Caerdroia written by Lloyd Rose and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Self-exiled to a new universe, separated from his TARDIS, opposed and manipulated by the Divergence and their agent the Kro'ka, the Doctor has been struggling to work out the nature of the cosmic game in which he's an unwilling pawn. Now, at last, he has a chance to find the answer ¤ and regain the TARDIS! Threatened and desperate, the Kro'ka abandons his behind-the-scenes machinations to confront the Doctor directly. But will both of them lose their way in the maze of the strange world in which they find themselves? A world in which a clock may have a cuckoo but no hands, a labyrinth imprisoning a paradox, and a Garden of Curiosities reveals something the Doctor has never seen before. As the Doctor faces these challenges, Charley and C'rizz provide valuable help. But with the TARDIS itself at stake, the Doctor reaches deep inside himself to find some surprising new allies...

Breathless Romantic (x3): Listen up folks because I’ve got something to say. Lloyd Rose is the best writer for the eighth Doctor whatever medium she is writing for him in, bar none. Her two EDAs, City of the Dead and Camera Obscura feature some of the most magnificent and striking characterisation of the eighth Doctor and they almost shocked the other writers at the time until raising their game to keep up. Caerdroia isn’t quite as good as those two novels (as an audio it doesn’t quite have the same thematic depth as a book) but it is easily the best writing Paul McGann has been given yet and she gets the audio eighth Doctor spot on, allowing him to be angry, romantic, threatening, intelligent, gentle and prickly – his dialogue throughout is great fun and full of menace and laughs. As such Paul McGann gives his best performance yet, a real slap in the face after some of his more tired recent efforts and he really seems to enjoy the chance to be a bit more dramatic and silly, thoughtful and hilarious and its all wonderfully addictive. If this were the eighth Doctor(s) we had week in, week out I certainly would not be complaining. Splitting his character into three distinct personalities allows the writer to really have fun exploring the different aspects of his psyche and remind us just how many layers this particular incarnation has. I was rather sad when they all jumped back into one body.

As long as the Doctor sleeps they can’t be moved through the Interzones. He’s stronger than when he arrived on this world and is full of secrets about this universe now. He’s so cheeky to the Kro’ka (‘You will beg for mercy, Doctor!’ ‘Promises, promises!’) and seems to have a great deal of fun turning the tables at last and winding him up. His mind is such a big place and so old. He’s never cruel. He finds his consciousness can take over when his companions are in danger and turn vicious. Torture for the Doctor is to be trapped within a universe that doesn’t acknowledge time. He can’t remember any recent examples of his theories being wrong. When the Doctor is split into three we have Brains, Brain Damage and Manners! I love the childish and carefree Doctor, it’s the cuddlier side of his that we haven’t seen for a long time. The angry, bitter Doctor is something pretty scary, unhindered by the others. It is so rare for the Doctor to see something new (even in a brand new universe?). He loves purple marlots and sunflowers. Thank goodness the cheerful Doctor is mixed in with the others otherwise he would be unbearable (by his own admission). He has a ball of string in his tiny pockets the size of a beach ball! I loved listening to the three Doctor’s working out the mystery of Caerdroia together bringing their own distinct opinions to the problem in a quick succession. The dreamy, abstract Doctor is a healthy reminder that some of the Doctor’s goofiest incarnations have been his slyest. Spontaneity is his strong point. He may talk like a fool but he knows what he is talking foolishly about. Of all the dangers he has faced, the Doctor never expected to have died of borderm (I loved that observation). He has courage and integrity and fights evil fiercely and yet is capable of great mercy, he is truly heroic. The nasty Doctor needs the compassionate and childish ones to keep an eye on him, to stop him from going too far. He invades the Kro’ka’s mind (which he thinks is a dump) and bullied him, really gets off on hurting him. ‘I’m home!’ he screams when he gets the TARDIS back and it is such a relief to see him so happy again. C’rizz wonders if he is still the Tiggerish Doctor but Charley points out this is all of him, he has just never seen the Doctor happy before.

Edwardian Adventuress: Such a difference between this and how India Fisher played Charley in The Last – I can never tell from one story to the next if her characterisation and performance will work or not but this is the best we have seen from Charley since Neverland. Once again she is very cute and great fun to be around. Can’t Lloyd Rose write every story? She really seems to get off on poking fun at the Kro’ka. Charley cannot bear to watch the Doctor suffer. She gets lumbered with the impatient, spiteful Doctor and she finds it hard to believe that he is part of her Doctor (just as he finds it hard to believe that he usually puts up with somebody as stupid as her!). They fight like a married couple and yet obviously care for each other; it’s a really fun dynamic and exactly the sort of thing that was desperately missing last season. She declares that she has never let the Doctor down and he knows it but seems to have forgotten her selfish act of jumping into the Divergent Universe after him because she thought she was dumped. Fisher really sells the dangerous moments in the story, a far cry from her indifference in The Last,
go listen to her panic and hysteria when she is almost crushed inside the workings of the cuckoo clock. She tries to annoy the Doctor because it makes for a bit of life. She was wondering when the monster would show up. C’rizz asks if she and the Doctor are in love. Charley is hilarious when she (‘woo!’) tries to get noticed (‘I’m from another universe!’). She admits she is more adventurous than C’rizz and sounds very excited about showing him around the TARDIS.

Chameleonic Rogue: He also seems to have great fun with Charley at the Kro’ka’s expense! The cows really like him much to his chargin. He really misses his home but somebody has to look out for the Doctor and Charley. Love is always dangerous he tells Charley, just look at him and L’da. He is surprised that more people aren’t staring at him. In Caerdroia C’rizz is likable, funny and intelligent – can’t Lloyd Rose write all the stories? He doesn’t like heights and charley thinks he would look great with a marble effect skin. His ears are extremely sensitive.

Standout Performance: This is a showcase for the regulars, almost as if Gary Russell has heard all the criticism about the three main performers and wanted to give them a chance to charm the audience. To his credit, it is a total success. And I really didn’t think that would be possible.

Twists: The Doctor scoffs at the Mind Blast Device and yet it really appears to cause him some pain which it turns out he was faking all along! The Interzone has numerous portals and is a clearing station to the many Divergent Worlds (hang on…I thought the zones were all on one planet – Bortroysoe?). Their Divergent Head Office is called Caerdroia, a castle that is everywhere. Time spillage is coming from the portal that the Divergents are hiding behind. More Welsh people turn up inside this universe. There is a huge clock, which is an illusion to linear time. The Department of Communications Enabling Devices can issue pencils, the Department of Necessities for Daily Routine can loan you someone else’s pencil and the Department of Rhetorical and Genuine Questions will answer any queries you might have! This is bureaucracy epitomised! They are being run like rats through a maze and all the doors led back to the same place. Does the Kro’ka serve the Divergents willingly? Is he cut off from his past, longing for his home? They are taking images from their minds and constructing them but the details are slightly askew, the cuckoo clock with no hands. The maze, administration building and castle are everywhere – the fortress of turning paths. The Divergents want the Doctor’s memories removed, stored and examined for the secrets of the TARDIS. The TARDIS is the prize at the centre of the labyrinth and she is trying to tell the Doctor how to get there. Rassilon is angry that the Kro’ka has broken their contract. The Doctor, Charley and C’rizz cannot travel in time but they can travel in space and there is a whole new universe to explore!

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I thought we were taller!’
‘I’d very much like to know what’s going to eat us!’
‘Lets skip the melodrama and get to the point.’
‘Stop being fiendish and get on with it.’
‘We had a contract. You broke it. I’m afraid I am going to have to break you.’

Audio Landscape: There is an onslaught of church bells shredding through the Doctor’s mind, the Doctor manages to appear in different parts of his mind, the fizzing Interzone energies, the taunting Kro’ka, birdsong and cows mooing with bells tinkling, snapping wood, cuckoo, a babbling brook, the growling Oberlad, the clicking, grinding gears and cogs inside the clock, the deafening chiming, wind running through the labyrinth, market town with people chatting and horses screaming, the awesome ‘contact’ sound and of course the delicious TARDIS console hum which is a real sound for sore ears!

