Reviews

 

It’s become his obsession. Through the hottest of deserts and the coldest of snows, the TARDIS crew have searched for the one remaining piece of the Doctor’s most important experiment. But now Barbara’s exhausted. Why hasn’t the Doctor learned his lesson? What’s so important that his scientific curiosity outweighs the safety of the crew once again? And will his latest arrogant trespass be the last he ever makes?

 

Paul Phipps brings us the latest Short Trips entry, which is a leisurely character piece, with Barbara Wright front and centre. We join the original TARDIS team quite early in their adventures. Barbara is starting to miss the normality of home. There is nothing in the TARDIS to indicate what time of day it is, or even what day of the week. The Doctor's new experiment is becoming something of an obsession to hi. He is looking for a plant, and seemingly finds it when him and Ian are captured by a local tribe on an alien planet. 

 

Carole Ann Ford narrates the story with passion, characterising the different characters very well. It actually made me feel rather sentimental for hearing more from this era of the Doctor Who, and with that sentimentality, rather sad also. Carole Ann Ford is seventy-eight years old now (something that I would never guess from her voice, which obviously sounds different from when she was on the show, but still quite youthful). These readings and dramatisations need to be cherished as only a handful of the original actors are still working.

 

A Small Semblance Of Home is about the simple comforts of home, and is a rather enjoyable little piece of story telling that would have fitted perfectly in the very first series of Doctor Who.

 

A Small Semblance Of Home is available here.