The Fires of Vulcan by Steve Lyons (2000)

In which Mel discovers that she has a character and the Doctor riles a Gladiator.

Before ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ and before the TV show came back, there was the ‘Fires of Vulcan’. Now, I like the TV story well enough, I watched it again recently, but to be honest it wastes a fair bit of its 45-minute runtime with some aliens that aren’t really needed and a religious cult that could easily be cut out. There’s a ¤¤¤¤in’ massive volcano about to go off – about to kill most of the population, surely that’s enough jeopardy for one story? Anyway, ‘The Fires of Vulcan’ sticks to the history of Pompeii, indeed most of the characters are based on real people that we know lived in the city on the eve of its destruction. The story explores the city and its inhabitants and also aspects of life in the time period that the TV story shied away from – slavery for example, or the gladiators or the bars and brothels (OK I can understand the latter for a family show!). And it is those very details of life in Pompeii that gives the story a lot of its interest.

The story is wrapped in a framing device of the TARDIS being dug up by archaeologists in contemporary Pompeii, having been buried there for nearly two thousand years and UNIT investigating. So, from the start the Doctor knows his fate lies in the eruption of Vesuvius, he just doesn’t know how he gets to that point. All of which, colours his actions and demeanour throughout the story. The listener knows that he will get out of it – we just need to work out how. The story uses multiple time zones and temporal paradoxes, but in a very simple, unfussy way that works very well and adds a layer to the story, rather than detracting from the historical drama.

So, in my last review I talked about the rehabilitation (at least for me) of Colin Baker. Not content with that, Gary Russell decides to do the same for Bonnie Langford, with similar results. Look, Mel and Bonnie have their fans, I wasn’t one of them, it’s a long time ago now and no malice is involved and I bought this back in 2000 (I was a subscriber back then, when there was only one monthly range) with an open mind. And it has to be said, she is pretty good in this. She is well written, courageous and highly moral, likeable and drives the story along very nicely. This is mainly through the usual devices used in historical stories of speaking out of turn, standing up for the oppressed or poorly treated and not really understanding the culture of the time. Mel’s friendship with Aglae, a slave of Valeria, who appears to be forced to work in in a Pompeiian knocking shop, is rather lovely. Again, her role in this is very similar to Donna’s in the TV show – she provides the humanity and empathy, but also a way into the story for the contemporary audience and she also gets to know the locals – not just the well off, but the servants/slaves.

She also has her own admirer in this – Popidius Celsinus, a wealthy councillor and worshipper of Isis, who in fairness becomes a good friend to both her and Aglae. The rest of the characters are mostly derived from real inhabitants of Pompeii – Eumachia, the priestess who is the villain of the piece – seeking pollical advantage and to discredit the ‘foreign’ religion of the Cult of Isis and using Mel to this end. Murranus, the boorish gladiator, a drinker and gambler who above all wants to protect his position and standing and survive his profession. Valeria, who is the inn keeper who tries to protect the Doctor from Murranus. And finally, in a smaller but pivotal and sometimes illuminating role, the slave Tibernus, who sees the TARDIS land and eventually perishes with his mistress (Eumachia).

Just as Bonnie’s Mel is rebuilt lovingly from scratch and with the minimum of fuss, so is the Seventh Doctor. Here, Sylvester’s Doctor is like a better acted version of the early TV one, maybe placed somewhere between season 24 and 25. More competent and less clownish than season 24, but still swept along by events, in contrast with the more manipulative, scheming season 25/26 Doctor. And it works very well, he’s good fun to spend time with, cares about Mel and tries to save the inhabitants despite events conspiring against him. It is a more considered performance, in part due to his almost melancholic, down beat reaction to his fate as implied by the framing device. He still manages to be great fun though – for example he is a dab hand at cheating at dice. Or rather working out when someone else (the gladiator Murranus) is cheating and using that to his advantage. Doing this to a tough, seasoned and very pompous gladiator probably isn’t the brightest move and this plot strand almost descends into ‘Up Pompeii’! The Doctor’s triumph in physical combat makes him a dangerous enemy and is commemorated in Pompeiian graffiti.

The whole thing fair zips along and there is a great deal of local colour and a liberal scattering of moments which illuminate Pompeiian life – but of course with this story it is all about the ending. The whole of episode four is taken up with the eruption of Vesuvius. And very well done it is too. The ending feels more satisfying to me than the TV story – as our regulars and their friends struggle to survive in the raining ash and rock. The Doctor and Mel searching for the TARDIS and Aglae and Celcinus struggling to reach safety. It feels like it covers the eruption, the main event after all, better by affording it more time and without the clutter of the Pyroviles and the Doctor causing the eruption. We don’t quite get the Doctor returning to rescue the family from certain death, but some of the inhabitants do survive the eruption thanks to the Doctor and Mel. And of course, the Doctor finds a very simple solution to the TARDIS being found buried at Pompeii. All in all, an interesting and satisfying story.