Musical Cues: Bloody marvellous, the music is spunky, modern, really fun and adds a lot of depth to the already thoughtful dialogue. Fantastically eclectic and atmospheric.

Isn’t it Odd: What an awful, cheap and nasty looking cover. I wish I had the maze alternative, which was much nicer. The rules in the Divergent Universe seem to be changing with each story.

Standout Moment: Any scene with the Kro’ka. Its lovely to see Stephen Perring getting a larger role and he really seems to enjoy playing the Kro’ka on the run for a change, scared and anxious.
He is by far the best thing to have come out of this arc and its nice to see his silky menace swapped for quiet desperation.

Result: Okay I’ve said it three times already but…can’t Lloyd Rose writer every story? Or at least characterise them? It is shocking to think that a story in which McGann, Fisher and Westmaas carry 90% of the material set inside the Divergent Universe could be this amusing. Where Caerdroia lacks a plot it grabs your attention with plenty of thoughtful dialogue, fun characterisation, wonderfully surreal moments and a general sense of things pushing on in the right direction. The triplet Doctors with their distinct personalities are inspired and provide the story with its best laughs and most considerate moments. The production itself feels fresh, bouncy and despite an inordinate amount of running around in circles never seems to stand still or stagnate. The return of the TARDIS is by far the most exciting moment yet in this arc, if depriving the Doctor of his ship turned him into something wicked and flat then returning his one true love sees his character finally come back to life. All in all a very promising shove towards this arcs conclusion and a fascinating story in its own right: 8/10

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

The Last written by Gary Hopkins and directed by Gary Russell

What's it about: Trapped on a dying world, the Doctor and Charley come face-to-face with those responsible for the war to end wars, while C'rizz tries to understand what has happened and learns the terrible truth. Powerful forces are at work on Bortresoye that not even a nuclear holocaust can tame; natural forces that have excited the interest of Excelsior, the self-proclaimed saviour of her people. With Charley immobilised and C'rizz left to battle against the elements with some of the victims of war, one final, desperate hope of escape presents itself to the travellers. But who will be the last to leave the planet? Who will have to stay behind? And will the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz live long enough to find out?

Breathless Romantic: Script wise this is the best of the eighth Doctor we have seen since Neverland but performance wise Paul McGann makes a few odd choices (that probably should have been ironed out by the director) that spoil would could have been the most powerful and dramatic story the Doctor has ever had. Gary Hopkins seems to have a steady hand on the unrelenting, unforgiving eighth Doctor we have been travelling with since he was poisoned by the anti time creatures but he also includes lots of emotional beats and moments of sympathy that make him an extremely grounded character. If he was this strong every week I wouldn't have any problems with how the eighth Doctor range has turned out. Each of the regulars has a moment of oddly muted behaviour when they should be far more fired up and the Doctor's comes when he is confronted with Charley's body and he casually mutters 'I'm so sorry Charley' as though he is thinks this is the best thing that could have happened and he is keen to move on. Even worse is what could have been a truly powerful moment when he declares that he truly hates Excelsior with every fibre of his being but rather than attack the material with the same terrifying aggression he did in The Natural History of Fear he sounds thoroughly bored by the whole sorry business.

Katerina and Adric return to haunt the Doctor, to prey on his insecurities. His companions have faith in him and yet when he asks 'have I ever let you down?' he doesn't want to know the answer! He thinks C'rizz is a born survivor and barely passes comment on him being left alone on the radioactive surface. The Doctor refuses to accept Charley's paralysis and wont let her give up. He has never claimed to be able to perform miracles and he admits he can't fix everything. In a moment of relentless unforgiveness he condemns them for making the wrong choice abandoning space travel technology for weapons development that has led to the devastation of the planet. He declares Excelsior the most amoral woman he has ever met and points out how selfish she is at leaving the world she helped to destroy. When C'rizz is shot dead he begs him not to die as he cannot lose two friends. He downright refuses to take Excelsior of the planet saying he would rather die than let her loose on another planet. He has never thought of himself as suicidal (yeah, right!) but he accepts that he has to kill himself to bring everybody else back to life. I loved his casual 'What the hell' before committing suicide.

Edwardian Adventuress: India Fisher has given some truly remarkable performances as Charley and would go on to do so again but somewhere along the line both she and the director lost track of this one and the result is her poorest performance in her entire run. The Last features some of the most interesting development of Charley since Neverland and as scripted it is gripping character drama. However considering she is paralysed from the neck down and left to rot in a crumbling building in a post apocalyptic planet Charley continues to be bubbly and 'la la la' where I would be positively crapping myself and furiously terrified.

It all begins in the first few scenes where Charley develops something of a death wish ('We're going to die!') and wants to give up their wandering and surrender to it all. A paralysed companion is probably the first genuinely new and interesting thing we have seen in this Divergents Universe and it would have been very interesting to see this continue over several stories. Why does Charley sound like a petulant child rather than a terrified adult when left in the building falling down around her? She's so chirpy and on top of the world, 'I'll never be able to walk again...lalala!' Such a shame that this startling development is blunted by Fisher's performance. She quite harshly tells Excelsior that all of her subjects are dead when the Doctor tries to break the news more gently. Are the producers as sick of Charley as the fans at this point or are they earning brownie points by pandering to them? In the last story she was strangled by her best friend and in this story she is smothered by a pillow! She really does develop a moribund attitude, 'What use am I like this, a vegetable?' and 'This is where my travels end.' When Charley asks C'rizz if her would put her out of her misery like he did for L'da it is the first time that I actually believed the friendship between these two characters. Something genuinely interesting and powerful happens between them in that scene. There's hope for them yet!


Chameleonic Rogue: Each story seems to chip away at my disdain for C'rizz a little more. Maybe its because Conrad Westmaas gives the material some dignity or maybe its because I'm just getting used to him being around. He's a good man who cares for others and has a sharp tongue in his head. He cannot believe Excelsior's behaviour and threatens to murder her and yet is appalled when Charley asks him to commit euthanasia. His talking to Requiem, a dead man, is a portent of his future where he would put a number of people 'out of their misery' and wind up chatting to their souls. His fervent panic when he finds Charley's body suddenly makes his character feel very real. Westmaas' oddly muted moment comes when he says goodbye to Charley, 'This isn't how its mean to be Doctor' he says as though he is talking about what he's going to get down the shops later. He finds life is all about losing people. He has to choose between life and death and is tempted by the latter if he will get to see his loved ones again.

Standout Performance: Carolyn Jones deserves a massive hurrah - the story automatically jumps from good to excellent every single time she shows up. Excelsior is such an arrogant, vain (yet ugly), egotistical and deluded harridan I loved every second we spent in her company. Just when you think she cannot sink any lower morally, somehow she manages it. A top class villain.

Great Ideas: The answer to the planets problems is revealed very early on - the end of one journey is the beginning of another. A nuclear bomb has devastated Bortresoye, melted buildings to glass and left the surface of the planet a wasteland of lethal radiation. A nuclear winter is described as the unnatrual by product of a man made cataclysm. This one has wiped out at least 9/10's of the worlds population. Excelsior is so consumed with her own ruthless vainglory she is blissfully unaware that the results of her decision has wiped out all of her beloved subjects and she wont listen to anything to the contrary. They were a weak government, frightened, when the the risk of an attack was imminent they struck first and causes brutal retaliation of other governments and nothing could be done to prevent the destruction of the planet. Each successive government has tried to make peace but the result have always descended into war. Natural resources were irradicated. All species were driven to extinction by harvesting, warfare and biological experimentation. The same weapons built to defend their homeland wound up destroying them. The death of the nurse is genuinely shocking and only 5 people out of the 100 in the lower levels survive the torrent of water. If a ghost is said to be a restless soul just imagine how many restless souls a nuclear holocaust would bring about? Innocent victims looking for answers, confused by the speed and the ferocity of their deaths. Excelsior is so deliciously beguiled that she shoots down her Minister of War just as he says 'The truth is...' Can you imagine facing the dilemma of having to choose two people to escape the roasting planet out of five? When Charley is smothered by Excelsior I was genuinely gobsmacked - Doctor Who stories do not usually go this far and I really expected somebody to step in prevent her murder and both Fisher and Jones play the scene so quietly it is really disturbing. Excelsior's piteous lies (she left Charley comfortable after she asked after her illustrious career) are wonderful - can't we have an Excelsior spin off series? 'There will be other worlds, other people to rule!' she cries out hysterically! She gloats, telling the Doctor and C'rizz that Charley died in terrible agony and couldn't struggle. She thinks she was doing her a favour! The planet has been looking after itself, killing everybody and starting the cycle all over again. Bortresoye isn't a zone but a planet on which the zones have been placed. Lanskar is there to ensure the Last dies. Excelsior gets a suitably grand departure, swallowed by the birth of a gulping volcano! The story starts again with only the Doctor realising what has taken place and this time the war has been won and Excelsior is a hero. I wonder for how long...

