The Companion Chronicles Series 1-3

Time for another wrap up and this time for a special spin off series…

Frostfire: What an awesome achievement. With Maureen O’Brien’s evocative narration and Marc Platt’s expressive script we are whisked back to the wondrous season three for an exciting adventure with Jane Austen and a fire-breathing dragon. The production values are very impressive and the story never loses impetus, climaxing with some really exciting moments. If that wasn’t enough we also get to catch up with Vicki in ancient Greece and close the story on a very clever twist that will see the story repeat over and over for the creature. A superb introductory story for this series: 10/10

Fear of the Daleks: This story has a lot to answer for. I bought this story as an example of what the companion chronicles had to offer and was bored stupid and despite positive reviews of subsequent series I never bought another for years! Like the novels that were being written at the time for previous Doctors it seems that the second Doctor suffers the worst stories. The script is swamped with clichés and features extremely banal dialogue and as a result it feels like an embarrassing example of sixties naivety. Not one of the sixties stories has aged as badly as this post millennium written story, this is a horrible misstep for the first series of companion chronicles: 3/10

Blue Tooth: One of my all time favourite Cyberman stories because it managed to get me involved emotionally with the creatures. Blue Tooth features a superb script, which is grounded in realism and has many excellent dramatic beats throughout. Liz Shaw was always one of the best companions and Nigel Fairs captures her voice authentically and adds layers to this already fascinating character. The production is of a very high standard as well with a terrific musical score and a great atmosphere brewed. If the wrap up is a little too quick its still one hell of a thrill ride, the horror of the Cybermen told from the point of view of a companion being converted. More season seven goodness: 9/10

The Beautiful People: Irreverent and silly, what could have been a one joke wonder becomes a fun piece with a worthy message. Jonathan Morris brought this team to life adeptly in his debut novel Festival of Death and fairs just as authentically here. Romana is a wonderfully charismatic and bossy character, the Doctor blunders his way through the story making some beautiful observations and K.9 is having the most fun of all! I did find the first two parts a little slow and eventless but I thought the story improved greatly once the villainess chipped in with some really awesome lines. This is not an essential piece of audio storytelling but it is a witty piece of nonsense with more sparkling one liners than you could ask for: 7/10

Mother Russia: Why does history feel so dangerous in the first three seasons? Mother Russia is another gorgeous first Doctor companion chronicle and like the novels I get the feeling this is going to be the norm (there are some similarities between this story and Martin Day’s superlative Bunker Soldiers but they are both stealing from the atmosphere of season three). My favourite section is at the beginning as the travellers relaxing in Russia of the past and make friends, get jobs and chill out. The introduction of science fiction elements initially made me groan but Marc Platt uses this to study the reaction of Steven once he feels that his friends have given up on him. Peter Purves performs admirably and really hits the emotional moments just like he used to in season threes highlights. This series continues to deliver: 9/10

Helicon Prime: Terribly boring, one thing I have noticed about the companion chronicles is that they fall into two categories, exceptionally good or terribly dull. Helicon Prime presents some very boring manufactured dangers, a forgettable cliffhanger, a crawling pace and an unmemorable villain whose plan fails to excite. Its such a pity because Hines has not lost his touch as Jamie and he pulls off a touchingly authentic second Doctor. With such a bland script in place not even the production values feel very special and the whole piece is easily skipped. You’ll learn nothing about the characters nor be gripped by the plot:4/10

Old Soldiers: Torchwood before its time, we head to a UNIT base in Germany and discover what dangerous and frightening experiments they have been undertaking. The Brigadier is precisely the kind of character these stories should be channelled through since he is precisely the sort of man who would pour a drink and reminisce about old times. Season seven was a great time for the Doctor and the Brig’s relationship, pushing them through some very frightening experiences and making some hard choices and I love how this story deals with the aftermath of the Silurians. Nicholas Courtney’s delivery is a little too relaxed in places but the grittiness of the story still shines through. Old Soldiers has a dark, defeatist atmosphere, depressing and gripping in equal measure: 8/10


The Catalyst: My favourite of the series so far, just beating Frostfire because it held my interest so firmly throughout. I loved how the story played on the fascinating and uneasy relationship between the Doctor and Leela, tensely suggesting that the Doctor might have killed in anger after criticising Leela for doing so over and again. Its longer than usual but uses that extra time to drive home the drama of the piece, the racial cleansing of the Z’nai makes the Daleks look tolerable and the script takes a strong look at an issue that is very important today. A superb piece of drama, the script paces itself beautifully and builds up its revelations with consummate skill. Louise Jameson is one of the best actresses we have been fortunate to have as a companion and this gripping slice of theatre really shows you how good she is: 10/10

Here There Be Monsters: Far better than I was expecting, Here There Be Monsters is another winner for the Hartnell companion chronicles. What I loved was how the story wasn’t afraid to mimic the low budget, slower paced nature of the first season and once the crew meet up with Rostrum the rest of the story is practically one long dialogue scene. Andy Lane uses this to his advantage and throws in excellent concepts and uses the original crew to drive the drama of the piece. Lisa Bowerman directs this as a piece of unnerving theatre, allowing the imagination of the writer to provide spectacle and wonder. It’s a clever, quiet piece with lots to say about the original crew and a far better than usual performance from Carole Ann Ford: 8/10

