Category: Golden Age Article

DVD Review, Golden Age Article

DVD Review: Hawkins: The Complete TV Movie Collection

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A recognizable and beloved Hollywood actor from Hollywood’s yesteryear playing a sharp and folksy lawyer who solves mysteries? That description will make people think of Matlock starring Andy Griffith. However, more than a decade before Andy Griffith played the hot-dog loving, Southern lawyer, Jimmy Stewart brought the concept to the small screen as Billy Jim Hawkins, a homespun West Virginia lawyer with a penchant for getting to the truth and winning tough cases.

The Warner Archives DVD set includes all eight Hawkins telefilms that aired in 1973 and 1974. The first film is ninety minutes long. The other seven are seventy-five minutes long as this film was aired along with another mystery series to compete with the popular NBC Mystery Wheel.

In each case, after a sensational murder has been committed, Hawkins is called in to defend the accused, who generally has a massive amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards their guilt. Hawkins’ seeks to clear them with the help of his assistants. Hawkins usually has to win his client’s trust, inserts himself into his client’s world, and seeks to get to the bottom case with the help of his assistants.

Like Matlock and Perry Mason, every movie ends with a climactic courtroom scene where Hawkins reveals the true killer. There are a few more nods to legal procedure in this series than in either of those better known series. In particular, the series acknowledges that as Hawkins hasn’t been licensed to practice law in every state, in order to appear in those states, he needs to be working under a local attorney who will serve as the Attorney of Record for the defense even though he’s not actually arguing in court.

The Supporting Cast

In each episode, Hawkins is helped by one or more assistants. One of the key points of Hawkins’ backstory was that Hawkins had an enormous extended family of more than 100 people. In different episodes, different members of that family show up to assist. Most frequently, it’s R.J. Hawkins (Strother Martin) but Jeremiah Stocker (Mayf Nutter) and Earl Coleman (James Hampton) took turns as well. Stewart had the best chemistry with Strother Martin and R.J. Hawkins was the most interesting character, which is probably why R.J. Hawkins was in the final three films without any other assistants after only appearing in two of the first five.

The guest stars were generally quite competent. There’s an early performance by Tyne Daly, as well as appearance by golden age of Hollywood notables like Lew Ayers and Teresa Wright, along with character actress extraordinaire Jeanette Nolan. One of the more interesting guest appearances is James Best playing a serious role as a sheriff in the episode, “Blood Feud.” In a few years, he would take on the role of the ultimate comic sheriff as Rosco Coltrane.

The Lead

Ultimately, while the scripts were decent and the supporting cast is competent, it’s Jimmy Stewart that makes the series worth watching. While watching the first few minutes of the opening film, I thought Stewart had overplayed the folksiness, but once he settled into the role, he made Hawkins special. Hawkins is a country boy, and he doesn’t put on airs. Everyone who meets him is urged to call him Billy Jim.

Yet, at the same time, Hawkins has a keen mind and is aware of how the world works. Like many of the characters Stewart played over the years, Hawkins lives by a code.  His life is dedicated to the core principle that everyone’s entitled to a defense. Hawkins has a great way of connecting with and gaining the confidence of clients who’ve been unwilling to act in their own defense before.

In the courtroom scenes, Stewart is superb, building a level of rapport and using subtle humor to undercut the prosecution and then delivering an innocent “aw shucks, I’m just a country lawyer” type of comment to deflect  objections from the prosecution. The scenes where he confronts the genuine murderer are incredibly compelling. Hawkins was one of the more credible TV lawyers to be featured in this sort of program. In many ways, he seems true to life to other nationally known trial attorneys such as Gerry Spence as opposed to a character someone made up.

Stewart’s acting netted him a well-deserved Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

Why It Only Lasted One Season

In addition to Stewart’s win, the series was nominated for a Golden Globe as was Strother Martin for best supporting actor. However, despite critical recognition, the series went away after a single season. Why?

CBS created the series as a counter to NBC’s rotating mystery programs and CBS didn’t quite seem to understand a big part of why NBC enjoyed success. NBC rotated Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife.  The beauty of the mystery wheel was that these programs all appealed to the same audience and if you liked one, there was a good chance you liked them all, and NBC could count on you to watch their mystery movie every Sunday night.

CBS on the other hand rotated Hawkins with the TV series Shaft based on the Blacksploitation film series of  the early 1970s. The two series drew two very different audiences and there was little crossover in audiences between the two shows and as a result both got cancelled.  Hawkins could have lasted longer if not for the network’s scheduling mistake.

Is This Series For You?

If you love the classic lawyer series, these films are for you. Stewart’s Hawkins is at least as good as Perry Mason or Matlock. If you’re a fan of Jimmy Stewart’s later work, this is also a must as this was arguably Stewart’s last great role before his career went on the downswing and hearing loss drove him to semi-retirement in the early 1980s.

Overall, I found Hawkins to be an enjoyable series that stands up well when compared to most of its 70s peers.

 

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Golden Age Article, Hercule Poirot, Telefilm Review

TV Episode Review: Poirot: Theft of the Royal Ruby

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With his friends otherwise occupied, Poirot is ready to settle in for a Christmas alone with good food and good books to keep him company when he’s called in to investigate the theft of a ruby from a spoiled and immature teenage prince whose country is key to British interests. Poirot has to recover the ruby and that will involve spending Christmas with the wealthy Lacey family the government suspects are key to the whole affair.

Overall, this episode was Poirot was delightful and from start to finish. The mystery is well-written with its fair share of suspects and false clues, but also manages to portray a 1930s British in a truly charming and warm-hearted way, while also having a nice bit of romance thrown in.

If you’re looking for a light and well-told mystery for Christmastime, this Series 3 episode of Poirot is sure to hit the spot.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Note: This episode is available on DVD or for free Streaming through Netflix

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: A Gun for Kilkenny

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Back in the 1990s, Random House produced a series of audio dramas based on the work of the great Western Writer Louis L’Amour and originally released on cassette.

In “A Gun for Kilkenny” a stranger shoots and kills a local badman in a bar and is taken to be the mysterious Marshall Kilkenny. The town is grateful for the stranger doing the killing and he milks the gratitude for all it’s worth because…what could go wrong?

The characters at first blush seem to fit the Western Archetypes (the saloon girl, the pacifist Quaker storekeeper, the saloon owner,) but they kept surprising me throughout the story. While we may have guessed the gist of the ending, how we get there is surprising. The story raises several great questions. What’s the difference between a “good” gunslinger and a bad man? What happens when you embrace a seemingly friendly killer?

There’s no big stars in the cast, but the performers turn in universally solid and believable performances. The soundscape is well-done and captures the Spirit of the Old West fine. The sound quality is good for something originally made for a cassette tape.

Overall, this was an engrossing performance that made me curious to hear more.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Book Review, Golden Age Article

Book Review: The Private Practice of Michael Shayne

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The Michael Shayne that appeared in his first book, Dividend on Death has little resemblance to the character as he’d come to be known in film, television, and future books. In the second book, The Private Private Practice of Michael Shayne, the later character begins to emerge.

The book features the close friendship and partnership between Shayne and reporter Tim Rourke, which was a hallmark of the series. In addition, Shayne shows a bit of character and humanity in trying to ward off an ambitious young lawyer from an unethical deal. The barely grown Phyllis Brighton returns from the first book and Shayne steps in (against her wishes) to save her from crooked gamblers. There’s a bit of reluctant romance that begins to develop between Shayne and Phyllis and it’s handled nicely and believably.

