Doctor Who: The Shadows of Serenity

Writer: Nigel Robinson
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Script Editor: Michael Stevens
Cover Illustration: Mark Plastow
Music & Sound Design: Toby Hrycek-Robinson
Producer: Michael Stevens

Read by Nicola Bryant
Released June 2015

I picked The Shadows of Serenity pretty much at random as part of my Short Trips relisten, and won't make the same mistake twice. 

Clocking in at 30-45 minutes, the Short Trips are a monthly series of Doctor Who stories read or performed by a single actor. As I've gone back through the first few years of releases, I've frequently been impressed at their originality and ability to engage. The Shadows of Serenity unfortunately does not follow that trend.

This story is so rote that even if you haven't heard it, you've heard it. The basic premise is that a world of once-feared warriors have turned into complete pacifists, to the point of their own extinction, and a creature is leeching off their combatant senses for its own gain. The Doctor drops into this world and promptly sends the creature and its guardian sisters on its way while the TARDIS recharges.

The story as written affords no mystery or tension, unfolding simply as a stream of information before the Doctor heads up to the creature's base and tells it to do one. Handy, too, that of the entire planet's surface, the TARDIS happened to land just ten minutes up the road from both the settlement of neutered locals and the Abbey of Serenity, the aforementioned base. At every opportunity the cliched option is taken, at both a plotting and line-to-line level. 

The production is basically fine but does little to enhance things. Even the phenomenal Nicola Bryant sounds off her game. 

It's possible to purchase these stories a year at a time for £30; as part of a collection of 12, for that money, it's easy to write The Shadows of Serenity off. However I wouldn't recommend seeking it out individually.