Jaqueline Raynor's late sixties style historical is a triumph of style over substance with the novel idea of the Doctor and Evelyn (Colin Baker and Maggie Stables) retelling their adventure to one of Evelyn's students allowing Raynor to have much fun playing with narrative conventions. The time travelling duo arrive at former student Sally's house to tell her a story of the pairs adventure on the high seas trying to evade being killed by Red Jasper (Bill Oddie) who is after a fabled horde of treasure. This involves young cabin boy Jem and the haughty Captain Swan (Nicholas Pegg). But why is Evelyn so desperate for Sally to hear her story?
The tale is nothing special with all you'd expect from a Dennis Spooner type historical, but that's half the point. The real delight of the audio is in the pair's tall tales in retelling the story, often leading to the pair breaking off and chiding the other for their exaggeration. Sally also chides them for adding embellishments that are historically inaccurate. Baker and Stables take turns to lead, often resulting in the Doctor being charaterised how their each view him, leading to comic results. Evelyn's dodgy memory also results in the pirates all having alliterative names. Swan is played purely for laughs and Oddie's Jasper would seem over the top even in a pantomime. Episode 3 is by far the most memorable when the pair decide, in a bid to liven up their narrative, to turn it into a Gilbert and Sullivan musical. This shouldn't work but is in fact utterly brilliant. Surely the TV show will attempt this musical approach one day. Episode 4 is darker, with the death of young Jem weighing heavily on Evelyn's mind and leading to the reason they have visited Sally, turning a joke play into something more poignant. One of Big Finish's best.
GK Rating: **** The Blog of Delights
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