(678) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 1

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is one of those stories that I cant make my mind up about. On the one hand there are things that are quite good but then there is something that bugs me about this story. This is a story that was mainly filmed in a carpark due to asbestos being found in a BBC studio. Stephen Wyatt returns to writing duties having penned the previous season’s Paradise Towers. There were interesting things about that story so its perfectly plausible that the same could happen in this adventure.

I think one of the first problems that I have is with Nord who from the moment he appears on screen is rather annoying. It’s largely down to Daniel Peacock’s performance because I think that it could have been reigned back. I have recently watched Peacock in an episode of Only Fools and Horses and he is playing pretty much the same character (minus the bat helmet) so I don’t find the character to be interesting. Another problem is the fanboy that appears to be a rip on Doctor Who fans. Even if there is an argument that it’s not a fan, I think that it’s just another annoying character. The character just doesn’t make any sense in the context of the story and there is no explanation as to where he has come from.

There are good things that work in this episode. One of the successes of this story is that of the Chief Clown who is played superbly by Ian Reddington. There is something very chilling from the moment that he appears on screen. He doesn’t say much with his mouth but his face and hands do all the talking and that is what makes the character so good. I like the idea that he is travelling around in a hearse because there is quite dark and sinister about that and the whole imagery works. I do like the Stallslady because I think there is something lovely about her. She seems to be the only one in the entire piece that it talking sense.

Captain Cook (T.P. McKenna) and Mags (Jessica Martin) are two interesting characters. There is something weird about the Captain but Mags is more normal and she is the one that I find less annoying. There is something interesting about Mags and she is one of those characters that could easily have found her way inside the TARDIS.

This is one of the final stories to feature the interior of the TARDIS. It still doesn’t seem right for some reason that the Seventh Doctor has any TARDIS interior scenes. The purpose of this scene is lure the Doctor and Ace to Segonax. Bearing in mind that Ace doesn’t like clowns it seems somewhat cruel of the Doctor to try and persuade Ace that it would be nice to visit the Psychic Circus.

The cliffhanger is terrible. I don’t think that I have seen a worse end to an episode. Even the cliffhanger where the Doctor is hanging off a cliff is better than this one. Ace’s reluctance to enter the Psychic Circus would not be enough to make me tune in the next week. I still have my reservations about this story but have the feeling that something may make me like the next three episodes. Sadly my rating for this episode is 6.97 which is the first time since episode three of Delta and the Bannermen but that’s only because the cliffhanger got 4/10.