Doctor Who: Flywheel Revolution

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

Read by Peter Purves
Released January 2015

The first in a series of monthly adventures that has run for six years and counting, Flywheel Revolution is charming and understated. Dale Smith's endearing tale of robots consigned to the scrapheap liberating themselves with a little help from the Doctor fits the Doctor Who Short Trips format perfectly.

The story is told from the perspective of Frankie, a robot discarded due to a minor fault with his internal clock, as he lives out his life in the confines of a scrap yard. This gives rise to a very logical style of narration, refreshingly straightforward in fact. Frankie's relationship with the Doctor, developing from the stern outsider not to be trusted to an amiable ally, condenses the softening of William Hartnell's Doctor from the TV series into just a few minutes.

Dale Smith captures the Doctor well and retains the listener's attention as first Frankie, then the Doctor explore their surroundings. This is engagingly told and, in something of a rarity for Big Finish, this is the kind of story that genuinely would fit snugly into the early years of the show. The decision to keep Susan, Ian and Barbara on the opposite side of the scrapheap's boundary wall is a wise one, allowing both Frankie and the Doctor more breathing space across this story's half-hour. Rather than feeling like a full adventure abridged for the requisite running time, Flywheel Revolution is perfectly conceived as a short story, in all senses.

Despite only appearing in a year of the TV show, most of which hasn't been seen since its original broadcast, Peter Purves is the Hartnell era's most prolific contributor at Big Finish, and this story is a good example of why. He is an excellent narrator, his measured tone ideal for audio books, and does a decent first Doctor impression to boot. Lisa Bowerman keeps the pace steady, matching the thoughtful tone of the script, and employing credible music and sound design to good effect.

Flywheel Revolution is a delightful instalment in the Short Trips series, expanding on a classic era of the show in a meaningful sense. A very promising first release that shows the level of care and attention that the stories produced by Michael Stevens typically exhibited. Recommended.