Mirror Signal Manoeuvre written by Peter Anghelides and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: A bio-warfare scandal from the 1940s takes Sarah to a remote island in the Indian Ocean. She pursues the scoop with a fellow journalist from her former company, Planet 3. But why won’t she contact her friends back in the UK? The more she investigates the story, the less Sarah recognises that she is the story. Josh and Natalie discover that Sarah has been searching for pursuers in the rear-view mirror for so long that she hasn’t noticed who’s now in the driving seat. A long way from home, and far from safe, will Sarah see the dangers in her present and the enemies from her past - before it’s too late?

Until Next Time…Miss Smith: Why is Sarah ignoring all of her friends? In this series she has been aloof and prickly but now she is deliberately turning her back on them. As much as she has tried to make a new life for herself under various aliases you cannot be a reporter on the television without some people recognising you. She brought down some big companies by going undercover and exposing their nastier secrets. She has become so mistrustful of everybody, probably with good reason but it is not a very endearing trait. Clearly something had to break otherwise she would have entered her second season as an entirely unlikable character. The only person she can bring herself to have a civil conversation with is another journalist who knows the cost of careless talk. She’s quite handy with an ashtray when her life is at risk. This story ultimately proves to be a vindication of Sarah’s paranoid attitude since practically every person that she meets turns out to be a plant working for Miss Winters. It doesn’t excuse her bad attitude, but it does support her decision to cover her tracks and not trust anybody. Sarah’s last Planet 3 brief was to investigate one of Miss Winters’ companies and she laughed as she seized the bait and ended her own career. For Miss Winters it is hugely satisfying to see Sarah living a pathetic, neurotic, hand-to-mouth existence. She remembers that home is where her friends her and that she needs to be around them. They know who they are facing now and she is going to be ready for whatever they throw at her next.

Jubilant Josh: It’s the first time that he has ever fired a gun and he only does so to save Sarah’s life. The whole experience shakes him up terribly, taking a life.

Natty: It is long past time somebody called Sarah up on her paranoid behaviour and it hits home more coming from Nat who was almost killed whilst working with her. Now Josh has suffered a similar experience, Nat feels ready to point out that Sarah is too cautious and those preventative measures are actually putting people in danger. She condemns Sarah in as vicious a fashion as Sarah has been doing to other people. If you ever want to increase your funds than Nat is a handy person to know, she increases Josh’s limit to £10,000 at the press of a button!

Standout Performance: Peter Miles can always be relied on to bring something a bit different to each production he is involved in. He has played a psychotic director, a misguided scientist (Invasion of the Dinosaurs) and the right hand man to one (Genesis of the Daleks) so he knows exactly what is required of him in this role. It’s nice to hear Louise Faulkner is different role too, I believe this is pre-Bev Tarrant and she makes an engaging foil for Sarah whilst she is hobnobbing it in India.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘You’re looking in your rear view mirror all the time for something that’s not there!’

‘Always looking over your shoulder and never seeing me peering back…’

Great Ideas: Wendy figures a great way to getting out of paying her half of the bill after her meal with Sarah – pretend you are being stalked and hurry off! Sarah is investigating a story about biological warfare experiments in the 1940s and clearly those in the know want her out of the way. British scientists bungled some germ warfare trials in a rehearsal for possible biological attacks in the UK, murdering hundreds of animals. I’ve recently been studying psychology and looking into a manifold of unethical experiments that were performed in the 60s, 70s and 80s – morally questionable but we learnt a great deal about how the mind worked because of it. There’s plenty of discussion in this story that reminded me of those trials except this time they are biological. Animals that were cured of a sickness only to be killed in the experiments to get the results they are after. Morally debatable and yet those experiments might have saved millions of lives. As human being I condone them, and as a rational man I would have to look inside myself to ask whether the ends justify the means. Sarah mentions that she has K.9 stored away in a box but the parts to restore him wont be invented for many, many years. SCALA have developed a virus which is self replicating and it is going to be released through the biggest turbines, poisoning huge amounts of water and killing millions. Miss Winters got fifteen years for trying to blackmail the world with an apocalypse but they never managed to pin murder on her (Jellicoe went down for that). Harris was working as a member of the SRS when UNIT broke up that final meeting. This is a lovely use of Doctor Who continuity to give greater depth to this series. We have seen how the companions got along after they left the Doctor (not very well if this series is anything to go by) but it’s really interesting to catch up with some villains as well. Wendy is Jellicoe’s daughter, working for Miss Winters. I love the idea that Miss Winters doesn’t just want to bring Sarah down (because she has already achieved that) but in her death she wants to humiliate her and destroy her reputation permanently. Given how Sarah has behaved of late it wouldn’t take that much to convince people that she was suffering from paranoid delusions (the missing piece of information would of course be that they weren’t delusions at all, her life has been systematically pulled to pieces).  Using the cannibalised remains of K.9 to destroy her makes it all the more personal and using her career to ruin her. The story wraps up Miss Winters latest project but she is still out there somewhere and now with an even greater vendetta against Sarah…

Audio Landscape: Voicemail, plane coming in to land, lapping waves, eating in a restaurant, a struggle over the phone, Nat in her car, a jeep pursuing across sand, the clackety clack of a train, birds screaming, an engine, gunshots, splashing through water.

Musical Cues: Darlington always seems to enjoy bringing a more exotic flavour to the series when it heads abroad and this trip to India is no different.

Isn’t it Odd: I realise that she is in an untenable position and a bit jumpy but I couldn’t see any good reason why Sarah would threaten to turn on her rape alarm to shut up a taxi driver who is waxing lyrical about her. I don’t think you can have such a riveting position in the media and not expect people to know who you are and you certainly should go around accusing them of doing something wrong when they do. She chose that career path, after all. Even if her instincts are proven right about the taxi drivers involvement. And it does set up the rape alarms use in the climax. She’s needs to learn to put on her poker face.

Standout Scene: The eventual showdown between Sarah and Miss Winters. Patricia Maynard still has that icy cold touch.

Result: The first series of Sarah Jane Smith audios is a curious beast. With a cutting edge setting, an international flavour, a strong cast of nuanced characters and a terrific protagonist in Sarah it looks set to be the best spin off the Big Finish have ever produced. And yet it struggles a bit because of poor storytelling choices. Every story should have been as gripping as Test of Nerve (nerve gas being released in the London Underground) but instead it wastes time with ghost stories and sinister goings on in country villages. Personally I think the fault lies in the writers chosen, if I was trying to write a contemporary thriller series Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts wouldn’t have been my first port of call. The regulars have been finely honed so they are never an obvious ensemble, Sarah can be extremely unlikable at times and both Nat and Josh have their moments when they doubt her methods (and her sanity). It’s a series that wants to take more risks than it does. Which is why I’m glad that it was renewed for a second season, given one strong writer who saw that potential to take risks and ran with it. Mirror Signal Manoeuvre reminds me of the best and the worst of this season – in its discussion of biological experiments and its handling of an ex-Doctor Who baddie it unearths an atmosphere of terror that is worth exploring. At the same time it flounders about for ages, the pace flagging in the first half and the narrative not really kicking in until about halfway through. This series has been leading up to a smashing confrontation between Sarah and Miss Winters and it does deliver the thrill that it should but considering the bombshell about her identity was dropped a story and a bit ago it has taken far too long to pay off the patient listener. I did like the increased use of Nat and Josh but their story exists so independent of Sarah that I am starting forget that they are a team. I like how this story vindicates Sarah’s paranoid attitude but at the same time also condemns her for not trusting her friends (who ultimately save the day and millions of lives). Somehow Mirror Signal Manoeuvre manages to be both a satisfying close to the first season (everything is explained well and the connections to classic Who give it some real impact) and the perfect demonstration of why it took an age to get going. As such I recommend it but with several caveats. I’m quite optimistic about season two, though: 7/10

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor written and directed by Nick Pegg

What’s it about? In a desolate landscape littered with relics of prehistoric man, the Doctor and Evelyn uncover a catalogue of mysteries. What is the secret of the fogou? Can the moor be haunted by a demonic host of imps? And what is Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart doing in Pengriffen? Teaming up with his old friend, the Doctor realises than an ancient conflict is nearing its conclusion – and Lanyon Moor is set to be the final battleground.

