Doctor Who review: The Paternoster Gang: The Ghost Writers
By James Aggas
The Ghost Writers begins with The Paternoster Gang investigating a simple but very strange case – a case that would rapidly escalate in the first part of the Doctor Who spin-off’s series finale…
The second episode of Doctor Who spin-off box set The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 4 is certainly a very different episode to Merry Christmas, Mr. Jago. While it has a decent amount of humor spread throughout, it’s considerably less light-hearted – not to mention less stand-alone, as the finale of Heritage truly begins…
Writer Roy Gill opens The Ghost Writers just right – by playing it business as usual for the gang. It’s an approach that’s worked well for many Doctor Who finales, and it works equally well here. Madame Vastra finds herself completely swamped by cases, as random fairy tale monsters start popping up all over London. But what’s causing it?
A good portion of the story focuses on a very exclusive writer’s club. We’re introduced to many distinctive characters, and Roy Gill doesn’t shy away from some of the uglier attitudes of the period. One character, in particular, seems almost trapped by such attitudes – but is she quite as powerless as she appears to be?
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Establishing the finale
For a while, the story unfolds as a decent enough adventure for the Paternoster Gang. One that’s very strange – especially when Strax and Jenny encounter mermaids – but at the same time, it’s still the kind of case that they’re used to solving. But eventually, the real threat of the story is revealed – one that causes the situation to escalate rapidly.
It’s strange to think that the final two episodes of Heritage have been written by two different writers, with Roy Gill handling this episode while Matt Fitton works on the second. And yet, at the same time, you can tell that there’s been a close sense of collaboration between them to make their stories work.
The Ghost Writers certainly has a strong sense of its own identity, especially with the characters that it focuses on. But it also does a great job of setting up the final episode in several big ways – including a fantastic cliffhanger that the series has been building towards for a very long time…
Next. Remembrance of the Daleks is a rich and action-packed story. dark
What do you enjoy in a finale? Do you prefer it to begin with a bang, or should it gradually escalate and increase in scale? Let us know in the comments below.