Probably Not the One You Were Expecting #8: The English Way of Death by: Gareth Roberts adapted by: John Dorney directed by: Nicholas Briggs

The English Way of Death stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana with John Leeson as K9.  It was written by Gareth Roberts, adapted by John Dorney, directed by Nicholas Briggs and released in January 2015 by Big Finish Productions.

 

It is odd writing a novel in a four part story style as books usually have a three act structure, even if the four part serial is the standard for Doctor Who.  This was how the novel The English Way of Death was written which made it incredibly easy to adapt into a four part audio drama which John Dorney took up with relish.  Every scene of the adaptation released by Big Finish in 2015 was lifted straight from the novel with almost all the original book dialogue remaining intact on the transition to audio drama.  Dorney knows just how to write the story from Gareth Roberts’ original prose.  Nicholas Briggs however must share the credit as he was responsible for the direction of the story.  In casting and acting Briggs coaxes performances from the actors that just leap off the page of the original novel.  He also isn’t afraid from putting in images of decaying flesh either, although they aren’t as graphic as the novel, but the acting and direction makes the zombies really pop out.

 

The adaptation makes you appreciate the supporting characters more than in the novel.  If I was to describe the cast in a few words it would have to be delightfully British.  From Colonel Radlett’s very posh old man to Percy Closed and Felicia’s very down tempo performance, the cast just oozes a sense of Britishness that you really cannot find in any other Doctor Who release.  Harriet played by Jane Slavin in particular who gets to overact the part as oh so delightfully British.  The already humorous character in the novel is much funnier in the adaptation as the lines are actually spoken.  Julia Orlistro played by Annabel Mullion actually gets to be more humorous as she puts on a ridiculous accent to fit in with the nature of the story and spar words with Tom Baker and shoot at a strawberry mousse which splatters over him.  Mark Bonnar plays Professor Porteus who gives a great performance in the story as he obsesses over his hat.  Porteus is a nice bit part given some more personality in the adaptation of the novel.  Terrance Hardiman plays Zodaal and Stackhouse and makes the gaseous mist feel scarier than it did in the original prose.  The performance is a raspy voice, but nothing completely goes into over the top character territory as it so easily could have.

 

Tom Baker gives a brilliant performance as the Fourth Doctor.  It doesn’t sound like Baker has aged a day since Logopolis and it really shows as the script requires much vigor.  The Doctor has high energy throughout the story as he is the one going up against Zodaal which Baker can really excel at this time around.  He has the repartee with the rest of the cast, including Lalla Ward who feel like the character relationship seen in City of Death when they were in love and hadn’t a care in the world.  Needless to say Baker is great in the role.  Lalla Ward also returns to a younger Romana which is great for the part and her line delivery is what really sells a lot of the humor.  Ward acts very much like the cynic that Romana is which is great for the comedy as she plays the straight man for the absurdist comedy.  The elephant in the room is that John Leeson is playing K9 while the part was written for David Brierly who sadly passed away before any audio dramas could be printed.  John Leeson steps in as K9 but he is obviously paid attention to David Brierly’s unique performance as the Doctor’s robot dog.  Leeson’s delivery and the modulation is done in a way so that it emulates Brierly’s unique style.  The already pretty cocky and snarky dialogue from K9 is turned up to eleven here with Leeson letting a lot of the lines to drift off and make you follow the voice to transition between the scenes.

 

To summarize, the adaptation of The English Way of Death is a novel that does perfect at adapting the already perfect novel into somehow an even better audio drama.  The audio being in a performed medium works much better for the already great jokes and the performances really shine through John Dorney adapting the story with very little liberties taken with the novel.  The book dialogue integrated into the audio perfectly and all the actors really pulled off the complex performances required of them with the over the top nature being almost realized in a realistic way.  100/100