Softer Six: Nick Pegg states on the CD sleeve that he wanted to plant the sixth Doctor into a rural fantasia of inns, mansions and gothic mystery and it is a landscape that suits him very well. It makes you wonder what sort of stories they could have told on the box had they taken this route instead of the science fiction madness they subjected him to in seasons 22 and 23. He makes the fine admission that if he knew what was at the end of each tunnel he wouldn’t get into half as much trouble as he does! His relationship with Evelyn continues to evolve and they have a quiet respect for each other which is very rare between a Doctor and companion. He greets the Brigadier warmly and they admit to each other that they make an excellent team (a little self congratulatory perhaps but it is a fair point). He is a Doctor of this and that, mostly that. You have got to love it when he rails at Professor Morgan then realises he has gone far too far (something he never would have done in the past) and then sucks up to him by making him feel involved and invaluable! The first thing he asks for after being attacked is tea (good man). There are moments of his old impatience when he is stuck in the trenches of UNIT bureaucracy. Can you imagine if the Doctor had had this sort of character development in the TV series?

Learned Lecturer: God I love Evelyn, I mean I really love her. If she younger and blind (ahem) we could have something great going on…and I’m married to a man! She is just the sort you would want to travel about time and space with; she’s warm, welcoming and protective but also intelligent and learned so you can enjoy an engaging conversation with her too! Plus she’d make you a fine chocolate cake. What more could you ask for? The Doctor seems to feel the same way too and is adorable in her company, playful and respectful. She knows a little ancient folklore and has students and faculty members dotted about she can ask for help when she doing research, as she does here. She talks of visiting other planet so it’s clear they have been travelling together for some time no but she has not been on a spaceship yet. She steps in and introduces herself before the Doctor has a chance to do so and seems to enjoy it with all the men fussing over her in episode two. Flint describes her as rather an attractive lady with a young face but she thinks it’s been a while since anybody has said that! I love how Evelyn strikes out on her own in this story, researching the history of the land, striking a relationship with Flint and then having her own confrontation with the villain. Why not call the series Evelyn? She mocks Flint brilliantly (‘You really are crackers, aren’t you?’) and rescues herself from captivity. She boldly walks back into danger, seeming to enjoy the subterfuge making Philip states she was the sort of woman his mum warned him about!

Aged Soldier: Nick Courtney’s voice is superb for audio and so recognisable from the series too. He implies a feeling of nostalgia in his very first scene. The Doctor describes him as an old rogue! He’s visiting the dig in an unofficial capacity, officially he is on holiday but he is actually carrying out surveillance work. He falls back into his authorative persona when the situation becomes critical and suggests dropping bombs to save the day (nothing changes). The Brig’s finest moment comes at the climax when he confronts Sancreda and is willing to sacrifice his life to defeat this latest menace to the Earth. ‘If it comes to a choice between the whole world or just you, me and this ship Sancreda, I’m very clear where my duty lies!’

The image of the Doctor, the Brigadier and Evelyn heading off at midnight at the end of this adventure to the pub to drink, eat chocolate cake and share stories is such a delightful and cosy one my syrup filter broke down and I had a warm feeling all over.


Great Ideas: The opening scene sets up the story with real pace and excitement – a race against time for Sancreda to get back to his ship, dogs snarling at his heels, firing shots, his spaceship taking off and leaving him stranded on Earth. It’s another moment where audio triumphs over visuals because although this is extremely filmic and easy to picture the twist here is that Scriffen did not abandon Sancreda, he was murdered by one of Sancreda’s stray shots but we don’t know this until the climax. Sancreda’s sibling rivalry and hatred for his brother’s abandonment is what drives the story – 18,000 years of building hate and all for nothing.
There is a magnificent switch of location in episode 3 as the story flies overseas to Athens to join the devious Mrs Moynihan on her ‘holiday’. The story has moved on just enough for you to have forgotten her from episode one. Writers should try this sort of thing more often.
Sancreda proves to be a monster through and through when he turns on his benefactor, Flint, and murders him. ‘A partnership, ha! I do not speak of deals, I speak only of debts and yours to me is long overdue…’

Standout Performance: Susan Jameson as the unforgettably pitiable Mrs Moynihan. She’s a bitter old woman who has lost her husband and daughter to other people and only has her dogs to keep her company. Jameson provides a madly eccentric, yet odd beguiling character, helping to destroy the world for the most dismal of motivations, revenge. ‘I imagine people will be treating me rather differently in the future.’ You don’t have a future, love.

Sparkling dialogue: A lot of the dialogue in this story quite fun, occasionally a bit too self aware but still eminently quotable:
‘Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, where dare not go a’hunting for fear of little men.’ I realise this is a steal but Colin Baker makes it sound so evocative.
‘And it was grinning at us…’ I don’t know why but that sent chills down my spine.
‘You can get a long way with no talent but you can’t get anywhere without a pencil.’
‘Are you telling me that my housekeeper has fallen into a Faustian pact with a pixie from outer space?’
‘Now the tea lady is in charge!’
‘It’s nice to know we still make a good team, Doctor.’

Audio landscape: Not to crap all over Nicholas Briggs or Gary Russell who will go on to direct some fantastic stories but Nick Pegg lavishes a lot of love on this story and it shows in every aspect of the production. It is the moodiest tale yet; you have birds singing, chickens can be heard clucking in the distance, bees fly about lazily, church bells and birdsong suggest a new morning and strong winds and owls hooting give a strong sense of night time. There is a great moment where Flint smashes a window and puts it back together again, you can hear the glass gathering and breaking back into a solid pane. There are lots of footsteps in the museum in Athens and a rather dramatic security alarm. People tap keyboards, doors squeak, equipment buzzes and bleeps, the fogou is lovely and echoey, as is Flints extensive library. Just something simple as Evelyn smashing a window to escape to suddenly be greeted by crows screaming maintains the illusion that this is a soundtrack rather than being performed in a studio. Full marks for the opening scene though, the dogs sound terrifying and a very visual piece is told extremely effectively on audio without feeling like we are missing anything visually.

Musical Cues: A fantastic Alistair Lock score suggesting horrors unseen. The opening scene is huge and bombastic, suggesting the pace and urgency of the event. I love the terrifying, almost whistling music that plays during several tales of madness, goblins and sprites. Evelyn recalls her night time attack to a spine tingling track. This story does not have wall to wall music like The Marian Conspiracy, it is utilised only when it is needed. The score turns warm and beautiful at the end as the three friends walk off to the pub.

Isn’t that Odd: The pace of this story runs hot and cold. Episode two is the least eventful and largely quite talky and lacking in urgency.
Isn’t it annoying when a companion escapes from the villain and heads off to find an ally only to be talked into returning by the person she meets up with. Why is the first person they meet up always in league with the villain? Paul might have well of taken Evelyn there at gunpoint for all he had accomplice written across his forehead.

Something I learnt from The Inside Story: This story was originally intended for Tom Baker along with The Holy Terror and The Stones of Venice but he turned them down. The fool. Gary Russell talked Nick Pegg into directing this story himself after his initial reluctance.

Standout Moment: Poor Mrs Moynahin’s demise. Being ripped apart by her dogs, the only creatures she has any affection for is just horrible.
The dogs sound terrifying and the Doctor’s aghast reaction really drives home the horror of the event..
Worse is Sancreda’s response: ‘I am swatting at flies, Doctor, nothing more!’

Result: A gothic fantasy steeped in history and folklore proves to be the ideal backdrop for the long awaited meeting between the sixth Doctor and the Brigadier. Big Finish are telling the sort of tales we have been waiting for an age for with the sixth Doctor enjoying a fantastic companion, a spooky setting and a nice touch of nostalgia. Gather together some fine British actors, a villain, a stooge, an authority figure, add some murder, a squeaky voiced monster and a tale of revenge and you have something that’s traditional and rather gorgeous. Nick Pegg gives his own material some loving treatment and we get to enjoy the most atmospheric pictures painted in our head, accompanied by a chilling Alistair Lock score. It might be a bit too talky for your tastes and there is nothing revolutionary going on but if you like your Doctor Who down to Earth and evocative (I do and I do) then this is a good stepping on place for you. Kudos to Colin Baker for carving out a whole new life for his Doctor: 8/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/08-Doctor-Who-Red-Dawn

Red Dawn written by Justin Richards and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about? Ares One: NASA’s first manned mission to the dead planet Mars. But is Mars as dead as it seems? While the NASA team investigate an ‘anomaly’ on the planet’s surface, the Doctor and Peri find themselves inside a strange alien building. What is its purpose? And what is froze inside the blocks of ice that guards the doorways? If the Doctor has a sense of déjà-vu, it’s because he’s about to meet some old adversaries, as well as some new ones…

English Gentleman: Whilst Peter Davison gives a typically excellent performance I didn’t really feel much for his character, for good or for ill, throughout this production. He is damnably curious, doesn’t feel the cold and is extremely protective of Peri. His proven to be honourable by being able to open the Ice Warriors tomb. He forms a strong relationship with Zzaal, revealing to him why the Ice Warriors left Mars and the Ice Lord even sacrifices his life for him at the stories conclusion.

