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A Break from Other Topics
Aug. 7th, 2024 10:03 amCame across these reaction videos for the Classic Doctor Who story “The Visitation,” which has one of the best one-off historical-era companions, 17th-century ham-actor-turned-ham-highwayman Richard Mace (Michael Robbins).
This led me to look into the production of the episode, and it turns out screenwriter Eric Saward refitted the character from one he’d invented in the mid-1970s for a series of radio plays, which are listenable on Youtube.
So far I’ve only listened to the first show, "The Assassin," and the mystery-plot isn’t the most intricate, but the atmosphere’s good fun. The radio version of Richard Mace is voiced by Geoffrey Matthews, and he’s a Victorian actor leading a double life as East End beggar and information-broker, while also consuming alarming amounts of brandy. Anyway this leads to him, and his long-suffering dresser, Roundtree (Leonard Fenton), occasionally helping Scotland Yard solve bizarre mysteries. The recording was clearly audio-taped by someone off a radio broadcast – they also seem to have taped over a production of The Mikado, so you get a little unrelated bit of Gilbert-and-Sullivan dialogue after the credits.
This led me to look into the production of the episode, and it turns out screenwriter Eric Saward refitted the character from one he’d invented in the mid-1970s for a series of radio plays, which are listenable on Youtube.
So far I’ve only listened to the first show, "The Assassin," and the mystery-plot isn’t the most intricate, but the atmosphere’s good fun. The radio version of Richard Mace is voiced by Geoffrey Matthews, and he’s a Victorian actor leading a double life as East End beggar and information-broker, while also consuming alarming amounts of brandy. Anyway this leads to him, and his long-suffering dresser, Roundtree (Leonard Fenton), occasionally helping Scotland Yard solve bizarre mysteries. The recording was clearly audio-taped by someone off a radio broadcast – they also seem to have taped over a production of The Mikado, so you get a little unrelated bit of Gilbert-and-Sullivan dialogue after the credits.