Sparkling Dialogue: 'We've finally managed to achieve the destruction of our planet.'
'The world will not end. All living things must die.'
'The world has become increasingly unstable. By our actions we have dealt it the final blow.'
'My Lady! You've just killed the Minister for Peace!'
'Of course there were no signs of a struggle, Charlotte couldn't move!'
'What about Excelsior? Tell me she wasn't so fortunate.'

Audio Landscape: Lots of atmospherics - whistling wind, clunking rocks, a summers breeze, C'rizz's voice echoing into the wilderness, the creaking building, creepy whispering voices, rumbling thunder, spitting acid rain, the rushing, dramatic surge of water that kills the nurse, dripping, trickling water, the exploding rocket, the victory parade. All very convincing, a n apocalyptic world created through sounds.

Musical Cues: The score is sparse and stripped right down with a discordant electronic sting that plays throughout to drive home the wrongness of the story.


Isn't it Odd: Aside from McGann and Fisher sabotaging the drama of the story at certain points the reset button at the end rather undoes the gritting developments of the story. I remember the first time I listened to this story and it really bugged me (I was so cross I was comparing a Doctor Who story to Star Trek: Voyager!) but this time I rather liked the implications. We are capable of great good and great evil given the right circumstances and in one version of events Excelsior is reviled for her vanity and murderous nature and in another she is celebrated as a war hero. Whilst perhaps it would have been nice to have continued the series without Charley and C'rizz I have to admit even they were written really well in this story and show potential.

Standout Moment: I was astonished by the intensity of the scene where Charley was murdered. Not only did I never believe they would go that far but it is such a frightening way to go, not being able to defend yourself, that I felt genuine empathy for Charley for the first time since Neverland.

Result: The Last features a superb script which takes real risks and a production which goes a long way to selling its oppressive, bleak atmosphere. It is a fascinating set up with plenty of juicy dramatic opportunities, featuring some of the strongest writing seen for Charley and C'rizz yet. Excelsior is the most fabulously bitchy and vainglorious villainess, she's Lady Adastra, the Rani and Helen A all rolled into one and she makes a good story a great one with her vicious vanity and unpredictable violence. My biggest complaint is the performances of McGann and Fisher who can make something like Neverland come alive beautifully and yet give performances here at odds with the material and end up blunting it. It tells you something of the strength of the writing and direction that the duff performances of two of the regulars does not come anywhere near unbalancing this powerful story: 8/10

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

Faith Stealer written by Graham Duff and directed by (yep, you guessed it!) Gary Russell

What’s it about: When the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz find their journey through the Interzone interrupted by a nightmarish vision, they are surprised to find the Kro'ka offering the perfect solution. The Multihaven ¤ a vast array of religions and faiths housed in one harmonious community ¤ appears to offer the perfect sanctuary in which to convalesce. But under the guidance of the charismatic Laan Carder, one religion seems to be gathering disciples at an alarming rate. With the Doctor and Charley catching glimpses of an old friend and C'rizz on the receiving end of some unorthodox religious practices, their belief, hope and faith are about to be tested to the limit. It's time to see the light.

(Considering my allergic reaction to the last season you can imagine my delight in heading back to the Divergent Universe. However…new season, clean slate and I am going to try my damdest to forget what has been and concentrate on what is, to look at these stories in a new light and judge them on their individual merits…)

Breathless Romantic: The Doctor actually gets to have some fun in the Divergent Universe (‘C’rizz be praised!’). Upon entering the Multihaven he is forced to invent his own religion, the Tourists, who start each day with a ritual cup of tea. He keeps seeing the TARDIS and her engines grind away as though she is crying out for help. Unfortunately all the good work to make him witty and fun to be around again is jettisoned when he stops Charley from being brutally murdered. There is no mention of his hunt for Rassilon, which was excitedly whispered at the close of the last story in the Universe. He hasn’t used Venusian Aikido in ages and his hands hurt when he tries. The Doctor has come to believe that C’rizz did the right thing by killing L’da for mercy and is trying to heal his soul on their adventures. He witnesses his worst nightmare, the TARDIS bursting into a million shards and thus is trapped on this planet with no escape. Oddly he can iron over the Bordinan’s death with ‘a sorry loss.’ Never ask him if he has a plan if you are looking to have your confidence boosted. He thinks it is time he came out of the closet, which is about damn time. There are no stunning revelations about the Doctor, no deep insights but Faith Stealer features the most responsible take on his character since Neverland and for that I am grateful.

Edwardian Adventuress: Charley on the other hand makes it abundantly clear that she has nothing of importance to add to the eighth Doctor adventures, especially compared to new boy C’rizz whose background is starting to bubble over nicely. Unfortunately it would take the shocking advent of Charley being dumped by one Doctor and picked up by another who hasn’t met her yet to make her interesting again (and boy does that conceit work). Until then she is mostly useless, a bubbly bit of fluff who comments on the action but rarely connects with it which seems a waste of India Fisher’s talents to me (although there would be some nice stuff for her in The Last and Other Lives). She has been feeling low of late and she thinks the Multihaven debases the very notion of spirituality. When C’rizz began to strangle her I thought she might finally be put out of her misery and rarely have I been so excited to listen to the next disc.
I find it hard to believe that if somebody were choked close to death they would not then row that same person across a lake saying ‘If we can’t laugh at things like this…’ The one moment I felt I had my old Charley back was when she enthusiastically asks the Doctor to try and pilot the fake TARDIS away from the Multihaven just to see what happens!

Chameleonic Creature: Graeme Duff manages to use some of Creed of the Kromon’s less than compelling material to remind us of the guilt weighing C’rizz down. Compelled to kill the woman he loves and re-living it over and over again has left him with some psychic bruising. He isn’t sure if he acted out of compassion or fear and panic. He still has little sense of humour but I doubt that is going to change but he seems a bit gentler, more relaxed in the Doctor and Charley’s company now. C’rizz thinks it is not an unnatural urge to want to fit in even if it is psychically. His mind is almost bleached clean.

Standout Performance: How did the Welsh turn up in the Divergent Universe? Regardless, Chris Wallter-Evans is adorable as the sardonic Bordinan’s Assistant.

