CONTEMPORANEOUS                                                                   NEXT

The Boy That

Time Forgot

JULY 2008

(4 EPISODES)

“The Boy That Time Forgot” is another one of those trademark Big Finish bombshells. How on Earth they managed to keep the identity of ‘the Scorpion King’ under wraps until the date of release I have no idea. To be honest though, I had given the matter little thought. When the details of this release first appeared on the Big Finish website, the only thing that struck me as being a bit unusual was the absence of new companion John Pickard’s name on the cast list. So much for Thomas Brewster being the titular “Boy That Time Forgot”…

With hindsight, there was only ever one likely contender to be “The Boy That Time Forgot”, although to their credit Big Finish did do their best to disguise his identity by casting “an actor” in the role as opposed to Matthew Waterhouse (Peter Davison’s cruel joke, not mine!) and also by littering the first episode with a surfeit of red herrings, such as “Madam Teegarna” (Tegan?) and “Kranlee” (Cranleigh?). Nevertheless, as the first episode crept towards its culminating revelation, I had guessed it. It had to be. Somehow he survived the freighter crash…

                             Adric!!!

Paul Magrs said we that would not believe it, and he was right. Adric’s death was such a keystone in the series’ history that I never believed any writer would dare to undo it. Whilst other companions have died over years, very few have done so on television and Adric’s demise was by far the most memorable. Even considering the character’s gross unpopularity amongst most viewers, his death really left its mark. Hell, it traumatised a generation. And yet “The Boy That Time Forgot” dares to undo it.

I think what surprised me more than Magrs’ gall was his skill. Somehow, he manages to make the concept work without demeaning the legendary ending to “Earthshock”. The tragedy of Adric’s untimely death suddenly pales in comparison to the far greater tragedy of his survival and hideously prolonged life in seclusion.

After watching The Dark Knight recently at the cinema, the adage “die a hero, or live long enough to be the villain” was fresh in my mind when listening to this play, and arguably it fits Adric far better than it does Batman. Adric was always on the tightrope - not only was he obnoxious in that boy genius sort of way, but in some stories - “Four To Doomsday” stands out particularly - he would go so far as to side with the villain and it would fall to the Doctor to coax him into ultimately doing the right thing. But after being left for dead and forced to live in some weird block transfer computation-offshoot of the timeline for century after century with nothing but sentient scorpions for companionship, well… it was never going to take him long to make the transition from hero to villain.

A lot of the credit for Adric’s return working so well is of course down to Andrew Sachs, star of 2003’s “Shada” webcast and, of course, Fawlty Towers. Sachs may not sound anything like Waterhouse, but after five hundred years, I suppose that is to be expected! Rather than trying to mimic Waterhouse’s performances, Sachs creates his own Adric – a perverse and bitter Adric who wants to force Nyssa to marry him and make the Doctor suffer for ‘abandoning’ him. And it is all there in the voice; wraithlike and ethereal … and quite, quite mad. It is astoundingly frightening, actually.

Furthermore, “The Boy That Time Forgot” does a remarkable job of telling this continuity-heavy story in the most madcap of formats – that of a 1970s prehistoric yarn! Sometimes it is more Carry On than The Land That Time Forgot though – the “services” provided to Adric by his scorpion army do not really bear thinking about, and as for Rupert Van Thal never being “taken up the Limpopo” or never having “braved the inhospitable bush”… well, suffice it to say that in spite of the relatively dark subject matter, “The Boy That Time Forgot” never feels too grave and is actually downright hilarious at times.

The final episode of the play was my favourite. It is beautifully written by Magrs and affectingly played by the cast - Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are both extraordinary here - and to my surprise I found it really uplifting. What is more, there is no reset button pressed, which I have to say I was half-expecting. Adric is not returned to the freighter to die. This story has consequences. Pickard even makes an uncredited appearance as Thomas Brewster, the thieving urchin finally returning the Doctor’s TARDIS to him, albeit with a little help. The play’s finale feels like the passing of the torch, in a sense. We get to say a long overdue goodbye to one companion whilst welcoming the next.

All told “The Boy That Time Forgot” is a magnificent play in every respect. It is bold; frightening; heart-rending; and, against all the odds, rather funny. Together with “The Haunting of Thomas Brewster” which immediately precedes it, this play comes heartily recommended.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2008

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