To be clear, he’s not Philip Marlowe, certainly not as mopey and world-weary. The character is plenty of fun and has a lighter, comedic flare. The plot of this book was used as one of the major inspirations for the first Shayne movie starring Lloyd Nolan, Michael Shayne, Private Detective, and the movie and book track pretty well. The result is a Michael Shayne who manages to be comical but not foolish, and tough without being abrasive.

The story is well-plotted, even if it’s not particularly innovative. The humor works a couple twists including Shayne finding a way to get himself out of a murder charge but later outsmarts himself when he tries to mess around with the murder gun. Given all the evidence tampering both in this book and the previous one, it was satisfying to see a consequence to it for Shayne.

This still isn’t quite the Michael Shayne of later books, but it’s a huge step forward for the character.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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DVD Review, Golden Age Article

DVD Review: Fibber McGee and Molly Double Feature

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The Fibber McGee and Molly Double feature presents Jim and Marion Jordan reprising their roles as the most lovable citizens of Wistful Vista in two separate films.

The first is, Here We Go Again. As the title implies, it’s a bit of a sequel. In this case, the film’s teaming of Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy with Fibber McGee and Molly is their second joint movie. The first, “Look Who’s Laughing,” was released on a separate DVD collection of early Lucille Ball films. But there’s no sense of deep continuity other than that Fibber McGee has met Bergen before, so seeing that film isn’t a prerequisite.

The teaming works quite well when they interact, though they’re often left to do their own thing. The plot is that Fibber McGee takes Molly on a Second Honeymoon and after staying a night a flea bag hotel, he runs into Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen at a much nicer establishment. Bergen is trying to discover a synthetic alternative gasoline and a capture a rare butterfly because…it’s World War II and that’s what radio ventriloquists did.

As if the film hadn’t given Old Time Radio fans enough to salivate over, this also features Harold Peary appearing as the Throckmorton Gildersleeve. Even though he’d started his own spin-off series from Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, Peary plays Gildersleeve just as he did on Fibber McGee and Molly and only appears in a few scenes. Gale Gordon also appears, though not in his role from Fibber McGee and Molly as Mayor LaTrivia but as what passes for a villain in this film.

The movie holds up very well for its era. For the most part, the jokes work. The big exception to this is an unfunny, ill-conceived bit that had Bergen trying to infiltrate a native american tribe for the flimsiest of reasons. The musical numbers by Ginny Simms are superb. For fans of the golden age of radio, the movie allows us to see not one but three different big radio stars in action.

In addition to Charlie McCarthy, we also get to see Bergen’s other dummy Mortimer Snerd. Though McCarthy receives the most work and it’s interesting to see how they transferred such an active and robust ventriloquist dummy from radio to film. Though, I will say that Charlie McCarthy has a few moments (such as when he’s cheering the potential death of Bergen from various perils) that remind you why we now consider ventriloquist dummies walking around to be a creepy element of horror movies.

The second film is Heavenly Days derives it’s name from Molly’s frequent exclamation, “Oh heavenly days!” In this film, Fibber is visited by the Spirit of 1776 to begin a cross-country journey to the nation’s Capital in order to help out a friend who has become a “dollar a year” man, essentially volunteering his service to the government. Fibber heads to Washington, hoping that the voice of the common man is heard.

The film starts out okay and for the first fifteen minutes is very charming, including the McGees encountering a group of soldiers on a train and singing and we even get to hear Fibber sing. However, after that, the film runs into problems.

It’s a comedy that isn’t all that funny. It’s also a patriotic film. I’m all for patriotic films, but this one muddles its message. McGee’s whole quest is to get the voice of the average man heard in the corridors of power. He gets to Washington and actually disrupts Senate proceedings to give his own nonsensical speech. Then later, he has a trippy dream sequence where senators advise him if the Average Man wants to have a voice in government, he should probably get informed and make sure he knows what he’s talking about.

The plot, the message, and the ending feel incongruous. The film’s core problem may be that it expected too much of the Jordans. During, their radio program, they did many war-related episodes and while they could be preachy, they always remained entertaining. The reason was because they were focused on a single point (such as a scrap metal drive) and they had the entertaining cast of characters in Wistful Vista to help get the laughs. Here, the Jordans are left to get all the laughs and carry this meandering story.

The film does have its redeeming values. The presence of Fibber McGee and Molly on screen is a treat and they have charming moments including both of their musical numbers. The film features war orphans from several lands which is a historical reminder of a great tragedy in that war.

For movie buffs, it features an interesting oddity that relates to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In that film, hefty character actor Eugene Pallette plays Chick McGann, a henchman for political boss James Taylor whose job is to help keep Senator Smith under control. In this film he played a Senator which led me to think McGann got one of the vacant Senate seats that were left open at the end of the movie.

Eugene Pallette

Even though\ Heavenly Days is a well-intentioned mess, I still consider the DVD a good buy because Here We Go Again is just that good. It’s rare to see that many radio stars in that same film and for the film to actually be good. The current price is a fair value for the first film and and any enjoyment you get out of the second film is just gravy.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Review: Avengers: The Lost Episodes, Volume 4

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The fourth volume of Avengers, The Lost Episodes offers listeners four more recreations of the lost first season of the Avengers.

The set kicks off with, “Kill the King,” in which Steed has to protect a visiting king who is key to the British gaining access to his country’s oil. The story becomes a pretty interesting thriller as we encounter three separate individuals who all appear to be setting out with the same assassin’s mission. The story has a very clever twist at the end that hits Steed like a punch in the stomach. It’s the best episode of a very good set and probably one of the most innovative stories in the Lost Episodes range.

Next up is, “A Change in Bait.” Originally, aired at Christmastime, this episode has a lighter tone than, “Kill the King,” as Steed tries to break up a complex insurance racket involving arson at warehouses. The story isn’t laugh-out-loud hilarious,or so over the top in its humor that it would feel like it didn’t belong in this season, rather the humor is mixed in in a way that feels quite natural. The arsonist is probably the most amusing guest character. His stance that they couldn’t steal money from a building they were burning because that would be unethical is priceless. Overall, a fun story.

In, “Hunt the Man Down,” a convicted robber is released from prison and immediately waylaid by two thugs who want to know where his loot is. Steed intervenes and Keel treats the ex-convict. Carol is kidnapped by the gang who believe she knows where the loot is. Overall, this is an exciting case with good twists, particularly as to who the boss of the gang is. A very solid outing.

Finally in, “Dead of Winter,” Steed investigates a body found in a shipment of beef and sends Keel undercover to a man he suspects is behind it after a a pathologist is murdered and the body disappears. This one of the more fantastic plots in the Lost Episodes and very reminiscent of the sci-fi like stories that would come during the show’s most well-known run with Mrs. Peal.

Overall, this is a strong set. It’s not as great as Volume 3, but there’s not a poor episode in this bunch.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Book Review, Golden Age Article

Book Review: A Study in Terror

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In A Study in Terror, while trying to work on his latest novel, Ellery Queen is distracted by a friend who brings him a manuscript purporting to be a lost Sherlock Holmes story where Doctor Watson recounts how Holmes investigated the Jack the Ripper murders.

