Doctor Who review: Bernice Summerfield: The Undying Truth is a claustrophobic story of fear and paranoia
By James Aggas
The second episode of Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: Volume 6 takes a while to get going, but pays off with some strong character exploration.
The Undying Truth – the second episode of Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: Volume 6 – is JA Prentice’s first script for Big Finish. In fact, the story had been the winning entry in a writing competition earlier this year. So, while he’s a new writer, expectations were rather high for his story.
The first thing that stands out about The Undying Truth is its characters. We’re introduced to several in this story, including Euphemia (Lois Chimimba) and Arn (Rosie Day). These are two very different people from equally different worlds, making them a rather unusual pairing. Arn is keen to see the universe and enjoy it, while Euphemia is simply someone aiming to do her job – and she’s not above exploiting others or even her discoveries to achieve her goals.
The first half of the story is mainly buildup. Along with introducing the guest characters and giving us a clear idea of who they are, we also find out from Benny exactly what the Undying is and what makes it so interesting. It’s a good setup, but it’s with the second half that things get interesting…
(L to R) Raj Ghatak, Rosie Day, David Warner, Lisa Bowerman, and Lois Chimimba star in The Undying Truth.
Image courtesy Big Finish Productions
More from Winter is Coming
- For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
- Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
- Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
- Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
- Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”
Claustrophobic atmosphere
It’s during the second half that we start to get a strong sense of claustrophobia and paranoia, as each of the characters starts hearing voices. There’s also a nice influence from some of the classic horror stories too, particularly with the mysterious ancient body that they pick up. However, it’s not a mummy or a monster that’s the threat in The Undying Truth, at least not in the usual sense. Rather, it’s the people themselves…
Using a very clever idea, JA Prentice explores some of the flaws and insecurities of each character during his story. Every one of them has their own fears or insecurities, including Bernice and the Doctor. As a result, we’re given a deep and fresh exploration of our two regulars. It highlights what makes Bernice and the Unbound Doctor such a great pairing – the fact that they are both so brilliant and yet so flawed in extremely rich ways.
While it takes a while to get going, The Undying Truth definitely pays off as a solid story. The biggest reasons why it works so well are its sense of atmosphere and its fleshed-out characters. This is a strong debut script that serves both Bernice and the Doctor well, and I hope we get more great stories from JA Prentice in the future.
Next. Displaced provides a claustrophobic focus on its three regulars. dark
Do you enjoy a good claustrophobic story? What character-focused episodes have stood out to you in the Doctor Who universe? Let us know in the comments below.