The Doomsday Contract is a Doctor Who audio play and is the latest episode from the range known as The Lost Stories. It was first conceived by John Lloyd and has been adapted for Big Finish Productions by Nev Fountain. Tom Baker returns as the Doctor and is accompanied by Lalla Ward as Romana and John Leeson as K9. Nicholas Briggs serves as director and as one of the guest cast which also includes Christopher Naylor, Julian Wadham, Paul Panting, Richard Laing, Jeany Spark, and Spencer Banks.
The Doctor is subpoenaed to testify as to whether or not Earth has intelligent life. Of course, the Doctor is both pleased to offer his expert knowledge and wary of the bureaucracy of such proceedings. The matter gets a bit more complicated when the Doctor is the target of an assassination and most be secured in another universe for his safety. There he meets the Lost Jury and face other challenges.
So this particular episode is presented in a style similar to what the late Douglas Adams would write. It has a bit more slapstick humor than usual. Tom Baker appears to be enjoying himself immensely. The villains are pixie-like killers who are quite persistent in their rather affectionate and lethal in their methods of elimination.
This story works pretty well and represents the era pretty well. Nev Fountain is a talented writer and does well bringing life to Lloyd’s original idea. As expected, the sound effects are quite good. Although the actors are likely recording in isolation, the post-productions work make that hard to tell. The humor works well, and Tom Baker’s performance is quite good.
I did not know anything about this particular episode before its announced release, but I am glad I did not overlook it.
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