The book is mostly a Sherlock Holmes pastiche with an Ellery Queen story framing it. The pastiche is a good one that shows proficiency in Holmes and a love for the character that the author obviously possesses. The framing story is mostly okay. It’s hindered by an unnecessary romantic angle that doesn’t add much to the story. It takes quite a while to figure out why Ellery Queen is in this book and it’s that someone thinks the conclusion of the Sherlock Holmes story is wrong. The author deserves credit for finding some way to make this argument without creating a situation that makes Ellery Queen out to be a better detective than Sherlock Holmes.

The book is enjoyable but those looking for a realistic solution to the Ripper murders will have to look elsewhere. The solution offered in the book is consistent with the book but not with all the evidence that’s been put out on the Ripper murders. It would have probably been better to fictionalize the murderers rather than to make it a well-known case and not offer a plausible solution.

Still, A Study in a Terror is an enjoyable mash up of two great detectives that gives both of them their due.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article, Sherlock Holmes

Audio Drama Review: Sacrifice of Sherlock Holmes

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Continuing where the previous box set left off, this box set finds Holmes overseeing the funeral of his brother Mycroft. Holmes is the only one who believes Mycroft’s death is anything other than an accident. More than a quarter of a century after he and Watson faced off against the Society in the prior box set, the anarchist evil organization returns with a vengeance with the goal of bringing down the war-weary British government and the world.

This is a  rich set. The four episodes tell one story over the course of a single day. Several themes run through them: Holmes’ retains much of his deductive powers but finds himself out of place in the 1920s. At many times, Holmes feels like John Wayne’s character in the Shootist past his prime but with one last fight in him. The Society’s strike comes right after World War I, and shows a younger generation wants to escape from war and is willing to pay any price to appease them, compared to Holmes and Watson who view them as intolerable evils.

Watson’s marriage is an interesting focus as Eleanor is cool to his adventuring ways and he feels she loves him less than his first two wives. Plus Holmes is menaced by a figure from his past.

Some elements in this story don’t quite work for me. The Extras portion of each CD references this as being, “Victorian Melodrama,” which neither of the previous box sets were. This seems to paper over a few elements that are over the top and out of place in the tone set by the previous sets. This isn’t enough to ruin the stories by any means but without them this would be a perfect four-hour, suspense-filled, action thriller with many great character moments.

As usual, Briggs and Earl are on top form as Holmes and Watson. Natalie Burt and Elizabeth Rider are superb additions as ex-spies. (Vivienne Scott and Eleanor Watson respectively.) The soundscape conveys the epic power of the script quite nicely, and despite a few minor issues, the story is compelling listening from start to finish.

Rating 4.0 out of 5.0

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Book Review, Golden Age Article

Audiobook Review: Nightbeat: Night Stories

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Nightbeat: Night Stories presents readers and listeners with six new stories based on the 1950s Radio series that starred Frank Lovejoy by Radio Archives.

Radio Archives offers an ebook of the stories for $3.99. There’s one reason to choose the audiobook version instead and that’s Michael C. Gwynne who does one of the flat out best readings that I’ve ever heard. He should read all the best hard-boiled detective novels. His voice carries the production and brings each tale to life. Gwynne doesn’t try to imitate Frank Lovejoy’s take on Stone, but his interpretation of the character captures Stone as the street wise yet warm hearted reporter.

The stories themselves have a very strong love for the series that comes through loud and clear. While the tone varies a bit from story to story, they all carry the idea that Stone is a hero and friend to the ordinary people of Chicago that are so frequently the subject of the Night Beat column.

The book leads off with, “The Strangler” which finds Randy going to an ex-girlfriend who returned to town and began working as a stripper. She’d promised a clue in a series of serial killings. Instead she’s the next victim. It’s probably the most hard-boiled story in the collection and it’s brilliantly written with a decent mystery that I didn’t figure out until 2/3 in. The atmosphere is perfect. It’s a little darker story than would have been played on the radio but I don’t think it went over the top.

In, “The Chicago Punch,” Randy is called in to help a boxer who is at risk of being drawn into an illegal fight scene that could ruin his career and maybe cost him his life. It’s a terrific story with the mix of knowing skepticism about the manager’s proclamation that the kid has what is to be champ, along with an interesting concept that seems plausible for the time.

“The Puzzle in Purple,” finds Randy walking into the police department only to find a lieutenant sweating over a puzzle that’s a potential clue to the location of a kidnapped woman. It’s a two act story with the first being Randy helping the lieutenant and how the two relate to each other as they try to solve the puzzle, and the second finds Randy trying to save the woman on his own when he solves the puzzle. The first half was superb as the interactions between the lieutenant and Randy are brilliantly written. The second half was okay but is probably one of the stupider things Randy Stone ever did, though not unbelievably stupid.

“Down Addison Road,” has a mother with an absent husband asking Randy’s help to get her teenage son out of a racket he’s become involved in. This story works well because it features some well-written action and also the type of quirky characters that made the best Night Beat episodes so interesting to listen to.

“Lucky” is inspired by a couple quirks in the show’s history. In the pilot episode of Night Beat starring Frank Lovejoy, the character was known as Lucky Stone rather than Randy.

In addition, there’s a division among fans as to whether the series is Night Beat or Nightbeat*. So it happens Randy Stone had a competitor, a guy nicknamed Lucky with a first name that starts with an “R.” And he started at a rival paper around the same time Randy started at his and he had a column on Chicago after dark and it was called Night Beat while Randy’s was called  Nightbeat. However, he was fired for plagiarizing one of Randy’s stories. When Randy gets word that Randy Stone’s dead, it’s actually Lucky who’s been killed and Randy has to figure out who wants him dead before the murderers find out they killed the wrong Stone. This story manages to take radio show production issues and add some tense action and make a very enjoyable yarn.

Finally, “The One that Got Away” finds Randy meeting another old flame, this one a famous singer who stopped writing him quite a while ago. She’s back in town and she’s in trouble. This one has good atmosphere, but the characters aren’t as strong as in other stories.. Though, it’s probably my least favorite of the six, it’s still a solid well paced tale.

I was blown away by this collection. There are so many mistakes that you can make with a book like this. It can easily become weak fan fiction or modern ideas and concepts can be inserted and take readers and listeners out of the story. However, the authors avoided these pitfalls and they produced stories that feel genuine to the era and also the type of adventures that Randy Stone might actually have. If you love Night Beat  or even good, 1950s, hard-boiled mysteries, this audiobook is definitely a must-buy.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

*As best I can tell, the spelling of the show is Night Beat  based on promotional materials from the time. However, Radio Archives uses the spelling, “Nightbeat.”

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Tom Swift and His Motorcycle

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When I was growing up, I’d say I read Tom Swift books from the library. That wasn’t exactly true. I checked out 1950s books about the atomic age adventures of Tom Swift, Jr. and a 1990s reboot. Tom Swift, Jr. was an inventor and tech genius extraordinaire who had far out adventures with atomic age technology. His dad was a supporting character as the CEO of Swift Labs. Little did I know, he’d had adventures of his own, adventures that had started the whole Tom Swift craze all the way back in 1910.

The original Tom Swift series was forty children’s books published between 1910 and 1941, and the first of twenty-five of which have fallen into the public domain. Colonial Radio Theatre recently adapted the first of these, Tom Swift and His Motorcycle.

