210. The Peterloo Massacre

This story does most things right but has a fatal flaw. As a pure historical it manages to build suspense and avoid some of the hollow tropes that plague similar stories. The TARDIS is damaged explaining why they don't simply leave but this acts as a point of interest to involve our protagonists with the wealthy industrialists so it furthers the plot. Similarly, we see the companions being split off and captured but rather than stalling the plot this expands upon it by giving more detail to the auxillary characters and fleshing out the players and scene. The massacre itself sits on the horizon leading to an increasing sense of doom that builds a great deal of suspense across the first 3 parts of the story. Unfortunately, this is where it falls apart. While the massacre itself has some shockingly disturbing moments by Doctor Who standards it doesn't quite portray the scale of bloodshed that the characters speak of. Even worse, the 4th part struggles to handle the aftermath and the secondary cast like Mr./Mrs. Hurley come across as very hollow and one dimensional. The Doctor is very well portrayed along the lines of his television era and Nyssa and Tegan both are fantastically written but the final act is a let down after such an immense build up. Still very much worth listening to but could have been better.

The Peterloo Massacre is a very good script that manages to capture the horrific events of that day in 1819 as the Doctor realizes too late to keep his companions out of harm's way. The soundscape is brilliant as it brings the sound of a giant crowd to life as also captures the horrific moment when the crowd is attacked by the local milita.

The regulars take their performance to the next level. This episode sees the Fifth Doctor as angry as we ever see him. The most genial of the Doctors slowing loses his cool as he tries to but can't escape the events around him. Nyssa is taken to a far more mentally fragile place while Tegan is given a fitting object for her ire.

The story's big problem is that it does fail to do what writer Paul Magrs said and provide a sense of nuance to the events. The "Settling" managed to do with a far more historically trouble character, but while Magrs' characters don't twirl mustaches, there's really not another side or anything that would give the story a shade of nuance. Still, with solid performance and sound design, the production is still a very solid listen

This is one of the increasingly rare Doctor Who stories that is a pure and honest to God historical. The specific topic of the title is something that I knew absolutely nothing about and so I avoided it initially at first glance. But when it was recommended to me by half a dozen people on a Reddit forum as one of the darkest and most affecting Doctor Who audio stories ever produced, I simply had to take another glance at it as well as do my research on the event in question. As I'm not at all British, I may not be the best person to give my thoughts or perspective on the event itself but as it turns out, the Peterloo Massacre is a relatively small but brutal event in British history with immense influences and repercussions throughout the UK similar as to how the Boston Massacre lands as a turning point for American history. It's a fascinating topic and after listening to this story, I'm not going to forget about it anytime soon. As it is a fixed point in history, there's little that the Doctor and team can do about it once they land in the time period except to experience it first hand which is exactly what this story delivers. There are no futuristic shenanigans, no real villain other than history itself, no other aliens other than the Doctor and Nyssa, and no other outside interference. It's just the Doctor and crew living and becoming emotionally invested in the events and setting as they happen which is not only refreshing but easily the best and most mature way writer Paul Magrs could've handled this kind of material. Not only do we get to experience the massacre first hand but we also get an extremely believable side cast in a flawed family unit led by a rich self-made man that ends up being directly affected by the events and practically split apart by it. The script and soundscape are ominous in tone and energy and the moments of the actual massacre are absolutely brutal and one of the most affecting things I've ever heard in audio form even down to the musical backdrop backed by powerful choir singers. The closest parallel I can come to making is the Red Wedding from 'Game of Thrones' and it affects everyone to their core. It's very dark, extremely bleak, and viscerally harrowing but ultimately respectful as the script does do a good job in reminding you that while the immediate effects were negative the long term effects were absolutely positive as a major turning point for workers and women in Britain. The acting is again on point with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor really getting to stretch his acting chops emotionally. I've never seen his Doctor get so justifiably angry and his confrontations with the yeoman and those involved in the conditions and killing really gave me chills. Janet Fielding's Tegan also does a great job in being the audience reminder in addressing the conditions of the time and questioning what she doesn't understand and sees as wrong particularly the working conditions of the people. Her perspective and actions really bring the events of the massacre home and why such an uproar and fight was necessary at the time. And Nyssa.....oh wow Nyssa. Sarah Sutton's Nyssa has the hardest moment of the whole audio in delivering news of the death of a child to their parent and her fire and fury that's normally so restrained is powerful to be hold especially in holding the Doctor to his promise that while they can't affect the larger picture they can at least help the individual lives affected by it. It's not quite a perfect story in that the beginning and ending feel a little bit rushed and no real consequences are seen for the militia involved in the killing which did bother me a little bit. But again, these are minor quibbles around a very solid core. In the end, I wouldn't call "The Peterloo Massacre" a fun audio listen in any way. I've never felt such a sense of dread or anxiety listening to a story before as I did in the first half of this one and it very much delivers on the power and devastation. But at the same time it stands as one of the strongest Fifth Doctor stories out there and it's one that I very much recommend to all Whovians out there for a listen as a great example of how powerful the pure Doctor Who historical can be when done right. 

This story was so achingly moralistic it hurt. With nothing new brought to the age old poor people good, rich people evil cliche.
The cast who played the Hurleys were either stock northerners or, in the case of the mother, some screeching stage school dropout. Avoid.