Dr Who: Time Fracture (Review)
TL:DR: A joyful and visually-rich odyssey through multiple beautifully-realised worlds where you can interact with all you favourite characters. Will there be jeopardy? Absolutely. Will you fully understand the storyline? Probably not. Will it matter? Not at all.
Dr Who: Time Fracture has finally reopened after months of restoration following flooding damage. A massive congratulations to the team who have faced so many challenges over the course of the production! In honour and anticipation I’ve put together my review from our visit in May 2021.
You might have thought that after two years of living with fairly brutal uncertainty that being plunged into a world even closer to the brink of annihilation would be a bit grim.
The world in question however was that of Dr Who, lovingly brought to life by the creators at Immersive Everywhere who also brought London the long-time running Great Gatsby. This is a place where the good guys usually win - that is if we new recruits can work out how to stop the bomb that will destroy reality.
I wish you could hear the sound effects that accompany that phrase in my head. but alas, I haven’t worked out the tech for that yet.
Given my six-strong group’s lockdown-addled state, this felt like a bit of an ask. My ICU doctor dad obviously felt he already had the requisite companion training for he just looked mildly amused. I didn’t feel that my hard-won macrame skills would be quite as relevant.
Luckily the premise was carefully explained in the first TARDIS-inspired room. Then it was re-explained and explained again which meant most of the group went from apprehensive to just… wanting… to get… going.
The slowish start was, by popular consensus, the weakest element of the experience. But I felt I fared somewhat better than audience average as I enthusiastically stuck my hand up and shouted out in response to everything while most of the audience were still warming up to speaking to the actors.
Yes, I am that person. Yes, I was selected for a mission alongside a similarly enthusiastic seven-year old boy. Yes, I was rapt.
So my top tip to avoid the beginning dragging is: Volunteer. And if that's not your thing, there's a bar with smoking dry-ice cocktails. Promise you won’t miss too much.
Once we're out of the first room the adventure really began, tumbling through a high-definition whirlwind of beautifully-realised characters, galaxies and time-periods as we tried to piece clues together from a variety of sub-plots. Autonomy comes from you and your group choosing where to go, who to follow and most excitingly/anxiety-inducingly, who you should trust. I really appreciated this attempt at making the experience more open world even if the interactions and tasks sometimes felt a bit limited.
Some of the early reviews criticised the inevitable disarray that creating a semi-open world experience for around 60 people in a small area would create. They suspected that rehearsals hadn't quite finished by the time the previews had rolled around. Several months later when we were there, the chaos felt like it was by design and I think successfully made the audience feel as though we were discovering our own secrets.
Completionists can find all the subplots by going back (Immersive Everywhere I see you and your commercial nouse) or as we did, split your group to get more clues. The great thing about the latter was that it made for a highly enjoyable interval. We sat aboard a spaceship, sipping blue cocktails (coloured and tasting), listening to aliens sing electro-swing (phenomenal, bravo), and exchanging bizarre stories.
My shiny-eyed, former drama society lead mum had leapt forward as a love interest, my befuddled but nonetheless laughing partner had been a part of an alien festival ceremony and my brother out-of-law wasn’t saying much at all. Why was he looking so shifty? Why? My (time)lord what HAD HE DONE?!
As we entered the second half I definitely felt a sense of rising jeopardy as the monsters started closing in. There were a couple of excellent moments - at different points I was hiding behind an unwitting audience member and actually breaking into a run.
I don’t want to say too much more. If you are interested in who will be there, you can head to the production’s social media where they regularly do teasers.
Individual experiences were strong but I found piecing together the main storyline challenging. I want to trust that all key plot lines were carefully relayed to the whole group so you will never miss anything crucial but I can’t be quite sure.
That said my understanding of the television series doesn’t reach much more than: the end is nigh, the end is nigh, the end is nigh, DON’T WORRY THERE’S A NEW DOCTOR AND EVERYTHING’S GOOD NOW.
Long-time fans, please don’t shoot.
Perhaps a true Whovian could follow the story or perhaps I'm wrong and some of the details from the subplots are more central than I have assumed.
Regardless I did feel a true sense of jeopardy as we progressed through the second half, wondering in classic three-quarters-through-an-episode fashion how we were going to get out of this mess. I also enjoyed having at least slightly more agency than I’d felt at home for the winter months, waiting for a genius team of bioengineers somewhere to save me (wherever you are, thank you).
So, did we save the world? Well I'll have to leave that to you to find out.
But did my brother out-of-law betray me?
OF COURSE HE DID.
…and I will have my revenge, in this galaxy or the next.
Key stats
Standard Ticket Price: 25£
VIP Experience: Yes 60£
Running Time: 2hr15
Cocktail Prices: 10£ a pop
Age: 8+ (under 16s must be accompanied)
Nearest Tube: Bond Street
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