‘THE CIRCUS OF DOOM’
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Trouble at a Circus in 1832 with the Fourth Doctor
These ‘Doctor Who’ audios would be very good as full-cast audio dramas by Big Finish. 😐
I know I keep harping on this aspect of the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ audio series and ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ in general, but quite often, the BBC audios featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor from 2009 to 2011 aren’t very exciting and dynamic as I would like them to be as I go through them.
‘The Circus of Doom’ is the third audio adventure in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ audio series. Despite the story stating it stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Mike only appears in the story’s recap and in the very last scene where the Doctor tells him of his adventure. 😦
Maybe it’s for the best that Sarah Jane, Leela and the Brigadier weren’t chosen for these BBC audio adventures featuring Tom Baker’s Doctor. Not that I would wish Mike Yates to be in the position he’s in for these audios, but it’s astounding he has little to do compared to when he was in the TV series.
Writer Paul Magrs and Tom Baker in ‘The Circus of Doom’.
I appreciate Paul Magrs is unravelling things as we go through each audio episode to build up to the finale, but wouldn’t it have been better for Mike to be joining the Fourth Doctor in these ‘Hornets’ Nest’ adventures instead of having Tom Baker’s Doctor relating what occurred in the past to Mike? 😦
Like I said, things do get unravelled more in terms of why the alien hornets are attacking Earth and how they seem to know the Doctor rather well. It’s implied that the Doctor might be responsible for what happened when the hornets first came to Earth. It echoes a sort-of ‘Face of Evil’ situation here.
In ‘The Circus of Doom’, the Doctor shares his adventure of visiting Blandford in June 1832 and when the circus came to town. The Doctor investigates, as something is terribly wrong. Soon, he finds the circus is being controlled by the alien hornets, with the sinister ringmaster being possessed by them.
The Doctor meets people like Sally as well as Dr. Adam Farrow who get caught up in the events of this story involving the Circus of Delights – or ‘the Circus of Doom’ as the Doctor calls it. The Doctor encounters troubles when he comes up against deadly circus animals as well as malicious clowns. 😮
What lets this story down for me is that the opportunity to turn ‘The Circus of Doom’ into a full-on full-cast audio episode wasn’t taken, especially with there being more cast members to enjoy compared to the previous two instalments of ‘Hornets’ Nest’. Again, it’s mostly narration by Tom. 😐
Not that I object to Tom narrating these adventures as the Fourth Doctor, but quite often the narration slows down the story’s action. There are actors like Susie Riddell, Michael Maloney, Jilly Bond and Stephen Thorne in this, and there isn’t enough character interaction when listening to this story. 😦
Also, when Tom narrates things that happen in the episode involving wild animals and clowns, we don’t get to hear the sound effects of some of those animals and clowns. A Big Finish audio would take advantage of incorporating a lot of sounds and music in a production compared to a BBC audio.
I also don’t feel that Tom Baker is giving his all when narrating these audio adventures at times. When he tells people to “Stop!” during a circus performance, it doesn’t sound like he’s shouting at the top of his voice to say “STOP!!!” It sounds like he’s being restrained in performing for BBC audio.
Again, I know there are fans of these audio stories featuring Tom Baker’s Doctor. Maybe I’m being too harsh here, but it’s intriguing to compare the BBC audios to the Big Finish audios, and I find that I’m enjoying the Big Finish audios more and more, especially with Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. 🙂
Jilly Bond and Tom Baker in ‘The Circus of Doom’.
There’s also a sense of there being too many descriptions given as Tom narrates the story. Again, these are like ‘Companion Chronicles’ or ‘Doctor Chronicles’ more than full-cast audio dramas, and it’s often a challenge to take in a lot of details in an audiobook reading compared to a full-cast audio.
Going back to the cast members, Tom Baker encounters Susie Riddell as Sally, who works at a sweet shop run by her domineering father in Blandford. She does become a victim in this story, especially when she seemed very wary of the circus beforehand, and her father forbade her going to the circus.
Sally doesn’t even get to be a one-off companion with the Fourth Doctor in this audio story. We also don’t meet her father in this. ‘The Circus of Doom’ is Susie Riddell’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’. She would later appear in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Lure of the Nomad’ with Colin Baker.
Michael Maloney in ‘The Circus of Doom’.
