Review: Horror of Glam Rock

It's a horrible night in 1974. Up-and-coming Irish pop duo The Tomorrow Twins have secured an appearance on Top of the Pops, and are stopping at a motorway service station with their manager. The Doctor and Lucie have arrived by accident, and are on their way to the service station themselves, when they discover a mauled dead body nearby. Is it a coincidence that Tommy Tomorrow claims his musical inspiration comes from an alien race? And why does Patricia Ryder seem so familiar to Lucie?

If you were given a list of the story synopses (or even just the titles) for this season, it wouldn't be hard to guess which is a Paul Magrs script. Horror of Glam Rock is an original and unusual adventure in his typical bizarre style. A grotty cafe visited by glam rockers isn't a setting that automatically lends itself to a Doctor Who story, for example, but somehow Magrs makes it work.

Lucie continues to endear herself to the audience as a fantastic companion, but her relationship with the Doctor doesn't seem right in this story. In the opening two-parter, she was still making sarcastic jokes in response to most of what the Doctor said, and their interactions were caustic and acerbic. Here, it seems they've known each other for ages, getting along swimmingly and expressing how much they enjoy one another's company, despite the fact that Lucie isn't there out of choice. Both characters are written well, and Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith put in good performances, but it feels like we've missed out on a handful of adventures since we heard them last. Based on the Doctor/Companion dynamic alone, Glam Rock would sit a lot more comfortably later on in this series.

I was also disappointed that there was no follow-up on the consequences of Lucie meeting - and identifying herself to - her aunt. On the whole, the fifty-minute limit for the story was too short, and I was disappointed it was over so quickly - partly because this story is so good, and partly because I felt things like this needed to be addressed and were ignored.

There's a lot of comedy in the play, as listeners familiar with Magrs will probably expect, and this is highly enjoyable. Arnold (the splendid Bernard Cribbins) and Flo (a charming Una Stubbs) get a fair share of good jokes, but a lot of the best lines go to the two lead characters, with McGann appearing to relish the injection of some humour into his role.

Some nice period-sounding musical stings and generally good sound design reinforce the era nicely, and Glam Rock is one of those stories that really transports you to another time and place. Before listening, I did have worries about the inclusion of a song - Children of Tomorrow, sung by Clare Buckfield and Stephen Gately, the actors behind the Tomorrow Twins - as I'm used to such things being poorly-executed and uncomfortable, but it worked incredibly well. Slightly limp lyrics were brought to life by Tim Sutton's excellent music and Buckfield/Gately's strong vocals: the moments I had dreaded became some of the highlights of the play.

The extras on this release consist of some quite boring interviews - Gately reveals that he once bought some Doctor Who DVDs for his partner, Buckfield discusses putting on an Irish accent, the listener falls asleep - but are rounded off with a glam rock reinvention of the Doctor Who theme music, which is absolutely priceless. More variation in the content of these bonus features would be welcomed.

Horror of Glam Rock is a good story which is great fun to listen to, but it feels slightly rushed and has some shaky character moments.