In it, Tom Swift lives with his inventor father Barton Swift in upstate New York. Tom repairs a motorcycle and plans to drive his father’s patent plans as well as a model of his father’s latest invention to the attorney’s office but is waylaid by a gang of robbers who steal the invention. Tom ends up trying to get them back and foils the robbers.

This story is a basic boys adventure story, the type which was so popular for much of the twentieth century but made accessible for modern listeners. It paints a picture of a transitional time in American history as technology such as the telephone and the motor car were making inroads but weren’t universal particularly not in Swift’s upstate New York stomping ground. The story highlights that these technologies were like the wifi hotspots and natural-gas powered cars of their day, so it’s a fascinating look at their era that I don’t think I’ve seen explored in any modern works.

Tom (Colin Budzyna) is the perfect hero for this sort of story: loyal, honest, and a compulsive tinker who has to fix anything he sees that’s broken.

The play is well acted and charming with some dialogue that’s unique and unintentionally hilarious to twenty-first century ears. One character is constantly prefacing his sentence with phrases beginning with, “Bless my-” such as, “Bless my liver….” and “Bless my very existence.” That gives it a nice period feel.

Overall, this is a fun treat. Colonial took an obscure and less-remembered book and has skillfully brought it to life, creating a play that’s enjoyable for both kids and those who remember what it was like to be kids. In doing so, they manage to capture a less remembered era in literature and America History. And Bless my iPod, that’s an accomplishment.

 

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Book Review, Golden Age Article

Book Review: Dividend on Death

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Dividend on Death is the first Michael Shayne novel by Brett Halliday. In it, eighteen-year-old rich girl Phyllis Brighton tries to hire Shayne to protect her mother by watching Phyllis to ensure she doesn’t kill her. A psychologist wants Shayne to work for him for a similar reason. However, the mother is dead by the time Shayne arrives, and he takes on the task of sorting things out.

Having read many of the later Shayne books from the 1950s, I have to admit  this book surprised me. The professional detective who is assisted by a loyal secretary and a reporter friend is nowhere to be seen in this book. Rather, he comes off as a bit of a poor man’s Sam Spade mixed with the roughneck redhead private eye that inspired Halliday to write Shayne. You don’t see much of the charm that made the best Lloyd Nolan Michael Shayne films so enjoyable. This book does explain what might have inspired the worst Nolan film, Dressed to Kill. In, Dividend on Death, Shayne is the uncharming, evidence-destroying oaf of that picture. There’s a sense that Halliday is trying too hard to be hard-boiled in his first detective novel.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. The plot is quite intricate and the solution is clever. The story has some good moments that foreshadow the type of Shayne stories that would come in the future, but it’s not quite there yet. If you’ve read Shayne books before, it’s an interesting curiosity as to how the character began, but if you’re new to the character, I don’t recommend this as it may give a distorted view of what the series will be like.

Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

A Look at Jago and Litefoot, Part Four (Series 9-Series 11)

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See Parts One, Two, and Three


Series Nine of Jago & Litefoot came out in April 2015 and finds Jago and Litefoot on a cruise, trying to enjoy some R&R after the ordeals of Series Eight.

The Series kicks off with, “The Flying Frenchmen,” Jago and Litefoot where they’re quickly thrown into mystery as the ship becomes trapped in a mysterious fog and they begin to encounter familiar faces–their own, however alternate universe versions where London has fallen under the different countries so there’s a German Jago and Litefoot, a Russian Jago and Litefoot, and a French Jago and Litefoot among others.

Overall, the story is interesting but mainly in the way it sets the stage for the rest of the series. There are clever elements thrown in that make these more than “Jago and Litefoot with different accents.” A lot about this story is unresolved by the end of it but it does set the stage for the subsequent episodes quite nicely.

In “The Devil’s Dicemen”, Jago and Litefoot disembark their ship and stumble on a series of mysterious deaths while Jago is led into a high stakes casino where winning requires forfeiting his soul. The story and features a great guest appearance by David Warner as a man who joins Litefoot in investigating the deaths. Though why he’s investigating is an open question.

Jago is a little too dense to how really dangerous the people who are inviting him to gamble at the Dark Casino are. After eight series, such credulity seemed way out of character. This is made up for at the end where Jago’s intelligence does re-emerge in a surprising twist. Plus, the mystery of what Doctor Betterman is up to is interesting throughout.

The “Isle of Death,” is another atmospheric diversion for Jago and Litefoot as they disembark from their ship to explore an uncharted isle. It’s got a nice Isle of Doctor Moreau feel with a mysterious monster causing mischief. A major highlight was the humorous twist in the reveal of the villain.

Finally, “Return of the Nightmare” is a thoroughly exciting finale as Jago and Litefoot find themselves in danger on the boat and have to confront the cause of the trouble that occurred in the series opener and has been in the background all along. What follows is an action-packed and exciting race to the finish. It’s probably the fastest paced episode of Jago and Litefoot I’ve heard. The plot is solid but is let down slightly by an ending that’s too predictable.

Overall, this is an enjoyable series even though it’s not one of Jago & Litefoot’s best. The third tale, “Isle of Death,” is probably the highlight of the box set like good Victorian Science Fiction.

In between Series 9 and 10, Jago and Litefoot appeared in the Doctor Who: Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure. Due to contract difficulties with the BBC, Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor was not given an appropriate final exit and regeneration story, so Big Finish decided to fill in that gap in the Sixth Doctor’s history which they do with a four episode box set. Jago and Litefoot appear in the third story, “Stage Fright.”

The Doctor and his companion Flip arrive in Victorian London where Jago is taking it easy after Mr. Yardvale (an anagram for the Doctor’s enemy The Valeyard) has rented Henry’s theater at a very high rate so he can stage auditions for his own play behind closed doors. However, all the scenes played are those of the Doctor’s past regenerations. The Doctor is set on their trail when Litefoot asks his help on examining bodies that appear to be aged to death–the actors who played in the Valeyard’s sick little drama.

“Stage Fight” has a great sense of terror as well as suspense. It features the first direct confrontation between the Valeyard and the Doctor in the box set and it’s a memorable one. The supporting cast is superb. Jago, Litefoot, and Inspector Quick are top notch, and Colin Baker really has some strong moments. Flip is a fun character, but her best moment was towards the end of the story when she faced her stage fright in a powerful way.

Series Ten begins with “The Case of the Missing Gasogene” with introduces Jago and Litefoot’s biographer Carruthers Summerton as the two try to one up each other and investigate a locked room mystery separately in order to impress Summerton. The story is full of fun and excitement, and I found it to be one of their most amusing tales.

In “The Year of the Bat,” Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor interacts with Jago and Litefoot, albeit indirectly, through the Yesterday Box, a device that allows letters to be sent back in time, altering the current time line. This is good because they find themselves facing a foe they’d each fought thirty years before (without knowing the other party had fought their foe.) The story is one of Jonathan Morris’ most madcap Jago and Litefoot tales as we get some key highlights including the first meeting between Jago and Litefoot (which neither knew about.) This is a solid plot gimmick that works for an entertaining episode.

In “The Mourning After, ” Henry Gordon Jago is dead, or so Professor Litefoot believes. But after the coffin is lowered, we learn Jago is still alive even as his coffin is being buried.

This story is beautifully orchestrated as Henry finds himself in an apocalyptic future with the last member of the Jago and Litefoot Society while Litefoot faces the threat of zombies in the present. The story is clever and while you have an inkling of what might be going on, there are some amazing twists and turns. The scenes with Jago in the coffin are probably the most tense in the series’s history. The story also does a great job setting up the finale.