American Attitude: Justin Richards states that Gary Russell specifically wanted a strong role for Peri in this story so he splits the two of them up and lets Peri get to be wonderfully headstrong when dealing with dreary villain Paul Webster. She remembers her chemistry classes, moans an awful lot (nothing unusual there then…I will go on to prefer the Peri who delights in her adventures) and gets straight to the heart of the problem, exposing Paul in the first episode! She proves herself to be calm under pressure and able to ask the right questions when she is stranded in space on Ares One. Nicola Bryant gives another committed performance and it sounds like she has never been away. I’m not sure if she is always 100% convincing as Peri but her enthusiasm for the role is quite infectious that makes her rather magnificent all the same. Richards is turning into something of a Peri expert after Whispers, Grave Matter and this!


Great Ideas: Rather than simply shoehorning her into the plot for no apparent reason, Peter Davison’s daughter (who would go on to play the Doctor’s daughter) is given a strong role in Tanya. Believing she is a Webster and thus securing the legacy for her family she soon discovers she was infected with Martian DNA after the last trip to Mars and was brought along to sniff out more goodies that will make Webster incorporated an important factor in the arms race.
Everything surrounding the Red Dawn itself including epic walks across the surface of Mars and the noble self sacrifice of Zzaal under the brilliant sunlight of Mars. As an explanation as to why the Ice Warriors left Mars, sunburn as good as any!

Standout Performance: Nicola Bryant. Rarely given the kudos she deserves, she approaches the less than stellar material in Red Dawn with real gusto and proves Peri to be the best thing about it.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘There is dignity in forgiveness just as it is noble to exact revenge.’

Audio landscape: Again a science fiction story that doesn’t have half the you-are-there feel of the Earth based ones. The only things that really stood out for me are the intercom helmets, the violent dust storms on Mars and the authentic sounding sonic canon.

Musical Cues: Finally I can lavish some praise on this story! Russell Stone proves to be a great find, easily as strong as Alistair Lock and providing some unforgettable music over his few years as composer. Red Dawn sees him as an enthusiastic newcomer, throwing everything he can at the listener with a bona fide 80’s score that mixes disco and atmosphere to incredible effect. To be honest I spent more time hum away to the music than I did listening to the events of this story! The opening of the story, the launch of Ares One has some magnificent music helping to create the illusion of the ascent of the craft. The music comes into its own in the three cliffhangers, in turns bombastic (the Warriors breaking from their tombs), exciting (Ares One being hijacked) and dramatic (Webster pointing a gun at the Doctor). The last track, Webster’s Gamble, is one of my favourites in any Big Finish story. I can still remember buying the Music from the New Audio Adventures and listening to this score over and over. Great stuff.

Isn’t that Odd: That Justin Richards, plot master extraordinaire has forgotten to include one! Rather like Ambassadors of Death he gets bogged down in lots of astronaut jargon and forgets that we’d like to be entertained as well, things like characterisation and a good narrative. I understand that Richards and Russell wanted to make this a genuine NASA story but everything is a little too talky and dull – the entire can be summed up in ‘Ares One lands on Mars, they wake the Ice Warriors up, noble sacrifice, they go home.’
Stephen Fewell is obviously the great bastard of the universe Jason Kane so it was very odd to hear him playing a real villain in this piece. Fewell is usually bafflingly sexy on the ear (it’s not really a sexy voice but Jason is pretty hard to resist…as Benny will attest to!) but his turn here as Paul Webster is dreary. He’s so obviously the bad guy and it’s obvious he will be stopped. I understand that Big Finish want to fill in the gaps that the TV series neglected (the next story is a great example) but to offer the fifth Doctor and Peri a wealth of adventures does rather blunt the effect of Caves of Androzani where the Doctor supposedly sacrifices himself for somebody he hardly knows. It reminds me of the time Stephen Cole wrote Ten Little Aliens, a superb Past Doctor Adventure but fitted it into a gap between TV stories that couldn’t possibly exist. Do we then consider these stories canon…or just enjoy the stories for what they are and forget about the TV series. Yeah, I think that’s best. Some gaps (such as Sixie and Peri and the 7th Doctor and Ace can explained by the apparent gap between Revelation and Trial and the post Survival adventures). Besides which the fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem are such an intoxicating brew I can’t find myself objecting too much! As a huge fan of Star Trek (well DS9 to be precise, one of the few shows that demonstrates Doctor Who’s diversity of storytelling) it annoyed me to have the Ice Warriors turned into a parody of the Klingons (or Worf in particular) always banging on about honour every two minutes. Oddly they seem more concerned for their honour than their safety…and if they can’t rescue Sstast they would rather kill him to protect his honour!


Standout Moment: All of the cliff-hangers thanks to Stone’s incredible music. It is the cliffhangers that make this story, providing moments of excitement that are otherwise absent. The Ice Warriors breaking free of their tomb would have made a fine visual and the desperation in the Doctor’s voice when the Ice Warriors train their sonic canon on Ares One with Peri inside almost made me wake up!

Result: Considering its subject (a manned mission to Mars wakes up the Ice Warriors) this is one of the most uneventful and unhurried audios yet. With their great rasping voices you would think that the Ice Warriors would make an excellent audio monster but you have to give the something interesting to do make that work and here they merely strut about questioning everybody’s honour and getting captured. Big woo. The fifth Doctor and Peri make an engaging pair but are separated for most of the story so I’m yet to be convinced that stabbing continuity in the gut was worthwhile. Gary Russell needs to find a way to make these science fiction tales as dynamic and pleasing on the ear as the earthbound adventures; Red Dawn has a pretty unimpressive sound design and is only enlivened by its fantastic music. Not very fun to listen to: 4/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/

The Genocide Machine written by Mike Tucker and directed by Nicholas Briggs

What’s it about? The library on Kar-Charrat is one of the wonders of the Universe. It is also hidden from all but a few select species. The Doctor and Ace discover that the librarians have found a new way of storing data - a wetworks facility - but the machine has attracted unwanted attention, and the Doctor soon finds himself pitted against his oldest and deadliest enemies - the Daleks!

The Real McCoy: Oh dear and it was going so well. McCoy is really good at playing it quiet but when he is asked to play righteous anger – like he does throughout this tale it all falls to pieces. This is the first story where I would say we have a poor performance from one of our Doctors; he is frequently unintelligible, garbled and putting inflections on all the wrong words – a world away from the confident mastermind in The Fearmonger. It might have something to do with the quality of the script and characterisation, as McCoy can work wonders with strong dialogue (Ghost Light, Master). He has an absent minded, nutty professorish attitude in the first episode and becomes obsessed with returning his stolen library books to the Kar-Charrat library. He shows suitable awe at the wetworks facility claiming to have never seen anything on that scale before. It is revealed that his companions are his greatest weakness which is hardly the most original observation. The only explanation I can think of is that the Doctor is aware of how banal this story is and refuses to give it any genuine credo. The trouble is Colin Baker would be saddled with the odd lousy script later but his performances would often salvage them.

The Ace of Hearts: A very poor outing for Ace and the first step into the descent of her reputation. Sophie Aldred is by all accounts a wonderful woman and she has never shied away from Doctor Who even after it cancelled and admittedly she worked wonders in seasons 25 and 26. However acting on audio is definitely not her forte and after a brief taster of it in The Fearmonger here is a whole story of her shouting and screaming poor dialogue like a kid in a sweet shop without any money! I remain to be convinced that anybody would say dialogue like: ‘Got a frog in your throat? You should get some strepsils for that!’ which takes us back to the worst excesses of her trashy outdated 80’s slang of her stint on the telly. Ace actually gets quite a bit more to do in this story, seeking out Bev Tarrant, taking on Daleks and getting duplicated but she is saddled with lots of Tegan-esque whining from the first scene which makes her unlikable. She picks a fight with Elgin, Tarrant and the Daleks. Okay the last one is fine but she reminds me of one of those kids that goes out on a Saturday night spoiling for a fight.


