Year of the Pig by: Matthew Sweet directed by: Gary Russell: You Did Good Pig

Year of the Pig stars Colin Baker as the Doctor with Maureen O’Brien as Miss Alice Bultitude, Michael Keating as Inspecter Charladot and Nicola Bryant as Peri.  It was written by Matthew Sweet, directed by Gary Russell and released in December 2006 by Big Finish Productions.

 

The BBC has always been known to do period drama extremely well especially when set in Victorian or Edwardian times and Year of the Pig, while never intended for television, actually plays to this fact as it takes place in Ostend in 1913 on the eve of World War I and takes inspiration from the freak shows and carnival oddities of the period, more specifically the famous Toby the Sapient Pig.  This was of course just a pig that had some Pavlovian experimentation done to make it react to stimulus, but the fame came from the fact that its owner wrote an ‘autobiography’ for the pig.  Really the plot of the story is obvious, Toby the Sapient Pig is an actual Sapient Pig and is being chased down by the villainous Inspector Charladot into Ostend while the Doctor and Peri are awestruck that there could be a Sapient Pig.  The plot is nothing that special and is the main weakness of the story or lack thereof.  There really isn’t much plot going on but Sweet makes up for this with the brilliant characters.

 

Toby the Sapient Pig played by Paul Brooke steals the show as he plays the part convincingly as an actual pig.  He loves sweets and survives on the things that really aren’t good for him.  He also doesn’t have the morality of a human being and threatens to eat Peri when he thinks she’s a threat.  The performance gives off this sort of dark comedy that really fits with the foreboding setting of the tense period before the outbreak of World War I.  The reveals about what Toby actually is also makes a lot of sense as really what else could he have been.  The story also boasts the return of Maureen O’Brien as Miss Alice Bultitude who is a complete fangirl.  Now Vicki is probably the fourth best Hartnell companion mainly due to O’Brien and here it shows through as she has this voice that has this sense of delight in the story.  It’s really a great performance that makes the setting come alive as she is your typical aristocrat from the early 20^th century.  There is also Toby’s nurse Albertine played by Adjoa Andoh which represents the working class in this story.  She doesn’t care that her client is a pig as it gives her a chance to live her life decently.  She also is a nurse and will help the sick even if it is a villain as that is her first duty in life, to help those in need of it.  The only shame is that Andoh wasn’t credited on the cover of the story as she is as integral as O’Brien and Keating.

 

Speaking of Michael Keating, he returns to Big Finish to play another villain, this time Inspector Charladot who really doesn’t come across as a villain.  He’s more of an antagonist and Keating plays the part as a gentleman.  He is introduced as drowning and the Doctor saves him and the Inspector is extremely grateful for the assistance.  He has only kindness for Peri, Nurse Albertine and even Toby, but still wants to control his “experiment” until the very end where the real twist about Toby and the Inspector is revealed.  I won’t ruin it, but if you’re clever you may be able to guess it as there are several hints scattered throughout the story.  That said Sweet keeps his supporting cast miniscule which allows him to devote a lot to their characters.  This works in a story like this where the characters are at the forefront.  The Doctor and Peri are also rather interesting here as the story takes place following the events of Timelash so we’re still in the portion of their relationship where they are antagonistic and this story works as the bridge to make them friends.  They still will fight, but now they just enjoy each other’s company and are ready to travel on together.  Baker and Bryant are both really good at doing these characters and are having an extremely good time working together again.

 

To summarize, Year of the Pig is really a diamond in the rough of a story as the thing on the outside really didn’t have a lot going for it.  It takes place at a turbulent time for the show and has an absurd Season 24 like premise, but manages to be something close to a classic.  The characters and setting are both extremely well developed even if the plot leaves quite a lot to be desired.  92/100