The set concludes with, “The Museum of Curiosities” where a series of bizarre murders rocks London and demands Jago and Litefoot’s attention as they have to deal with the “help” of Carruthers Summerton and muse about whether the mysterious Doctor Betterman is involved.

The story works brilliantly as a mystery. While I guessed the solution, the story didn’t let me be sure until the very last ten minutes. In addition, this clever mystery leads into a nice celebration of all the mischief and mayhem, Jago and Litefoot have faced in the course of ten series without going overboard or undermining the plot.

This is probably my favorite series of adventures. The individual episodes are superb with the finale serving as a capstone to the first Ten Series of Jago & Litefoot.

Big Finish obtained the rights to do audio dramas using characters from the revived series of Doctor Who that began in 2005. A natural fit would be to combine Victorian Age characters from the Classic and Revived Series, thus in November 2015, Jago and Litefoot were teamed with Strax the Sontaran butler in the feature length: Jago & Litefoot, & Strax: The Haunting.

The plot finds Strax, having lost his memory and moving in with Jago and Litefoot to hunt a creature that steals brains. This story is a delightful and lighthearted tale that while being fun, never crosses the line into being absurd or campy. Strax fits right into world of Jago and Litefoot, and there’s fantastic chemistry between the three leads.

The one thing I was nervous about listening to the trailer (and having seen Strax on TV) is that the entire story would be one big joke about Strax’s tendency to be unable to distinguish gender in humans. Yet, I needn’t have worried, while Justin Richards played to this suggestion from Stephen Moffat, he didn’t overplay it, thanks to a very clever scene with Ellie in the Red Tavern.

While the plot is a bit simple, the highlight is the fun character interactions. Overall, this wonderful production does a great job bringing Classic Who and New Who together.

This eleventh Jago and Litefoot series brings them face to face with the Master (played by Geoffrey Beevers) who remains in the background throughout the series before coming to the fore in the Series finale. Below is a look at each story:

Jago & Son: A fun romp that introduces us to a potential son of Jago as well as an old friend of Professor Litefoot’s. There’s plenty happening, but this story feels far less self-contained than the previous Jago & Litefoot lead off stories. It lays out a lot of threads that will be connected in later stories, with suspense and spookiness around a Satanic cult thrown into the mix.

Maurice: Probably my least favorite Jago and Litefoot episode and a bit of a disappointment from writer Matthew Sweet. The story seems almost like a generic Jago and Litefoot story, but without anything to really make it stand out. There are a few confusing points and the regulars, while still good, aren’t really given the material they need to shine.

The Woman in White: A solid installment that finds Jago meeting up with his friend Bram Stoker in response to Sir Henry Irving behaving oddly. In addition, the most recent production has been plagued by a series of disappearances and strange happenings. The professor’s end of the investigation is a little less interesting, but taken together, this is an exciting and suspenseful story.

Masterpiece: The episode suffers from a lot of waiting and repetition. A body is dropped off at the morgue drained-just like in the previous episode, although there is a difference in what it has been drained of. The focus of the episode is Jago and Litefoot trying to solve a mystery that’s already been revealed to the audience. We also spend much of the episode waiting for the Doctor to arrive.

What does make this work are the solid performances, most notably from Geoffrey Beevers as the Master. The Master isn’t content to wreak havoc for his purposes, but also sets up Ellie for danger and disaster in Series Twelve. The story deserves credit for how it gets the Doctor in. You spend most of the episode expecting the Doctor’s arrival (for that’s the whole point of the Master’s plan) only to realize the truth. Of course, once you realize the truth, the rest of the plot becomes obvious.

Overall, this is probably my least favorite Jago and Litefoot outing. The stories aren’t bad by any means but most of them call to mind prior stories, and recent ones in many cases. Jag & Son uses a satanic cult after one had just been featured featured in Series Nine’s “The Devil’s Dicemen.” Even the best story in the set, “The Woman in White,” has a similar to solution to Jago, Litefoot, and Strax: The Haunting, and I’ve noted my problems with “Maurice” above.

The problem may be the Master. Don’t get me wrong. Geoffrey Beevers is great but this may be a case of mixing two great ingredients and not getting a good finished product. Jago and Litefoot, two mystery-solving paranormal detectives matched against Beevers’ Master, the skulking and the obvious ultimate bad guy really doesn’t work as well as you’d think.

Even though the most recent series was disappointing, Jago & Litefoot has a strong track record and will bounce back with Series Twelve, which will be released later on this month.

Over the course of the last seven years, they’ve had an amazing variety of fantastic adventures. The entire series is a testament to the power of audio and imagination as two Octagenerian actors play characters who embody the spirit of adventure through one vigorous case after another, something that just couldn’t be done on television.

Big Finish has created a series that has an established brand and feel but still manages to come up with new twists and new facets to their characters. Jago and Litefoot have had an incredible run and I hope they carry on for many years to come.

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A Look at Jago and Litefoot, Part Three (Series 6-Series 8)

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See Part One and Part Two

Minor spoilers ahead.

Right around the same time as the release of Series 5 of Jago and Litefoot, the duo guest starred in a Big Finish Doctor Who story featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor with Mary Tamm as his companion Romana.

The story is kind of a Victorian version of Judge Dredd meets Superman as a steampunk cyborg vigilante delivers swift vengeance to evildoers on the streets of London. It’s a great yarn but Jago and Litefoot are pretty much in sidekick roles.

Series Six came out in the fall of 2013 and sees them returning to their best form as they encounter the mysterious Colonel who has some business for them to do on behalf of the crown.

The series gets back to its Victorian roots with, “The Skeleton Quay,” where they go to investigate a series of murders off the coast of Shingle Cove. The atmosphere on this is perfect and the plotline is very well-written. It’s probably the most authentically Victorian story Jago and Litefoot have done.

It does feature Jago and Litefoot conveniently forgetting their time in the 1960s and their travels in the TARDIS to Venus for no explicable reason and concluding it was a dream. It’s a case of plot and writer convenience. The experiences, if retained, would probably change the characters too much so I understand why they did it. However, that being the case, Jago and Litefoot shouldn’t have gone there or they should have come up with a more explicable explanation for what happened.

Next up is, “Return of the Repressed” which has Jago and Litefoot meeting up with Sigmund Freud in a nice psychological drama. The story begins with Jago telling Freud of his dreams and then those dreams end up coming to life.

The story has some great humorous moments and for once, Professor Litefoot provides them. At the same, it provides some insight into Jago and Litefoot’s characters. It’s brilliantly written and a lot of fun.

In “Military Intelligence,” the mysterious Colonel, who called Jago & Litefoot into service for the crown at the beginning of the sixth series wants information regarding their encounters with Doctor Tulp who they battled in the “Mahogany Murderers” and during Series One of Jago & Litefoot. However, Litefoot smells a rat. A s he asks questions, the situation gets more dangerous.

The story is exciting and packed full of intrigue, mystery, steampunk elements, and a surprise guest character all leading to an ending that sets up the Series finale beautifully.

In, “The Trial of George Litefoot,” Litefoot is arrested for the murder of Jago. The idea for the plot was an intriguing one, but in the first half they strained credulity far too much. It seemed like they were concerned about laying the groundwork for the premise of Series Seven that they cut a lot of corners to get there. At fifty-three minutes, the story could have benefited from being a bit longer to fill in the gaps of logic.

