The Glittering Prize written by James Goss and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: On the mining colony Callous, Elliot King struggles to meet the demands of its governor, Teremon. The odds are stacked against him, and his options are running low. The world that once promised dreams now offers only despair. A wild Ood stalks the forests, carrying an antiquated phone. The caller promises much – he claims he can change the world – but he always speaks a devastating truth. He is the Master and the Ood will obey him... but to what end?

War Master: When you’ve travelled as far and wide as he has you tend to pick up all kinds of knacks. It is hard to believe that he comes from a race of sickening do-gooders, although if you head on over to Gallifrey at the moment you’ll see that they aren’t doing much good these days. The Master claims that he isn’t just an open but a boring one. He’s betraying the trades description act there. He should be sued for the defamation of his own character. Such is my suspicion about the War Master that when he asks a character for afternoon tea and she starts munching away, I was convinced that she had been poisoned. There’s a glorious scene where the Master addresses the entire colony and I was taken way back to the sequence in The Daemons where he did a similar thing with the village of Devils End. Being perfectly charming and yet free with dark criticism. He’s a terrific public speaker. When he talks about humans squabbling over lumps of rock being pointless, the Master has pretty much written off a third of Doctor Who adventures. Because the Time Lords have telepathic centres, the Swenyo soaks into his brain and tugs at his soul. They wait until the end of the second story to reveal that this is a scheme that ties into the Time War, allowing the story to set up on its own terms before tying it into the greater Doctor Who narrative. Only the War Master could respond ‘what fun’ at being threatened with torture.

Standout Performance: Was it my imagination or did one of the actor’s sound REALLY like Captain Jack? Sometimes when listening to Big Finish audios I catch wind of a voice that dances upon my memory. Once Pippa Haywood appeared and started applying the pressure for more money as Teremon I knew I recognised that voice. The Brittas Empire played a big part in my formative years, it was one of those shows that was so enjoyably goofy and screwball that as a kid I couldn’t resist it. The outrageous and mentally unstable Mrs Brittas was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the show. Here Haywood acquits herself beautifully, giving a performance of studied greed and having taken the crash course in ‘how to play a Doctor Who villainess’ by suggesting threat in the most innocuous of lines. She’s terrific.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Have you just taken control of the colony?’ ‘Me? I’ve just made a suggestion…’
‘Cowardice runs through you like Swenyo through the mine!’ It’s not a great line but it reminds me so much of dialogue from The Monster of Peladon that I had to smile anyway. And Jacobi doesn’t falter with it. What a pro.
‘If you promise not to scream…ill take your gag off’ Brrr…

Great Ideas: It’s taken a year but the mine is working and they have freighters queuing up from beyond the asteroid belt. How refreshing to have a set that is telling a sweeping story over an extended period of time. Things that were set up in Call for the Dead are already being paid off. Let’s hope it continues in this vein. Callous is now a rich colony at full potential. When money is involved people tend to get greedy, those who are producing it and those who want a cut of it. Apparently, there isn’t a machine that cannot be discombobulated if you turn off the Wi-Fi. The purer the sample of Swenyo, the more feedback it will cause for the systems, effectively guiding the Ood to the best seams of the mineral. Swenyo is a material that enhances the mental interface between machinery and operator. The Ood have telepathic control of the drilling equipment. Imagine what would happen if they found a sample of absolute purity? Is the mineral itself begging to be found?

Audio Landscape: Both the sound effects and the music suggest pure bombast when Teremon arrives on Callous. It’s a wonderfully exciting moment that suggest the things are about to get ugly.

Standout Scene: The most chilling idea of all time: The War Master as an entertainer at a children’s party. Can you imagine?

Result: ‘Right now, not to far from here, there is a War raging. A War so fierce that people are called upon to sacrifice not just themselves but their entire history!’ Those who felt a little short-changed by the lack of Jacobi in the first story will be overjoyed to hear that he gets a much bigger slice of the pie here. It’s fascinating to see what the Master gets up to when the Doctor is not around, this must be how his time is spent when he is not facing up to his greatest adversary. Jacobi is such a convincing silky menace, here slipping his way into everybody’s good books with a phrase here and a suggestion there. He’s subtly manipulating the entire colony and because everybody else’s motives are so extreme and obvious he is able to do it invisibly, and with some kudos thrown his way. This is a more obviously told tale than the first now the setup has been organised but I found it gripping in exactly the same way that Power of the Daleks is. This is a colony with its own problems and people who are exploitative and willing to go to extreme measures to earn money and gain power. The Master is (at the moment) almost a secondary menace compared to the lusty desires of the humans involved. Pippa Haywood’s Teremon is a force to be reckoned with but the Master doesn’t even break a sweat when she appears on the scene to take charge. How he is celebrated as the saviour of this colony is the most chilling aspect of this story because you know he doing all of this for some dark ulterior purpose that will exploit the colonists in a much nastier way. He’s just waiting to make his move. Very like the Daleks in Power. This feels very different from the first story but an effortless continuation of where it left of. The War Master is proving to be a stamp of quality for Big Finish: 8/10