Saturday, June 4, 2016

Catch-1782 by: Alison Lawson directed by: Gary Russell: A Ghost Appears in the Snowy Winter

Catch-1782 stars Colin Baker as the Doctor with Bonnie Langford as Mel.  It was written by Alison Lawson, directed by Gary Russell and released in April 2005 by Big Finish Productions.

 

I’m a sucker for the pure historical when it is done well and Alison Lawson’s Catch-1782 does it especially well.  The story is another of Big Finish’s powerhouse stories for the character of Mel Bush who much like the early portions of The Juggernauts becomes the main character in the story.  The plot sees the Doctor take her to 2003 to see her uncle as the institute he works for is burying a time capsule and of course as this is Doctor Who a stitch in time occurs and Mel is sent back to 1781.  The house is owned by Henry Hallem who keeps Mel under his care as he has fallen in love with her and she can’t do anything to stop it from happening as her mind has been addled from the trip.  The story becomes about the Doctor trying to steal her away from Hallem, but she is caught in a catch-22 as Mel is mistaken for Eleanor the ghost who is haunting the house in 2003 and is in the records of dying in the early 1800s.  The plot however becomes extremely weak in Part Four as everything is resolved in an extremely quick manner and this story really could have used a fifth or sixth part to fill it out better.  Literally everything is solved with a plot McGuffin which doesn’t make sense as Lawson shows she is a competent writer with the first three parts but just is unable to stick the ending.

 

The acting from everyone on the cast is actually really good with Keith Drinkel as Henry Hallem sticking out as the pseudo-villain.  Yes Hallem is a man in grief for his deceased wife Jane and it really comes through in his actions concerning Mel as he cannot stand to leave her out in the cold December evenings of 1781 and keeps her for six months while everyone he knows says he has to put her in an asylum.  In the latter half it is his infatuation that grows from caring for Mel blinds him to the fact that she doesn’t love him and wants to force her into marriage.  The character development is done extremely well as you can see him begin to fall into the pits of madness early on in the story.  I also must mention Michael Chance as Dr. Wallace who is Hallem’s best friend and the one telling him to send Mel to the asylum.  He comes off as a genuinely kind soul even if the asylum thing is harsh as he is at his wit’s end to what he can do to try and help Mel.  There is also the housekeeper Mrs. McGregor played by Jillie Meers who could have been part of a love triangle between Mel and Hallem as she has an unrequited love for the man, but Lawson is smart enough not to go down that path and keeps her in the shadows until the end.  Her final scenes are genuinely tearjerkers as the love remains unrequited.

 

Moving on we have the three main characters of the cast.  I really shouldn’t have to say much about Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor as Baker always gives a good performance.  This one is no exception to that rule as the Doctor really does care for Mel and wants her back along with the fact that he may just have to leave her to keep the Web of Time intact.  It’s an interesting moral dilemma and Baker pulls it off in a great way.  Next up we have Mel played by Bonnie Langford who has some of her best scenes in this story as even though her mind is addled her personality shines through.  She is always thinking about when the Doctor is going to come and save her from her prison which really is what keeps her going.  She also really doesn’t want to break Hallem’s heart.  Also her relationship with her uncle is great as she doesn’t put up with the complete mess of a home he keeps, but she still cares for him and doesn’t want him to worry about what she is doing.  Speaking of her uncle Derek Benfield is also great as John is the companion for when Mel disappears.  He is a man who lets his work run his mind in the trope of the absent minded professor which he does very well.

 

To summarize, Catch-1782 is a great story in almost every right but the final part leaves a lot to be desired.  I believe of course that the ending of a story is the most important part and when the ending suffers the entire story suffers as a result.  This is the main reason that I have to decrease the score down to 78/100.

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