The Great Space Elevator: An authentic season five story featuring floods of foam, one fantastic location, Victoria wondering into danger, arsing about in ventilator shafts and a disembodied entity! There is a lovely sense of innocence to this story that makes it charming rather than exciting but it is rather wonderful to enjoy a further run-around with the most childlike of regulars. Deborah Watling narrates the story very well, capturing both Victoria’s sense of wonder as she travels in the elevator and her fear as she is once again led into danger. The second Doctor shines in this quirky piece, miles more engaging than Helicon Prime: 7/10

The Doll of Death: Result: I do love a good jigsaw and The Doll of Death assembles the overall story with devilish panache. So far Marc Platt has written all of my favourite companion chronicles and this is no exception, a gloriously complicated plot and yet simple if you can get your head around the groovy central premise. There’s nothing I like more than a hole-ridden plot that cleverly plugs those holes in an imaginative fashion. The characterisation is a lot of fun as well, the Doctor almost crosses the line to escape the Earth, the Brigadier is as stuffy and wonderful as ever and Jo keeps them all together simply by being so cute! The Doll of Death wont score as high as Platt’s others simply because this wasn’t infused witch rich history but this is still another sparkling script brought to life with passion by Lisa Bowerman: 8/10

Empathy Games: Empathy Games is the first companion chronicle that I felt needed more time to tell its story. Unlike The Catalyst where Nigel Fairs managed to sink the characterisation into the narrative and perpetuate the plot this is an awkward balancing act of world building and developing Leela, which for the most part barely connect. Annoyingly the Doctor turns up at the end after being absent for practically the whole story and waves a magic wand and reminds us of the moral at the heart of the story. On the plus side Louise Jameson is superb as ever and the story is beautifully realised with some very effective set pieces. I love all of the insights into Leela’s character (and I especially enjoyed joining her on a hunt in the first person) but the story lacks the punch it needed to allow it to really take effect: 6/10

Home Truths: Extremely good, Home Truths takes Sara Kingdom and really gets inside her head. Simon Guerrier should be forced to pay my laundry bill after scaring the shit out of me for over and hour, his script gives director Lisa Bowerman everything she needs to create a really scary ghost story. It works as both the narration and the story are given equal weight and one is used to cleverly explain the other. Jean Marsh and Neil McGregor make the most of their roles and give the story and edge of danger and mystery. I am a huge fan of season three and The Daleks’ Masterplan and this is another valuable element of both, giving more credence to Sara’s status as a companion and tackling another genre (horror) in the already multifaceted season. A real winner, the cliffhanging ending left me eager for more: 9/10

The Darkening Eye: What with the Great Space Elevator, Empathy Games and now The Darkening Eye all being less than stellar efforts I am starting to wonder if the companion chronicles might have run out of steam in their third season. The script teeters on the edge of something interesting but never quite has the guts to explore its moribund theme through its characters, instead pushing on through some pretty lifeless set pieces. Sarah Sutton is an extremely underrated performer, she is by far my favourite regular of the Davison era and it disappoints me to see that although Stewart Sheargold has given her some development the tone of the piece is cold and dreary, precisely the sort of feelings people usually unfairly associate with Nyssa. Ken Bentley’s direction is nowhere near at its best here either with no dramatic moments beyond the cliffhanger and a general lack of atmosphere. Lacking clarity and cohesiveness, this is one memory Nyssa was better left forgetting: 4/10

The Transit of Venus: For fans of the Hartnell era of which I am a massive aficionado it doesn’t get much more authentic than this. Returning us to the dangers of the unknown and the remarkable characterisation of the regulars in the first season, Jac Rayner has written a powerful and involving script that gives Ian the rare chance to stand centre stage. There’s a pleasing amount of history thrown in and after listening I looked a little more into the voyages of Captain Cook and Joseph Bank’s debt to botany – I love it when Doctor Who piques my interest in times past enough to get me to read up about it. Nigel Fairs directs the story delicately, never letting the terrific atmosphere of the piece pull us away from the central relationship between the Doctor and Ian and the mystery surrounding Banks and the answers when they come prove satisfying and build the characters. A superb snapshot of the past written with care and performed beautifully, Transit of Venus restores my faith in this range and then some: 10/10


The Prisoner’s Dilemma: I remember once an episode of the Outer Limits featuring Nicole de Boer and Robert Patrick which featured two POWs in a prison cell who develop a relationship and the drama climaxing on a devastating twist wherein Patrick reveals the whereabouts of their fleet and De Boer turns out to be the enemy all along. It was positively gripping, beautifully performed, claustrophobic and great drama. What is this fool getting, I hear you ask? Well I expected something similar from The Prisoner’s Dilemma after reading the synopsis. It led me to believe that this would be a correspondingly stifling slice of character drama set inside one room and we would find out much about both characters in this range crossover. Audio seems ideally suited to this kind of two hander. Not a bit of it – instead I’m not even sure why writer Simon Guerrier bothered to bookend the story with the scenes between Ace and Zara in the cell because instead this story tells two equally unengaging stories revealing how they came to be in the cell in the first place. I know who Zara is now but I don’t think I understand her any more than I did before I started listening and I would hardly say she was a character who deserved this attention. Sophie Aldred proves quite a skilful narrator and this is set during her New Adventures period, which brings out the best in the actress but the story lacks tension and excitement. Its just sort of there. Perhaps they were better off keeping this series to four stories a season because the most inconsistent series of the companion chronicles strikes up another disappointment: 4/10

