Time Apart is a Doctor Who audio anthology from Big Finish Productions and stars Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. There are four little vignettes that comprise this collection which is directed by Jamie Anderson.
Ghost Station is the first story written by Steve Lyons and takes place in East Berlin around the events of the Second World War. Timothy Blore plays a soldier on patrol who has strange visitors of all sorts, including a young man in a cricketer’s outfit. This is a somewhat spooky story, but nothing much stood out, which is a little disappointing since Steve Lyons usually has some intriguing ideas when he contributes to Doctor Who.
The Bridge Master is the second one on deck and is written by Jacqueline Rayner. The Doctor arrives in a medieval village where his shadow is sacrificed. The Doctor usually dismisses such troubles until he finds himself not feeling all that energetic. Once again, it isn’t a terrible installment, but there is not much here that I found terrible unique.
What Lurks Down Under is written by Tommy Donbavand and has the Doctor aboard a prison ship transporting English convicts to Australia. There is a strange affliction aboard the ship and something menacing beneath the depths of the Indian Ocean. This one was rather good. Unfortunately, the author died of cancer not long after he submitted this piece. Anyway, this one was probably the better story in this particular collection.
Finally, it is Kate Thorman who wraps things up with The Dancing Plague, a rather strange occurrence in 16th century France, before it would be known as France. This was apparently some kind of mass hysteria event in 1518. Anyway, the Doctor finds himself in the middle of this rather strange phenomenon and may actually be the cause. It’s an interesting story but I didn’t know enough about this period in world history for it to really resonate.
This collection deals with the Fifth Doctor traveling on his own after he left Nyssa, Tegan, and former Roman slave, Marc on some other planet after a traumatic encounter with the Cybermen. Davison does well enough in his performance. Although the stories in this collection are competently written, nothing really kept my undivided attention. Anyway, it’s an interesting notion to have this particular Doctor on his own since that did not happen at all onscreen. Davison is a fine actor, but he really does not sound anywhere as young as his particular Doctor appeared. Saying that, I am glad he is still participating in the Big Finish releases and hope he has plenty of performances to go.
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