Review by Jacob Licklider
There honestly wasn’t a surprise when Matthew Waterhouse was revealed to be writing a second Doctor Who Audio Novel for Big Finish Productions. Watchers was a wonderful examination of the character of Adric and Season 18 on the whole, reflecting on Waterhouse’s time on the show through the program. What is surprising is that Waterhouse does not attempt to strike lightning in a bottle a second time with Prisoners of London, instead crafting a story that very easily could have slotted in the middle of Season 19. The premise feels like a standard idea that could have come from a pitch by John Nathan-Turner and Eric Saward in the best way, the TARDIS lands in London, 1982 leading Tegan to believe that the Doctor has finally gotten her home even if it isn’t Heathrow Airport as she was expecting. This London, however, is not the London that we know, it is ruled by Emperor Geoffrey Chaucer, there are police boxes on every corner ready to arrest those breaking laws, and there are far too many Tower Bridges down practically every street. Now Prisoners of London is presented in the now typical format for the Audio Novels of multiple parts and not the typical chapter structure of a novel, however, this one suffers slightly from that format. Waterhouse clearly has experience as a novelist and as such is writing Prisoners of London in that format, especially apparent in the final moments of the production which jump ahead in the life of the Doctor significantly for a sequence that in a normal novel would be an epilogue, but here is just presented as the final scenes which make it stand out as odd.
Prisoners of London also slightly suffers in the characterisation of Nyssa. While the Doctor, Tegan, and Adric all get time to shine, Nyssa is served poorly by the novel, not really having much to do except be the companion with the Doctor throughout. The Doctor is portrayed wonderfully, Waterhouse drawing on the specific upper class English gentleman characterisation of Season 19 as his plot is essentially a royal drama. It is Tegan who gets to explore the prison the title refers to, although the entire TARDIS team are prisoners in a way. Waterhouse’s story is incredibly reflective on Tegan’s journey throughout Season 19, Prisoners of London being set shortly after The Visitation, while looking into Tegan’s childhood and past, the soap operas and other television shows that shaped her personality becoming recurring ideas throughout the novel. Waterhouse also makes the prison feel genuinely a harrowing experience, perhaps drawing on his experiences living in the United States as it is a prison nobody can escape from despite rumours that it is possible. The sentencing of this society is also heightened to almost American levels, stealing a small amount of food leading to a tortuous prison sentence. It’s this plot-line that really allows Prisoners of London to excel, as much of the initial premise is actually quite similar to Jacqueline Rayner’s debut novel EarthWorld, but using the Fifth Doctor and company and his own style Waterhouse really makes the production work. It is also helped greatly by continuing The Dead Star’s lead of not including returning monsters or villains, only the second audio novel to do so, and it is all the better for it. It’s a novel with clear antagonists, but Waterhouse is far more interested in exploring fully developed characters, even if those characters begin as over the top parodies of historical figures slowly developing into real people through exposure to the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric. Adric is also just incredibly well characterised as an actual teenager and not the general issues he had on television.
Overall, Prisoners of London is another roaring success from the Audio Novel range. It’s a very human audio novel, something that due to its extended length fails to fully capture every member of the TARDIS team well but Matthew Waterhouse’s prose is distinct and narrated by Waterhouse wonderfully, the commentary on punitive justice is fascinating and placed in an over the top setting to work incredibly well, and the overall feeling of the novel is one that can only work in this particular era of Doctor Who. 8/10.
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