Michael Maloney guest stars as Dr. Adam Farrow in the episode. I’ve come across Michael Maloney before, as he’s been in a ‘Monarch of the Glen’ episode as well as the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series on Channel 5. He’s also had a fair share of ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories over the years.
He’s been in ‘Zygon Hunt’ with Tom Baker, ‘Kiss of Death’ with Peter Davison, the ‘Destiny of the Doctor’ audio story ‘Enemy Aliens’, and he read the Eleventh Doctor adventure ‘The Silent Stars Go By’. In a sense, Adam Farrow becomes the one-off companion of the Fourth Doctor in this episode. 🙂
Adam Farrow is looking for his sister Francesca, who happens to be played by Jilly Bond. Francesca is the woman who wore the ballet shoes that later appeared in ‘The Dead Shoes’. Her feet became mummified in those shoes. She also happens to be a bearded lady that can walk on the high wire. 😮
I couldn’t help think of a similar bearded lady that appeared in the 2017 film ‘The Greatest Showman’, which I saw at the cinema in 2018. Francesca seems to have been willingly taken over the alien hornets, as the Doctor and Adam struggle to break the hold that the hornets have over her.
Stephen Thorne guest stars as Antonio, the circus ringmaster, who also seems to be controlled by the alien hornets as well as Francesca. Stephen Thorne has had many ‘Doctor Who’ roles in his career, like Azal in ‘The Dæmons’, Omega in ‘The Three Doctors’ and Eldrad in ‘The Hand of Fear’. 😀
He’s also been in ‘The Ghosts of N-Space’, ‘Eldrad Must Die!’ and ‘The Guardians of Prophecy’. I’ve also enjoyed him as Treebeard in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC radio series. It was amusing to find Stephen Thorne playing a dwarf-like character in Antonio compared to the giant he played in Azal. 🙂
The story also features Susan Jameson playing an old lady looking for her sister Caroline at the circus. Usually, Susan Jameson plays Mrs. Wibbsey in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’/‘Nest Cottage Chronicles’ series. I did wonder if this was Mrs. Wibbsey in disguise and it was going to be revealed as a surprise.
It didn’t turn out that way, as the old lady, who I don’t think has a name in this episode, is shocked to find her sister performing on a dancing horse at the circus. The old lady doesn’t have a huge part to play in the episode and I wonder if Susan Jameson was contracted to appear in this story regardless.
There are echoes of ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’ when listening to this audio episode. Paul Magrs could have easily revealed that the hornets and the Gods of Ragnarok were in chaoots with each other. 😀 Apparently, the Fifth Doctor would later encounter a sinister circus in the story ‘Freakshow’.
It was disturbing when the Doctor had his head forced inside a big tiger’s mouth during a stunt performance at the circus. I suppose things like that happened in the old days where a man put his head in a lion or a tiger’s mouth, but I don’t think it would be allowed in a circus that’s around today.
Apparently, according to the Doctor, he always imagined running away with the circus when he was a boy, but Gallifrey didn’t get many visiting circuses. I wonder if this is a connection to ‘Black Orchid’ where the Doctor wanted to drive a train as a boy. The Doctor’s past seems intriguing, doesn’t it? 😀
The story concludes on a sad note, as Francesca ends up killing herself at the command of the alien hornets. The Doctor emphasises to Mike Yates when he tells his story to him that the stories he’s sharing about his encounters with the alien hornets do seem to be getting darker as they go along. 😐
But as the night draws on and it’s soon to be morning at Nest Cottage in December 2010, the Fourth Doctor has one more story to share with Mike that might have a ‘sting’ in it. It involves a bleak winter where presumably the Doctor encounters the hornets properly and we learn how they visited Earth.
‘The Circus of Doom’ has been interesting to listen to in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series, but I still wish these BBC audios were full-cast dramas as opposed to multi-voice audio readings by Tom Baker and other actors joining him. This is especially as the cast is bigger compared to the first two episodes. 😦
I can’t deny things are getting interesting concerning the alien hornets and why they seem to be such a threat and how they’re connected to the Doctor’s first meeting with them. I’m intrigued as to what the truth is when we get to learn what occurred when the Doctor first met the alien hornets. 🙂
I just wish I could enjoy these audio stories more as full-cast productions with people talking to each other rather than just having mostly narration by Tom Baker, which slows the story down. Sometimes, it’s a challenge to keep awake, as you’re having to take every plot detail into account. 😐
‘The Circus of Doom’ rating – 7/10
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