Great Ideas: The Multihaven is a city run as a religious forum with innumerable faiths having set up churches, temples and retreats. It is somewhere that you might actually want to visit in the Divergent Universe (which in itself is a great idea). One of the faiths actually worships a product of a hundred uses! Who says a religion has to have a spiritual dimension? The Bordinan actively encourages all faiths. It is rumoured that the Multihaven began when two people argued over their faith in the desert about who worshipped the real God and more people joined in the debate and the city began to form. It’s in the religious leaders best interest to maintain a healthy competition. A spiritual stock exchange? One of the market traders screams ‘Free prophecy!’ – I just love the idea of marketing religion. The Doctor knows a drinking song which is in itself the intoxicant. The TARDIS is described as a recurring miracle. Paper comes from the Paper Draw worshipped by the Paper People. Laan Carder is adept at minor miracles or as you and I might recognise them, magic tricks. The Shrine of Serendipity worships happy accidents (‘Whoops be praised!). Carder wants to turn the Multihaven into a Monohaven with Lucidity the only religion. The Bishop is practically lobotomised by Miraculite which shouldn’t be funny but is (‘Uh oh! It is to do with going back!’). Religion – domination or harmony? The DeFaith Centre run by Garfolt who is a gifted psychic masseur.
I love the idea of the Doctor and Charley shopping around for religions (‘That depends on the carrot’ he says, ‘We’ve got 3 other churches to visit this afternoon’ she says). Carder succeeds in wiping out all major religions aside from a few fringe outfits. Garfolt deletes memories, feelings and beliefs but in actuality he is mentally raping C’rizz and frankly deserves a quick blast of Miraculite. There is a literal mass exodus of religions as the Lucidians take over. Probably the most apt comment on religion comes during a comic exchange: ‘I’m through with blindly following orders. I’ll do whatever you ask of me without question.’ Miraculite picks up what is in your mind and actualises it. Carder is a fake, dreamt up by Miraculite as a bridgehead into this world. Jebdal is going to step into the role of the new Bordinan, having to juggle the reality of hundreds of beliefs just so long as she has a little faith in herself.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Are any of you carrying Gods about your person?’
‘Don’t mind your head on the way out. Whoops!’
‘They pulled a diamond out of my head!’
‘This riot’s a shambles!’
‘Belief without proof, Charley. The foundation of all faith.’
‘Renaissance is futile’ and ‘May your way be strewn with obstacles!’


Audio Landscape: There are lots of crowd scenes with church bells tinkling in the background. The Bocowen Hymn is oddly beguiling (‘Deity and ditty in one’). The TARDIS engines grind and when we go inside it is lovely to hear her gentle purring again. The smooth Miraculite voice is tempting. Water flows as Charley rows and riverside birds call out from the reeds. Gooey foreheads open up to reveal gemstones.

Musical Cues: Soft, harmless, soothing. This is nowhere near Stone’s best work but its pretty good. Quite Spare Parts-ish.

Isn’t it Odd: How awful the cover is? Faith Stealer would have really benefited the Divergent Universe arc had it taken place after Cromon last year, allowing us to get to know C’rizz and have some fun before embarking on the Orwellian horrors of The Natural History of Fear. You could snip out The Twilight Kingdom and run the stories in that order and you would have had a far stronger year.

Result: Faith Stealer is a nice rest for the Doctor, Charley and C’rizz, extended therapy in an imaginatively bizarre setting. It is perfectly entertaining throughout without ever threatening to be gripping, its precisely the sort of fun adventure the Divergent Universe desperately needed. As a discourse on religion it has some wonderfully dry and insane concepts and interesting things to say about the hypocrisy of alternative faiths. It pleasingly explores a diversity of faiths and the sense of community that religion can bring which also condemning the dangers of blind faith in a refreshingly comic fashion. This story wont change your world but its is a little ray of sunshine in this arc: 8/10

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

Medicinal Purposes written by Rupert Ross and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about? Edinburgh, 1827. The infamous body snatchers William Burke and William Hare are at large. The local prostitutes dull their fear with cheap whisky. The graveyard owls are hooting. Business is good. When accidental tourists the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe stumble upon one of Britain's most lurid, illuminating chapters in history, a simple case of interest in the work of dedicated man of science Doctor Robert Knox, quickly turns sour. Just what is that time bending Scots mist? What ever it is may put the very fabric of the universe under threat. As always.

Softer Six: I cannot believe Big Finish are still managing to milk old Sixie for fascinating character insights. After over 15 releases he is still the superior audio Doctor and is still managing to surprise me. I have always been a fan of Colin Baker’s Doctor – Trial of a Time Lord came out when my Dad went to prison and my sister had a breakdown and I cannot tell you how therapeutic that box set was at the time, it took me away from all my cares and might explain why I have huge affection for such a loathed story – I am not one of those people who was appalled by his violent streak and acidic nature on the TV. Actually I found it a refreshing return to a Doctor I could believe in after three seasons of the fifth Doctor being awfully nice to everybody. However I wont deny that Big Finish have managed to take a controversial character (and wronged actor) and managed to mould him into something far more appealing to the masses and less abrasive, more approachable. Maybe he lost a little of his edge but considering he went from the bottom of most peoples ‘best Doctor’s’ poll to the very top in some cases prove how successful this transition has been. However stories such as Medicinal Purposes prove that the caustic, ethically challenged and the cuddly, ‘favourite Uncle’ sixth Doctor can be married together with some style. I love the discussion between the Doctor and Evelyn about the Burke and Hare murders, it is a superb example of how spiky and unpredictable their relationship continues to be and exposes the Doctor’s alien morals in some style. The fact of the matter is that he doesn’t condone the Burke and Hare murders but he can see the bigger picture and when you take into account the evolving benefits to medical science of their nightmarish reign of terror it almost makes it acceptable. Its not a likable viewpoint and I really respect writer Rupert Ross for pushing the point as far as he does and for Colin Baker for taking on this morally unprincipled attitude and playing it to the hilt. Evelyn’s appalled reaction makes it all the more balanced and you are left wondering who actually has the more relevant point of view. When I was angling towards the Doctor I realised how darkly suggestive this story really was. Great stuff.

At the start of the story he is tinkering with the one lady who has always held his hand throughout their adventures and focussing his mind (the TARDIS, not Evelyn!). She is the one constant thing in his life when even his own people have let him down and shares all of his memories. He admits that some companions leave deeper imprints on his hearts than others (I wonder how shallow the imprint for Dodo is?). Minutes into the story and the Doctor pulls a hooker! He reminisces about Jamie saying it is an honourable name and his Jamie threw himself in mortal danger for him on a regular basis (this is a nice precursor for City of Spires). Apparently his only weakness is soliloquising! His tastes in hobbies are becoming alarmingly grotesque and has an incredible thirst to meet Burke and Hare. The Doctor admits, ‘the names you drop have to bounce!’ When talking about his feelings towards the murders the Doctor reminds Evelyn that the universe is not broken down into good guys and bad guys. Does the possibility exist that fifteen murders saving the lives of thousands is justifiable, historically speaking? The Doctor’s philosophy is if you want something you should take it! Knox condemns him as a philanthropist sating his need for attention (there might be something in that). Thinks rudeness isn’t a crime and only shouts when he gets impatient. His morality kicks in when he believes that people are being killed for no good reason, unfortunately if there is no benefit to the act he cannot stomach it. Knox considers himself the Doctor’s intellectual equal. Lets not let Baker do a Scot’s accent again. The Doctor has had a lot of experience of the strange and his TARDIS is ‘so 20th Century!’ Arrogantly, the Doctor assumes that Knox is a Time Lord because he has a TARDIS and has all his illusions shattered to learn that others are far more adept at manipulating Time. How harsh is the Doctor when he tells Mary she should be dead! He only half listens to people. Wit never fails him. When the sixth Doctor tells his nemesis to get a new thesaurus you know he has been bested by an even more loquacious foe! Finalising this newfound jaded morality the Doctor tells Knox he has no problem tricking Knox into being infected with a virus that might kill him. In a scene that mirrors Terror of the Autons the Doctor admits that he hopes he meets Knox again.

Learned Lecturer: Its really interesting that after a string of stories which have climaxed in the death of likable characters and dealing with Evelyn’s reaction to that, we now land in a period where they know people are going to die. As stated above it leads to an attention-grabbing clash of morals between the Doctor and Evelyn. How’s a girl supposed to feel when compared to a rickety old box?
The Doctor understands that one day she will find her own path. She is mistaken for being the Doctor’s wife who has caught her husband looking for trade! She admits she likes a bit of a moan every now and then (she’s just so real). Pedantry doesn’t suit her. Knox manages to insult Evelyn’s age and class in one sentence, much to her chargin. If she had known there was going to be so much running involved she would have bowed out a long time ago! Evelyn fails Knox’s history test, failing to spot his anachronistic literary reference. Described as a mature lady the Doctor has alighted upon as a travelling companion. Wow, listen to Evelyn when she is arrested by the police…I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that tongue! She is very precious about things sometimes. I love love love the fact that Evelyn has not only had the most incredible character development over her excellent run of stories but that development has really affected how she feels about their adventures now. At the end of this story she understands that they have to take Daft Jamie back to the right place so he can be murdered by Burke and history will be put back on track. This mirrors the end of Pirates but now Evelyn can see the bigger picture, even if she doesn’t like it. She takes some comfort that Jamie finally managed to earn his fame and found a place in her heart.

