Meredith Burdett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
Trial of the Valeyard was a special freebie for Big Finish subscribers in 2013; now it’s readily available to buy as an individual purchase, the question is: should you add this to your ever growing Doctor Who collection?
The answer is simply, effortlessly and excitedly yes.
Taking place after the Doctor’s own farcical trial by the Time Lords in which an ill explained future version of himself, called the Valeyard, tries to take all of his remaining regenerations (six at the time) by acting as the council for the Prosecution, the Doctor finds himself back on the space station where the enquiry took place. This time, the tables have turned and the Doctor is forced to act as council for the defence for the Valeyard, placed on trial for a mysterious crime that may well reveal to the Doctor just how his evil counterpart came to be in the first place…
For many years, part of the problem with 1986’s The Trial of a Time Lord is that there were no answers to the questions asked. Just exactly what is the Valeyard, where did he come from, will he ever bother the Doctor again? These questions, amongst others, were cast aside and forgotten as Doctor Who moved on to a new era with the adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to have writers Alan Barnes and Mike Maddox have a good stab at answering some of the mysterious perplexities that have bothered many a Doctor Who fan for nearly thirty years.
In fact this is handled so well that, although there is closure in a sense to the Valeyard’ s genesis, the questions that are raised from said genesis are satisfyingly moreish. By the end of the story, the listener feels like a small weight has been lifted, an explanation the Doctor’s dark future days and what may be to come is interesting enough but the future beyond that that is hinted here is deliciously intriguing and deserves a follow up story as soon as possible. Cleverly, Barnes and Maddox have mirrored the mystery of the original source material here but used it to far greater effect. Whereas The Trial of a Time Lord was a somewhat messy affair with unanswered questions at the end, Trial of the Valeyard is a polished and concentrated story with unanswered, but still satisfying, questions.
Colin Baker, Lynda Bellingham and Michael Jayston thrive off one another throughout the tale: their performances never faltering once and the glee and relish in their voice as they recreate their three-handed performance from long ago is one to savour. The drama and tension never let up and however confined and cramped the setting here may be, these three create a world far beyond merely a courtroom and a swamp. It’s a terrible shame that Bellingham passed away as her character the Inquisitor has depths that have not yet been explored fully, as brought out here. However, as final performances in Doctor Who go, this is a strong one to finish on and will linger in the mind.
Trial of the Valeyard helps to fill the gaps, so to speak, in some Doctor Who history where said gaps are large and conspicuous. It almost goes as far as to help redeem The Trial of a Time Lord with the questions that it answers; once you have a fuller understanding to the Valeyard’ s drive and reasoning, you have an itch to watch the original television serial again with a greater understanding.
As a fan new to Doctor Who, you want to listen to this in order to understand part of the Doctor’s darker nature and possible future. For the older fans that have been seething over the last three decades due to unanswered questions and loose ends, this is an essential Big Finish purchase.
Trial of the Valeyard is available on CD or via download from Big Finish.
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