It’s time to listen to and discuss Medicinal Purposes
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Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags!
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Listened to this last year and gave it 3/5 stars. My thoughts were that Knox is a fun villain and I like the premise, but I really hated how Six and Evelyn were written. Evelyn felt very much dumbed down, and Sixie felt like his pre-Evelyn characterisation to me instead of his softer personality that we should have had at this point in time
Pretty sure I’ll be an outlier on this one because I quite like it.
I rated this one 4*. I don’t have a great memory of it but I think I do remember enjoying it and being surprised to see it’s a low rated one
I remember nothing about this audio except the name Daft Jamie, but don’t think I found this audio to be that bad. I can still picture myself listening to it. It’s a 3/5 at the least, probably a 3.5 at the most. I think it reminded me a bit of Grave Matter, the PDA (which I love).
My least favorite Main Range story. It’s boring, it thinks it’s smarter than it is, the Doctor and Evelyn are characterized awfully, it’s got a genuinely ableist character in Daft Jamie. I hate this story. At least Nekromanteia tries something with it’s attempted Shakespeare pastiche. I find Medicinal Purposes to be purposeless, dull as dishwater, and infuriating.
Yeah, this one’s bad. Horribly formulaic, dreadfully dull, with poor character writing and poorer dialogue. There was some nice atmosphere here and there and I enjoyed Leslie Phillips’ hammy perfomrance but very, very much not a favourite.
And apparently it isn’t even Robert Ross’ worst story. Yikes.
Full review here, if you enjoy, please feel free to drop a like
I obviously listened to a different story!
I wouldn’t call it a favourite, but I think it’s better than the reviews make it out to be. Interesting historical setting and an event I wasn’t familiar with, so I read up on it afterwards. This guy called David Tennant pops up in his final BF before moving into bigger things a few months later. He’s certainly memorable and believable, even though the role can be a bit problematic these days.
Yeah, it can be a bit slow, and the Doctor and Evelyn are characterised weirdly, but I had a good time overall.
7/10.
Medicinal Purposes has an intriguing premise and a strong atmosphere but struggles with pacing and underused elements. The historical setting is well-realised, and Knox’s reveal as a time-travelling scientist adds an interesting twist, but the story never fully capitalises on its potential.
David Tennant’s performance as Daft Jamie is both compelling and uncomfortable, adding a layer of tragic depth to the narrative. His fate provides the story’s most powerful moment, underscoring the Doctor’s limitations in the face of fixed history.
Despite its shortcomings, Medicinal Purposes remains an engaging listen, particularly for those interested in Doctor Who’s historical stories. It just never quite reaches the heights it aspires to.
Medicinal Purposes: Starring David Tennant as Simple Jack.
Okay, that’s a bit much, but it’s definitely uncomfortable listening to him here, having grown up with his Doctor. But overall, I like it for how it builds on Sixth as the pragmatic Doctor, taking a holistic view of Burke & Hare in the context of medical history. It’s not one I see myself revisiting, but as part of the larger Sixth/Evelyn arc, I get why it is the way it is.
Thought this was truly awful. I’m from Edinburgh(ish - nearby but born there!) and I am familiar with the real history behind this story, so I was really excited going into it but this was rubbish. I struggled to get through it, it dragged on so much and the characterisation of the Doctor was all over the place. Quite disappointed as I have high expectations for 6/Evelyn stories!
How’d you find Tennant in it?
I liked the accent … 
I have to agree with others that I found the character to be portrayed in quite an ableist pov, the Doctor especially talking down to him felt off.
Yeah I loathe how 6 is characterised in this. It maybe works for pre Evelyn or early Evelyn. Maybe. But at this point? He should well past this cold attitude. Evelyn is also written to be weirdly less smart than usual?
Urgh. I didn’t hate this story but had mixed feelings at the time, but the more I think on it the more I dislike it
Yeah its very odd for both of them to be honest.
Bad writing 
I don’t agree that this has a poorly characterised Doctor but I do agree about Evelyn. I actually think Jamie is handled pretty well as a character but I did listen to this last a couple of years ago and maybe my opinion would change on a relisten (with how quickly our outlook on things can change and mature as time marches on). But, yeah, it looks like I’m going to be on a limb with this one because I think it’s a solid 4/5.
I went into this completely blind - I didn’t look at the score on the site, didn’t read the synopsis and didn’t even really look at the cover (I just saw orange). I queued up the story while I was out on my run and hit play.
I really enjoyed part one! I thought it was very funny, and I was just happy to be with Six and Evelyn again, I was convinced that the title Medicinal Purposes was going to give some more info on Evelyn’s condition, that she would disclose it to the Doctor and they’d go and find a cure or something.
Then by part 2 I was getting frustrated - I didn’t know who this Burke guy was that they kept going on about, they literally said “where is Burke?” “Who is Burke?” “Don’t you know Burke? You must know Burke!” about 50 times before I paused the audio and looked it up - ah okay, so that’s what it is.
Then the story got me really excited because there was another TARDIS! A Time Lord?! I was trying to think, is this the Master? Not a voice I recognise. The monk?! Who is it‽??
But after it was revealed that it was just a human, who stole a TARDIS, I was pretty disappointed. I thought this was going to be a really big important story but it was just a bit of nothing.
I also really didn’t like how Daft Jamie was portrayed. Imagine my surprise when I just read your comments and found out it is David Tennant 
ok not really happy about that!
So yeah I liked the beginning, thought it was an interesting idea, but ultimately was disappointed. 3/5.