Resistance: Steve Lyons always likes to subvert your expectations; he wrote a gripping historical for the dizzyingly camp season 24 and here he whips up a stifling historical for the monster laden Troughton era. It makes the most refreshing change of pace and shows how this sort of Hartnellesque drama could have worked a treat had they continued. It a coming of age story for Polly and takes us through a whirlwind of emotions with her, from trying to figure just what it is that she is good at in their adventuring to the aching need to save her Uncle who died during the war. She has never been so prominent or as interesting before and Anneke Wills imbues the philosophical material with some real emotion. It’s a dark piece and brilliantly structured, the first episode setting up the dilemmas and twists of the second and deserves a relisten when the revelations come to light. A strong character drama: 8/10

The Magician’s Oath: Whilst the first Doctor stories have been consistently excellent, as far as I can see so have the third Doctor Companion Chronicles and The Magician’s Oath is no exception. Diamond Jack is a chilling creation and not just because he can suck the warmth from a picturesque scene, Michael Chance gives a superb performance imbuing Jack initially with much charm and then a quiet menace. He genuinely feels like a formidable force bringing the Earth to its knees. As a character study for Mike it really works because it poignantly reminds us of his betrayal of his friends, how he never really moved on with his life and how he never loved anyone quite like Jo Grant. It’s ironic that he should have started out so stereotypically dull as a military figure because he became one of the shows more jaded and realistic characters. Richard Franklin is a terrific dramatic narrator and he brings this story to life with some skill, aided by some precise direction. This was tense, melancholic and unexpectedly powerful, a real surprise: 9/10

The Mahogany Murderers: The Mahogany Murders is just about perfect. There is an evocative location (‘eating hot chestnuts out of wet paper bags’) and two of the most accomplished storytellers (the excitable and verbose Jago and the silky voiced Professor Litefoot) making this a genuine pleasure to listen to. Andy Lane’s script is full of nourishing descriptions and beautiful language and whilst his story is pretty throwaway the atmosphere and nostalgia it generates demands that this becomes a series. A beautifully directed slice of magic: 10/10


The Stealers from Saiph: Cheap characterisation, awkward dialogue and clichéd ideas make The Stealers of Saiph a deathly dull slice of audio drama. Its lovely to hear Mary Tamm reading the story but the material is beneath her, the barest bones of a story with little opportunity to add some sparkle. I waited the two episodes to see if the Professor would not turn out to be the Saiph because that was too obvious a path for the writer to take…but bugger me if he didn’t go down that route anyway! There is a massacre and most of the guest cast are murdered but since you had invested very little time in their and their obsessions and frivolities it is much of a muchness. I want Mary Tamm back for more because I think there is some real mileage in both the character and the actress but this is a hugely inadequate start. In all honesty I preferred the documentary at the end to the story itself (‘One take Tamm!’): 3/10

The Relics of Jegg-Sau written by Stephen Cole and directed by Edward Salt

What’s it about: The colonists knew the risks about Jegg-Sau. With a flimsy atmosphere, no mineral wealth and exhausted soil, only the strongest and most determined could hope to make a home there. But with nowhere else to go, they went ahead, allegedly funded by a stock of valuable relics and art treasures stolen from Earth. But the colony failed. Jegg-Sau was deserted once more, a home only to carrion and rusted dreams. But Bernice Summerfield believes the relics remained, and she's come a long, long way in search of them. What she'll find is that others have reached Jegg-Sau before her. She'll find herself cat's-paw in a dark outpost of frailty and obsession. And she'll find the robots

Archaeological Adventuress: Lisa Bowerman is particularly good in this story, giving the material some real sincerity. The scene where Benny has to convince herself that the people in front of her robots and therefore not real really packs a punch, she cuts the fake Caldwell in two with a Samurai sword with a deafening growl. There is a definite feeling this feeling of getting Benny back out there into the universe, having adventures with much less emphasis on her domestic life. The Robot is her guilty conscience since she cannot lie to it and it will cause her pain if she answers with facetiousness – Benny’s nightmare interrogation! You go on a journey with Benny as she sifts away all the details of the Professor and his daughter’s lifestyle that don’t make sense. She felt a child’s sense of injustice of coming all this way and practically stumbling onto the treasures she wasn’t allowed inside the shelter to see them for herself, to have her own quiet little gloat.

Standout Performance: As ever Big Finish’s attention to detail is extraordinary and they have managed to persuade Michael Kilgariff to come back and voice the Robot once more. Katherine Holme deserves some kudos for imbuing Elise with a childlike menace even when she is being as nice as pie. When she psychotically turns on Bernice for killing her father screaming ‘there’s glass in my face!’ I was terrified for our hero.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Its so big! You could fit a man inside there!’
‘They were quite the most civilised lunatics I have ever met. Almost pathologically polite.’
‘Human greed is ultimately non-productive.’
‘Benny Summerfield digitally remastered. All offending material cut out to please the censors.’
‘Make the blood stop father…’ ‘
Poor sick stupid machines!’

