My biggest fear for this
review is that it is going to be very repetitive because the audio adaptation
of The Romance of Crime, is much
closer in style to the adaptation for Love
and War in that it is a straight adaptation from book to audio drama. It doesn’t do anything to change to problems
of the plot (for a more in depth analysis on that look at my review of the
original novel) and the only real thing for me to analyze is the acting, the direction
and the music choices of this story.
This is the first story
since 1980s Warriors’ Gate to feature
the TARDIS team of the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K9 sharing an adventure
together. Just reuniting the cast is an
achievement as Tom Baker and Lalla Ward had a famously rough divorce. Luckily time can indeed heal as in their
recording sessions in 2014 shows that same romance seen in their time together
on television. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward
also are great at delivering the dialogue of this story as it is translated
directly from the pages of the novel. I
could honestly listen to them going all day and I almost did. Tom Baker has not lost his touch as the
Doctor as he knows exactly where to put the accents on his lines to keep it
hilarious. Lalla Ward is also great
especially comparing it to her performance in stories like Zagreus, Neverland, and The
Apocalypse Element being closer to the character seen in the novel Blood Harvest. Romana feels like Romana. John Leeson also plays K9 in this story and
he is doing a great job imitating David Brierly who has already passed away. This is helped by the vocal effects done by
Howard Carter who does a great job in making the effects seem real.
The supporting cast is
all perfectly casted in their roles with three actors standing out from the
rest. First is Miranda Raison as Margo
and Xais who is great as being the cold Margo and the evil Xais. Her tone is able to convey so much as she
goes from cold to scared to megalomaniacal all with the drop of a pin. She is better here than in her Doctor Who television
appearances in Series 3 as she is allowed to explore a great character. Second is the brilliantly casted Marcus
Garvey as Pyerpoint who is exactly what I heard in my head when reading this
character’s lines. Finally we have Stokes who in the novel was extremely
campy. For the audio Dorney’s adaptation
and Briggs’ direction turned it up to eleven with Michael Troughton playing the
artist. Troughton sounds almost flighty
as the character which is great n I honestly love it.
Speaking of the direction,
Nicholas Briggs is able to make the story feel more in tune with the era of the
story. This is helped by Howard Carter’s
score which really sounds like something Dudley Simpson would have put in if
this story was on television.
To summarize, The Romance of Crime is everything you
want in an adaptation. Really there isn’t
anything bad that wasn’t in the original novel, but some of its bad comedy can
be forgiven with the fact that the delivery helps it hit better. 85/100
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