Doctor Who: Nightshade

Doctor Who Novel Adaptations #9

by Kyle C. Szikora (Adapted By), Mark Gatiss, Sylvester McCoy (Narrator)

Professor Nightshade - tea time terror for all the family, and the most loved show in Britain. But Professor Nightshade's days are long over, and Edmund Trevithick is now just an unemployed actor in a retirement home, fondly remembering his past.

It's the same through the entire village - people are falling prey to their memories. At first harmlessly, and then, the bodies begin to turn up.

The Doctor and Ace arrive on the scene - but, with the Doctor planning his retirement, it may be time for Professor Nightshade to solve one last case.

Nightshade is based on the novel by Mark Gatiss from the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who books

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Linnea Gelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

**May contain spoilers**

An all right little adventure, but I can't help but feel that it lost a lot of its original grit in the adaptation from book to audio - even if a great chunk of dialogue has been directly transferred. Of course this format is shorter and they had to drop a few characters and plot threads, but it seems they decided to exclude quite a few of the things I specifically appreciated with the book.

Vijay is completely gone, and so is Holly, so that whole tragedy doesn't come forward here. This also means that Hawthorne can't be as much of an unlikable bastard as he is in the book. No Cooper, whom I liked because she was the only one able to tell Hawthorne what to do. Robins' stepmother is gone, which I think is a shame since her story was very touching. Same thing with the old couple that wander off into the moor. The policeman doesn't exist either, and neither does the Abbot or the tramp.

Excluding these people means that the Doctor doesn't have anyone to talk to (or not talk to) about his problems, which I thought was part of what moved the original story forward. In fact, I think that the Doctor did quite a lot of keeping quiet about what troubled him in the book. I suppose that silence doesn't come across very well on audio. But then again, it might. What better medium to let an uncomfortable silence break through with full force?

Many unnerving scenes where people face their old memories, are gone. The fact that so many characters have been stripped away (out of necessity, of course, but still) ultimately means that there aren't so many sacrifices to be made - and as an effect the threat feels smaller.

It may be a directorial choice, but the tone isn't as melancholy and none of the characters suffer as much, which again was something I liked about the book. It dared to go deep and truly dark, to let the Doctor question himself and his motives, to actually be sad. Retirement sounded like a real, honest threat. In this adaptation I didn't think it did. There was some frustration, but no sadness, which is a shame since the cast can surely pull it off (as proven by McCoy in the brilliant "Master").

On the plus side, they were able to go with the black hole instantly, instead of letting the Sentient roam around for a bit first. Something that Gatiss commented on regretting about his original story. It is more powerful this way, surely.

I don't quite agree with the choice of changed ending here either, though... (I didn't know I was going to complain so much, but here we are) I suppose they wanted to end it on a slightly happier note, but I don't know. I liked the deviousness of the original - especially since Ace had just commented on the fact that the Doctor was indeed just that. Devious.

[MindProbe · Rating 2 out of 5]

an empty, meandering experience which feels less like a dramatisation of the plot of the novel than an aimless stroll through the ruins of it, made listenable only by some solid guest performances and a terrific score by Blair Mowat, evoking, clearly with great fondness, the TV scores of Keff McCulloch and Mark Ayres. presumably for budget reasons, the story's cast has been ruthlessly pared down, with as many characters as possible shunted offstage or excised entirely; this would be excusable if the ones that remained were properly developed, if the core of the story remained intact, but here themes and character arcs are paid lipservice to rather than genuinely explored and felt, and it's difficult to avoid the sense that a writer whose greatest strengths lie in language and atmosphere has been adapted by one with no discernable talent for either, that the essentially internal narrative of a novel has failed to be drawn out and externalised in the way necessary in translating it to another medium, and that thematic concerns that once meant something have simply been echoed with bland, anonymous semi-competence. I'd hoped that, not having read the novel for quite a few years and with my memory of it being rather hazy as a result, this version of the story could be allowed to stand alone, but judged on its own merits it remains the frustrating sort of adaptation that only leaves you wondering what the jigsaw looks like without half the pieces missing.

[Steven Poore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oooh dear. This one's a bit of a cacophonous mess, to be honest. Both Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred are shouting their way bluntly through the script, volume replacing any attempt at characterisation. While the book this is based upon is undoubtedly a better pastiche of Quatermass, this adaptation isn't very enjoyable. Sorry, but I really had hoped for better.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was funny how this story touched on how dangerous nostalgia can be, when Doctor Who itself feels like it needs nostalgia now and then. The Doctor wondering if he should settle down and retire was interesting, as was Ace's deciding whether or not she should keep traveling with The Doctor. It got emotional when she described the TARDIS as her home.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though Gatiss aims for substance, Szikora’s adaptation isn’t always smooth. The character moments in particular—Ace’s romance, the Doctor’s weariness, though welcome additions—are handled far too quickly, given no more prominence than the confused monster shriekings so favoured by Big Finish.

3.5★

[Richard Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good adaptation of the story, think it may have removed or curtailed a lot of my favourite things about the novel (the Doctor and Ace both thinking about retiring) but great performances throughout from the regulars and Samuel Barnett

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor and Ace land in Crook Marsham where an energy being is trying to get home. I would have loved to see this adventure on screen.

[Mike Rempel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sylvester McCoy 👌👌👌👌👌👌

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5)

Just ok, but perhaps I would have liked the book version better? Unsure!

[Tom Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can criticise Big Finish's Novel Adaptations range for not delivering to the level you require with some of the releases. (Romance of Crime & The Highest Science as personal examples) This one hits the mark.

I adore the book and the full cast audio adaptation is a real good attempt of bringing one of my very favourite books to life. The atmosphere, melancholic, bleak and dark nature of the story is captured well. The 7th Doctor's characterisation from book to audio is different, you can tell; but I am not complaining there.

Enjoyable from start to finish.
The book is much better at: 10/10

I give the audio adaptation a 9/10.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who and Ace story that is actually pretty good for a change.