Great Ideas: Stephen Cole cleverly hooks the listener by opening the story with a series of memories being probed from Bernice’s mind to add some substance and backstory to the tale. Jegg-Sau is an old Earth colony world that they abandoned because their bargain basement terraforming ruined the soil within ten years but they left something behind. Treasures that they would reclaim as soon as they had clearance from Earth central to colonise another world. Has Caldwell conditioned his daughter to embrace this backwards lifestyle? It transpires that Caldwell and Elise are both automatons, constructs of the Robot. The real Caldwell was a failed writer and had been researching his past and found himself to be a descendant of Professor Kettlewell, the man who designed and built the experimental prototype, K1. Caldwell had a mad dream of restoring his ancestors standing in scientific circles, to benefit himself of course. He discovered that one of the Robot’s was amongst the treasures on Jegg-Sau and convinced his brother to bring him here with a promise of a share of the treasures. The Colonists discovered that the Robot could build others like himself with raw materials; they cut up the wreckage of Caldwell’s shuttle with their pincers and used the metal to create more Robots. They are alive; it’s a living metal that powers the Robots. Faceless corporations moved in and developed Kettlewell’s work (Torchwood? The Forge?) for themselves, creating more Robots from the living metal. The irony is that the treasures were ruined all along. The Robots knew they were important to the colonists but they had no sense of how to preserve them. The story ends as imaginatively as it began with Benny’s voice crackling through the radio begging fighters to call off the attack as they will destroy the Robots, the one treasure to survive this whole sorry mess.

Audio Landscape: The story drags you in with a scene from Bernice’s POV as she wakes from a terrible accident, water runs constantly behind Benny during her interrogation scenes, the surface of Jegg-Sau is a wind swept wasteland, the Robot’s walk is accompanied by a mechanical twinge of the limbs, the whistling alarm of the Robot in attack stance, the shuttle explodes and rubble collapses, crackling flames, heart monitor, red cross jets screaming through the atmosphere of Jegg-Sau, Elise powers down slowly in her fathers arms, as crazy as the scene might be the rockets firing beams at the Giant Robot is pretty cool.

Musical Cues: David Darlington pleasingly adds in some of the Robot’s original Dudley Simpson theme. During the dialogue scenes there is a psychedelic style of music that sounds like they are swimming about in a glass of champagne, bubbles bursting all around them.

Isn’t it Odd: I can understand the temptation to bring back old monsters to try and lure Doctor Who fans into this range but now the A-listers (Daleks, Draconians, Ice Warriors) and the B-listers (Sea Devils, Rutans) all spent, Big Finish original aliens the Galyari pleasingly given some more coverage and with a big Cyberman confrontation to come at the end of the next season we are left with…the Giant Robot! Its stretching the definition of the term returning monster to its absolute limit, of all the creatures they could have used this is the least likely and yet the oddest thing of all is that somehow, somehow they manage to make it plausible! There is a deeply embarrassing scene in this story where Benny has to explain the purpose of a sex droid called Pickup Misty to the Robot that is entirely out of place – given the gravity of the first 40 minutes of the piece it comes as a disappointment to see such a lurid scene dropped in. Did they really have to make the Robot giant? Like that’s something that happens all the time!

Standout Scene: There is something achingly poignant and very disturbing about the Robots desperately wanting the colonists to return for them and seizing the first visitors to the planet and improving them. They almost sound like abandoned children when they talk of being left behind. They are programmed to maintain human life and so they corrected the human Elise in the only way they know how, killing her and creating a mechanical version. Co-existence with these creatures is impossible because they think like machines, not in human terms and snuffing out a life is like turning off a light switch. Some very interesting personification of the creatures by Steve Cole. The scene where Benny stabs Caldwell only to discover that he is a cyborg and not a robot is unforgettably graphic, instead of seeing wires and pistons she is greeted with a whole lot of blood…

Result: How on earth did Steve Cole pitch this story to Gary Russell? Bernice Summerfield takes on…the Giant Robot! What’s weird is this turns out to be a surprisingly gripping drama which plausibly re-introduces the creatures and even manages to explore them with some astonishing emotion. The script affords Ed Salt to show off his most imaginative direction yet, opening and closing in real style and plenty of action and emotion to inject into the story. It cannot be over emphasised how much realism Lisa Bowerman brings to these stories and without her faultless performance this adventure might not have worked at all, least of all as well as it does. There were a few moments I could have done without (mentioned above) but they are more than balanced by some very uncomfortable moments of drama and the thoughtful tone the story maintains. Goodness knows how The Relics of Jegg-Sau was made but I’m very pleased that it was: 8/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/53-Bernice-Summerfield-The-Relics-Of-Jegg-Sau

The Bone of Contention written by Simon A. Forward and directed by Edward Salt

An excellent tale and one that takes full advantage of Bernice's range running side by side with the Doctor Who one. I was absorbed by the story, especially how Simon A Forward managed to explore Bernice's emotional connection to the young without involving Peter at all. Like the best of this range it allows us to see the character in a new light with her burgeoning motherhood coming to the fore.