Great Ideas: The real meat of The Genocide Machine comes with the ideas and how they are executed. The Kar-Charrat library is such a good idea that Stephen Moffatt nabbed it for his recent two part season four masterpiece. A building that holds every scrap of information from every civilised world – one of everything – it even rivals the Matrix on Gallifrey for its wealth of information. The library is hidden from the public (much to Ace’s disgust) because the accumulation of knowledge within its walls makes it a terribly dangerous weapon in the wrong hands…
Enter the Daleks who have tried to attack the library before. In a good showing for the Daleks ingenuity and patience to get what they want they have been waiting on Kar-Charrat for the past few centuries waiting for a time sensitive to arrive so they can duplicate them and enter the library. They want to absorb the total knowledge of the universe into a Dalek. They will do this via the wetworks facility, an awesome system of water tanks that holds every single scrap of knowledge.The final twist is that the water is enslaved Kar-Charrateans, they are creatures made of water. The Doctor condemns Elgin for enslaving the population without even attempting to recognize if they are sentient. I really liked the idea of Mr Prink, Elgin’s assistant who is constantly slagged off for chatting so much and yet we never hear anything more than an embarrassed cough every time he is criticised for it! The story ends on an ominous note with the mighty Dalek Emperor suggesting that although things did not go as planned on Kar-Charrat there are still plans to expand the Dalek Empire…

Standout Performance: Probably Bruce Montague as the fey and rather pathetic Librarian Elgin but only because he is the best of a bad bunch. McCoy and Aldred lack conviction and I’m not at all impressed with Louise Faulkner’s initial turn as Bev Tarrant either. Montague has some fun with his lines, injecting a lot of humour and eccentricity into them.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Astonishing! You could acquire the wisdom of a million years from a billion worlds in the time it would take to read a bus ticket!’
‘Robot things…nasty little pepperpots!’ It’s not the line but the way Montague says it!

Audio landscape: The saving grace of this story and the first real example that the more science fiction based stories can be as gripping and evocative as the Earthbound ones. Technically Nicholas Briggs excels himself, creating a convincing soggy world in Kar-Charrat and bringing the Daleks to audio in real style. The rain runs through the trees and there lots of soggy footprints to suggest lots of water. Freeler birds scream through the jungle, a Dalek saucer descends with gravity and the Daleks burst into the library and blast everybody to death (with the staff screaming wildly) to disturbing effect. The initial Dalek voices are powerful, almost screaming and they really assault the ears and the fabulous Emperor Dalek has a growling, menacing voice to give you nightmares! Add to that the cute bleeps and howls from G-14, the gorgeous Dalek control room heartbeat and a truly seductive computer voice in the library and you have a production of technical chic.

Musical Cues: Nicholas Briggs doesn’t really have a firm grasp of melody at this point – his music reminds me of the experimental scores of Pertwee years. Wall to wall music that is occasionally impressive and occasionally intrusive. I did think this was his best score so far, with a superb sting when the Daleks are mentioned (this would be used to much greater effect in subsequent Dalek stories) and a great moment when the Doctor and Elgin find Ace in the jungle, urgent and full of menace.

Isn’t that Odd: Ace, obviously.
Some of the Dalek voices have to heard to be believed. Go and listen to episode 3 and catch the one that says ‘Dalek assault squad teams are assembled’ and then ‘Proceed’ in the same scene. These mincing Daleks give Dalek Invasion of Earth a run for its money. Which one was Gary Russell?
McCoy, naturally.

Standout Moment: The Dalek massacre, loud, proud and full of bodies!

Result: There will be a Dalek story set in a jungle that deals with duplicates much later on in Big Finish’s run called Brotherhood of the Daleks and it is superior to The Genocide Machine in practically every way. The problems start with the script which undersells the threat and contains lots of obsolete ideas, poor characterisation of regulars and guest cast alike (I don’t know if anybody gets a character moment that isn’t a function of the plot) and some corny dialogue. Ignoring the good work they did in The Fearmonger McCoy and Aldred phone in two underwhelming performances and the guest cast fail to raise the game as well. Which leaves poor old Nick Briggs and the Daleks to give the proceedings a bit of zip which they try valiantly to do. You can admire the sound design and the horror of the Daleks for a while but without a plot to drive them and decent characters to care about you are fighting a losing battle. People praise The Genocide Machine to the detriment of The Apocalypse Element and whilst the second Dalek Empire story has its problems I find it by far a finer story. A hugely disappointing return trip for the Daleks: 3/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/

The Marian Conspiracy written by Jac Rayner and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about? Tracking a nexus point in time, the Doctor meets Dr Evelyn Smythe, a history lecturer whose own history seems to be rapidly vanishing. The Doctor must travel back to Tudor times to stabilise the nexus and save Evelyn’s life. But there he meets the Queen of England – and must use all his skills of diplomacy to avoid ending up on the headman’s block…

Softer Six: This is where Colin Baker really comes into his own with the audios. There is something wonderfully innovative about this audio in how it completely re-establishes the sixth Doctor’s character with the minimum of fuss. Whispers of Terror saw a petulant, argumentative sixie but here he is calmer, more adjusted and wonderfully warm and good humoured, a Doctor is would have a been a delight to see on screen but in a way I am glad he is restricted to audio as it is a real feather in Big Finish’s cap. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables have an instant rapport and their chemistry bursts into your ears from their first scene together. I love the domestic scenes in episode one as he follows Evelyn about, simple things like answering the phone, shouting through the letterbox…he comes across as a big brother to Evelyn’s irritated fussiness! He drops names like nobody’s business and is shouted down by Evelyn hilariously as they both try and give their opinion on Queen Mary – he has truly found his match! The TARDIS is his home and heart. He takes up the position of Queen’s physician and indulges in some marvellous religious debates with her and she declares him a wise man. Sarah flirts with him outrageously but he doesn’t seem to notice! Whilst he is a spanking new sixth Doctor throughout the moment I realised we were dealing with a whole new character was during his quiet and haunting admission to Sarah in episode 3, so understated I have quoted it in full below. Mary sees herself as something of a matchmaker and tries to get him engaged! There is no sign of Baker’s bombastic persona here; he seems much more relaxed being afforded such gentle characterisation.

Learned Lecturer: Welcome on board the TARDIS Evelyn Smythe. We have had some perfect matches before (Jamie/2, Jo/3, Sarah/4) but rarely have a Doctor and companion clicked this instantly. Both the sixth Doctor and Evelyn are pitched perfectly to compliment each other and make this audio a joy to listen to. From this story alone it is easy to expect big things from Evelyn and with the likes of Bloodtide, Project: Twilight, Jubilee, Dr Who and the Pirates she does not disappoint. Maggie Stables opens the story impressively, a convincing history lecturer. She is 55, learned and slightly crabby, an expert in the field of Tudor scholarship. She loves knitting, classical music and chocolate. She admits cheekily that she has been led astray in the past but left her husband because he couldn’t understand that wedding anniversary’s come round every year and academic events don’t (somehow I doubt it is as simple as that!). She initially thinks the Doctor is something of a lunatic (an easy mistake to make!) but he soon makes an authentic case to her and they are working together to save her life. She leaps at the chance to explore history, sighs at the nature of boys and charms her way in with the locals. She is practical, well prepared and useful. She appeals to the Doctor’s better nature at the stories conclusion to save Leaf and Crow from being burnt at the stake. You’ve got to love the way she invites herself to join the Doctor at the end of the story. One of the best companion introductions ever.


Great ideas: Jac Rayner introduces lots of important plot points in Evelyn’s first speech – the first episode is so entertaining it might seem frivolous but this is a tightly plotted story with lots of imperative clues scattered about early on.
I loved the Back to the Future vibe with Evelyn’s literal history vanishing from the pages of history books – it’s a great visual image of what is occurring.
The story takes several alarming twists that allows Rayner to educate us without hitting us over the head with a text book. The first cliffhanger is great (‘Baby? The Virgin Queen? History must be going very wrong indeed.’), the Doctor’s conversations with Mary prove to be dramatic and worrying, Evelyn telling Reverend Thomas of her painkillers (poison) and accidentally telling him the Queen isn’t pregnant thus putting his plan to kill her into action all kick the story in new directions. Even the Doctor potentially being Evelyn’s relation has intriguing possibilities for all it’s played for laughs. The final twist that Mary is the would-be assassin is brilliant because it has been so well set up without being too obvious. Mary’s vicious condemnation of Thomas at the conclusion and his refusal to publicly recant tops of a nourishing piece of theatre.

