Doctor Who Review: ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ (Eighth Doctor Audio)
By James Aggas
The Eighth Doctor and Charley face death and horror during an Edwardian Christmas, in one of the Eighth Doctor’s greatest stories, ‘The Chimes of Midnight.’
Out of all of the many stories that Big Finish has done for Doctor Who, there are two which consistently stand out for a great number of fans. One is ‘Spare Parts,’ a Fifth Doctor and Nyssa story about the origins of the Cybermen. The other is ‘The Chimes of Midnight.’
Arriving at an Edwardian house during Christmas Eve, the Eighth Doctor and Charley quickly find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery. But even by murder’s standards, the Doctor knows that something is very, very wrong. The butler and his staff seem all too keen to welcome the new arrivals. In fact, they’ve even given the Doctor and Charley roles to play as detectives. As more deaths start to occur, the two begin to fear the chimes of midnight. Worse than that, the cause of it all may be extremely close to home…
‘The Chimes of Midnight’ is pretty much the equivalent of ‘Blink’ in terms of its popularity. The story features similar qualities to what made ‘Blink’ so popular. It has a nice mix of horror, mystery, and science-fiction. It also uses those elements to explore the characters, as well as rich themes such as the value of life and death.
Yet despite those similarities, it’s also, in many ways, a rather different story altogether. Unlike ‘Blink,’ there’s a strong sense of the grotesque in this story. However, mixed in with that is a great deal of dark humour, too. One of the best examples of a horrific, yet hilarious moment involves a rather large plum pudding – horrific in its nastiness, and hilarious in how extreme and unusual it really is.
‘The Chimes of Midnight’ vinyl cover (credit: Big Finish)
The characters also help add to the humour. The butler, the cook, the lady’s maid, the driver – they all start off as very peculiar people. Especially as they seem so ignorant of just how strange the events around them are. Their reaction to the first couple of murders are especially priceless. There’s such brilliantly written dialogue between them that helps to add a strange lightness to the tale.
As the story goes on, however, and as we get closer to the characters, the horror and darkness start to increase. The characters become more and more aware of the horror around them, and they feel closer to real people in a terrifying situation. When both the murderer and the cause of the whole situation is revealed, it’s a truly disturbing moment to listen to.
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Despite how strange and peculiar the story starts out as, there’s a real weight of acutely human drama. Robert Shearman doesn’t just give us the usual Doctor Who scares and thrills. He also presents us with very adult horror – depression, neglect, loneliness. Mixing these seamlessly into a classic Doctor Who science fiction horror shows just how brilliant a writer he is. It’s a shame that he’s written so few Doctor Who stories, even for audio.
There’s one more thing that I love about this story. It’s when the arc of the season – and of the Eighth Doctor and Charley – really kicks off. It truly starts to explore the consequences of a choice that the Doctor made all the way back in ‘Storm Warning.’ And those consequences will only continue to get much, much worse as the season goes on. In short, ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ is not only a brilliant Doctor Who story in its own right, but it could only really be told during this story arc, specifically.
Next: Doctor Who: Turkey During the Holiday Season