4 episodes. Approx. 118 minutes. Written by: John Dorney. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: David Richardson.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
THE PLOT
Group Captain Ian Gilmore (Simon Williams), head of the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group, is not happy. He is in the midst of an irritating makework assignment. John Rutherford, a new, independent Member of Parliament who was elected on an anti-nuclear platform, has requested his presence at the Defence Minister's press briefing on the Starfire Project - a new orbital missile program. Defence Minister Stephen Mulryne (Gerald Kyd) tries to keep the conversation on-topic, but the journalists are much less interested in the missile than in the sensational sex scandal in which he has recently become entangled.
Mulryne has barely managed to get the conversation back on-topic when a man who appeared to be a journalist pulls out a gun and shoots him. Gilmore pursues the shooter to the Underground. But before he can make an arrest, the assassin throws himself in front of an oncoming train.
The shooter is tied to an anti-nuclear extremist group known as "Disarmament Now." Gilmore enlists Allison Williams (Karen Gledhill) to infiltrate the group, even as Sir Toby informs him that Professor Rachel Jensen (Pamela Salem) has been sent to observe Starfire - and its benefactor, Sir Gideon Vale (Oliver Cotton). Gilmore sees one other avenue of investigation: John Rutherford, the man who arranged for him to be present in the first place. Sir Toby brings Gilmore to Rutherford's office and introducing him to the new MP, but it turns out Gilmore already knows the man by another title...
The Doctor!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: "I'm not tall; it's easy to keep my ear to the ground." Though he spends the first half very much on the sidelines, the Seventh Doctor is extremely well-used. No other incarnation is so well-suited to a slow infiltration into a position that will allow him to observe and act at the right moment. In this, his tactics are really quite similar to the villains': He has patiently worked his way into a position of influence, has carefully planted Ace into a position to gather information for him, and is avoiding the public eye as much as possible until the opportune moment.
The Doctor: "I'm not tall; it's easy to keep my ear to the ground." Though he spends the first half very much on the sidelines, the Seventh Doctor is extremely well-used. No other incarnation is so well-suited to a slow infiltration into a position that will allow him to observe and act at the right moment. In this, his tactics are really quite similar to the villains': He has patiently worked his way into a position of influence, has carefully planted Ace into a position to gather information for him, and is avoiding the public eye as much as possible until the opportune moment.
Ace: Goes undercover as a maid at the Vale estate - a position for which she is not terribly well-suited. Despite being the Doctor's companion, Ace spends the bulk of the story paired with Rachel Jensen, who recognizes her immediately but has the good sense to avoid showing it until the two are safely alone. Ace and Rachel actually make an enjoyable team, Rachel's careful and diplomatic nature an effective contrast to Ace's blunt and emotional one.
Counter-Measures Team: The Assassination Games doubles as a pilot for Big Finish's Counter-Measures series, reuniting the Doctor with the military team from Remembrance of the Daleks. It does a good job of this, giving all three characters key roles in the story. Pamela Salem is particularly good, effortlessly recreating her smart Cambridge professor, while Karen Gledhill's Allison gets a bit more to do than in her television outing (even if she ultimately draws the "damsel-in-distress" card). Group Captain Gilmore, however, comes across much worse than on television. At points, he's downright dimwitted, notably when he's so gobsmacked by the Doctor's masquerade as a member of Parliament that he can't even collect himself to continue with his interrogation for appearances' sake! Gilmore does improve in the story's second half, coming across much more strongly when he has a tangible enemy to attack - but based on this story, he's clearly the weak link of the three, and one hopes the Counter-Measures scripts will make him a bit sharper than he is here.
THOUGHTS
The "1963" trilogy was one of several Big Finish productions celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. The Assassination Games, the Seventh Doctor's entry in this trilogy, acts as a companion piece to Remembrance of the Daleks - the story that launched the series' 25th anniversary season. It's a Doctor Who story, it's an anniversary story, and it's a pilot/crossover with Big Finish's Counter-Measures series.
In writer John Dorney's reliable hands, it's also quite good.
The first half is largely a Counter-Measures story that guest stars the Doctor and Ace. Save for a couple of scenes, we observe the action through the eyes of Gilmore or Rachel. This gives us a chance to see how these characters carry a story without the Doctor (in Rachel's case: rather well; in Gilmore's, the jury's still out). The viewpoint adds an extra layer of intrigue to the early episodes. We're no more privy to the Doctor's plans than to the villains', and so spend the first two episodes piecing together what the Doctor has been doing all this time.
The opening scene lays out most of the major pieces of the story: Gilmore's post-Remembrance status and MP Rutherford's request for his presence at the Defence Minister's press briefing about the Starfire project; the Profumo-like sex scandal that has discredited Defence Minister Mulryne, and the man's stubborn insistence on clinging to his post instead of resigning; and finally his murder by an apparent anti-nuclear radical. These will all prove important to the story as it unfolds, and all these seeds are planted in the opening minutes. And the scene plays out naturally, showing no hint of the effort it must have taken to fit so many plot elements together.
The story is also quite clever, particularly when the villains' full plan and motivation is revealed. The villains are members of an Illuminati-like group known as "The Light" - and they have the potential to work as a new recurring villain for Big Finish's Doctor Who range. The details of how they work within a society are intriguing, as the members of "The Light" effectively act as sleeper agents (a good fit with the story's Cold War setting). Their backstory also makes clever use of the massive shifts in political power on Earth between the 19th and 20th centuries, showing them as formidable but not omnipotent.
The production is first-rate, with director Ken Bentley nicely evoking the atmosphere of Cold War political thrillers in his soundscape and in the story's pacing. It should be noted that this is an audio adventure with multiple action scenes, which are always a challenge on audio. The action includes: a pursuit. that ends in the London underground, a home invasion, two gun battles, and a motorcycle chase. All are easy to follow; all are written and directed so that they play out effortlessly, with no artificial descriptive dialogue; and many of the scenes are quite exciting.
The only significant complaint about the story is the writing of Gilmore, who too often feels far too thick-headed. My irritation with some of Gilmore's material is enough to dock the story one full point, leaving The Assassination Games with a still very strong:
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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