Standout Performance: Anah Ruddin gives a commanding performance as Queen Mary, in turns pitiable, compelling, passionate, thoughtful and terrifying. Mary is such a complex historical character and the script affords Ruddin the chance to really get her teeth into the part. Her scenes with the Doctor are a delight; she puts a forceful case forward for wanting to save the souls of her subjects. The story saves her trademark anger for the final episode and her horrified and vicious reaction to her assassination attempt is well worth waiting for.

Sparkling Dialogue: I’m not sure what is superior, the script or the performances but both are at the top of their game. I could probably recite the whole script but here are my highlights…
‘I find that cake is an excellent solution to so many of life’s problems.’ Oh so true!
‘This country will be Catholic before my death Doctor and no man will stand in my way. I will wipe the Protestant scourge from every corner of England!’
‘What would you say if I were to tell you that I once destroyed an entire race, that I have led friends to their deaths and caused numerous wars. That my intervention has led to peaceful people taking up arms and good people having their faith or reason destroyed. Because I failed to act millions upon millions of people have been enslaved or killed. What if I had done all of those things but had always, always believed I was doing to the right thing!"
‘I told him Mary wasn’t pregnant!’
‘You will burn for this Sarah and may God have mercy on your soul!’
‘She was willing to kill for her beliefs and that’s not good for a country.’

Audio Landscape: Again domestic settings make for an atmospheric audio. Evelyn’s lecture hall and home feel authentic – having real classical music playing s a bonus. There is a crackling fire in the inn and lots of bawdy commoners. Birds sing in rural England, the trees sway and horse clip clop past. The Doctor makes an impressive splash in episode four.

Musical Cues: Again Alistair Lock provides a fine musical score, lots of percussion instruments (there’s even a tambourine rattling in there) and underscores things delightfully. Some great choral work in episode four highlights the assassination attempt at mass and makes things even more nuanced. I love the tune when Mary declares the Doctor’s engagement and the music throughout episode one seems to revel in the Doctor and Evelyn finding each other. First class.

Isn’t that Odd: That I don’t have a single complaint! .

Something I learnt from The Inside Story: The Marian Conspiracy was originally going to be set in Tudor times, starring Peri. Evelyn was written with Maggie Stables in mind, a rare occasion of fitting a companion to an actress and not the other way around. As well as writing the script, Jac Rayner had also taken over as executive producer responsible for Big Finish.

Standout Moment: The Doctor’s admission to having made terrible mistakes in the past. It gave me goosebumps. Baker is astonishing.

Result: A joy to listen to, The Marian Conspiracy finally convinced me that Big Finish was on to something very special. I love historical stories and this script manages to educate and entertain in equal measures and introduces one of my favourite companions in the form of Evelyn Smythe. Maggie Stables deserves a lot of credit for creating such a memorable and fun character, slotting into place next Colin Baker’s Doctor as though she belongs there. The plot is slow but fascinating to listen to unwind and the production is the usual high standards. A huge thumbs up to Alistair Lock who provides the most filmic musical score yet and to Gary Russell who oversees everything with a confident eye. Practically faultless, the one reason this isn’t getting full marks is that Evelyn’s adventures get even better later: 9/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/06-Doctor-Who-The-Marian-Conspiracy

The Fearmonger written by Jonathan Blum and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: One would-be assassin in a mental ward. Another’s on the run. Their intended victim is stirring up the mobs. Terrorists are planning a strike of their own. A talk-radio host is loving every minute of it. A Whitehall insider whispers about a mysterious UN operative, with a hidden agenda. Everyone’s got someone they want to be afraid of. It’ll only take a little push for the situation to erupt – and something is doing the pushing. But you can trust the Doctor to put things right. Can’t you?

The Real McCoy: A far better debut than his appearance in The Sirens of Time. As somebody who has a wibbly wobbly timey wimey relationship with the seventh Doctor (sometimes I'm very keen, other times I'm appalled) a story has to do something very right for me to be this impressed by his interpretation of the character. It capitalises on all of his strengths; his quiet menace and jettisons all the histrionics. The political backdrop allows the Doctor to thrive, weaving in and out of various peoples plots, not really caring about the affairs of state but using them to manipulate various people and bring the alien he is hunting into the open. He is elusive and sneaky, his first appearance is on Mick Thompson’s radio show making undermining comments in the background and baiting him into a confrontation (‘You don’t like words like evil’) so he can make his broadcast. There is a real feeling that the seventh Doctor is a force to be reckoned with; mention is made of his work with UN paymasters, department C19 running covert black ops projects since the 70’s. Interesting how outsiders view his work with UNIT, turning it into something far more menacing than it actually was. That's a very New Adventures spin on the classic series and this story is really leaning into that. Described as a freelance consultant and describes himself as a silly old man with far too much time on his hands. At his age there is little left to fear except when Ace is gunned down. I adored the scene where he stands outside Harper’s house baiting Walter into throwing his petrol bomb at him (‘Missed me!’). The Doctor juggles on top of a car in the middle of a riot, which seems like the most McCoy thing any story could do. Perhaps the best example of how morally ambiguous this Doctor can be is when he finally confronts Harper about her nasty politics, never condemning her but walking away and leaving her to the mob she has created. It is a surprisingly callous yet entirely satisfying moment because she is thoroughly loathsome. I’m not sure how many other Doctor’s would feel this natural in a story of guns and bombs and politics.

The Ace of Hearts: There has been an abundance of Ace stories now; TV, comic strip, book and audio…she has conquered every medium. And in 2021 there is no sign of them slowing down. As the audios continue most of the television companions benefit from character development and extra adventures but Ace was already pretty well fleshed out by the time the audio adventures began. So despite ageing her and giving her a mentor role with Hex, there was pretty much nowhere for her to go. It pains me to say it but this is probably the best adventure she appears in and it is right at the beginning of her run and that is because Jonathan Blum is writing her exactly as she was on television rather than the idealised version of her that would go on to feature in many main range stories in the latter end of their run. Her belief in the Doctor is absolute; her biggest fear is that he might have been taken over by the Fearmonger. Ace works well in this sort of near future gritty setting and has friends (Paul) that she can turn to making her feel grounded. She admits that she is a calmer person now, because the Doctor believed in her and that had she not met him she would probably be joining the terrorists in fighting the racist Britannia Front. She talks Walter out of suicide and when things get a bit too fluffy, Ace trying the same ‘look me in the eye’ technique the Doctor used in The Happiness Patrol, she gets shot. She still has questions about whether the Doctor is still toying with her fears.

Great Ideas: The creature’s backstory is handled quickly and efficiently; it comes from a planet where the leaders wanted to stir up emotions so created creatures that would do just that. Love, hate, fear, lust…keeping it in balance. Unfortunately the one responsible for fear ended up on Earth. As Ace says this would be a very different story if it had turned out to be the lust creature. But the less said about the Torchwood episode Day One, the better. Using Mick Thompson’s radio show to comment on events is another clever use of audio narrative. These early scripts are constantly innovating to keep the stories alive on audio. The twist that Britannia were funding the terrorists to fuel the right atmosphere of fear and sympathy for their party comes from no where and gives the story more layers than it otherwise would have. Another great twist is where the Fearmonger has been hiding. Not in Harper or Thompson or the people who are stirring up the hate but in Walter who was experiencing the most fear. Its leap into Ace and her confrontation with the Doctor makes a nice paranoia role reversal.

Standout Performance(s): Jacqueline Pearce, Servelan herself in a role that makes her a truly nasty piece of work and unusually sensitive at the same time. Sherilyn Harper is a political hothead with some strong opinions about immigration and keeping Britain pure. I loved it when she was on the air talking to Walter and viciously condemning him (‘All your guns and bombs and you don’t even have the guts to face me’) and when her true plots are revealed, stirring up the hate and violence she is left at mercy of the mob she has incited and pathetically begs the Doctor not to leave her (‘Now everyone thinks I’m responsible!’). Pearce gives a committed performance and has a perfect throaty and mature voice to make such a complex character work. She would go on to play other terrific roles in later Big Finish's but I still think this is her best performance on audio. Vince Henderson deserves kudos for making Mick Thompson a believable DJ. He is irritating and entertaining in equal measures. 

