Dark Eyes - 4.1 - A Life in the Day

We move away from Molly being the companion in this instalment of the first of the four stories of the final box set, and Liv Chenka steps into the spotlight, which in some instances is not a bad thing, the character of Molly once we realise her role in the whole process is somewhat one dimensional really start to wear thin for the Doctor, as it a definite case of playing push and pull between the Doctor and the Master. So for this to come into play with Liv stepping in I think is a wise character move on Dorney part. Also Liv is a rather robust and dimensional act and as such provides the Doctor with a much more equal foil, she being experienced in the ways of time travel and therefore lends itself to a more suitable partner for the Doctor. Liv played by Nicola Walker is superb in the role, she plays the character with new belief as she has found out Liv is not labouring under the threat of catastrophic organ failure. McGann well it goes without saying no equal, as an audio Doctor Who is one of the best, it really is a no effort part for him, he plays this with all it's worth just the hint of sarcastic tone from the Baker era, an element of the well-dressed fop from Pertwee and the confused state of 6 and 7 thrown in. The story concentrates of the Doctor's efforts of tracking down Molly, and returning to London, in the early 20's, holed up at the Ritz Liv is getting bored. It is not until the Doctor on visiting the Baker Street address to find out what has happened to Molly, is greeted with a crippled war veteran and his sister. However when the Doctor experiences a time shift he soon comes to realise that this particular war veteran has more about him than first meets the eye. A wonderfully involved start to the first release of the final box set of Dark Eyes.

The Doctor and Liv find themselves in London following the First World War. Liv goes on a date and the Doctor finds himself dealing with a temporal mystery that will draw Liv and her mysterious date in.

The script is actually John Dorney's first for the Eighth Doctor and it injects some needed fun into the Eighth Doctor and to the range as a whole. This story sees an Eighth Doctor who is upbeat and quirky. (so much so that I wonder if this weren't originally drafted as a Fourth Doctor Script.) The story also begins to draw Liv out as a more confident character now that she's the Doctor's actual companion. The story has not only humor, but that poignant twist that make Dorney scripts so memorable.

Barnaby Kay turns in a superb performance as the mysterious but brave disabled veteran Martin Donaldson. And while the overall explanation isn't unusual for Doctor Who, there's a pretty interesting twist on it.

Overall, this makes for a superb star to the Fourth Dark Eyes box set.

In the continuity-heavy Dark Eyes series, this stand alone story is a bit of a filler. Its a very good one though with a seemingly minor character playing a very critical part.

Its one of those John Dorney stories that just drags you in and flows along.
Great performances from Paul McGann and Nicola Walker and what could be the best character piece for Liv. It's perhaps the only time we've heard her not despertaley fighting for her life. Beth Chalmers puts in a great performance to.

The Doctor and Liv land in London, post WWI to check on Molly. Instead they find a subtle yet intriguing scenario that sees Liv taken to the cinema by a wounded war veteran while the doctor investigates.

This is a very good start to the new series. Anyone can jump on with this and the ending leads into the next story.

A Life in the Day is a wonderfully clever 'timey-wimey' story that takes a brilliantly novel approach to an established temporal phenomenon. I love how it began light, letting the Paul McGann play the jovial, hopeful Eighth Doctor of the pre-Divergent-Universe main range era. I shan't spoil the ending, but I will say that letting the McGann play a less brooding Doctor makes the rather harsh emotional payoff at the end that much more jarring and, of course, effective. I was not expecting to cry this morning, but I did at the end nonetheless.