The BF Time Warp 029: The Chimes of Midnight

[SiHart]

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...

But something must be stirring. Something hidden in the shadows. Something which kills the servants of an old Edwardian mansion in the most brutal and macabre manner possible. Exactly on the chiming of the hour, every hour, as the grandfather clock ticks on towards midnight.

Trapped and afraid, the Doctor and Charley are forced to play detective to murders with no motive, where even the victims don't stay dead. Time is running out.

And time itself might well be the killer...

What are your thoughts on this audio adventure by Rob Shearman?

[stuartdg]

a mixture of Upstairs Downstairs and Sapphire And Steel,it has mystery,suspense and drama,one of the best of the range

[Rob McCow]

This is one of Rob Shearman's most satisfying stories. The tone and pacing are spot on, plus the final revelations are superb. The bizarre goings-on pile up in terms of comedy and menace.

[SiHart]

Chimes is good isn't it? A scary, creepy, atmospheric sort of story, with a bizarreness thrown in to make it even better. Great production helps this one too- the cliffhanger with midnight about to chime was really well done- lovely and tense.

Definitely right up there as one of the very best of the range.

[Si Hunt]

I'm going to be controversial!

It's good, but it's the "Talons" of the range; it's been so lauded and trumpetted down the years that it's kind of been "done to death". Not to take anything away from it, it's wonderfully played and I love the performances by the artists playing Mrs Badeley and the chauffeur and THAT terrifying scream, and the dark comedy, and the music and the sheer wonderfulness of the Doctor and companion team.

BUT all I want to say is that because it was the first "classic" it's all too easy for people to say it was a range peak. In fact, in defence of the rest of Big Finish, and bearing in mind what I remember as a bit of a shaky ending, it's probably only about the sixth or seventh best play of all time.

It's good - great, even - but it would be wrong to say, in case anyone does, that it's the best one they've done, even as "one of the best" it's in quite a crowded room. They have equalled, and surpassed, "Chimes" on many occasions.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

I'm not sure about controversial, but definitely contradictory:

You say

but it would be wrong to say, in case anyone does, that it's the best one they've done

And then you say

it's the "Talons" of the range

which is clearly shorthand for 'The Best DW story Ever '

[Anthony Williams]

Broadly, I agree with Si Hunt - this story was very, very good, but nothing that they haven't equalled or bettered with later plays.

I still enjoy it, and it absolutely blew me away at the time. However, there ARE Big Finish plays that are better.

But that doesn't detract from just how good it was at the time. When this was released, Rob Shearman was easily the most satisfactory of the writers - he was certainly the most consistent of BF's glory days. He wrote for McGann perfectly in this play, and McGann played the part perfectly. The supporting cast were brilliant, and India Fisher was excellent, as always

Alas, the story is one of diminishing returns. Part of the reason I found it so brilliant the first time round was because of the mystery of it. With repeated listens, that mystery is gone, never to be found again.

All in all, I really did enjoy this one, but I don't think it quite deserves it's reputation as the best Big Finish play.

[Andrew Curnow]

For me, it's a bit like Tomb of the Cybermen - by which I mean that (and this may just be a very personal thing) I enjoy the first two 'setting up/mystery' episodes, to the final two 'finishing off the story' episodes. In both case, I've several times started rewatching/relistening, only to flounder halfway through.

It's good though, and I liked the Upstairs Downstairs references from the very first listen!!

P.S. And just to sound smug, I'd guessed that 'Edward Grove' wasn't a person long before the 'big' reveal. Sorry Mr Shearman!!

[Anthony Williams]

So, I posted on this a year ago. I hadn't re-listened to the play in about three years at that point. Having re-listened to it on a recent trip back to England, I think it's time to talk about it again.

Before, I said that this was very good, but not quite the best Big Finish story. And I still stand by that. To me, that accolade goes to The Holy Terror, or at least, it does at this stage. Let's face it - that was a Rob Shearman play, and he had something really outstanding to live up to with this one. Of course, there's just something about Rob Shearman's writing that is truly excellent. His output tends to be among the best that Big Finish have done.

So, what makes this story so endearing? Well, firstly, there are our two main characters - the Doctor and Charley. Inherently, The Chimes of Midnight is a character piece. What we really see here is just how much the Doctor cares for his companion. And then this is the story where we really get to know something about Charley, beyond her upper class upbringing, her desire to travel and her appointment at the Singapore Hilton. So, it's great to finally learn a bit more about her, and her relationship with the Doctor. So much here is being set up for later in the season, particularly when we get to Neverland.

Then there's the plot. It's really quite a rollercoaster. We start out with a simple The Space Museum-esque mystery, with the Doctor and Charley unable to interact with their surroundings properly. Where are they? When are they? Why are they unable to interact? Shearman uses this mystery to really reel in the listener, and from there, he masterfully spins a story around the paradox of Charley being alive. We're left with a really mash-up of imagination, sci-fi staples and Sapphire and Steel style madness. On paper, it sounds like it should be too much, but it just works SO well.

At times, this play is bloody terrifying. The soundscape really adds to what's going on with the plot. The ticking of the clock, the heartbeat and that lullaby-esque sound. Edith's blood-curdling scream every time she gets murdered really sets my teeth on edge. Add in the truly creepy performance from Lennox Graves after Shaughnessy gets possessed by the house, this is one of the scariest four episodes of Doctor Who ever committed to CD.

And then there's the time paradox. I realise that that's a bit of a meme for this season of McGann stories, but it often seems like an idea that Big Finish have a tendency to do to death. But here, it works. It really does work. There are consequences to Charley's survival, and we're finally beginning to deal with them. The moment where the Doctor steps in and convinces Charley not to commit suicide to correct things is one of the best moments of Doctor Who that I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

I really do love this play. I loved it from the first moment I heard it, and I still love it today. It gets a 5/5 from me.