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Do you want a dangerous fugitive staying in your flat?’ ‘Well of course not!’ ‘Well then don’t upset him and he’ll be a nice fugitive staying in your flat!’
‘The Tandoori menace that’s driving decent fish and chip shops out of business!’
‘I refuse to be responsible for the fall of every sparrow.’
‘You made the Mob and now they're coming after you.’

Audio Landscape: It seems to me that the more domestic the setting, the more realistic the sound design. This will not always be the case as there will be some terrifying and moody SF stories coming up but so far Phantasmagoria and The Fearmonger have had the most convincing audio environments. The riots on the streets are particularly loud and effective; people screaming, sirens, horns blaring, traffic shooting past, bottles smashing. I really love how they transformed Harper’s voice at the end of episode one, the alien inflections slowly get stronger and stronger turning this thriller into something far more interesting. The first terrorist statement is fantastically scary, a horrible modulated voice and forceful, pulsing music. The assassination attempts are appropriately chaotic. The Fearmonger in Paul’s flat makes a great scene, a nervous, fizzing, crackling ball of energy.

Musical Cues: Dramatic, edgy and keeping the story fast paced, this is an excellent score that really sells every moment of danger.

Isn’t that Odd: Sophie Aldred is mostly good but occasionally she is a little too hysterical. She has several scenes where she has to chase Walter about that don’t come off as well as they should. I’m glad Ace is shot at the end of episode two as she almost falls into McCoy parody with her ‘look me in the eye’ speech. It's a good lesson that these adventures are genuinely dangerous. 

Something I learnt from The Inside Story: Ironically Jon Blum almost had a nervous breakdown writing this story. His rewrites were a profoundly miserable experience that Russell made feel like an unnecessary crisis. Gary Russell, Stephen Cole and Nicholas Briggs all had misgivings about the initial scripts. It was almost considered unsalvageable. Bizarre then that the finished product is so polished. 

Standout Moment: There is a really nice quiet moment between the Doctor and Ace in episode two (’40 years ago Harper wouldn’t have even been out of the ordinary...things do change.’) – a really nice character moment which is suddenly interrupted by a terrorist attack. The change of tone is shocking and effortless.

Result: Welcome to the world of bombs, guns and politics and join the Doctor and Ace for a New Adventures style thriller. Whatever problems the script might have had have only served to make it a tight piece of writing, the real joy of this story is how it keeps surprising you with its guts and its edgy storytelling. Sylvester McCoy gives one of his best ever Big Finish performances, suggesting layers to his character that we rarely see via his performance. From the arresting assassination opening, through several terrorist attacks to the disturbing riots of the last episode, the Fearmonger keeps you on your toes and never loses sight that although it is telling the story of an alien menace it has a very human point to make about tolerance and racism. Aside from the main plot the additional treats are manifold, the terrific dialogue, Alistair Lock’s filmic score, the astonishing Pearce/Roderick relationship, some lovely quiet moments between the Doctor and Ace, Paul Tanner being one of the more realistic turncoats… The Fearmonger was the first Big Finish story I listened to and it had me hooked. Aside from a few awkward moments this is an assured production and the best story so far: 8/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/

Land of the Dead by Stephen Cole and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Landing in Alaska, the Doctor and Nyssa encounter a group of people in a most unusual house, cut off not only by the harsh climate but by their individual secrets and obsessions. Millionaire Shaun Brett is utilising chunks of the local area to construct a shrine to his dead father. But when deadly creatures start roaming outside, and a terrifying discovering is made inside the house, the Doctor realises that Brett has unleashed an unimaginably ancient force…

English Gentleman: This is a responsible take on the fifth Doctor but its nothing that stands out either. Cole has made the effort to capture his language style, even grabbing snatches of his dialogue from the small screen and inserting them into the story. He’s chivalrous, utterly polite to his hosts, makes the tea and generally acts like the perfect gentleman. At one point he admits that he and Nyssa are just good friends and I wondered if the attempt to ship them in later stories might be on the cards. They have a rapport of equality, they are both advocates of science and they clearly enjoy each others company a great deal. Unfortunately throughout this story he is saddled with the supremely irritating Tegan-clone Monica Lewis so rather than developing a fun relationship with Nyssa, he spends most of the time discussing how Monica reacts to various events in the story. 

Child of Traken: Far more assured is the treatment of Nyssa who returns to the series after 20 years as though she had never been away. Nyssa is such an oddity because she divides opinion so dramatically. There are those that think she is the most boring companion ever; an uncharismatic scientist who the series creators wasted considering the potential drama of losing her home and family. And others (like myself and even the Doctor himself) who believe she was the most successful companion of the fifth Doctor’s era because she complimented him rather than butting heads with him all the time and because Sarah Sutton was nicely underplayed, sweet enough that you want to protect her and confident enough to believe that she is a woman of agency. This is a fine return for the character as she is given lots to do (a huge complaint of her time on the show was how much time she spent side-tracked from the main action of most stories) and she is practical and sympathetic throughout. She talks about losing her father and her world, is a competent bioengineer and has difficulty carrying her planets traditions around with her. She struggles with the spiritual and the rational, the two very often fighting each other. This is all good development for her character. Tulung thinks of her as his guardian angel and Brett ties her up as a ‘guard dog’ – to scream if the creatures approach. Like so many companions before and after, she finds the TARDIS unreliable.

Great Ideas: I did like the illustration of Brett’s house on the CD sleeve and the idea of the sea room appealed to me a lot. This section is pretty empty because for once the story is bereft of interesting ideas. I felt Cole was trying to see his story on atmosphere alone. 

Standout Performance: For all the wrong reasons, Lucy Campbell as Monica Lewis. What an irritating character this is. Tegan in all but name and she oddly spends most of the story telling everybody how petulant she is and how much she wants to vomit. Campbell’s performance is really unconvincing, I did not for a second believe she was experiencing these events and some of her dialogue delivery turned some pretty bad lines into really bad ones (below).

Words That Should Never be Spoken: ‘The Doctor’s filling in the sea room door, he might as well fill you in as well.’

 ‘How is a fossilised skeleton moving about without flesh and blood to clothe it?’
‘Are you trying to cajole me out of my petulant moaning with weak humour?’
‘Man of Destiny, you sound like such a pill-ac.’
‘God it actually looks like dynamite too – how wonderfully retro.’

Audio Landscape: My favourite sound effect in this story was very simple but effective…how the story moved from the car driving through the snow to a dialogue scene in the car. I got the real sense that I was outside and smoothly switched to inside the car. However when that is the aural highlight for me we have problems.

Musical Cues: Nicholas Briggs calls this score his least favourite and you can see why. Like most of the story it is unmemorable, not giving the events the drive they need. I could hum you snatches of the music from Phantasmagoria but I cannot remember a single note from Land of the Dead.

Isn’t that Odd: The cover is appalling, but then most of the early Big Finish covers are sloppy cut and paste jobs. Janet Fielding wanted nothing to do with Big Finish to start with; I get that, but don’t write in Tegan in all but name anyway. Ms Jovanka is probably my least favourite companion anyway so Monica who shares most of her characteristics, was just annoyance squared. Fascinatingly when Tegan does make a return to the series in the main range it is a triumphant and that makes Monica's abrasive characterisation even more ill advised. My biggest fear of listening to Doctor Who on audio was that it would be a lot people screaming into microphones as though we were listening to a soundtrack of a televised story with no concession made for the fact that we can’t see anything. Fortunately Big Finish rose to the challenge triumphantly and producing some striking audio drama that really works in the medium it is in. However the end of part one was exactly the sort thing I was scared of…lots of shouting about nothing especially interesting, an action movie on CD. There are a number of huge information dumps in the story and rather than easing them into the plot gently over the course of the story they are dropped on your head like a lead weight. Episode two was the worst offender, setting up information about Brett and Tulung’s father. The direction is at fault as much as the writing – the end of episode three sees the ocean burst forth and release lots of creatures but instead of being assaulted by a torrent of water it sounds like a pathetic little dribble. I’m still none the wiser to what the creatures actually were, every time Cole tried to explain it and delved into mythological terms I switched off.

 
Something I learnt from The Inside Story: Land of the Dead was written in 7 days to replace the delayed Fearmonger in the schedules. It shows. Steve Cole is capable of writing much better than this. Lucy Campbell was Stephen Cole’s then girlfriend.

