Doctor Who: A Small Semblance of Home

Writer: Paul Phipps
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Script Editor: Ian Atkins
Cover Illustration: Anthony Lamb
Music & Sound Design: David Roocroft
Producer: Ian Atkins

Read by Carole Ann Ford
Released September 2018

A Small Semblance of Home, despite the cumbersome title, is a simple story, simply told and its reach never exceeds its grasp. Designed as a tale for a lazy Sunday, in which Ian tests out a new cardy, the Doctor tries to make tea, Barbara does some adding up and Susan has a tantrum, it fulfills its ambitions perfectly well.

All that said, this forty-minute Short Trip is still more than just an interlude between adventures, with a visit to an alien planet, a bit of capture and escape and some exploration of the dynamics within the original TARDIS line-up. This is a surprisingly gentle ride from Paul Phipps, a writer more often associated with Big Finish's Dark Shadows output. While his prose does not have a particularly distinctive style, this is not a bad thing. He accurately captures each of the four lead characters and their attitudes towards one another, especially at what seems to be an early stage of their travels.

It says something about the reverence Doctor Who fans hold for established fact that even the smallest revelations about the childhood adventures of Ian, one of four leads in a 25-minute children's serial, last seen on TV 55 years ago, feel daring and as if Phipps is pushing the envelope. One unusual thing about the way this story is told is how the prose often switches between past and present tense within the same sentence. It's hard to tell if these are slips on the part of narrator Carole Ann Ford, sounding increasingly frail, or a deliberate choice of the writer.

The Short Trips series often demands a variety of skills from its sound designers and composers, but rarely has such a range been exhibited in a single story. David Roocroft, responsible for both here, uses music to great effect. From Jon Hopkins-style euphoria to tribal drums to distant strings, it's all here. The sound effects used, while serviceable enough in themselves, could perhaps have done with a little more designing, often sounding like they are one inch from the mic while being described as more remote.

In the end, A Small Semblance of Home is a pleasant, refreshingly untaxing story. A good choice for a Sunday afternoon.