Standout Performance: How long have I been waiting for the unbeatable Leslie Phillips to appear in a Doctor Who story? He’s a consummate actor and fills this story with some many wonderful scenes, butting heads with the forceful sixth Doctor and laughing in his face. Knox is one Big Finish’s best original villains; he’s dispassionate, murderous, misogynistic, oozes confidence, style and has a voice like dripping honey. He gets all the best lines as well, ‘Evil is much more fun. We get all the best lines…’ Wonderfully effete and menacing, Phillips’ smooth and growling voice is perfect for audio. David Tennant deserves kudos for taking on a potentially irritating character in Daft Jamie and making him childishly sympathetic.

Great Ideas: This is not your ordinary Doctor Who story – prostitution and brutal murder in the first few minutes! I love the history of Burke and Hare, I took a fantastic trip up to Edinburgh and went on a ghost tour of Gravefriars graveyard and so as soon as it was mentioned I was thrilled. The idea is touted that you can achieve more in death than you can in life. Something has gone very wrong with time when nobody has heard of William Burke. Can knowledge be considered a treasure? The Doctor calls body snatching ‘admirable, but not honourable.’ Six of Hare’s children died and the Doctor touchingly tells him that he will help to save the children of the future with his ghastly acts. Knox’s morality is gorgeous, he thinks the bodies hidden six feet under and locked away in mahogany exposes outdated laws that prevent the advancement of medical science (and when you think of donors today he does have a point). He also complains that the world would be better without whores and peddlers. Knox deliberately exposes himself as a time traveller by revealing his knowledge of Jekyll and Hyde 30 years before Stevenson was born. Probably the most horrible moment in this macabre story comes when Burke says he wants to pay Mary to sleep with him before they kill her (ugh!). Knox has a second hand TARDIS which he bought from a Nekistan dealer on Gryben (lovely references to Gallifrey) and sells time travel at the right price. The Doctor describes Knox as a sick time meddler playing God. I love the idea of time being manipulated being described as ‘chapters jumped’. Knox is a profiteer standing on the shoulders of giants, a force for destruction, a showman wallowing in the cesspit of human foibles (I think the Doctor is compensating for his foes mastery of language!). Knox is offering the ‘Burke and Hare Experience’, a circus of the grotesque where paying customers can be planted in Edinburgh 1827 and play Burke or Hare, sleep with Mary, murder consequence free. Knox merely takes the next lot of customers back and starts the whole process again, wiping out the last set of customers actions. He’s replaying time over and over, stretching this period until it threatens to snap. The mist is a déjà vu inhibitor, blocking out the memories of the real people in the scenario that are living this period over and over. It’s a peepshow for the dirty old men of the universe! The real Hare is hidden away in another time whilst other people play his part. Deliciously the Doctor draws Knox out of his time bubble and infects him with the virus so he cannot go back in time and rewind it.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘He saw blood?’
‘I do wish Burke and Hare would bring the occasional fresh one.’
‘Clever people need comfortable pillows.’
‘The broken eggs are fine if the omelette tastes good.’
‘I wouldn’t give you a farthing for your destiny.’
‘I have the right to do as I damn well choose’ I have been waiting an age for a villain to tell the Doctor that!
‘The police are dim but no-one’s that dim forever.’

Audio Landscape: My one complaint in this otherwise highly atmospheric tale is the continually replaying anachronistic football chant during the tavern scenes. What are a bunch of Man Utd supporters doing in the past…oh Knox brought them? Given the bloodlust of the overall experience they are probably Millwall fans. The story opens with rumbling thunder, a busy nighttime street and a shrieking Scots crone screaming murder. Evelyn’s voice echoes hauntingly down the dripping tunnels. Owls hoot in the mist swathed graveyard and we hear the creaking hinges of a grave being opened. A horse screams profusely in the distance. Knox scribbles with his pen by crackling firelight and his laboratory bubbles with experiments. We hear horses clip clopping on the cobbles and church bells ringing in the distance.
Knox has an impressive sounding TARDIS. Rain attacks the roads. Evelyn bashes on the police cell door with a tap dripping nearby. There is a loud and destructive pub riot. We get to experience Burke’s execution, the crowd hungry for murder.

Musical Cues: After his Keff McCulloch inspired madness from The Harvest, David Darlington returns with his best score in ages. It’s creepy and adds to the general feeling of wrongness that creeps into the script. I loved the urgent string work as the Doctor tries to rush Evelyn and Jamie away.

Isn’t it Odd: There’s some odd subplot about a virus that I barely understood and felt distracted from the much tastier notion of the ‘Burke and Hare Experience’ which would have been more than enough to sell the story.

Result: Wowza, this is a cast to die for! Baker, Stables, Phillips, Tennant and the others attack this gorgeously verbose and colourfully worded script with some vigour and with the added atmospherics this is an extremely pleasurable story to listen to. My one complaint would be that some of the scenes seem overlong and you could probably trim the fat a tad in places, cutting the virus subplot and tidying up the confused episode three. However Ross manages to approach this period of history in an unusual and thoroughly entertaining way with some unpredictable moments and a fantastic role for both the Doctor and Evelyn. The atmosphere of the period bleeds from every scene and the dialogue is little sipping a rich fruity wine, explodes on the lips and leaves a glorious aftertaste. Medicinal Purposes is not an especially popular Big Finish release but I found it a very pleasing story: 8/10

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

The Roof of the World written by Adrian Rigelsford and directed by Gary Russell

What's it about: Tibet. 1917. It's a time of great exploration, with intrepid teams of adventurers heading blindly into uncharted territory, determined to beat inexplicable odds and overcome any challenge they encounter. But some things are not necessarily that easy to defeat. An ancient evil, perhaps older than time itself, is stirring deep within the heart of the Himalayas. It has always known it will return and finish off what it started so many centuries before. But the time has to be right. As the TARDIS materialises, with the Doctor determined to take full advantage of an invite to a cricket match, the catalyst that the dark forces need unwittingly arrives.

An English Gentleman: Is possible to over characterise your regulars? I have frequently balked at writers who fail to add anything to the characters they are using to tell their story but in this case I had the impression that Rigelsford wanted to squeeze every last bit of information about them. It feels like an over egged cake, early scenes see the Doctor, Peri and Erimem stressing their English, American and Egyptian roots as though that is who they are. It’s a shame because the quieter moments in this story prove that Rigelsford actually has a good grasp of dialogue and this trio of adventurers. But by emphasising out that the Doctor likes cricket and has to play the Edwardian sportsman it kind of ruins what is actually should remain an unspoken character quirk. Plus there are so many faux fifth Doctor’s wandering about in this story it is hard to get a grip on which one is supposed to be expressing genuine feelings.

He is a superb batsman but rarely has time to practice. Even if it is a fake the idea of the Doctor having to deal with the death and funeral of one of his companions is a nice idea. Episode two portrays the Doctor as something more akin to the manipulative seventh Doctor, with schemes and plans that his companions no nothing about. It doesn’t really suit him. Another fake Doctor wonders if he has misjudged Peri by confiding in her as she (once again) overreacts to everything. He worries about several things a minute, forgets an equal amount every hour, figures out the solution to a problem before he knows what the question is and only realises things when its too late and when he knows he has time to fix them.