Standout Moment: There was a nice Jurassic Park vibe about the dinosaur rampaging about. Funnily enough on audio the dinosaurs look absolutely incredible. 

Result: I can see what Cole was going for; a frosty atmospheric character drama with monsters and he may have succeeded if this was a McGann and Lucie 50 minute episode but Land of the Dead is far too long and far too poorly executed and so I guess it is a perfect evocation of a season 20 story. There doesn’t feel like there is an evolving plot or any meat to the story, just a lot of scenes that would probably look really cool on the telly with a huge budget and a dynamic director. The first episode is unspeakably boring; talky and uninvolving with dull characters and speaking the sort of language that people did during the Eric Saward years but in a way no human being has ever realistically sounded. Brett goes from charming host to ranting villain with no motivation and Monica Lewis should have died a horrible death at the hands of the forgettable monsters. When you have a cast this small you have to make sure and get the dynamics right but everything feels awkward. Davison tries his best with the material he is given, Sutton makes a positive return to the series but they are the only plus points in this stinker of an audio adventure. The worst crime is the missed opportunity; a snowy wasteland could make an atmospheric story. Gary Russell would make a far better job of it in Winter for the Adept and Big Finish would return to snowy wastes again and again with far more effective results: 3/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/04-Doctor-Who-The-Land-of-the-Dead

Whispers of Terror written by Justin Richards and directed by Gary Russell

Softer Six: Or not so softer six perhaps, since Justin Richards, as he has a want to do in both his novels and audios, seeks to capture the authentic voice of the Doctor and companion he is bringing to life. The opening scenes of Whispers of Terror feel extremely authentic to mid 80’s Who with the Doctor and Peri being quite rude to each other, unnecessarily so. I have long been a defender of the sixth Doctor so it pleases me to inform you that things do settle down very quickly as soon as he gets a good mystery to sink his teeth into but the regulars’ scenes bookending this adventure do suggest a return to the pre Trial relationship. Or at least that that spikiness hasn't abandoned their relationship completely. The joy of the sixth Doctor is not only his passion for his adventures and the joys of the English language but how his weaknesses slip through the cracks every now again, suggesting a much deeper character than the initially unnuanced man he appears to be. His shock reaction to Peri’s death in Mindwarp is a great example; suddenly all the bluster has gone and he can barely talk. Whispers of Terror gives the Doctor loads to do; he is as verbose and playful as ever, shouting his head off suggesting people that do so only reveal the paucity of their argument and baiting Peri into raising her voice and proving his point. He thinks he has a better sense of direction than a homing pigeon, a claim made by Hartnell’s Doctor if I remember correctly. His scenes with Beth Purnell are terrific; he seems to enjoy baiting her and manages to sniff her out as the villain straight away. Or maybe it is just because this Doctor treats everybody as though they are a minor inconvenience that they reveal their true colours quickly. In a story of speeches and performances he is the most theatrical of all, especially at the end of episode two where he positively revels in revealing the latest plot development. Can you imagine a story more tailored to this audiophile? He can be quite impatient and snappy, critical of other people’s moments of melodrama (!) and pushes his moral indignation to murder. A supporter of democracy. We’re not quite there yet making Colin Baker accessible to all audiences and the best is yet to come but huge strides are being made here. Just not all at once. Perhaps the transition would be too jarring.

American Attitude: Oh Peri, Peri, Peri….do you know I can never deicide if Peri is an integral part of the show or a complete waste of a character that had enormous potential. I love Nicola Bryant and think she is extremely game and talented, she rocked in her two stories with Davison and managed to be the best thing about The Twin Dilemma. Season 22 saw her turn into a hysterical hang along, not really contributing to the series and just there to get into scrapes and moan. It is such a waste of her character so it is nice to see that Big Finish have given her a new lease of life on audio. Peri is pretty quiet in this story; she has her initial longing to get back to the TARDIS (of course), reveals a curious eye for detail but still runs off blundering into trouble. What's so fantastic is that if you are a Peri fan or a Peri detractor then hold onto your hat because Big Finish is about to take hold of this character and make her the ideal companion for both the fifth and sixth Doctors. All it takes is to take the template of the character and give her agency and intelligence, and to remove all the blatant sexism, disturbing torture porn she experiences on TV and to give her the right amount of emotional intelligence. And that journey starts here. 

Great Ideas: Having a blind character is a stroke of genius and rather than taking the obvious route of having all the characters explain what is happening visually he uses Gantman to conceal a very important plot twist. A life form that has manipulated itself as a sound wave and can escape through any medium that carries sound has so many possibilities. The only thing it can’t do is be absolutely quiet because it exists as sound (I love how this creature could have been any sound that was running through our ears…very creepy). Having the Doctor capture him by taping him onto a CD is inspired. In one of the creepiest sequences of the first 50 releases, Purnell tortures Crane by starting to delete parts of the soundwave. The creature plans to manifest a version of itself everywhere that the broadcast is received and birth millions of mad, homicidal waveforms. This early in the run where the imaginative choices with the audio medium are not exhausted, was an astonishingly creative idea. Purnell’s death scene is a surprise ending, tricked into opening a sound file sent by (the apparently dead) Stenguard and ripping her car to pieces. I was waiting for the twist that the story we are listening to is somehow entirely recorded and the last refuge of Crane. Make the listener terrified that they are the one person that was harbouring the lunatic. 

Standout Performance: Lisa Bowerman who I simply adore as Bernice Summerfield makes a surprisingly uncharismatic villain which is quite refreshing in Doctor Who. She is a plain speaking, conniving, political Nazi. I love her casual ‘How dare you!’ when the Doctor starts accusing her of manipulating the speeches – she can’t even be bothered to sound genuinely hurt. Her nonchalance in the face of Colin Baker's brashness is very amusing. Bowerman is too good an actress to be giving a lazy performance and so this is a deliberate acting choice. 

Ham Fisted: Rebecca Jenkins is a little too hysterical in places. Sometimes less is more.

Sparkling Dialogue: This is a Justin Richards script so I expected some gems…
‘Something grand and theatrical from the old school of acting no doubt, loud, bombastic, not my sort of thing really.’ – the nerve of this, coming from the sixth Doctor. 
‘I think there’s more to this than meets the ear!’
‘Strange, I was there when Barclay searched you but some how he missed this knife. Those voices must have really screwed you up.’ This was a really creepy scene.
‘If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it!’
‘I hope it gets better than this' - dangerous ground for a script. At least this one is a zinger.
‘Democracy – an outdated, unworkable system that disperses power so thinly it hardly exists. A morally justifiable way of doing nothing. Procrastination made politic!’
‘We’ll drop by in a few years to hear how you’re getting on.’
‘Now I’ve heard everything.’ The TARDIS dematerialisation sound described succinctly in am audio all about sound. 

Audio landscape: Gary Russell’s first step into the directors chair is mostly magnificent. It's a challenging script by Justin Richards, who is asking him to create an audio landscape with a sound creature, several murders, cars crashing and all sorts of audio jiggery pokery. The death of Fotherill lingers in the memory, creepy voices, manic laughter, screaming…it is an assault of disturbing sounds. The end of the first episode reminds me strongly of The Face of Evil (‘Tell me who I am!’) and is chaotic and surreal.

Musical Cues: This is an genuine 80’s score, intrusive, synthesised, bold and occasionally atmospheric. Even Nick Briggs hates some of it but apparently it was written in quite a rush. Big Finish are still taking their baby steps, soon they would abandon trying to imitate what has been and forge their own path.

Isn’t that Odd: That the middle of the CD booklet is a disgusting sickly yellow colour. Whose idea was that? The end of episode three is really badly directed – it feels like it should be an important moment but its plain with a minimum of sound effects. Russell is learning his art. Before the end of his run he would have created some of the finest aural set pieces in Doctor Who. Some of which have never been bested. 

Something I learnt from The Inside Story: Justin Richards reads the first episode to test its length and it came out at 45 minutes long. When he asked Gary Russell if he could do another audio and what he was after, Russell replied ‘Something simpler!’

Standout Moment: Purnell causing her own political suicide was punch-the-air good. The Doctor secretly broadcasts her confession to murdering Crane. His Doctor was rarely written as being crafty on television and so it is beautiful that in his first full story from Big Finish that he walks the villain into a situation where they are hoist by their own petard. 

