Probably Not the One You Were Expecting #5: The Romance of Crime by: Gareth Roberts adapted by: John Dorney directed by: Nicholas Briggs

The Romance of Crime stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana with John Leeson as K9.  It was written by Gareth Roberts, adapted for audio by John Dorney, directed by Nicholas Briggs and released in January 2015 by Big Finish Productions individually or in the Limited Edition Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations Volume 1: The Romance of Crime/The English Way of Death.

 

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