American Attitude (Problem): Howard always roped Peri into helping out on his digs and she remembers many a miserable hour up to her elbows in plaster of Paris! She states that she does not do hatchways in impractical skirts…hah, that’ll soon change when you switch Doctor’s! Why does Peri object to everything all the time? I’d rather take the acidic barbs between her and Sixie than this constant disapproval to anything that is asked of her. Her tears to Erimem’s graveside feel very real, she is inconsolable.
If you thought you had seen Nicola Bryant playing angry before wait until you see Erimem’s nightmarish version of her, she is positively vicious, claws out ready to blame her friend for letting her die. She is shocked when the Doctor reveals his fallibility and finds it hard to trust the Doctor. Using Peri as bait is as good a use of her as I have ever seen. She is surprisingly good at rallying the troops so perhaps her ‘Scourge of Sylvania’ guerrilla persona from Warmonger wasn’t so far from the truth as we all thought!

Dusky Babe: Wow, after some ropey moments with the Doctor and Peri Rigelsford scores a massive bonus with his portrayal of Erimem who once again steals the show. Cricket eludes her and she cannot see the point of it, you and me too, babe. Her reaction to rolling countryside is one of total awe since she is used to glowing sands. She still has something of a military mind and comments that the Doctor is going into battle with his cricket bat (there’s something pleasantly Leela-ish about that line). The Doctor has promised to show her other worlds at their height. When she was a child she was told about the white pyramid where the greatest evil was meant to sleep and if you see it it will take your soul. How awful would it be to be faced with your own funeral, to see the people you love grieving and not be able to touch them? Erimem expects that once she dies she would ascend above to be with the Gods, as is a Pharaoh’s right. Instead she is confronted with some of the most important moments of her life and we learn lots of interesting things about her time before she met the Doctor. Cleverly the Great Old Ones take her for a stroll through her insecurities and insidiously manoeuvre her into revealing her fathers secrets. Her father loved her but she is shown a scene where he wanted her cast out, that the Gods were angered by the birth of a girl as heir to the throne. She is told that he died before he could kill her. History has forgotten about her. She believes in the Doctor and Peri and trusts in Peri as though she was a member of her own family. It is haunting to see how the Doctor and Peri are used to convince her to surrender herself. In a desperate moment when she thinks all of her friends have turned on her poor Erimem agrees to death to be free of her damnation. This is actually some fine development of her character, exposing her self-doubt and how far she has become reliant on her relationship with her companions.


Standout Performance: Once again Caroline Morris knocks spots of the rest of the cast. Why did they write her out again? The only exception is when she is asked to do a silly voice to suggest she has been taken over by the Great Old Ones. Why can’t anybody act being taken over convincingly (or subtly)?

Great Ideas: The Great Old Ones are a part of the same pantheon as the Great Intelligence. They are stranded on Earth and annoyed at being outwitted. Dying, they are the last vestiges of their kind and being held together by the ravaged DNA of species they have obliterated, clinging onto the distant legends of what they once were.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Keep it up man!’
‘Since when have you heard of a storm cloud trying to book a room?’

Audio Landscape: I love crunchy, crusty, blowy snowy landscapes and this is one of the best realised yet. Whispering voices proceed to attack Erimem. The TARDIS materialises on a steam train full of goats and chickens! One character batters away at a typewriter. I tell you the Indian cricket pitches are certainly a lot rowdier than the English ones! I love the sound of the early morning birds crying out and twittering. There is much clinking of glasses and glugging of lemonade. Erimem is haunted by chanting in the decaying labyrinth. The Cloister Bell tolls the death of the universe. We’ve heard wind whipping up in Big Finish stories before but up the top of the Himalayas I was practically getting vertigo with the punishing gales!

Isn’t it Odd: Unfortunately Adrian Rigelsford work screams of a fan turned writer and there are so many kisses to the past there wasn’t really any room for anything original aside the characterisation of Erimem. We’ve got wartime psychic projections (The Awakening), a disembodied entity in the Himalayas (The Abominable Snowmen), taking all and sundry into the TARDIS (pick a Davison story), the title (Marco Polo)…the list goes on. Basically it is a story of conquest and domination, so far so clichéd, but you would be hard pressed to find that story because everything is mired in dreamscapes and conceptual nightmares. To be fair I still don’t have a clue what happened at the end. They were up the mountain, something was frozen and then they were in the TARDIS.

Standout Moment: The whole of episode two. It feels like a completely different story to the other three episodes and probably can be seen as a Erimem companion chronicle in its own right.

Result: Halfway through I wondered if I had been too harsh on The Roof of the World since the story seemed to be progressing quite nicely but honestly nothing happens in the second half! As an exercise in prevarication and running on the spot whilst filling the story with pointless character moments those two episodes are second to none. That might be an ignominious reaction to this story, especially since the production itself is very strong and the performances are all quite subtle and nuanced but when the script lets you down there really is nothing that can salvage a story. I would recommend that any fan of Big Finish gives episode two a listen, a touch of atmosphere and insanity in all this blandness but otherwise there is nothing new to discover here. Inconsequential: 5/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/59-Doctor-Who-The-Roof-of-the-World

The Harvest written by Dan Abnett and directed by Gary Russell (is there any other directors now?)

The Real McCoy: Something has happened. Either somebody has whispered in McCoy’s ear that he needs to step up his performances or a conscious effort has been made to give him better characterisation but his last few appearances have seen a marked improvement on the stagy buffoon who has recently been standing in for the seventh Doctor. The Harvest takes risks with his characterisation (like Master) and I really like that, especially when he barely appears at all in the first episode (and yet, New Adventures style, his presence is keenly felt). He lives inside something the size of a public toilet but is in fact bigger than Hex’s grans house. McCoy does a terrible Scouse accent and should be threatened to never do so again on pain of death. I love his scenes with System, the way he talks about intimate contact when he is violently causing conflict in the computers systems by forcing it to adhere to his will. She begs for him to stop and he merrily continues to f*ck her up. He knocks up a stink bomb ‘full of sound and fury’ out of cleaning products in the hospital. Why has nobody ever thought to give the seventh Doctor another male lead to work with? It’s an intriguing dynamic; far less paternal than he is with Ace and he gives Hex quite a hard time about his reaction to the shocks this adventure exposes him to. ‘That may result in another of your “Oh my God” sessions.’ Harsh, Doctor. How much feeling does McCoy put behind his description of the Cybermen, you well believe that he abhors the creatures. At times like this the Luddite in the Doctor is hard to control. He scoffs that he doesn’t take orders from petty bureaucrats. Its great to see the Doctor so conflicted in his reaction to the horror of what is actually happening – Cybermen aspiring to redemption? He admits he is sympathetic to their causes and is appalled when he realises he has been duped. He walks away from the dying Cyberleader without even attempting to save him. Ace knows that he can’t win every time and he takes appalling risks. The Doctor isn’t very good at goodbyes. Intriguingly he lets Hex come aboard the TARDIS after discovering he was Cassie’s son. That will open a whole world of hurt in the future.

Just McShane: What has happened to Ace? The last time we heard from her (not including the New Adventures side step The Dark Flame) she was sinking under her own angst, shrieking hysterically at anybody who would listen and generally sound like a 40 year old attempting to pull off a troubled teen. Now she’s whipped into shape, gone is the wailing child and in steps the mature, experienced traveller. I don’t know if it was Aldred or Gary Russell who decided this would be wise (or perhaps because of fan reaction) but a conscious effort has been made to make Ace as intriguing as McCoy’s dark Doctor and against all the odds, just as all interest was dwindling, it works. Talk about a lifeline for the character. The dynamic of Ace being exceptional and Hex being ordinary really serves both characters really well – lets see how this develops. Needless to say Aldred is much more comfortable with this material and gives her best Big Finish performance to date.

Sugar is a long way down on the list of things that might kill her. She is posing as a human resources assistant and still insists its ‘just McShane.’ Ace seems to enjoy leading Hex on and recognises the look of grief in his eyes. He files her under ‘pretty, but mad.’ Its less cloak and dagger and more anaorak and baseball bat. I love how she tries to warn Hex away from their lifestyle, having experienced the worst of it herself. She is described as having far too much personality for her own good. Suddenly Aldred can play hysterical really well and her reaction to being cut open whilst she is still awake is genuinely horrific. She has been with the Doctor and surprisingly long time.