Result: An interesting story written by a strong storyteller who has put some real thought into how to construct a tale on audio. What's odd about Whispers of Terror in retrospect is that Justin Richards knocks it out of the park with his first script and dynamically uses sound in some wildly experimental scenes and yet as the range progresses he would become the go to writer for more pedestrian, traditional affairs. Highlights include the very idea of the Museum of Aural Antiquities, a sound creature, speeches holding the narrative together and creative use of a (brilliant) blind character that can disguise plot twists. At times the story is a little too authentic to the time period it hails from as the music drones on and the Doctor and Peri bicker but the plot and direction are more than good enough to see you though. Colin Baker seems to relish being back in the driving seat but his best work is still to come and butts heads memorably with Lisa Bowerman here, a world away from their very different (but equally memorable) roles in the Bernice Summerfield audio Birthright. I like experimental stories (and this is range that pushed away from that in it's latter stages so lap them up while they are being attempted) and Whispers of Terror stylishly commits to telling a audio tale as intriguingly and as intellectually as possible: 8/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/

Phantasmagoria by Mark Gatiss and directed by Nicholas Briggs

English Gentleman: Peter Davison’s Doctor rarely impressed me on the television, often because of underwhelming scripts and productions (which often had the right resources but the wrong directors) but also because his Doctor more than any other lacks the gravity of the others. He often felt like he was swamped by the adventures (and numerous hysterical companions) around him. However I do feel there was something of an improvement during the end of his run, starting with his engaging banter with Will in The Awakening, his authority in Frontios, the assassination attempt of Davros, the companion he should have had (Peri) and finally his commanding final turn in The Caves of Androzani. This adventure takes place during this period so it comes as no surprise that the Doctor is rather wonderful, with all that added acting chops that Davison has mastered over the years. He is still cricket obsessed, explaining the rules to Turlough and beautifully using Wisdens Almanac to defeat the villain. He strikes up an easy relationship with Samuel which begs the question why the Doctor never had an elderly companion (which Evelyn Smythe and Wilfred Mott would later on prove to be an invaluable idea). Turlough complains that he is elusive with answers but quite like the Doctor of this era he is quite free with the true of aliens and the TARDIS with the historical characters. I am very glad Big Finish has given an older Davison a chance to revisit his character and iron out the creases. The fifth Doctor and Turlough would be a relationship that was peppered throughout the Main Range (wonderfully the penultimate adventure is this pairing again, coming full circle) but it wasn't one that was given any real consideration or exploration. Aside from Loups-Garoux, Singularity and The Blazing Hour they mostly were squeezed into adventures with Tegan and Older Nyssa and there were just too many people about to give them the appropriate time. A shame because I think there is a lot to unpick there; a relationship that began with the companion trying to kill the Doctor and a level of mistrust throughout. 

Looking over his shoulder: Turlough was actually one of the more interesting companions the Doctor travelled with. He had a mysterious back story and he was introduced in an intriguing way (a trilogy of stories where he attempted to murder the Doctor in various lacklustre ways). We learnt shocking things about his people (the Tractator attack) and he left with the truth about his character finally revealed; his family are political prisoners fleeing from their home planet. Mark Strickson was mostly on the ball throughout the series too; offering a shifty character that you didn’t entirely put your trust in and would always keep an eye on to see what he was up to (he had several opportunities to bump off Tegan and never took the chance so I couldn't endorse him entirely). The problem was that more often than not the stories did not really give Turlough anything to do. Which was a real shame but thems eighties Who for you. Turlough doesn’t entirely translate well to audio, certainly not as well as Nyssa or Peri do in later stories. In some scenes Strickson seems a little forced, like he doesn’t quite believe what he is doing (because he’s not actually doing it). I certainly didn’t believe he was eating and talking during the café scenes. He’s a bit of a moaner, with a voracious appetite and quite petulant. I didn’t quite buy that he was a fan of Earth history because he claimed to hate the planet in Mawdryn Undead. He is appropriately cowardly, running away from the spirits in episode one but is afforded a moment of heroism in episode four (‘It wouldn’t be cricket, would it?’) after claiming he isn’t a hero. Turlough was my only real grumble with the story.

Great Ideas: Valentine stealing learned men, marking them with his cards and calling on his previous victims to transport them to his hellish ship so he can slave their minds to the computer and restore the systems. You have to love how Hannah rouses all the victims to murder Valentine once he has been tricked into being slaved to the computer…killing both of them. This is a story that is playing on atmosphere rather than mad creativity so the fact that this story leans into two big ideas alone (the card game that if you lose you become a victim and the organic ship made out of those victims) is not really a problem. 

Standout Performance(s): David Ryall has the perfect gruff villainous voice and creates a memorable villain in Sir Nicholas Valentine; a deranged, psychopathic and yet oddly charming killer.
Mark Gatiss deserves kudos for disguising his real voice so completely as the throaty and verbose Jasper, every one of Jasper’s scenes is a voyage of verbose vernacular, like he has been taking lessons from the great Henry Jago himself. A quick mention for (another unrecognisable) David Walliams as his chipper and camp companion Quincy Flowers. This is a remarkably strong cast. 

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I’ll soon be able to let me britches out meself as a marquee for the coronation!’
‘Wounds! I can’t say I favour this coffee stuff meself, Flowers. Tastes like something that’s dropped from the wrong end of a cow!’
‘The sweats standing off him like diamonds on a cloth.’ What a great visual metaphor.
‘What hell mouth is this? The walls like wet liver!’ And again…
‘Valentine is calling in his debts.’

Audio Landscape: This story is a treat for the senses. If you shut your eyes the sound effects conjour up the world of London 1702 with ease. You’ve got town criers, the clip-clop of horses, church bells, trees swaying in the breeze, children singing and playing and dogs barking to make the scenes outside come alive. Indoors there’s clocks ticking, fire crackling in a hearth, cutlery clacking and audience laughter in the theatre making things feel like you are really there. It's effortlessly done. Nick Briggs seems much more comfortable directing the more realistic settings of this story (his Earthbound episode two of The Sirens of Time was the best too) and he creates a terrific atmosphere with some relatively simple but subtle effects. His alien voices are really good two, creepy and unearthly. Rather brilliantly the TARDIS scanner makes a number of rather pathetic sounds, which is very 80’s Who. 

Musical Cues: This story introduces the wonderful musical stylings of Alistair Lock who will go on to provide some fantastic music for the opening Big Finish audios. This is a rousing historical score, full of melody and bounce. He underscores creepy moments like the séance and provides a playful atmosphere in scenes like Turlough and Jeake prowling around outside Valentine’s house.

Isn’t that Odd: That Turlough should be chosen to kick off the fifth Doctor’s adventures when he would only pop up every now and again…it does rather suggest that this would be a regular engagement with Davison and Strickson but that doesn't turn out to be the case at all. 
Also for storytelling purposes I can see that Valentine’s ship, which he has working on for years, just happens to be ready to lift off at the dénouement of the story, but it is an incredible co-incidence. Mind you, many a Doctor Who story has been structured around remarkable coincidence, especially during this period on TV so I guess you could say that just adds to the authenticity. 

Standout Moment: The end of episode 3. I love the fact that they have produced these audios in the style of the old four part adventures from the television but it means they have to work extra hard to shock us at these climactic moments. The revelation that Hannah is Billy Lovemore and they are both aliases for an alien comes from nowhere and is still an effective surprise.

Result: A far more assured and confident production than The Sirens of Time with Nick Briggs grabbing hold of Mark Gatiss’ atmospheric and giving script and bleeding it for every laugh and scare. This is traditional Doctor Who to the core and it revels in the fact; the Doctor is clever and amusing, the guest cast colourful and enjoyable and the villain is despicably hissable. There is nothing here that is especially fresh but the pieces are put together with such gusto and as an example of how agreeable and visual these audios can be. Davison seems to enjoy the material, although Strickson feels a little forced. There is an extremely impressive guest cast, an abundance of witty lines and the whole thing moves along at a fair lick. Because I can’t keep listing standout performers I want to put a word in for Steve Wickham who puts in a very sweet performance as Samuel and would go on to play a character utterly different in The Fires of Vulcan. Phantasmagoria would probably flounder later on in the range where we expect things to be constantly innovative but as a positive first step in to producing adventures these Doctors could never have on the TV this story gets a huge thumbs up: 8/10

Artwork by Simon Hodges @ http://hisi79.deviantart.com/