With so many species in the Clutch and such a rich backstory the Galyari is one of the few alien races created by Big Finish that deserved a return appearance. So who better to stumble across their fleet in the pursuit of a piece of cultural heritage but the eminent Professor Summerfield, desperate for a bit of peace from her hectic life on the Braxiatel collection...

I can fully understand Benny's wish to rush off on some hair-brained mission, risking her life to save some precious artefact. She is a mother now and has responsibilities but to surrender to a domestic lifestyle after such an exciting life would cramp her lifestyle for sure. She does occasionally come across as being selfish given how frequent these trips are (this the next three stories all see Benny off the Collection away from her son) but it is clear he is in safe hands in the Collection. And as if to bring the matter to her attention Benny has something of a revelation during this story, her intimacy with the Galyari child reminding her of how much she loves her own son is and how little time she spends with him. It’s this sort of development that keeps you coming back to these characters.

We get to catch up with Mordecan too, the space gypsy who aided the Doctor in The Sandman. He is as ruggedly humorous as ever; a Del Boy in Space and his interaction with Benny is spiky and fun. It should be too considering he is played by Lisa Bowerman's brother, Robin and they have the sort of chemistry siblings share.

This is another adventure that uses its tighter running time to tell a much simpler, gripping story than its Doctor Who counterparts, that are often cursed with endless padding. It is a very enjoyable story about a unique child being forced into the skin of an alien race to contain the dangerous reality of its birthright. The Galyari are portrayed as the villains at first, perverting Greco's bloodline but it becomes more complicated than that and transpires they are trying to create the ultimate warrior to bring down their Sandman and keep his incredible powers on a leash. It is Benny who ultimately harms the child, thinking she is doing the best thing by running off with it but she is unable to control its natural evolution. The way the story switches viewpoints so suddenly, turning the villains into the heroes and vice-versa is a delight and it is only a lack of communication that causes the problem. If only Benny and the Galyari had been honest with each other then none of the problems here would have arisen.

The ending where Benny is unwilling to let the Galyari kill Greco is striking and lost in a whirlwind of emotions she screams hysterically that she doesn't know what to do or how to save him... Lisa Bowerman remains as good at doing these high emotion scenes as ever and takes you on roller coaster ride of highs and lows, it is real lump in the throat material. Benny's maternal instinct has never felt stronger and Peter is nowhere in sight.

One thing the Doctor Who audios usually achieve better than the Bernice ones is the post production and music but this is obviously a matter of timing and money and the more expensive range is obviously lavished with more of each. Kudos to Simon Robinson then who manages to create a surreal experience with The Bone of Contention, taking us through lots of areas in the Clutch and each one standing out rather well. I loved the bar Benny met Mordecan at with the futuristic club music and there are some wonderful moments when the musical score captures the feelings of the story perfectly, especially the aforementioned scene where Benny realises she is witnessing the birth of a Shadow Swan.

The Bone of Contention is another strong Bernice story, capturing the imagination of the Doctor Who universe but with an atmosphere all of its own. Great stuff: 8/10

The Grel Escape written by Jacqueline Rayner and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Young children can be difficult. Tantrums, toy-throwing, not wanting to go to bed, whisking their mothers on dangerous journeys throughout all of time and space. Jason wants Benny's son Peter to have a normal childhood. Peter has other plans. And unfortunately, Peter also has Benny and Jason's Time Rings. And knows how to use them. Even more unfortunately, the fact-obsessed, tentacle-faced Grel have built a time machine, and they're after Peter. So Benny finds herself on the run, landing in frightening festivals and deadly deserts, facing ridiculously inaccurate robot doubles and hideously accented tourists, in what can only be described as a sort of chase

Archaeological Adventurer: Given all Jason went through for Benny and the rest of the children on the Collection in the Axis Occupation you would think that Bernice would cut him some slack. But no, she’s screaming and hollering at him more than ever! I always adore Lisa Bowerman in the role and she has managed to keep Bernice a riveting character for 11 (count them because there are more to come!) whole seasons but I feel that in this story Bernice comes down far too hard on Jason and Bowerman overplays it slightly. That’s the closest you will come to an insult about either from me! She’s an archaeologist so she should like dirt! Bernice very sweetly takes this road trip through time to teach Peter a few things about the Pharaohs. As the child of a Killoran and an ancient sorceress conceived and born via a temporally displaced human Peter is the only one of his kind – the Grel want to study him to quell their ignorance. Even though she says she wants to be with Jason he wonders if she actually likes him all that much, or if she likes anybody all that much. The Grel were going to tell Bernice something about Peter and his anomalous life but it all goes homicidal before they get the chance leaving her wondering what the future will bring.