Sexy Scouse: It would be an overstatement to suggest that Hex’s arrival fixed all of the problems with the seventh Doctor and Ace since their characterisation has clearly been worked on independent of his character but it is a remarkable co-incidence that he turns up just as they get their act together. Trying to judge him by his acting rather than his looks (ooh this will be hard), Philip Olivier is still the most accomplished actor of the three and his presence seems to bring the best out of McCoy and Aldred. I really like how grounded Hex is, a modern day lad with a job and lots of mates, pootling around on a scooter and enjoying a full life. His reaction to events in this story (in particular walking into the TARDIS) is possibly the most convincing since An Unearthly Child (or at least Logopolis), sheer disbelief and mild horror. He refuses to believe what he is seeing and thinks Mark is playing a practical joke. I can’t tell you how refreshing this is after so many people just waltz into the console room and shrug ‘oh yeah dimensionally transcendental’ as though they are fans of the show.

His name is Thomas Hector Schofield, he’s a staff nurse and it’s his birthday. His present is his best mate mangled up in a motorbike accident and naturally he is gutted. He doesn’t like being set up with the other nurses but seems to enjoy a nice flirt with Ace and admits that he does fancy her. After being so gentle in his early scenes it is wonderful to see him losing his rag, screaming ‘Bloody nutter!’ I loved how he turned on the Doctor and snapped that he was coping pretty well considering the madness he has seen. Hex is really hard on himself for running away when confronted with Cybermen (I call it common sense). He thinks the Cybermen history is tragic and feels sorry for what they have become. The Doctor steps in to comfort him when he spies Damo’s corpse amongst those harvested telling him its always harder when its personal. It’ll be nice to have a nurse in the TARDIS, Hex’s frantic attempts to staunch Farrer’s bleeding and fury at Mark for not helping makes for some great drama and his efforts are rewarded in retrieving the password that saves the day. Apparently he was considering a change of career and stepping into the TARDIS he has no idea what he is getting in to.


Great Ideas: Homicidal eight-foot speeding bullets chase Ace and Hex. The Doctor insists there should be no relentless chases down hospital corridors (obviously he hasn’t spoken with the tenth Doctor about Smith and Jones). The Cybermen are described as ruthlessly logical, merciless, damn near immortal, incapable of feeling, implacable in war and impossible to reason with. The idea of the best and brightest volunteering for conversion to ensure they will win the space colonisation race is terrifying. Imagine astronauts that don’t require nourishment and can exist in Zero-G. Bodies harvested of organs and body parts and kept alive in stasis, a tissue bank of organic spares. A Cyberleader swapping metal for flesh, six Cybermen who want their organic identities back. Cyberkind want to overcome their one weakness, the rigidity of their logical thought. This facility contains the raw materials to covert 30,000 Cybermen and t would only take 6 weeks for total global conquest. The Cyberleader experiences pain and fear before he dies.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Don’t threaten me with your rentagoons!’
‘I can keep your organ banks fed…’
‘You’re needed. Well bits of you anyway.’
‘And you why? Because you will all be soulless silver monsters marching to a sterile alien logic a long with you and the rest of humanity!’
‘Doctor, please, don’t hold our lives to ransom.’
‘Sometimes Cybermen resistance is all that counts!’
‘The flesh is weak, isn’t it?’

Audio Landscape: Big Ben, heavy traffic and hospital chatter…this story opens to a very modern feel. I like the drunken madness in the pub, sounds authentic to me! Ace is almost run down by a speeding Merc. Coughing motorcycle leads to an echoey parking garage containing the TARDIS. I love the end of episode two, the hatches scream open with an almighty bang the Cybermen advance. The Doctor’s explosion causes mayhem in the atrium. The marching Cybermen is very NuWho! Gunning down everybody in the hospital is as horrific as it sounds. The flat lining Cyberleader.

Musical Cues: I’m really not sure about the techno inspired music for this story. It bridges the scenes far too insistently. After the superb scores for Arrangements and The Wormery David Darlington’s repetitive jingles are no longer good enough. One sting sounds alarmingly like a Chumbley humming along from Galaxy 4!

Isn’t it Odd: There are quite a few moments of a character explaining the room around him which reveals inexperience in audio writing on Abnett’s part – Hex talking aloud to himself and describing the laboratory is a particularly cringe worthy example.
I’m sick to death of seeing Gary Russell’s name on the directors credits…this is story 58 and the next time we get a new hand directing is story 70! Just call it Gary Russell productions and have done with it!

Result: With the arrival of Hex the seventh Doctor and Ace go from being hopelessly dated to bang up to date. This is an impressively dramatic production which achieves the near impossible (for me) by making the Cybermen interesting. The first episode shown entirely from hex’s point of view has a nice Unearthly Child vibe to it and whilst the first half is atmospheric it is distressingly short of incident. The second half picks up the pace considerably and gives the seventh Doctor (and McCoy) his best role for an age. My biggest complaint is that Matthias is supremely annoying and perhaps conversion would have been for the best. Scouse babe Philip Olivier gives and impressive debut performance and makes sure the story has some real emotional beats. The Harvest continues the run of confident, atmospheric stories: 8/10

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

Arrangements for War written by Paul Sutton and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Onboard the TARDIS, nerves are strained. After escaping the Forge and the murderous clutches of Nimrod, the Doctor and Evelyn have things to talk about. The Doctor's attitude towards death is a subject that these days is too close to Evelyn's heart, and eventually she demands to be set down somewhere where she can be free of him for a while. And so they come to Világ, where the Doctor's meddling lands him in the middle of a truly dangerous liaison and Evelyn meets a man who wants to change the course of her life forever. Love is everywhere. But then war is too. Is it time for Evelyn to leave the Doctor? Or is the choice about to be taken out of her hands? And who is to say what is the beginning and what is the end of love?

Softer Six: Pretty much as soft as the sixth Doctor ever gets, or any other Doctor come to think of it. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself of how lucky we are to have the Big Finish audios and to remember that this is the same actor who beat up and abused Peri in The Twin Dilemma. If you would have told me then what that this brash, arrogant and prickly Doctor would go on to become cuddlier than Troughton, cuter than McCoy and yet still as quirky as Baker 1 and verbose as Hartnell and Pertwee I would have laughed in your face. Colin Baker is such a fine actor he deserved better than his short tenure on the telly and as a great Doctor Who author said to me recently he has had a far more satisfying and enjoyable tenure on audio now way above and beyond anything he did in his two short seasons. The characterisation of the sixth Doctor in this story is fantastic and if it weren’t for one brief moment in episodes four (it goes something like ‘Nooooooooo!’ which is horrendously overplayed) it would be flawless.

Repeating his statement from the end of Project: Lazarus, he doesn’t always win, he is often the catalyst to terrible events and he can’t go back and change them. When he has needed to rest in the past he has gone to the Eye of Orion and walked and contemplated. Watch how gentle and delicate he is with the wounded Evelyn in the first few scenes; he really cares what she thinks about him. He still enjoys fishing and rock skimming competitions. You have to be able to live with the consequences of your actions and Evelyn can’t live with his. As we all know he is al expert at making speeches and we get to here a political announcement of his in the background that goes on for an age. He wishes he could talk with Evelyn but she is avoiding him, ignoring his calls. He misses her. The Doctor shares a paternal connection with Krista that we haven’t seen since his relationship with Susan, it is extremely affectionate and loving. He never stops to grieve but that is just the man he is. I love the scenes that see him squirming with discomfort as Markus and Krista flirt outrageously. His ridiculous gangster accent (‘Get in the car, doll!’) is hilarious. A Time Lord’s TARDIS is his castle. The Doctor’s reaction when he thinks Krista is dead is one of a parent losing his child, like his world has come tumbling down. His fury and when she is murdered by Pokol is unrivalled throughout his lives, near hysterical, insane, unthinking and perfectly willing to shatter the laws of time to put things right again. It takes Evelyn to remind him why they can’t play God with peoples lives and thus completely her therapy to the same idea. He sits and watches Markus and Krista for a while, two young people in love that he brought back together. Having met him in the future h doubts he will wear his heart on his sleeve. He has been fond of all of his companions and each has been special to him, unique. He’s travelled with his intellectual equals and his emotional betters but no one other than Evelyn has been the whole kit and caboodle. The TARDIS is the second most important woman in his life, after Evelyn.

