Doctor Who review: The Eighth Doctor: The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller

After a long absence, Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith are reunited in The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller!

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller reunites the much-loved Doctor Who team of the Eighth Doctor and Lucie. How do these new stories compare with their original era?

For many Big Finish listeners, The Eighth Doctor Adventures with Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller were a very special time. The series aimed to capture some of the magic of the New Series with the last of the Classic Doctors, and it succeeded brilliantly.

But more importantly, the stories featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie were just great stories in their own right. (You only need to look at our list of their top ten best stories to see that.) Along with well-written scripts by an excellent team of writers, the chemistry between Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith was always fantastic, and the banter between their two characters was often hilarious to hear.

So when Big Finish announced The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller, many of us were excited. Set relatively early in their travels together, the box set featured four brand new stories featuring this much-loved pairing. Did the box set live up to expectations?

A darker take

When I first listened to this box set last month, there was something about it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Something that was different compared to their original era, or even the current eras of the Eighth Doctor that are being explored in the series Ravenous and Time War. It was only through discussing the story with another fan that I realized what it was – there’s a noticeably darker tone to the whole box set.

Oh don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say that I think the box set is bad, or that the stories don’t fit seamlessly into their original era. But compared to the stories of the first two series, there’s definitely a hint of something darker and more psychological to this box set as a whole.

The Dalek Trap

This is especially true of The Dalek Trap. Despite the title, and despite being written by Dalek veteran writer Nicholas Briggs, this is actually far from your typical Dalek story. Lucie is placed in a very strange and desperate situation (although having said that, definitely not as desperate as the one she had in Lucie Miller). The Doctor is essentially out of action for most of this story, and it’s up to Lucie to save the day.

This was a nice way of reintroducing the companion, and reminding us just why she was so brilliant in the first place. The way she takes charge and tries to work out what’s going on is great. Sheridan Smith returns to the role of Lucie beautifully, and it’s great to finally have her back.

Surprisingly, not all questions are answered by the end of The Dalek Trap. This is definitely a story that benefits from a re-listen, as things that are left mysterious by the end of this episode become much clearer in later stories.

The Revolution Game

Out of all the stories in this box set, The Revolution Game is definitely the lightest, and really captures that distinct early New Series feeling that the original Lucie Miller stories did so brilliantly.

This isn’t Alice Cavender’s first story featuring these two characters – she had previously written the Short Trip The Curse of the Fugue – but this is her first full-cast script. The script does a great job of telling a story that’s full of humor and has a light tone, but it also explores some interesting themes, too. Particularly the nature of revolution and how it can go too far, even when it has the very best of reasons. Not a bad little episode.

The final story in this bo set, Island of the Fendahl, is a direct sequel to Fourth Doctor classic Image of the Fendahl.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

The House on the Edge of Chaos

For the third episode, Eddie Robson gives us a distinctive Doctor Who spin on Upstairs, Downstairs with The House on the Edge of Chaos. This is something a little bit different from Robson. Usually, his stories have a distinctive mix of modern-day setting mixed with something extremely strange and alien.

House is a little bit different. Even with the strong influence of the Victorian class system that the titular house uses, it still feels more distinctly sci-fi than your usual Robson story. There are some really great ideas that this episode uses, giving us an Eight and Lucie story that’s a little more unusual. As a result, this is a strong episode that really stands out.

Island of the Fendahl

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The final episode, perhaps surprisingly, ties everything together. Island of the Fendahl, as well as acting as a sequel to Image of the Fendahl, resolves a key arc that this box set features. All of these episodes work well as standalone adventures, but it is nice to have a link throughout all of them. Particularly in the opening and closing episodes, which are the most closely linked.

As for the story itself, writer Alan Barnes does a great job of making Island of the Fendahl work rather nicely as a sequel to the original story, capturing a lot of the original’s darkness. Not to the extent that Night of the Fendahl did – which is one of the most openly horrific Torchwood stories ever made – but Island is still a rather dark and unsettling episode. In some ways, it’s very reminiscent of The Wicker Man, giving us a sense of daylight horror in an open yet cutoff setting.

Overall, this is a rather strong box set. The only thing that threw me off, at least initially, was the sense of something a little bit darker across these stories, at least compared to most other Eight and Lucie stories. But the explanation for that is a satisfying one, and the stories still manage to capture a lot of what made those earlier episodes so successful.

For fans looking for a bit of nostalgia, or simply want to discover just why Sheridan Smith was so greatly loved as Lucie, The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller is definitely a box set that’s worth checking out.

Are you a fan of the Eighth Doctor’s and Lucie’s stories? Have you checked out their latest adventures together? Do you think the Fendahl should return to Doctor Who in the TV series? Let us know in the comments below.