Jason (bloody) Kane: There’s a beating heart at the centre of all the high jinks in this story and the scene where Jason calls Benny a bitch for the way she is treating him made me want to punch the air with delight. Somebody had to tell her how sanctimonious and self centred she was being, her behaviour towards him borders on domestic violence! Jason wants Peter to have some magic in his childhood, the sort that he didn’t have when he was growing up. He tells Joseph of the one time that he visited the seaside where he brought a lump of seaweed home and hung it over his bed and when his Dad finished his regular dish out of beatings he would smell the sea on it and remember being happy for one day. He doesn’t want Peter to grow up to be a loser like him. With very few words Jac Rayner reminds us of Jason’s tragic past and shows how much he has grown into the role of Peter’s father. When he comes face to face with two Benny’s he can’t decide if it is his best fantasy or worst nightmare come true! He cannot believe that any child of Bernice’s could ever grow up to hit his mother.

Slimy Sofia: She cannot verify if the she has a brain similar to a Terran originated cephalopod mollusc! What an awful thing to see your own son die in the future and have to go back to your time and bring him up knowing how and when he dies. Bernice does try to tentatively apologise for Peter’s actions and Sofia quietly admits that all this is her fault because she informed the Grel of Peter’s birth.

Standout Performance: I rarely mention Steve Wickham as Joseph and yet he constantly manages to make this very cute drone emote marvellously! Julia Houghton provides a memorable Sofia, making me giggle with her literal translations of the scenes that are playing out.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Up yours squid for brains!’
‘For the glory of the Grel I will infiltrate and steal. Infiltrate and steal!’
‘I drink lots! I have no breasts!’ – I think the Grel need to work on the list of defining characteristics for Benny that have gone down in posterity!

Great Ideas: As soon as Benny and Jason accidentally tune into a transmission of the Grel planning to time travel back and study Peter I picked up the references to The Chase straight away. The reason the festival was abandoned is because the ghost train was invaded by a colony of flesh eater Ephastras that the Grel figure out triumphantly as they head into the darkness to be consumed by them! I almost died with laughter when Bernice asked ‘what’s that coming out of the sand?’ in a horrifically unsubtle lampoon of the first cliffhanger of The Chase! I really like the Grel because there is a lot of comedy to be mined from their literal talking (‘astonished gasp!’) and empathic gesturing (‘astounded query?’)! Rayner adds in a mock up of the scene from the Daleks’ Masterplan, as the time travellers appear on a football pitch their appearance causes chaos narrated by the commentator! Oh no…there’s a scene on the Eiffel Tower, which stands in for the sequence on the Empire State Building. Well if you’re going to take the piss, don’t do it half-heartedly! The Grel that has been pursuing them turns out to be Sofia’s son Tim. Peter grows up before their eyes and turns into a vicious bully and he murders the Grel in a bloodbath.

Audio Landscape: There’s an opening that suggest we have tuned into Playschool, zapped into the time vortex by the Time Rings, the festival of Piranha sounds like a funfair that is slowly winding down, the door of the Great Pyramid grinding open, a jungle full of screaming, chirruping life, a growling beast, one of the Grel has a hilarious West Country accent, the bleeping Time Rings, the Grel Bernice android has a marvellous electronic warble to her voice, the Bennybot goes up like a mad confused firework, flies buzzing by, birdsong, the racing cars, multiple leaps in time and space.

Musical Cues: Picture me doing a very bad faux Egyptian belly dance as David Darlington introduces some terrific exotic music. He also has some fun with a harmonica and accordion as they land in Paris!

Isn’t it Odd: There are a couple of moments when the actors are shouting and the sound effects and music are drowned out – usually when Benny is screaming about the pursuing Grel.

Standout Scene: Any of a number of comedy moments that had me chuckling into my hands especially the Eiffel Tower sequence and the Bennybot!

Notes: This story automatically gets two things very right because it takes two of my all time favourite things and smooches them together – the Bernice Summerfield series and the crazy, everything but the kitchen sink, lets just make it up as we go along 1965 Dalek serial The Chase! Should these parodies be encouraged? If you are an anally retentive fan who cannot bear to see your favourite show ripped to pieces when it fails to deliver the goods, no. If you enjoy a good laugh, yes! I simply adore The Chase against all my better judgement, it is one of my most watched stories with non fans because despite the fact that it is shoddily directed there is a lot of warmth to the performances and it is bloody funny as well. I have had more than my fair share of nights blissed out on wine watching Daleks ‘come over in blue spots!’ and clear the decks of the Marie Celeste. It remains (along with Time and the Rani) one of my naughty guilty pleasures.

Result: Fantastic fun but bristling with hints for the future and emotional undercurrents too, The Grel Escape kick starts the fifth series of Bernice Summerfield audios with a confident waltz through some of Doctor Who’s dodgier moments. There are some people out there (I know one or two) who find the very idea of a spin off series pointing and laughing affectionately at Doctor Who the ultimate insult but fortunately they aren’t writing this review! Jac Rayner is one of the most devoted Doctor Who fans there are and as such this is a delightful pastiche of The Chase (with a dash of Daleks’ Masterplan thrown in for good measure) with some rib tickling moments of silliness. She’s also a massive devotee and supporter of the Bernice Summerfield range and includes some healthy development of Benny and Jason, a frightening possible future of Peter and the return of Sofia who helped Bernice through her trials in The Glass Prison. David Darlington does a fine job of conjuring up a shopping list of locations and his music skilfully adjusts with each leap. All in all, more magic from this series: 8/10

