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| Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd |
Free of the Black Guardian, Turlough is resentful of the Doctor and Tegan's continuing distrust, so he goes for a walk in the Nevada desert during a layover. In a welcoming town, he encounters the carnival of Thaddeus P. Winklemeyer, displayer of unusual specimens and purveyor of the Elixir of Life.
Say what you like, Big Finish have never half-arsed a release just because it is to be given away free with Doctor Who Magazine. They've released at least two plays and two Chronicles this way, and each has been a full, hour long, two-part production, with all the whistles and bells.
Freakshow has a few touches of the western, but its real milieu is more akin to the grand guignole. Winklemeyer's theatre of the grotesque and its enslaved performers are the tragic monsters of the Gothic rather than black hatted villains. Morris includes the captives in their own salvation, as well as allowing a prominent role to Turlough, even if that role is revealed in a way not entirely in keeping with the presentation of the narrative as an affidavit to the Galactic Authorities.
Toby Longworth, man of a thousand voices, is clearly having a whale of a time as sinister quack Winklemeyer, and if is American accent isn't perfect, it is better than Strickson's. It is a little odd that there is a second voice, given the framing narrative, but it's a minor quibble.
* Later made available to buy in a boxed set entitled The Companion Chronicles: The Specials, and also including The Mists of Time (from the Magazine) and The Three Companions (originally included as bonus tracks on a run of main range releases.
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