Review: Immortal Beloved

It looks like a crisis has been averted when the arrival of the TARDIS interrupts a pair of young lovers about to throw themselves off a cliff, but thanks to a perverse quirk of the society in which the Doctor and Lucie find themselves, saving their lives may not keep them from harm, because there are those who will sacrifice others for the prize of immortality.

Immortal Beloved, by Jonathan Clements, tries to make up for a lack of plot with a lot of ethics. Whilst the central moral and philosophical themes of the play are involving, and the writing and performances are likely to provoke a strong emotional reaction from the listener, there really isn't much substance here - the ideas presented are definitely interesting, but you'd struggle to get your teeth into them.

In other areas, though, this story is a complete success: the relationship between Lucie and the Doctor, for example, is back to the style of amusing bickering we were treated to in the season opener, miles away from the inconsistent familiarity of the previous play. Paul McGann shows his versatility once again, tackling the corrupted inhabitants of the planet with emotion and passion, and Sheridan Smith is fantastic as usual.

Guest stars Elspet Gray and Ian McNeice are superb, with Jennifer Higham also performing well. The supporting casts for these adventures have been phenomenally good thus far, with some considered and enjoyable performances. It's notable here that Paul McGann's son Jake plays the cameo part of Ganymede, and does so very well; it would be nice to see him return for a more meatier role in the future, as he's clearly got a lot of potential.

And so we come to the CD extras, which are increasingly starting to look like a wasted opportunity. Finding out what happens behind the scenes of these CDs is fascinating, and something that a lot of listeners will be interested in, but the only insight we've been getting so far is "My agent phoned me and I took the part", "I do love watching Doctor Who, yes", and "Oooh, I'd love to be a baddie!" from enthusiastic actors and actresses. The interviews, whilst a nice idea, are repetitive and uninteresting by this stage - perhaps the writers and producers could be interviewed, or a broader variety of questions could be asked of the cast, rather than these formulaic snippets. Only Paul McGann's pride over his son's role, and the sheer joy the participants seem to be taking in their roles, are of any particular interest.

Extras (and the niggling fact that this story appears to contradict Blood of the Daleks regarding mind transfers) aside, the basic ideas in Immortal Beloved are really fantastic and have been executed well; but the plot really isn't enough to sustain a fifty-minute audio drama. Decent stuff, but not reaching the same heights as earlier stories.