The Return of the Doctor highlights Mandip Gill’s terrific performance as Yaz spirals into distrust and resentment
On the face of it, The Return of the Doctor is a hopelessly generic title. There must be dozens of Doctor Who episodes from that feature the Time Lord coming back to somewhere they’ve been before. Yet cases like this Return of the Doctor have actually been few and far between. Perhaps its closest cousin is 1966’s The Ark. There too, the TARDIS travellers have to confront the unintended long term consequences of their intervention.
We actually start with what would normally be the climax of an episode. The Doctor facing down an alien invasion of the planet Zaaria with witty put-downs, a device she’s cobbled together, and a steely warning that if the invaders fire, they did what happens next to themselves. Naturally, the plan goes a little bit terribly wrong; there’s some running; there’s some screaming. But it all comes together in the end, and the Doctor and Yaz sweep back into the TARDIS: next stop, everywhere.
Except… Yaz isn’t so sure. She’s not terribly happy they left their young local friend Talpa recovering in hospital and demands they slip forward a few weeks to check he makes a full recovery. Except one twist of the helmic regulator instead leaves them a decade into the future. There they find the Zaarians torn apart by civil strife. It’s mirrored by a tense friction between our two heroes over what’s happened.
The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures bounce effortlessly from zany comedy last time to raw character drama in Return of the Doctor, promising to be one of Big Finish’s most excitingly unpredictable ranges
This central conflict never quite convinces. To a great extent this is because there’s no real thread connecting the Doctor’s past actions to the violent aftermath. All the Zaarians agree on only one thing: it’s all the Time Lord’s fault, yet they’re very vague on exactly how. Yaz shares their resentment, and is quite savage in her criticism. But blaming the Doctor for not continually checking in on every planet she’s ever saved is pretty weak. Though the plot ultimately resolves these sort of questions, one side being so clearly more reasonable than the other means Blogtor never really became invested in their argument.
It does however present Mandip Gill with an opportunity to shine. If Vampire Weekend gave Jodie Whittaker free reign to bounce through your headphones at her goofy best, The Return of the Doctor plays the real human drama. The crowded TARDIS of the Thirteenth Doctor era on television meant Yaz was too often sidelined. In contrast, their Big Finish adventures are so far placing the Doctor and Yaz’ relationship front and centre. Gill portrays the young woman’s anger and frustration with a fiery intensity. She almost single handedly grounds the story’s more outlandish elements in real emotional weight.
New writer Roy Thomas-Howes packs all this emotional conflict into a rather standard slice of Big Finish plotting. All the same, it demonstrates the impressive range of this new strand of audio plays as they ping pong from frantic comedy to deeply personal character drama without missing a beat. With Whittaker and Gill showing themselves masters of their craft, it seems the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures really could go anywhere.
Doctor Who: The Return of the Doctor
Having saved the peaceful Zaarians from an evil alien threat, the Doctor and Yaz sail off to their next adventure. Only this time, Yaz wonders if they’re moving on, or running away.
Convincing a grudging Doctor to return to the planet, they are shocked to find the Zaarians in turmoil. What did the Doctor do? Why is the city in ruins? And what’s that voice in Yaz’s head…?
Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Return of the Doctor is now available to purchase for just £9.99 (as a digital download to own) or £11.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD),  exclusively here. Please note: the collector’s edition CD is strictly limited to 1,500 copies and will not be repressed.Â
