REVIEW – GUESTS FOR THE NIGHT

That looks like the type of mansion even Scooby-Doo stays away from!

Okay, so a while ago, I started reviewing a series of “almost” Doctor Who audios from the late 90s. These stories were so close to Doctor Who, that the only thing drawing the line between them was the title and the theme music. Now I don’t know how many of you have actually listened to these titles, but as you all know, I am a die-hard Doctor Who fan and even I accept that these stories are so close to the real thing, we might as well accept that they are. These stories do not have an order, but there is one two-parter that obviously has to be listened to in the right order. We won’t be concentrating on that one though. For today, we’re going all Ghostlight in another haunted house-esque tale.

First, I’d like to give a little props to Hisi79 who customized the original covers and made them really awesome. You can check out more covers at their Deviantart website here. I’d also like to mention that of all six titles, the cover for Guest for the Night looks the most interesting and scary. My favorite!

Onto the story! Well, Guests for the Night, as the title implies, revolves around the Doctor (just called the professor, but seriously – it’s the Doctor!) and his companion Ace spending a night at a haunted house. Just to put this in perspective for you lot: This house is one of those that even Scooby and his gang turn away from. Inside it are four very (VERY) weird people. You have a brother and a sister who reek of snobbish upbringing, their butler and their nanny who lives in the attic. Now the Doctor and Ace meet the only sane person, a man outside looking for his own sister who went missing a few days ago. The Doctor is searching for a “still” point in time and thinks the answer might be inside this spooky old house.

Now the story isn’t spectacular. It’s kind of like Ghostlight, except you can follow everything that happens and they bother to explain what is going on. It also reminded me of the Big Finish story Master and Night Thoughts. It has the same eerie atmosphere and the sound effects allow you to perfectly imagine the house our heroes are visiting. Being just under an hour long, this story is perfectly paced and contains a few really disgusting visuals that I am happy aren’t being shown for us onscreen as I might just lose my lunch.

The actors telling us the story are also very entertaining. I don’t have a particular favorite as the characters they’re playing are all so evil (and funny). It’s a joyous hour and you just can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness that is played. Ace is annoyed, the Doctor is charming, the butler is everywhere and the nanny is stark raving mad. I’m not even going to go on about the siblings who own the house, but every time sister mentions “daddy”, I just pause and play again when I stop laughing. It’s a treat guys.   

 If I had to rate this story, I’d put it above Island of Lost Souls, but both stories feel more or less the same. So if you didn’t like Island of Lost Souls, then I don’t think you’d like this one, but in my opinion, you should have a listen and decide for yourself. Next time, I’m going to be reviewing Republica and Prosperity Island, so watch this space! Have a nice day and remember the poll coming up after the series. I will be posting the full story (of the six you voted for) on my channel for everyone to have a listen to.