Review by Chlo Hickson
Like with the opening story of this trilogy, The Monsters of Gokroth, the title is a very clear reference to what is going on and there are several scenes which further reference John Landis’ 1982 classic An American Werewolf in London. Like with The Moons of Vulpana a lot of humour has been injected into this which certainly makes this last instalment of the trilogy an engaging listen. This one also has a genuinely terrific score. It has a unique feel through the entire two hours and seven minutes that its on for.
Over the course of the story Alan Barnes takes his time setting up the breadcrumbs for us to follow. He makes sure there are plenty of twists and turns sprinkled throughout the adventure and there is certainly a lot of plot to follow. There were a few moments that I didn’t see coming.
Sylvester McCoy is excellent as always and like with any great 7th Doctor story, he balances the line between good and evil with ease. It’s always great to hear the Doctor switching sides, never knowing if we can trust him fully.
With that being said, with the previous two audios it seemed to have Sylvester McCoy have his Doctor as the later version of his incarnation, this one calls back to him being his clownish persona we saw in season 24. He’s also wearing his outfit from season 24 so I’m quite confused honestly.
Barnes gives us something interesting for Mags to do in this one. Making her spend most of the story in a hospital, he makes sure we don’t know what is real and what isn’t. He surprisingly blends it in really well with the main mystery.
Across the trilogy, we’ve heard Mags given some opportunity for growth as she battles with her inner wolf, as well as being granted some seeds of backstory and it’s been great to hear Jessica Martin flesh out the pretty thin character. It still feels as though there are plenty more places for her to go, both emotionally and in the TARDIS.
Although Ace is supposed to be older here, her timeline through the various spin off media stories is so confusing. Its best not to think about it! Not that I’m complaining about her presence as Ace alters the dynamic and it was great to hear the interactions between her and Mags.
I have got to say Ace getting turned into a vampire, sorry a Feratu, is completely wasted. Like literally wasted. Remember when she succumbed to the Cheetah planet? There’s none of that. It’s completely plot driven and is discarded as soon as the plot doesn’t require it of her.
As usual, there’s more than one alien in London and the baddies turn out to be a group of vampires.
Barnes gives us an interesting society of monsters with a fleshed out backstory. These Feratus have managed to suppress their mutation and conquer half of Europe.
It’s a very original look at these creatures and I’m interested to see this species return.
An Alien Werewolf in London is the best of the Mags trilogy with some fantastic action scenes and intriguing plot elements. It stands up to its movie counterpart and actually goes above and beyond to make itself something completely new and different. My main critism is a minor nitpick to do with the constant pop culture references, I didn’t mind them at first but when they kept happening it got annoying really quickly. But overall, It definitely ends on a quirky note with a story full of twists and turns. An Alien Werewolf in London brings the Doctor and Mags’ adventures to a satisfying close.