Circular Time [Doctor Who, Diversion 33]

 Circular Time by Mike Maddox & Paul Cornell
20 January 2007​

Over the course of this Doctor's era, I've moaned more than once about the fact that I could not get to know Nyssa as well as I would like. The golden factors of a fun concept and a great actress are both there, but in practice this potential never really had many chances to flourish on the screen. It's good that Big Finish exists to give a second chance in cases like this, as in my experience so far, Sarah Sutton always makes the most of these audio appearances.

This may be a slightly odd place to slot this in the marathon as Nyssa has now been gone for a season, but time is circular, after all, and there are more seasons where that came from...

What we have here are four more-or-less standalone audio stories making up an anthology, connected by a few common threads. They're all essentially character pieces with only the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa as the recurring cast members. Over their course, the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of the Doctor's and Nyssa's friendship are charted out. We see Nyssa's fresh trauma about Traken give way to increased confidence, to her seeming to grow up and consider what a life without the Doctor would be like, and finally to a time many years later when she has forged her own path in life.

The "Spring" segment is as light and breezy as you'd expect, with a society of avians that is quite well-rendered, when you consider how little time the audio has to establish it. Zero is a really fun quasi-antagonist, and I laughed with disbelief at his regeneration into a bird-man at the end. Nyssa's petulant response to the Doctor's teasing, "I shall sulk..." is pitch-perfect for the Nyssa of this period. Really great stuff.

"Summer" goes into very different territory, a short and sweet celebrity historical guest starring the incomparable David Warner as Sir Isaac Newton. I was surprised to learn that Newton worked for the government chasing around counterfeiters, and he was certainly a bigger jerk than I'd have expected him to be. It's very cool to see Newton predict large swathes of the future simply based on a few stray coins. The Doctor seems to understand the mavity of the situation as Newton comes perilously close to understanding too much.

These first two segments are less closely focused on the "character study of Nyssa" angle that the set is going for, and while they are fantastic, it's the two latter ones, written by Paul Cornell, that really transcend them and bring this set to another level.

"Autumn" slows the action down to show the Doctor and Nyssa spending a season in a small English town, the Doctor spending the time playing cricket with the local guys and Nyssa trying to write her experiences and her memories of Traken down as a book, to preserve it for the future. The brief romance that blossoms between her and local boy Andrew is very sweet and lovingly developed. I couldn't get enough of their conversations as he slowly started to believe her about her background. Her small paean for Traken, talking about how she can still see its light in the night sky because its destruction hasn't traveled far enough yet, just about broke my heart.

The Doctor's part of the plot is also rather good. As much as he's always wanted to get some time to enjoy cricket, he clearly isn't at ease with his close-minded teammates, and seems almost like he'd rather be elsewhere. Sticking around for Nyssa's sake? Perhaps. He is quite sullen about the possibility of Nyssa leaving him soon as well, and I really feel for his mixture of pride and love and worry for her.

Finally, the set culminates with "Winter", a chilling and surreal little story set during the Doctor's impending regeneration, taking place during the moments where he's succumbing to the spectrox toxemia. Seeing Nyssa all grown up, so to speak, is very gratifying, and the way she saves the Doctor just like he's saved her in the past is absolutely wonderful.

The mindscape the Master has trapped the regenerating Doctor in is rendered beautifully, from the return of the Watcher to the bits of TARDIS decor embedded in the farmhouse, to the borrowed names for his invented children.

NYSSA: Tegan is here?
DOCTOR: Yes, asleep in the bed upstairs.
NYSSA: Oh.
DOCTOR: With Adric.
NYSSA: ... Oh!

It's really heartbreaking, seeing the Doctor lost in the sort of life he could never have, until he's pulled back to the light again by his friends. I can't state enough just how much I love the way that this ties into Androzani. It should be an essential listen for everybody who enjoys this era.

All told, I'm glad I took this diversion. I gained some further appreciation for both Nyssa and for the Fifth Doctor in the process, and it got me really pumped up for the final Fifth Doctor story.

Inevitably, The Caves of Androzani is next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 May 2024.)