Monday, December 5, 2016

The Ghosts of Gralstead by: Philip Hinchcliffe adapted by: Marc Platt directed by: Ken Bentley: The Crown Will Give Me Absolte Power

The Ghosts of Gralstead stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela with Carolyn Seymour as Mordrega.  It was written by Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Marc Platt, directed by Ken Bentley and released in September 2014 by Big Finish Productions in the Philip Hinchcliffe Presents: Volume One Box Set.

 

The era of Doctor Who with Philip Hinchcliffe as producer and Robert Holmes as script editor was famous for its themes of gothic style horror stories, making children terrified and parent groups lead by Mary Whitehouse want to get the show off the air because it will corrupt the youth.  Big Finish knowing that Hinchcliffe had some ideas for his time on the show that were never really able to get off the ground, and once they got Tom Baker back to play the Doctor, they decided to contact Hinchcliffe to put together a set based on two stories from that era that were never made.  The set opens with a tale set in Victorian London and to start off the range based off ideas of Philip Hinchcliffe, as a story is has almost a godly quality when giving out its story.  The first thing that really sticks out when you look at the story is its rather interesting structure.  Now the structure for six part stories are structured to have the plot go for four episodes on one plot, insert a twist and having the final two episodes go off in a different direction or vice versa.  The Ghosts of Gralstead is a story that is structured to have two twists roughly splitting up the story into three equal chunks which flow very nicely into one another and allowing for quite a few good character arcs to come from it.

 


The first two episodes are a celebration of old horror from the Victorian era, specifically the stories of Jack the Ripper, The Body Snatcher and Sweeney Todd.  There are body snatchers roaming the streets in a house where they cart the bodies off to Sir Edward Scrivener to perform medical research on.  A Doctor McDivett has set up shop with a freak show where he cures the freaks in question while a ghost haunts Gralstead House, getting angrier as it is ready to feast on human flesh.  The first episode itself is very much an introduction to the characters and the connections between them.  The plot that gets the most development is of the ghost as the Doctor and Leela end up helping the spirit along in becoming corporeal in nature and it wishes to feed on human flesh.  The ghost is actually Mordrega, an alien from the planet Alcion, looking for a corona to become all powerful.  She makes a deal with Sir Edward Scrivener to provide bodies in exchange for searching for the corona.  The gore and body horror evoked by these first two episodes are tremendous as you get a sense for the eating of human beings which makes your skin crawl up and down your arms.  The inhabitants of Gralstead House are also interesting but they get more development in the second section of the story.  Tom Baker and Louise Jameson show how much they’ve grown as performers together as they banter their way through the first few scenes as we see the freak show and the Doctor calls out McDivett for being a charlatan.

 


The middle two episodes follow an almost completely different plotline with the Doctor and Leela agreeing to get the corona from Africa.  They travel in the TARDIS with Cedric Scrivener, Edward’s brother, and his servant Abasi.  Abasi is the lost king of an African tribe with an arc involving his trial against the wicked king Obingo to recover the crown.  The catch is that he has to give the king the crown by the end of his trial.  This character arc, while nearly leaning on the standard redemption arc of the man lost formula, is bolstered by a lot of atmosphere.  The closest literary allusion I can see from these episodes is Heart of Darkness, but that’s a very vague allusion.  The real bolstering comes in the exploration of the corona and Leela.  The corona actually has the powers to raise the dead back to live which is wonderfully done, so much so that it allows the Doctor to die and come back.  It’s a series of episodes that sees Leela under the influence of Mordrega which is just a powerful series of scenes as things go on towards darkness.  The effect the corona has on other humans is also extremely interesting as it gives them the absolute power that they desire, but kills human beings in the process which ends in the redemption of Abasi who is restored to his rightful place as king of the tribe, but he has to say a heartbreaking goodbye to Leela whom he’s fallen in love with.

 


The conclusion is a haunted house story as it’s the Doctor and Leela versus Mordrega in about an hour of increasing tension to the highest it could possibly become.  Mordrega is played by Caroline Seymour who just has this hypnotic quality one minute followed by vile hatred the next minute.  She makes for a powerful villain and the final two episodes really give Tom Baker a chance to show off his over the top acting skills.  He has this habit when going over the top to overdo over the top, but director Ken Bentley keeps him in check while allowing him to still have his fun.

 

To summarize, this review is just of the simplicity and perfection of The Ghosts of Gralstead as Hinchcliffe and Platt give us this story of complex characters and plotlines.  My explanations of the plot would not do the production justice as it allows the nearly three hours of runtime be dripping with atmosphere and tension.  The acting is full of tension and perfect performances to bring the characters to life and make this ranges opener, one of the best openers.  100/100.

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