Learned Lecturer: Evelyn’s story has been meticulously played out over the past four stories to give her the sort of development that some Doctor’s never even achieved. It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions and not always entirely enjoyable because she has become much more than a companion but a good friend and to see her so distressed has made for uncomfortable listening, but utterly gripping all the same. We have been fortunate indeed to have had the unmatchable Maggie Stables on hand to play Evelyn, surely one of the strongest actresses to play such a role and some of the best material as well. Thank goodness her horrors are over for the time being and we can get on with some good old-fashioned adventuring but Arrangements for War is one of the most important stepping-stones in Evelyn’s evolution and its events would return and help her to make a very important decision in her life.

In the opening scenes she is cold, clinical and frosty and her attitude is painful to listen to, the love affair is finally over. Evelyn cannot just switch her emotions off when a n adventure ends and she has been thinking about the Doctor’s ability to do this and it shocks her. She still hasn’t told the Doctor the truth about her heart but confesses she wants to do things with the time she has left, to sample a culture without actively getting involved. She needs time on her own having had enough of his pedantry and avoidance. You might think she is rather hard on him in the first episode but she is trying to handle some very strong emotions. Plenty of things are reminding her of her age these days. Evelyn admits she was coming to the end of her tenure at the university and regardless she is finding travelling a far more stimulating environment but she does miss the communication of ideas (but not the politics). She becomes a Special Envoy in an advisory role. Evelyn’s scenes with Rossiter are a delight; there is a real feeling of warmth and affection between them. I love it when they throw aside their political notes and run off down the beach for a paddle! She feels alive again in a political role, it seems that all she has thought about lately is death and this has been the perfect antidote. Something has been lifted. There is a very telling moment where she accuses the Doctor of letting Cassie and Jem die, falters, and changes her mind – they both let them die. Evelyn makes Rossiter feel as if he can do anything and in an impulsive moment he asks her to stay with him. She tries to convince him to form a coalition to save his people but he needs to know why. As a political prisoner Evelyn is extradited. Her hysteria as she is dragged away is expertly played by Maggie Stables; you could well believe her heart is about to give out there and then. Never handcuff a woman with small wrists and Avon hand cream in her bag. She’s a driven, intelligent woman and leaps off the train to get back to Rossiter and warn him. Evelyn’s confession that she is dying is heartbreaking and her tears will break the heart of even the most hardened fan. When she first met the Doctor he was so strange and exciting she didn’t dwell on her heart problems anymore. She has started to remember her husband’s good points and thinks in his own way he was a truly wonderful man. Her mum used to call her a bookworm and her sister was always the favourite. Rossiter tells her she needs people around her who love her like he does. Watching the Doctor experience what she has been through with Cassie and Jem, she realises that you cannot change what has happened and changes the time co-ordinates to prevent the Doctor from doing so. She comforts him, tells him she doesn’t want him to change because she likes him just the way he is. Now they understand each other better she wants to put this all behind them. Evelyn is going to miss Rossiter.

Wow, that is some stunning development. Again to compare the delicate and shattering characterisation with that of her peers – Charley and C’rizz – the strength of this material shines all the brighter.

Great Ideas: This is a story about character rather than incident but there are some lovely touches. Krista talks of growing up and facing responsibilities, a very potent theme that pervades throughout. Suskind suggests there is dignity in war that is lacking in the sham marriage between Krista and Victor. The states have been locked in tragic and violent disputes and the marriage will unite them. I love a story with a ticking time bomb and the revelation of the Killoran invasion in a months time gives this story and added layer of frisson. The Doctor convinces Markus to declare his love for Krista not understanding what is at stake if he does so. Pokol shoots and slits the throats of his own guards to frame the Doctor. Suskind admitting he was wrong and protecting Krista is a great moment. Markus is killed as the Killoran’s attack the palace and Krista is gunned down by Pokol but because of the Doctor’s interference they died together.

Standout Performance: A superb cast, one of the best. It was going to take a high calibre of actor to win Maggie Stables heart convincingly and Gabriel Woolf does a great job as Rossiter, an extremely incisive and gentle man. Philip Bretherton plays Suskind with just the right level of underhandedness that keeps him interesting and thoughtful at the same time. The star-crossed lovers are perfectly matched; Katarina Olsson and Lewis Rae share some blinding chemistry and acquit themselves well. The lonely weak link is Kraig Thornber’s Pokol who frankly comes across as a comedy character rather than a threatening one (every time he turns up with his gun the Doctor declares ‘Pokol!’ in a wearying voice).

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Oh sod it!’
‘I’m asking you to leave the Doctor.’
‘It’s a building and buildings can be rebuilt.’
‘It’s okay because this was our choice.’
‘We always remember the things that are important to us.’

Audio Landscape: Just who is this Steve Foxon fellow? What an incredible job he does with the sound design and the music, this is the most immersive audio experience for many releases. Vilag comes alive with an authenticity that we haven’t seen for a while in the Divergent Universe and before the story is over you will feel as though you have visited as well. Rossiter makes an impressive speech to a large crowd. Reed’s muffled voice in his helmet. The bomb blast is loud and nasty and traps Krista and Markus in a precarious sounding lift shaft. When Evelyn departs the TARDIS she is greeted by the sounds of children laughing, flowers humming and water trickling nearby. The rebuilding of the palace is all hammering and drilling. Evelyn’s attack is an audio triumph because we share her assault of noise, the flowers singing louder and louder and Krista’s burbled voice. Stones skim across a lake. We hear a dialling phone, walking on gravel and fluting birdsong. I love the sounds of splashing through the thermal baths and how their voices suddenly echo as they head inside. Riots, assassination attempts, gunshots and cameras clicking and flashing. Evelyn’s seaside apartment has rolling surf at the end of her terrace. Pokol’s humming electric rod sounds nasty. Delightful playing about in the sea and giggling. The opening to episode three is fantastic, a montage of a world crumbling into chaos and warfare. Snoring in the cell next to the Doctor. A motorcycle. There is a rumbling train, clunking on the tracks. Evelyn’s heart monitor. The descending Killoran ship. The invasion sounds awesome, chest thumping music, vicious animal growls and warfare. Traffic jams and honking horns. Soldiers jump into a helicopter. Cock their rifles and the craft ascends, blades whirring. Markus and Krista on the bridge in the distance, the water bubbling beneath them.

Musical Cues: Dramatic, dynamic and yet gorgeous and soothing in places as well. The music box plays a sweet tune and it bleeds into the score effortlessly. Some lovely piano work. Episode three opens to attention grabbing drum music. Definitely a top five score.

Isn’t it Odd: Pokol is such an annoying twerp, his sole purpose in this story is to get in the way and turn up at the end and kill Krista. Shame he’s such a comedy stooge because he does some really nasty things.

Standout Moment: Evelyn talking about her mother and ex husband. I was weeping with her.

Result: Romance and warfare combine to make a gripping, heartfelt adventure with the best characterisation for ages and a dedicated cast. This is Evelyn’s story through and through and it is her apotheosis, where she leaps from a great character to my favourite companion. This quadrilogy of stories – Jubilee, Pirates, Lazarus and Arrangements for War - has seen her emotionally crushed and battle scarred and as a result she is a much more vulnerable, lovable character. My only gripe with this story would be that it pushes too hard at the end, I understand the point of the Doctor having to experience loss like this but its portrayal tips the story over into melodrama for a minute or two and the last scene is a little too self congratulatory. However I don’t want to complain about a story which got me this involved, that has a rousing battle in the last episode, some gripping politics and is directed and scored with this much talent. Stables and Baker have become the Big Finish team now and have yet still not been toppled. Arrangements for War is not the Mills and Boon soap that some people represent it as, it has enough action and romance to satisfy both parties. If you are in love with Evelyn this will break your heart, if you’re not, you don’t deserve one: 9/10

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