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The Stealers from Saiph written by Nigel Robinson and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What’s it about: It's 1929, and the TARDIS crew is holidaying in Antibes. While the Doctor practises his painting, Romana attempts to fend off the playful advances of young Tommy Creighton. All is peaceful and idyllic except for the portentous warning of astrologer Madame Arcana, and the fact that personal items are being stolen from the hotel's guests. What is the secret of the cave on the beach? And why do some of Romana's new acquaintances suddenly behave so strangely? As her newfound socialite existence suddenly takes a turn into danger, Romana finds that the whole planet Earth is faced with a deadly threat…

Snobby Scientist: Whilst we have had a vast amount of material for the Romana’s second incarnation there has been a surprising dearth of spin off material for Mary Tamm’s Romana I. It really pleases me that there will be a fourth Doctor box set with Tamm and Baker reprising their roles because come The Armageddon Factor the pair of them were indulging in some exquisite chemistry and if they can recapture that we will be in for a real humdinger of a series. All this prevarication is a precursor to admitting that I think Nigel Robinson failed to engage me whatsoever with her character in this tale. Yep I think there is some mileage in Romana being on Earth in the past but the strength of the characterisation here is as weak as Simon’s tea, we rarely get to see inside her head (odd considering she is narrating) and for the most part she merely spouts exposition. I don’t think this is a fault of the character or the actress however as Tamm does what she can with the script. Romana is using their break in the Antibes as an excuse to the study Terran fauna since she still had her thesis on the Doctor to complete and it was only sensible for it to contain a case study of his favourite species. Prefers the charming and interesting conversation of the old than the immature company of the young.

Teeth and Curls: Madame Arcana is far too young for him! It seems very natural for Romana to return from a party on the yacht to find the Doctor slumbered with female company and surrounded by ginger beer bottles and gin fizzies, the old lush!

Sparkling Dialogue: Unfortunately much of the dialogue is awkward mouthfuls that would wear out the most Shakespearean of actors. A typical example is: ‘Somehow he couldn’t imagine an enormous blob of tentacled alien protoplasm moving unnoticed amongst the sophisticated residents of the Hotel de Cappe in Antibes!’

Great Ideas: Animals depicted in the caves that are not from the Earth and only found only on worlds orbiting the world Saiph in the constellation of Orion. They are dealing with a shape-shifting monster hiding within an ersatz Palaeolithic cave, the walls of which are covered with beasts from halfway across the galaxy, which can spontaneously generate parasites that can physically and mentally perform acts on human beings. The five Mediterranean cities the professor has visited are the points of a five-point star, a pentagram. Stealing personal items and providing a psychometric link with people. The Saiph inhabit the husks of human beings and turn them to their purpose.

Audio Landscape: Crickets, walking on gravel, a growling lorry, the crowd scenes of the party, clapping and dancing, dripping within the cave, the cawing of the bird creature in the cave, the waters of the harbour.

Musical Cues: I really enjoyed the jazz music playing through the party scenes.

Isn’t it Odd: This is where I come to ask what the nature of the Companion Chronicles should be about. Should this range be an exercise in taking hold of a companion from the shows history and holding them up to the light and seeing what makes them tick? Or should it simply be an excuse to bring back older companions that cannot perform in the main range because the actor who played their Doctor has passed away or refuses to take part? Or is it a way of capturing periods of nostalgia, looking back on golden ages of Doctor Who and bringing them to life again for the fans? With The Stealers from Saiph I really cannot decide which is relevant – Tom Baker is going to be performing main range stories soon so Mary Tamm’s inclusion is superfluous, the story is about as far away from anything in The Key to Time season as you can get lacking the wit or the imagination to stand with the stories of that season and the story rarely if ever bothers to probe Romana and tell us anything we don’t already know about the character. So what is the point of it? To tell a possession story? Been there, done that. To set a story in Antibes? What is this the JNT era? I realise that not every script can be a winner but surely there should be a point to the story that is playing out? There was talk of bouncing bio plasmic energy of off satellites and turning the Mediterranean into a breeding tank but really I didn’t have the faintest interest in anything at this point.

Standout Scene: Despite some rather florid turns of phrase from Nigel Robinson, Mary Tamm’s dramatic reading of the cliffhanger is extremely involving at last providing some excitement.

Result: Cheap characterisation, awkward dialogue and clichéd ideas make The Stealers of Saiph a deathly dull slice of audio drama. Its lovely to hear Mary Tamm reading the story but the material is beneath her, the barest bones of a story with little opportunity to add some sparkle. I waited the two episodes to see if the Professor would not turn out to be the Saiph because that was too obvious a path for the writer to take…but bugger me if he didn’t go down that route anyway! There is a massacre and most of the guest cast are murdered but since you had invested very little time in their and their obsessions and frivolities it is much of a muchness. I want Mary Tamm back for more because I think there is some real mileage in both the character and the actress but this is a hugely inadequate start. In all honesty I preferred the documentary at the end to the story itself (‘One take Tamm!’): 3/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/312-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Stealers-from-Saiph

