Doctor Who (TV Series) Ghost Light: Part Three (1989) User Reviews

Don't eat the soup.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 4 February 2020]

John Hallam finally appears as Light, a powerful being that arrived on Earth to carry out a survey of all life forms, together with Control, only Control has started to evolve, as has everything on Earth.

It still has the atmosphere which was has been successfully built up, but it's taken on a very different sci fi angle, it has lost some of its Victorian gothic horror, but it's still there, Light has changed the course. It may not be easy to follow the plot, but it is there, a Google search may help.

John Hallam is very good as the strange cataloguer, Sharon Duce is fun as Control, but Sylvia Syms perhaps steals it, she's such a menacing figure.

It's all very wild, with half of the cast running around the house and the other half behaving in a sinister manner. Best scene is the dinner party, pretty grim, best line, 'the cream of Scotland yard.'

We could perhaps have done with another episode to spread the story out a bit, it does feel a little confused at times.

I'm not sure audiences were prepared for something so deep and baffling, turned out to be the last story ever made, and I'd argue one of the best, Cartmel was on the right track.

8/10.

Ghost Light: Part Three

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 30 May 2023]

Somewhere in here is the plot of Ghost Light. Light (John Hallam) has taken human form and came to Earth in his spaceship to catalogue everything. Only to learn that everything keeps changing.

The catalogue for the planet is never ending and a frustrated Light wants to destroy the planet.

Meanwhile Josiah plans to assassinate Queen Victoria and take over the British Empire. While Control wants to be her own woman.

There certainly is a lot of story here but it had to be cut down. Control with her Eliza Doolittle story. Ace and her backstory regarding the house and its evil presence.

Josiah's plan is just absurd and Light's confusion is based on the concept that other planets do not evolve.

Some of the acting was all over the place. Like the director could not have a consistent tone. McCoy lets himself down in one scene where he just cannot do dramatic.

It is a grisly story with one set of characters turned to stone and Inspector Mackenzie into primordial soup.

Ghost Light had some cracking lines that hark back to Douglas Adams. It was all a sign of what Doctor Who could had been if it continued.

Falls apart a bit.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 11 May 2008]

Doctor Who: Ghost Light: Part Three starts as a powerful alien being known as Light (John Hallam) takes the form of a human being, it turns out that Light originally came to Earth centuries ago to compile a complete catalogue of every species he found there. The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) explain the basic principal of evolution to Light who is rather upset to learn that his catalogue of Earth species is now useless, frustrated & angry Light decides to end all evolution on Earth by destroying Earth with a firestorm program. Meanwhile the Doctor also discovers that Josiah (Ian Hogg) plan's to assassinate Queen Victoria & take charge of the British Empire. Can the Doctor stop Light from destroying the Earth & Josiah from assassinating Queen Victoria & changing history?

Episode 7 from season 26 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during October 1989, directed by Alan Wareing my worst fears have come true & after two intriguing parts Ghost Light falls apart during this episode. The script here really lets down it's initial interesting premise, there were many oddball & bizarre scenes during the first two episodes which have gone completely unexplained like the Reverend turning into a monkey, the stuffed animal heads with glowing eyes including a rocking horse, all the dead insects coming back to life for no apparent reason, why that snuff box was radioactive, why those three people in the attic during Part Two had bedsheets over them, who the maids were & several other ideas that simply never come to anything. There is also one huge gaping plot hole which is simply absurd, we learn that Josiah intends to use Redvers to assassinate Queen Victoria which in itself is alright but he then claims that he will take over the throne & rule the British Empire. Right lets just think about that logically for a moment, what makes Josiah think by assassinating Queen Victoria he would then automatically become ruler of the British Empire? The fact is the next person in line to the throne would have & it's as simple & straight forward as that, no argument. When originally broadcast here in the UK the broadsheet newspaper The Independent called Ghost Light the best Doctor Who story in a decade, I'm not sure about that but it's alright & certainly something a bit different even if it leaves you feeling a little unfulfilled & confused when the end credits to Part Three start to roll.

Ghost Light was the last classic Doctor Who story produced in the UK by the BBC, apparently the very last shot filmed was the scene when Mrs. Pritchard & her daughter Gwendoline are turned to stone. This is maybe the only Doctor Who story which features a severed human arm after Light 'dismantled' one of the maids to see how she worked! Ghost Light hasn't been an effects heavy story so there's not much to worry about on that front. Ghost Light has been confusing, different, odd & at times very original but there's not much here to scare you & the token monsters don't feature all that much.

Ghost Light: Part Three is a disappointing end to what could have been a stand out Doctor Who story during the show's final season, unfortunately a huge gaping plot hole that is laughable when you actually think about it & lots of wasted potential prevent that. Overall I will give Ghost Light a still above average six stars out of ten across it's three episodes.