Paradise Towers Episode 3

Season24@30. It is in this brisk episode that the viewer might start to question some of the design choices. With the narrative simmering nicely part 3 is home to some crucial story points not least the reveal of exactly what is lurking in the basement.  Yet what would sound great in a script is somehow undermined by the silly look the designer has given it. Like the rogue cleaners it is too pristine when all around is grime and concrete. In this case resembles something from Top of the Pops, a look reinforced by the ceaseless sub Pet Shop Boys incidental music that has been deployed to accompany every movement. Then there’s Richard Briers’ costume. I only noticed this week that it had CC on the eppulatte of what is more of a quasi military uniform rather than some sort of maintenance gear. It’s as if some of the people working on the story had totally different ideas to others as to how to realise the script. I suppose they just didn’t do tone meetings back then.

Richard Briers found time to promote his latest single on Top of the Pops

That being said this is a very well paced eventful episode even if the resolution of last week’s cliffhanger defies belief. Would those two Rezzies really fit through that gap in the wall? I suppose its an unpredictable manner even if it causes Mel to scream even louder. She teams up again with Pex to resume her search for the swimming pool. After a few lift problems they find what seems to be the sort of pool you’d find in a reasonably priced but large chain hotel. Mel however is enraptured by it and forgetting all about the impending problems decides she’ll have a rest and then a swim. Plus how can she not see that bloomin' bright yellow pool cleaner that surfaces dangerously close by?

While her priority is swimming, the Doctor is finding out more about the history of Paradise Towers. It is another excellent episode for Sylvester McCoy whose clowning about in the previous story seems a distant memory now. He adds some very Doctoresque touches both to his genial chatter with the Kangs and his more concentrated set to with the Chief Caretaker. Richard Briers also gets the chance to show a little more light and shade; his best scene is when he quietly warns the other Rezzie about telling people what she saw. A hint that had the character been toned down it might have been more effective and remembered for better reasons!

At times the backstory seems more interesting than the story we’re actually seeing. The idea of the great architect being trapped inside his own building by its occupants is unusual to say the least. Also you wonder if Paradise Towers and all the other projects with which Kroagnon is associated always had a more sinister purpose.  What this rich backstory does do is add that often missing element to an adventure convincing you that this place has been here for longer than the adventure we’re seeing. Combined with the Kangs’ own language and the copious rule book it does add the weight of history. What is missing I think is more meat in the plot. There is so much to and fro around the admittedly spacious and well designed sets that the momentum is maintained more by speed than by content.  Matters need another ingredient to better involve this interesting set of characters. It shows up particularly because the cleaners attacking people plot has been so sluggish to unfurl. Often the intent of the tale seems frustratingly just out of reach.