Jago & Litefoot: Series One
Jan. 5th, 2012 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteHe's a police pathologist who accidentally kept a time machine in his parlor. And he's an alliterative theatrical impresario who had a big rat problem in his cellar. Together, they fight crime!
The short version of this post: if you always thought that Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot were the best things about The Talons of Weng-Chiang and wanted to see them running around Victorian London investigating infernal incidents and snarking at each other, you should probably have listened to their radio show already. (Also available on CD!) You should get The Mahogany Murderers first, though, because it is awesome and because it introduces the series antagonist.
Back in the seventies, the TV production team did discus giving Jago and Litefoot their own show, and its each to see why the idea appealed. They're on screen together for less than two episodes, but from the moment Jago mistakes Litefoot for the butler their chemistry is magical. Thirty years later, Big Finish finally got around to calling Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin in for a Companion Chronicle, and after the roaring success of this it was an easy step to giving them their very own spin-off series.
It both is and isn't what you'd expect from such a project. In Series One the plots are based around standard Victoria speculative fiction tropes - there's a werewolf, some grave robbing and a spirit medium. (Um, not all at once. Even for a Doctor Who spin-off that would be over-egging the pudding a bit.) The scripts and the acting, however, manage to elevate each story above the ordinary. The end of The Bloodless Soldier, in particular, surprised me greatly and clued me in that things would not be cosy and predictable all the time. (I'd never been particularly impressed with Justin Richards books, but this script is great. Maybe all he needed was Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter delivering the dialogue.)
The leads are two of those actors who could read the phone book at each other and be interesting, and their relationship is a joy to listen to. As middle-aged Victorian Englishmen who lead lives free of aliens and monsters before the Doctor happened to them, they are not very well-equipped for traditional heroics. Whatever they lack in physical courage and knowledge of advanced technology, though, they make up in kindness, cleverness and teamwork. Since neither of them are particularly brave, they tend to take turns egging each other on to heroic deeds, and of course they can always be counted on when the chips are really down.
The series doesn't gloss over how unlikely and occasionally awkward a friendship between an upper middle class doctor and the owner of a music hall is, especially since Jago has had to sell the Palace Theatre after the events of Talons and is in a mountain of debt. (I guess the plan to charge tourists to look at the cellar didn't work out.) They also get across that they're Best Friends Forever in spite of the class and lifestyle gap. When Litefoot tells a villain who has kidnapped Jago 'if you've harmed one hair on his head, I shall hunt you down and shoot you like a dog' I believe him completely, despite the fact that Litefoot is not a man inclined to shoot people. (And I also want to draw sparkly pink hearts around him, because aaaaaaawwwww.)
The other regular character is Ellie, played by Benny Summerfield actress Lisa Bowerman (who also directs three of the four episodes). They do make some effort to bring other interesting female characters in as guest stars, as well. A character of colour turns up at one point, delivers some exposition, and gets killed. I facepalmed repeatedly. This is still a lot less offensive on that score than the story the characters originally appeared in. (OK, that is not saying a lot.)
All in all: if the idea of having these two characters back together HAVING ADVENTURES puts the same ridiculous grin on your face as it does on mine, I can only recommend the results. And now I have to go order the next two seasons, and pre-order the two after that.
The short version of this post: if you always thought that Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot were the best things about The Talons of Weng-Chiang and wanted to see them running around Victorian London investigating infernal incidents and snarking at each other, you should probably have listened to their radio show already. (Also available on CD!) You should get The Mahogany Murderers first, though, because it is awesome and because it introduces the series antagonist.
Back in the seventies, the TV production team did discus giving Jago and Litefoot their own show, and its each to see why the idea appealed. They're on screen together for less than two episodes, but from the moment Jago mistakes Litefoot for the butler their chemistry is magical. Thirty years later, Big Finish finally got around to calling Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin in for a Companion Chronicle, and after the roaring success of this it was an easy step to giving them their very own spin-off series.
It both is and isn't what you'd expect from such a project. In Series One the plots are based around standard Victoria speculative fiction tropes - there's a werewolf, some grave robbing and a spirit medium. (Um, not all at once. Even for a Doctor Who spin-off that would be over-egging the pudding a bit.) The scripts and the acting, however, manage to elevate each story above the ordinary. The end of The Bloodless Soldier, in particular, surprised me greatly and clued me in that things would not be cosy and predictable all the time. (I'd never been particularly impressed with Justin Richards books, but this script is great. Maybe all he needed was Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter delivering the dialogue.)
The leads are two of those actors who could read the phone book at each other and be interesting, and their relationship is a joy to listen to. As middle-aged Victorian Englishmen who lead lives free of aliens and monsters before the Doctor happened to them, they are not very well-equipped for traditional heroics. Whatever they lack in physical courage and knowledge of advanced technology, though, they make up in kindness, cleverness and teamwork. Since neither of them are particularly brave, they tend to take turns egging each other on to heroic deeds, and of course they can always be counted on when the chips are really down.
The series doesn't gloss over how unlikely and occasionally awkward a friendship between an upper middle class doctor and the owner of a music hall is, especially since Jago has had to sell the Palace Theatre after the events of Talons and is in a mountain of debt. (I guess the plan to charge tourists to look at the cellar didn't work out.) They also get across that they're Best Friends Forever in spite of the class and lifestyle gap. When Litefoot tells a villain who has kidnapped Jago 'if you've harmed one hair on his head, I shall hunt you down and shoot you like a dog' I believe him completely, despite the fact that Litefoot is not a man inclined to shoot people. (And I also want to draw sparkly pink hearts around him, because aaaaaaawwwww.)
The other regular character is Ellie, played by Benny Summerfield actress Lisa Bowerman (who also directs three of the four episodes). They do make some effort to bring other interesting female characters in as guest stars, as well. A character of colour turns up at one point, delivers some exposition, and gets killed. I facepalmed repeatedly. This is still a lot less offensive on that score than the story the characters originally appeared in. (OK, that is not saying a lot.)
All in all: if the idea of having these two characters back together HAVING ADVENTURES puts the same ridiculous grin on your face as it does on mine, I can only recommend the results. And now I have to go order the next two seasons, and pre-order the two after that.