However, the last twenty minutes has the story back on track with our heroes having a thrilling climatic battle with the Colonel, who has an utterly insane plan to bring down the British empire. Overall, it is a decent conclusion to Series Six.

As a whole, Series Six re-established the series’ original premise and sets the stage for Series Seven which would have Jago and Litefoot on the run and wanted.

Series Seven begins with, “The Monstrous Menagerie,” which finds Jago and Litefoot in disguise as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and sent out on a case by none other than Arthur Conan Doyle (played by Steven Miller) himself.

The story is set after Doyle’s killed off Holmes in “The Final Problem” and finds the author encountering constant cries from fans to bring Holmes back. Miller does a great job in the story and Jonathan Morris’ script does a great job playing up Doyle’s frustration.

There are some great hints and references to future Doyle stories including, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Lost World.” This is a very delightful, well-acted tale and the strongest opening to a Jago and Litefoot box set since Series One.

While the previous Series’ “Return of the Repressed” took a somewhat lighthearted look at the psychology of our heroes, Series 7’s “Night of 1,000 Stars,” examines Jago, Litefoot, Ellie, and Leela (who has appeared for a reason that’s key to the story).

It’s meaty material that has our heroes questioning which of them is behind their predicament and they come to the conclusion that one of them is in fact a killer. It’s a clever script that could easily be performed as a stage play. It’s a fantastic script that shows that there’s still a lot more depths to plumb with these characters.

Murder at Moorsey Manor features Jago and Litefoot showing up at a mansion for a party under assumed names to speak to a key witness who can clear them. However, they find out that they’re at an early convention. Then they and the other guests discover that they’re in an old house where one person dies every hour. Murder at Moorsey Manor is evocative of, “And Then There Were None…” and other “old house” murder stories.

The story moves at a good pace and manages to blend suspense with comedy in a way that is seamless. The finale and solution to the case are superb and cleverly executed. The story concludes with them apparently arrested.

However, in the series finale, “The Wax Princess,” Jago and Litefoot, to their surprise, find themselves not under arrest. Instead, they learn Jack the Ripper was captured by Inspector Abeline but he’s escaped and it’s up to them to find him.

The story works. There are some great suspenseful moments, a strong performance for Sergeant Quick, a nice bit of misdirection over the identity of the Ripper, and even a somewhat funny bit where Lightfoot impersonated Jago.

The story wasn’t perfect. The whole premise of the box set was dealt with and dismissed rather quickly. “Forget about that whole being on the run thing, the police need you to hunt Jack the Ripper.” Also, I have to admit the realization of Queen Victoria was a little weak. Having the actress who played her talking in a very high falsetto seemed a bit below the typical standards of the series, although she still managed some good moments even with that voice.

Overall, though this was an enjoyable conclusion to one of the best series of Jago and Litefoot.

Between Series Seven and Eight, Big Finish released, “The Worlds of Doctor Who,” a good marketing idea that featured a story that would feature episodes from three Doctor Who spin off ranges and then a Doctor Who episode with Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. The four stories would be inter-linked by the same villain operating in different times and places.

Jago and Litefoot are in the lead off story, “Mind Games,” where the duo look into a series of murders in London when they find a man who dreamed he committed the murder and another is awakened before following through. The clues point back to a hypnotist named Mr. Rees. Overall, this was unremarkable Jago & Lightfoot fare. Our heroes provide charm but little else. The story’s problems may stem from the fact it’s the start of a storyline that would be picked up 3/4 of a century later.

They do make a cameo appearance in the third story for UNIT, “The Screaming Skull,” via a recording done on a wax cylinder. It’s a nice touch and Big Finish did a great job treating the audio so it sounded like an authentic wax record from the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

In the fall of 2014, Jago and Litefoot Series 8 was released and it was a bit of a departure from most of the recent box sets. Usually, at least three of the four stories are interconnected, starting with the first episode. However, in this set, the first and second stories are standalone tales and the final two episodes are essentially a two parter.

The set kicks off with Jago deciding to hire a puppet act in, “Encore of the Scorchies.” Little does Jago know the Scorchies are evil alien puppets (from a Doctor Who audio in which they were the titular characters.) It doesn’t take long before those evil killer puppets are up to their old tricks as they get hired on to perform at Jago’s theater and the result is mayhem.

The episode is full of superbly written musical numbers and are performed brilliantly with some very good guest vocalists as well as a couple of strong numbers from Jago and Ellie. The Encore of the Scorchies has some very funny scenes, most notably the one where the Scorchies expected to blow Lightfoot’s mind by explaining they were evil aliens bent on world domination and found him unimpressed, plus the final scene for Ellie has a great humorous twist.

At the same time, the story never loses sight of the genuine horror of what the Scorchies are doing and it how it effects the characters in the story, which manages to give it a neat balance. Overall, this was a very memorable start to the series.

“The Backwards Men,” has Jago and Litefoot looking into mysterious deaths that center around Wednesday’s World of Weird Wonders. It marks the return of Andy Lane who wrote the Mahogany Murderers but hadn’t written for the series since Series Three. The story has a lot of fun touches that seem quite true to the Victorian era . The story features an extra-terrestrial element including an alien symbiote that’s not everything he seems to be.

The villain was given an interesting backstory and motive. The final few minutes were riveting with Jago fighting for his life and mind.

“Jago, Litefoot, and Patsy,” introduces the Mudlark Patsy,  who discovers a fish with a man’s severed hand in it. This leads to her foisting herself on Jago and Litefoot as she wants the fish back when the investigation is done. Through the course of the story, she’s given an interesting backstory as the Queen of Jacob’s Island.

This one is solidly atmospheric with Flaminia Cinque turning in a solid performance as Patsy and the story maintaining some great Victorian atmosphere and a well-done final confrontation and a final scene that set up the box set’s finale.

“Higdson and Quick,” is a very different finale that finds something very wrong with our heroes and it’s up to Ellie and Inspector Quick to save the day.

At the core of the story is the idea of Jago and Litefoot being under an alien influence but it not changing their personality. It’s very well acted by the two leads. The whole plot is fascinating, and it features well-realized scenes on a train.

Series Eight left our heroes quite beleaguered and emotionally drained and ends with them deciding to recharge by taking cruise expecting nothing eventful at all to happen, but they’d learn better in Series Nine, which we’ll discuss next week.

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A Look at Jago & Litefoot, Part Two (Series 3-Series 5)

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After having discussed Series 1-2 of Jago and Litefoot last week, we continue with Series 3-5.

Series Three saw Jago and Litefoot reunited with Leela (Louise Jameson) from “Talons of Weng-Chiang” of Doctor Who as she returns to19th Century London at the request of the Time Lords.

The series shifted to a more Science Fiction and Fantasy feel after the horror of Series Two.

The first story, “Dead Man’s Tales,” established Leela as part of the cast as she’s investigating cracks in time where the future is bleeding through to the past. The story has some faults, particularly that the solution to the main plot doesn’t involve any of the heroes. Still, the story is a lot of fun and has more comedy than most any other Jago and Litefoot story. After the dark beginnings to the first two series, this showed how the tone of Series 3 would be different.

The next story, “Man at the End of the Garden,” is Matthew Sweet’s debut writing for Jago & Litefoot and it’s a memorable one as Jago & Litefoot investigate the disappearance of a female Fantasy author. The story has got a fantasy feel of its own with some mystery and horror elements thrown in combined with some fine character moments.

