Medicinal Purposes

It's 1827, it's Edinburgh, and there's blood in the streets. When the Doctor and Evelyn realize where they are, the Doctor wants to meet the infamous duo of Burke and Hare, who snatched bodies and robbed graves and aided progress in medical science. But nobody knows who Burke is. And a certain Dr Robert Knox is taking a much greater interest in what's going on that he should.

So back we go into history with this one. I've actually had it sitting on the shelf waiting to be enjoyed for the better part of two years now. Yes, I'm a bit of a freak that way, waiting until it came along in the cycle to listen to it rather than leap ahead. I'm sure at times Jay only tolerates my observations where continuity are concerned; he'd gladly go ahead and take in disjointed adventures left and right. Not me, though.

Was it worth the wait, then? I suppose so. Historical characters are all around here, even Daft Jamie, played by current tenth Doctor David Tennant. But honestly? I didn't get a great sense of the threat here. Okay Knox is an interesting character and a threatening adversary, but I never really got him as a proper menace to the Doctor. Or to anyone, really. There'sa moment or two when you think he may be more than he seems, erhaps even an old enemy back for another go, but no. He's kinda boring really.

The whole thing is kinda boring, really. It's dialogue-heavy, but that's not the issue as there have been others with a lot more chat than implied action (and seeing as it's an audio we're not getting a whole lot more unless we make finger puppets for ourselves) but somehow... it just didn't work for me here. Maybe I listen to too many of these. But hey one clunker after so many god ones, that's not so bad...

NEXT EPISODE : PIER PRESSURE