PRAISE FOR THE WALLSCRAWLER

BOOK REVIEW| The Wallscrawler & Other Stories (2022)

Oliver Dallas Book Reviews Jan 7, 2023 2 Minutes

My first ever Doctor Who memory was watching an early morning repeat of Paradise Towers with my father in the late ninteen-nineties. I was only four or five years old at the time, but I still have vivid memories of being both enthralled and appalled by the diverse range of characters who inhabitated the towers, especially Tabby and Tilda, who became the first ever Doctor Who monsters that I hid behind the sofa from…!

Ever since that fateful morning, I have continued to be both enthralled and appalled by the various works of it’s writer Stephen Wyatt. As observed by fellow fan and author Robert Shearman, Stephen has the rare talent of creating worlds and characters which are larger than life but still credible and rooted in some form of reality. Whether it’s the punk inspired Kangs with their slang and graffiti, or the vain and morally bankrupt explorer that is Captain Cook.

This new publication from Obverse Books is a collection of all of Stephen’s short fiction to date, including new material which has been written exclusively for this book. These include various monologues featuring characters from his two Doctor Who stories, six new pieces inspired by his recent reading of the Old Testament, and six monologues which were originally written and performed for BBC Radio.

As a self confessed and unashamed Paradise Towers fan, the highlights of this collection were the monologues based around that story, especially The Great Architect, which finally allows the titular villian, Kroagnon to be the intelligent schemer that we never got to see onscreen. And despite sounding controversial, the six monologues based on The Old Testament are actually very sensitively written. And as Stephen himself points out in the book’s introduction, the more outlandish aspects of them actually come from the original biblical sources themselves!

But the jewels in this particular crown are undoubtedly the BBC Radio monologues, especially HO! HO! HO!, which is probably Stephen’s magnum opus (excluding Paradise Towers of course!). All about a department store Santa who is feeling anything but jolly during the festive season, HO! HO! HO! is a tale of loneliness and frustration disguised as a light-hearted romp. If you’ve ever doubted Stephen’s credibility as a serious and nuanced writer, then read this and think again. It’s enough to put the likes of Alan Bennett to shame.

If you’re a fan of Stephen and his work, then this book is an essential purchase. If you are someone who likes his ideas, but not how they are interpretated by other people, then I would still recommend this book, as it is the closest that you’re probably ever going to get to experiencing his work raw and unedited. I can guarantee that by the time you’ve finished it, you will be hailing him as the new Great Architect of literature!