Next up John Dorney’s first script for Jago and Litefoot, “Swan Song,” which finds the intrepid trio encountering ghosts from the future in a team of scientists whose lab was built on the site of Jago’s theater. The story has some great emotional moments with Jago forming a bond with a scientist from the future whose dream of being a dancer was destroyed by an auto accident.

Finally, “Chronoclasm” wraps up the season as we see the villain behind it all. It’s a thrilling and action packed story with some great twists including two different version of Jago from differents appearing. The only downside was that the villain’s motive, which was meant to humanize him, is a bit overdone.

Still, Series Three remains one of the best sets Jago and Litefoot with the middle two stories being outstanding examples of how good the series can be.. The addition of Leela gives the stories a good tone as well. Originally, she was supposed to leave at the end of Series Three, but would return for one more turn as in Series Four they encounter the mysterious Claudius Dark.

Series Four came out in March 2012 and got off to a rough start in the first few scenes of, “Jago in Love,” as Series Three ended with the cliffhanger and the opening scene of the box sets resolves it but not in a way that makes sense. However, once everything is straightened out, Jago, Litefoot, and Leela decide to take a holiday at Brighton where Jago falls completely, madly, disproportionately in love with a singer. However, some strange ghostly evil is afoot and Lifefoot and the Professor will need Jago’s help to take care of it, but is Jago set to leave his friends behind forever?

This is a story that could easily become pantomime because most of these premises have done in fiction to death, yet the story comes off beautifully. Nigel Fairs’ script is handsomely written and thoroughly researched. The soundscape is great and I loved the recreation of the 19th Century music as well as the fair.

In “Beautiful Things”, courtesy of Professor Dark, Jago and Litefoot get tickets to an Oscar Wilde play but Litefoot has had a bad experience with Wilde personally and would rather look at cadavers. Litefoot finds himself involved in the investigation of several young men who have gone into comas. Jago and Litefoot find the crimes are tied in with a man who’s been trying to meet Mr. Wilde. Writer John Dorney does a great job at capturing Oscar Wilde. I loved his interchange with Jago when Wilde teased Jago’s verbosity. Wilde also shines in the when confronting the villain. This would also be the first of many Jago & Litefoot to feature Victoria-era historical figures.

In “The Lonely Clock,” After the events of the previous story, Jago and Litefoot board a train to flee their enemies and are separated from Leela. The ghost train is great atmosphere and leaves Jago and Litefoot to play off one another in this spooky environment where time seems to be changing speeds, and then they find a dead woman on the train.

At the same time, Leela and her companion encounter a woman who just murdered her fiance and has more secrets to hide, having had an offer to represent her by an attorney, who happens to be one of the enemies of Jago, Litefoot, and Professor Dark. This story works solid sound design, great acting, and a great conclusion that is exciting even if I found the shocking reveal to be instead a bit expected.

In, “The Hourglass Killers,” Claudius Dark really takes the lead here as he confronts the nefarious scheme of Kempston and Hardwick, who have been lurking to one degree or another throughout the box.

Jago had some great character moments, both in terms of revealing his emerging courage, as well as being re-united with the woman he fell for in, “Jago in Love,” and has a very poignant end.

Series Four is another superb box set with some fantastic science fiction elements. If anything, it’s slightly stronger than the previous series. The sets ends with our heroes heading with the Sixth Doctor (played by Colin Baker) in the TARDIS and thus becoming actual Doctor Who Companions. Rather than having another series come out in the Fall, Jago and Litefoot appeared in two stand-alone single disc Doctor Who stories.

First up was, Voyage to Venus which finds the Doctor, Jago, and Litefoot landing on Venus. It’s a pulp fiction vision of Venus with a matriarchal society you’d read about in a 19th century or early 20th century science fiction. It’s a fun idea and fairly well executed.

The second tale was Voyage to the New World which has the trio travelling to the 16th century and exploring the mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. Matthew Sweet turns in a script that’s a well-researched and well-written story filled with rich and evocative atmosphere and language. Sweet shows incredible talent in creating a script that grips the imagination, while creating a wonderfully charming fantasy.

The leads all turn in great performances and are graced by a superb guest cast.

The story ends with the Doctor dropping Jago and Litefoot off back in London. It turns out that he gets them into the exactly correct location, only a little later than they would have hoped–about 75 years later.

Series Five of Jago and Litefoot came out in the Spring of 2013 finds them dealing with living as men out of time in the late 1960s. Ellie has survived into the 1960s without aging much due to the experiment done on her in Series Two and now owns the former Red Tavern. She’s a different character at this point which makes for a different dynamic in this series. In addition, this set features a great, updated 1960s version of the Jago and Litefoot theme.

The series does a good job setting up Jago and Litefoot in the 1960s in the first story,  “Age of Revolution,” with Jago as a TV presenter for a Victorian Music hall revival show, “Those Were the Days” while Litefoot runs a Victorian bookshop. The second half of the story goes a bit off the rails as the writer tries to use Jago and Litefoot to make a political point.

“The Glutonous Guru” finds a classic 1960s new age guru worming his way in, in more way than one. As Litefoot and Ellie race to save Jago from a horrific fate that he seems all too eager to embrace. Writer Marc Platt really took the 1960s setting and went to town with it. The story is not for everyone and I couldn’t recommend listening to it anywhere close to mealtime.

“The Bloodchild Codex” is about an 18th Century magician who found a way to provide Eternal life and two different people who want the book that will do it. A somewhat typical ghost story that’s unrelated to the series arc and therefore cut short to support the arc. Really, this story could have just as easily occurred in the Victorian era.

“The Final Act” finds Jago and Litefoot fighting the villain of the box set in what’s essentially a bit of a sequel to “Talons of Weng-Chiang.” The story has some good moments but loses momentum at the end as writer Justin Richards can’t resist throwing in one more element of Talons. Other than the fact it took the villains three generations to prepare their evil scheme, like the previous story, there’s little that demands this story be set in the 1960s.

The Fifth Series of Jago and Litefoot isn’t bad but it’s a bit frustrating and one of my least favorite series. The series showed there was great potential for taking these two investigators of the infernal and plopping down in a different century. Yet, only in, “The Glutonous Guru,” did the series realize the 1960s potential to its full worth. If anything, Jago and Litefoot were a bit too comfortable with the 1960s and too adjusted to it as the series started and that made them seem like different characters. If Big Finish wanted to do Jago & Litefoot in the 1960s, they should have done two series of these so they could really get into the feel of the era. Instead this set is kind of written with the thrust that they’ll be home by the end of the set, so they don’t really play it up to its full potential.

Of course, there’s a good case to be made that this was a big departure for the series and perhaps shouldn’t have been done in the first place. Certainly, it’s fair to say the series had drifted from its original premise. The Mahogany Murderers had presented Jago and Litefoot as fighting infernal forces in Victorian England. This series is about time travelers who have visited Venus and are having the Doctor and his companion around for adventures and it isn’t quite what many were expecting.

Series Six would change that as Jago & Litefoot returned to their roots. That’s not to say they were done with the Doctor, but the next time they met the Doctor, they would be guest stars in his series and not the other way around.

We’ll take a look at Series 6-Series 8 next week.

