardian Earth a lot more than they ever did on TV. This period suits them well, and writer Justin Richards does well to do something different than the usual Fogbound Ripper-at-Large Victoriana that the modern series keeps coming back to.

The Darkness of Glass drips with atmosphere through well-thought-out sound design - little echoes and movements have significance here, the 'demon' that moves through the absence of light is a need idea, and is all the creepier as it's not really explained.

The excellent supporting cast of Julian Wadham, Mark Lewis Jones, and siblings Sinead and Rory Keenan all impress, with Sinead Keenan giving a particularly strong performance. This is shaping up into a strong run for Leela, who gets to show off her hunting skills and intuition as everyone else wonders where the creature will strike next. The Doctor, meanwhile, is in his element, relishing his eerie surroundings and almost wistfully recalling visiting Fang Rock.

The only criticism of this story I can think of is that it's maybe a little short, but it's memorably creepy, and might make you think twice about the strange shadows that lamps can cast.