Audio Drama Review – ‘Rani Takes On The World: Beyond Bannerman Road’

Rani Takes on the World “Beyond Bannerman Road”

Directed by Helen Goldwyn

Starring Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra), Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer), and Mina Anwar (Gita Chandra)

Ahead of the second Rani Takes on the World box set coming out this week, here are some thoughts on the first box set:

“Here Today“

Rani and Clyde haven’t seen each other since Sarah Jane’s funeral. It would be the day that they met up again at Rani’s friend’s bar that a flying saucer would land in Ealing Common and explode, sending the two friends into a time loop that only they seem to realize they’re experiencing over and over again.

It feels like Groundhog Day stories should be run into the ground by now but, done right, they’re still extremely effective and writer, Joseph Lidster, has delivered with this story. As the first outing in this box set there’s never really any doubt that Rani and Clyde will save the day, so their lives never feel in any eminent danger, but the format is actually extremely useful for giving Rani and Clyde time to catch up in a way that doesn’t take away time from their current predicament. By introducing some memorable secondary characters, too, Lidster is able to break-up the repetition by showing the time loop from other perspectives. Private Reeves (Angus Dunican) immediately stands out from other UNIT officers in his willingness to completely trust Rani and Clyde as soon as he realizes who they are, while Patricia (Yvonne D’Alpra) adds some intrigue to the mix as the mysterious woman whose diary entries keep getting read at regular intervals. Naomi Clark‘s sound design deserves a shout out, too, for immersing listeners in the locations and helping to create recognition, when the characters return to the same spots.

“Destination: Wedding“

As teased at the end of “Here Today”, “Destination: Wedding” sees Rani and her mom attending a wedding together. It’s for Tiff (Rachel Fenwick), a girl Rani apparently knew from school but who wasn’t on The Sarah Jane Adventures.

If it’s not clear why Rani is at this wedding, it’s even less clear why Gita was sent an invite but the question of why they’d go is easily answered by the “destination” part of the title. Naturally, it’s too good to be true, and before long Rani and her mom are having to investigate.

As lovely as it is to see Gita get a more featured role, it really is a two-hander between her and Rani, and that isolated contact gets to be a lot, especially Gita’s unsubtle hints that Rani should be thinking about marriage. Had writer James Goss written in more secondary characters to act as buffers it might not have gotten so grating. These are two characters who love each other but might not be as well-suited for long stints alone together.

Also, after meeting Clyde’s girlfriend, Phoenix (Tiegan Byrne) in “Here Today,” it seemed like odd timing for this to be the episode where characters keep suggesting that Rani has feelings for Clyde (not that there isn’t a basis for “Clani” in the series but having a child together makes Clyde and Phoenix serious).

“The Witching Tree“

It turns out, in addition to being an award-winning journalist, Rani and her friend, Samira (Raghad Chaar), have been running a podcast together. “The Witching Tree” is a making-of episode of Rani Takes On The World and sees Rani looking into the titular tree and how it came to be in the middle of a restaurant. Making things more interesting is the fact that Rani keeps losing time and sending Samira audio files she doesn’t remember recording. There’s a twist in this episode that I honestly didn’t see coming (warning: don’t listen to the cast interviews first) and my favorite line in this box set has to be when writer Lizzie Hopley has Rani use Sarah Jane’s sonic lipstick.

Beyond Bannerman Road is available to purchase from Big Finish.