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Light and Fun

By:David Layton, Los Angeles, United States
Date:Friday 24 November 2017
Rating:   6

Terence Dudley's novelization of his own teleplay is actually better than the original episode. This episode was a two-parter that felt truncated at two parts. The novel format allows Dudley to fill in some gaps and add some depth to the character. The story itself is a typical 1920s mystery/adventure, with The Doctor mistaken for a Cricket player, taken to a stately mansion in the countryside and becoming the chief suspect in a murder. Yet, something's not right at Cranleigh Hall. Add to this a bit double-trouble when Nyssa and the current Lord Cranleigh's fiancée are nearly identical, one South American native with a deformed lip, a masquerade ball, and one get all the elements typical of the genre. In this, Dudley has perhaps gone a bit overboard. There are some clumsy bits of foreshadowing of the "little did he know that in the very near future he would be in deep trouble" variety. It's light and fun and not much else.



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