Doctor Who - Big Finish September Mega-Review
Doctor Who 178 "1963: Fanfare for the Common Men"
rating: 4
If you remember the Sixties, they say, then you can't have been there. The Doctor remembers the Sixties. That's why he's taking Nyssa on a trip back to November 1963. Back to where it all began. Back to the birth of the biggest band in the history of British music. Back to see those cheeky lads from Liverpool... Mark, James and Korky. The Common Men. The boys who made the Sixties swing with songs like Oh, Won't You Please Love Me?, Just Count To Three and Who Is That Man. The Doctor remembers the Sixties. And there's something very wrong with the Sixties, if the Beatles no longer exist...1963 is, of course, the year Doctor Who first appeared on TV. This being the 50th anniversary year, there are one or two little things happening that you may have heard about. One that you may not have heard about is the trilogy Big Finish is doing to commemorate that year, and it all leads up to November, when we get their take on "The Five Doctors". In this case, it's the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa (no Tegan or Turlough), traveling to 1963. He wants to show her the Beatles, only to find they don't exist. Now I'd personally be kind of ok with a universe that lacked the Beatles, but I understand that I'm a blasphemous heathen. The story felt authentic to not just 1963 (and subsequent years), but also to the Fifth Doctor's era, even if something like this would have been a bit too ambitious for TV. It was also a very good story, if a bit timey-wimey in parts. Special recognition has to go to Mitch Benn, Andrew Knott and David Dobson, who all did a fantastic job playing the titular Common Men. They were very much the Beatles in different clothes, and that worked out very well. So much so that I wouldn't mind seeing them back, if Big Finish can figure out a way.