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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

A Look at Jago & Litefoot, Part One

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Big Finish’s audio drama series, Jago and Litefoot will soon release it’s twelfth series. It follows theater owner Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin) and pathologist George Litefoot (Trevor Baxter) as they team up as investigators of all things infernal in late 19th Century London.

What are the origins of this series and how did it become popular? The story of Jago & Litefoot is the tale of a long overdue spin-off and the freedom audio drama gives actors to play roles they would never be allowed to play in a visual medium.

In the course of the next four weeks, we’re going to take a look at the entire series over the next four articles.

The Origin

Jago & Litefoot

Jago and Litefoot originally appeared in the Doctor Who TV story, “The Talons of Weng-Chiang,” in 1977 which finds the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Leela (Louise Jameson) travelling back in time to the late Victorian Era. It’s a story that’s noteworthy for its period feel. The Doctor abandons his typical suit and long scarf for a Sherlock Holmes outfit complete with deer stalker cap while Leela trades her short jungle dress for a proper Victorian look. In the story, the Doctor investigates a series of strange murders and he obtains the help of Litefoot the pathologist, and Jago, whose theater is at the center of the killings. However, the Doctor meets the characters separately during his investigation and the two only come together in the last episode.

However, when they came together, the dynamic was great.They were praised as a fine double act. Writer Robert Holmes reportedly liked the idea of the two having their own spin-off series.Many fans over the years would agree, but no one at the BBC saw this as a worthwhile project and nothing came of it.

Benjamin and Baxter certainly knew little of it and didn’t  work together for the next 30 years. Both had very prolific careers with a combination of stagework and television appearances. Benjamin’s career was the picture of a character actor as attested to by his 168 acting credits through IMBD. His credits read like a history of British Television with appearances in series such as Foyle’s War, the Tomorrow People, Rumpole of the Bailey, Yes, Prime Minister, and the Return of Sherlock Holmes as well as appearing as another character in the revived series of Doctor Who as a different character. Baxter’s career was no less prolific, but it was focused more on the stage and included play writing as well as appearances in a few films.

By 2009, Benjamin was 74, and Baxter 76. It was safe to say their time on a Victorian Doctor Who serial was little more than a happy memory for them.

The Pilot
Mahogany Murderers

Benjamin and Baxter worked together for the first time in more than thirty years on the Mahogany Murderers, which was released by Big Finish in June 2009. The story was officially released as part of Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles line of audiobooks. The Mahogany Murderers was strikingly different than other releases in this line as it was not really an audiobook, but a two-handed audio drama and it became a backdoor pilot for the series. In addition, despite featuring the Doctor Who theme music, the Doctor doesn’t appear.

The plot involves Jago and Litefoot meeting up at the Red Tavern and telling each other about strange encounters they had. For Professor Litefoot, the case begins to get strange when a body is pulled from the Thames and turns out to be a very well-detailed mannequin or is it?

It actually proves to be a part of a plot by a gang of criminals who want to live forever, and they are assisted by the mad genius, Doctor Tulp.

The story is brilliantly acted as Jago and Litefoot recount the tale with gusto. The story becomes more complex and creepy as it develops and the truly diabolic nature of the business is revealed.

 

The release was a critical and commercial success. It showed the potential for a series of Jago and Litefoot adventures.

The Series Begins

The Jago & Litefoot series has had a very consistent feel to it over the course of the last eleven box sets, aided by the continuing presence of most of its key principles. The series is produced by David Richardson, with scripts edited by Justin Richards, and\ directed by Lisa Bowerman.

In The Mahogany Murderers, Bowerman took on the functional role of the minor character, Ellie Higdson, the barmaid. The role grew to become the main supporting character through the entire series. Conrad Asquith, who played Police Constable Quick in the Talons of Weng-Chiang, reprized the role as Sergeant and later Inspector Quick in every box set except for Series 5.

The cast and the creative team were in place and thirteen months after the Mahogany Murderers was released Jago & Litefoot released their first series box set. Each box set would contain four stories, written by three or usually four different writers. Details of the first two series with minimal spoilers follow.

In this first series, the show is very entertaining but it’s clearly trying to find its feet. While there was a single villain behind the scenes, each story has a different flavor as there’s a sense of trying to discover what works best. The first story “The Bloodless Soldier” is a werewolf tale and it’s followed by “The Bellova Devil” which is a more traditional detective mystery, then “The Spirit Trap” has them taking on what they think is a phony medium but who turns out to be far more dangerous than they imagined, and then wraps up with “The Similarity Engine,” which has a very strong steampunk feel to it.

The series set down a few key precedents. Because it is set in the same universe as Doctor Who, the infernal things that Jago and Litefoot investigate will tend to have causes that are naturalistic, alien, or mad science related. Even if there’s a werewolf, the series will offer a natural explanation for it rather than suggest an ancient curse or something of that sort.

The first series also had to be concerned with the character development of Jago. Jago has endearing traits that make him a fun supporting character but that could pose a problem as a lead. Jago can be a pompous and is almost always the over the top impresario ready to drop a grand alliteration, such as, ‘Slumbering somnambulists to the slaughter!’  In addition, if written in the wrong way, Jago could easily be one dimensional and the teaming of Jago and Litefoot would be that of the erudite Litefoot and blustering cowardly idiot Jago.

The series chose to go another direction and right from the first episode, Jago is established as something different. Jago faces a fateful decision, a moment of truth at the end of “The Bloodless Soldier,” that forces him to take action and spurs his journey towards being a believable hero of the story. And rather than Litefoot being smart and Jago being dumb, the series establishes the duo as complimentary. Litefoot is better read and expert in scientific investigation, however Jago’s years of experience in the theater have brought him a specialized skillset and a sort of street smarts that helps him catch things Litefoot might miss.

Overall, the first series does a great job of laying the groundwork for the whole Jago & Litefoot audiodrama.

In the Winter of 2011, Series 2 of Jago and Litefoot was released. This second series had a much darker feel. It kicked off with Litefoot abandoning Jago for a new partner in Gabriel Sanders in “Litefoot and Sanders.” After killing off Ellie’s brother in the Series 1 opener, Ellie herself dies in the opening story and our heroes take a spooky night train to ensure the safe burial of her remains only to discover foul experiment afoot among the bodies in, “The Necropolis Express.” In  “The Theatre of Dreams,” Jago books an act that can make your dreams come true but of course, this promise has a dark side. Finally, in “The Ruthaven Inheritance,” Litefoot is fired and Jago is tricked into selling his theatre. Both men get 500 pounds and the villain’s endgame comes into play.

“The Theatre of Dreams” is probably the outstanding story of the series with its mind-bending plot and the way it challenged listeners’ perceptions. The series strengthened the relationship between Ellie and our heroes. They show obvious care for her. When they find out she’s not really dead but has been transformed into a vampire by the villain of the story, Litefoot sets out to cure her and Jago takes care of her despite her making him nervous. Her vampirism is gone by the end of the series but some of the after effects play a role in Jago and Litefoot stories for years to come.

On a negative side, the final story put Ellie, Jago, and Litefoot in serious straits and the finale offers cheap solutions that aren’t entirely satisfying. In addition, the tone of the stories was too dark for the lead characters, particularly in the second box set.The first two box sets were well-written but it’d be hard to describe the series as fun. The series had some strong stories but they needed to find the right tone. They’d take a big step towards that in Series 3 and they’d do it with some old friends and new writers. We’ll talk about that next week.

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