Doctor Who : Ghost Light [DVD] [1989]

Ghost Light is a superb little story and very, very underrated. It's one of the most dazzlingly original and imaginative stories in the show's history, and a superb looking production. The sets are amazing and really feel like an authentic, creepy victorian house. What I think a lot of fans are put off by is it's dense, convoluted plot - there is so much going on and so many literary references casually bandied about and double meanings that it's very hard to take it all in and repeat viewings are essential to fully appreciate it's subtleties. I don't think the short length of the story (3 episodes) helps as there really is enough material here to easily fill 6 parts with no padding. It's also rather bizarre in places with characters doing odd things, speaking strangely and accepting weird events without question. You really need to watch Ghost Light several times to appreciate it, and I'd also recommend reading the novelisation if you can get your hands on it. As well as being very clever and original, Ghost Light is also damn creepy, being full of dark shadows and grotesquerie, and the main villain, Josiah Smith is truly sinister. An excellent musical score too. I also think that Sylvester McCoy gave his finest performance in this story - his Doctor's dark, manipulative persona is best highlighted in this story. At a time in the programme's history when the show had been getting more bad press than ever, and when it was only weeks away from being axed Ghost Light proved that this long-running show could still surprise us and produced a startlingly original and fascinating story that is one of the best in it's 26 year history. The extras on this DVD are execellent, especially the deleted scenes, if only they'd done a 'special edition' and reinstated these scenes I think the true brilliance of the story would really be brought to light. Highly recommended.

Leaving aside my pro-Mccoy bias, this serial is incredibly good. This was the last classic Dr who to be recorded and it shows in many ways. Mccoy and Aldred are in brilliant form, complementing each other wonderfully both as partners and when they argue over being in Gabriel Chase. The supporting cast is also brilliant, with no weak links at all. Particular mention must go to Sylvia Syms, with a performance that manages both creepy roboticism and (in part 3) wonderful human regret, and Ian Hogg, who manages a great balance between cold scheming and internal torture. Leaving aside the performances, the production values are superb. The 19th century victorian feel is evident, and, in tandem, with Alan Wareing's direction, gives the story sense of underlying menace. The best part about Ghost Light, however, has to be the script. To quote another reviewer: it is "Good Weird, Brilliant Weird". Some critics have commented that the plot is nonsensical/silly/too many holes etc, and to this I shall say only two things. First, the story makes perfect sense IF you pay close attention to what is going on. It is a story where missing one or two lines of dialogue might make you confused (not helped by the original audio), not a story that is confusing because of bad writing. Second, as with a lot of Mccoy stories, the structure is as much created by overall theme as it is trad narrative. In other words, the plot is not as linear as something like Remembrance because it is about a central theme as opposed to a story (Full Circle is similar in that the planet environment takes precedence over the story's "plot"). Aside from the story itself, the extras are also pretty good. The making of documentary is very good, as is the question segment with Marc Platt (author). The most valuable extra has to be the audio options- the new sound option gives a score which complements the story, as opposed to drowns the dialogue. Altogether a very good DVD release of one of the very best Dr Who stories. Fully recommended

This isn't a bad story at all and gives an insight into the portrayal of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, very dark.

The picture quality on this DVD leaves a lot to be desired as it is very grainy, has a soft focus in places and is unwatchable in some parts. I thought it was a defective DVD or perhaps a fault with my Blu Ray player, but after searching on the internet there are other people complaining about the quality of the picture saying that previous releases prior to this, such as Remebrance of the Daleks, were far superior so just why this is is mystery.

Perhaps the BBC will remaster this and release a "Special Edition"?