Doctor Who: The Empty House
Written by Simon Guerrier
Read by Raquel Cassidy
Another exclusive audio story from AudioGo, this tale takes the Doctor, Amy and Rory to 1920’s England on a wet and windy night. There they discover a stricken, abandoned space ship, and the titular House, but no sign of the ship’s crew or the owners of the house. And when Rory similarly disappears, the Doctor and Amy must solve the mystery before time runs out.
Simon Guerrier has written a curious story here. What begins strongly as a period haunted house tale, soon diverts into a slightly less engaging affair with the appearance of the Groog. Not that these tall, toadstool ridden creatures don’t sound delightful – they do – but in fact they are incidental to the plot which primarily revolves around the Doctor and Amy rescuing Rory from a minor time slip.
There are some dramatic scenes in the audio, and Raquel Cassidy, hot from her excellent reading of the recent Nu-Humans, gives another powerful delivery here, milking the suspense as much as she can. But sadly, there isn’t enough of it, this story hampered by the usual difficulty that nothing of lasting import can befall the main characters, and while the short running time forces Guerrier to focus more on atmosphere than plot, the end result is less than wholly satisfying.
With the Doctor and the Ponds now back on our screens and hurtling towards a supposedly devastating ending, The Empty House will at best serve as a pleasant appetizer before the main meal.