The Mahogany Murderers written by Andy Lane and directed by Lisa Bowerman

Theatrical Fellow: Can you imagine anybody being better at telling a story than Henry Gordon Jago, theatrical impressionaro extraordinaire? Jago beautifully makes every scene count; he gets you so excited at the smallest of details so exciting. I love how he builds up scenes to a dramatic operatic crescendo only to be trumpeted by Litefoot! When it comes to London taverns he is something of a Dr Livingstone. Things have been a little tight of late and he only has one jacket to speak of which Litefoot has burned a ruddy great hole into! His propensity for verbosely challenged sentences has not bee toned down since the Weng-Chiang affair. He’s had to close his theatre to make repairs and is living in modest lodgings. He was as happy as a buttered halibut when he got Litefoot’s telegram asking for assistance. Jago is not a man to be reckoned with when it comes to physical altercations! He can’t see this ‘unsafe’ electricity catching on. He has worked with the most accomplished magicians including the nefarious Li’sen Chang. I love his description of being knocked unconscious, falling into a Stygian pit of darkness! He has never corpsed on stage and has no intention of starting in restaurants!

Posh Professor: Litefoot is a far more restrained storyteller but he manages to generate a much greater sense of menace. He knows many words in many languages and collects knowledge for its own ends. Jago is more of a comrade in arms and they have been known to eat together on the odd occasion. Litefoot worked in poor conditions in Afghanistan. Having never trod the boards he is terrible at putting on accents! He lectures in forensic pathology. Litefoot ensures that the story is told in the right order, Jago rushing off in excitement. You’ve got to love any man whose cane conceals a rapier blade! Yeovil offers Litefoot a young body again, one that would last forever. Old age has been creeping up on him; arthritis creeping into his bones and to feel young and strong again was very tempting. He admits he does have an open mind. Can you imagine anything more wonderful than being treated to a series of adventures featuring these sparkling characters? Stories of murder and mayhem on the foggy streets of Victorian London? Litefoot (adlibbing Jago) sums it up perfectly: ‘The intrepid investigators back in harness again! Investigating infernal incidents and cracking complex conundrums!’ Just wonderful.

Standout Performances: Do I really need to answer this one? One of my biggest regrets as far as Doctor Who is concerned was that Jago & Litefoot never had a chance at their own spin off series. Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin are simply made for each other and one minute into this story brings the joy of their pairing in Talons rushing back. Adding Lisa Bowerman to mix means you have some of the hottest names in Doctor Who involved in this companion chronicle.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘It wasn’t a body at all. It was a wooden mannequin the exact size and shape of a man and with all the joints carefully carved and crafted so that they worked in the same way as a human skeleton.’
‘The sunset was like a crimson violet bloodstain spreading across the west end sky.’
‘You were right, you’re climatic moment was better.’
‘Dropped to the floor like marionettes whose strings have been cut.’

Great Ideas: Getting Jago & Litefoot back together! I love the idea of the pair of them telling each other the opposing ends of the same story with both of them chipping in comments on each others storytelling techniques! A body is wheeled into Litefoot’s mortuary in a wheelbarrow! What is all this about chained anteaters and aluminium violins? Jago discovers a warehouse full of electrical equipment and Litefoot has to defend himself in his mortuary as thugs turn on him to steal the mannequin. The magician’s dummy gets up from the slab and calmly walks out into the night. Jago discovers wooden ruffians and a simulacrum of Jack Yeovil – the worst criminal of the lot! Prisoners made from wood? Why would you want to go back to the life of a lowlife when you could exist in mahogany? Dr Tulp is a twisted genius releasing criminals from prison and implanting their souls into wooden dummies. Litefoot experiences the terrifying depravity of the London underground, families crammed together, beating each other, drunk and abusive. Tulp threatens to send the criminals back to their old bodies – their dead bodies and as a demonstration one-thug wakes up in a coffin attempting to claw his way out. Yeovil plans to usurp Tulp and free all the prisoners in England and shove their vital energies into metal that can never be damaged or destroyed, first the Empire and then the world! Litefoot’s pyrotechnics means the criminals catch fire and he destroys the warehouse to cleanse the entire area of Tulp’s evil.

Audio Landscape: Lots of scratchy handwriting, a rowdy gang hangs out in Ellie’s pub, there is a jingle of coins, hansom cabs clip clopping on the cobbles, whistles blowing, fizzing electricity between electrodes, footsteps running…the sound effects compliment the story being told perfectly.

Musical Score: There’s a jolly tinkling of piano which captures the Victorian theatre feel and the rest of the score is gorgeous, very atmospheric.

Result: The Mahogany Murderers is just about perfect. There is an evocative location (‘eating hot chestnuts out of wet paper bags’) and two of the most accomplished storytellers (the excitable and verbose Jago and the silky voiced Professor Litefoot) making this a genuine pleasure to listen to. Andy Lane’s script is full of nourishing descriptions and beautiful language and whilst his story is pretty throwaway the atmosphere and nostalgia it generates demands that this becomes a series. A beautifully directed slice of magic: 10/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/311-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Mahogany-Murderers

The Magician’s Oath written by Scott Hancock and directed by Nigel Fairs

What’s it about: "You must never tell. Not a soul. That's the magician's oath." A heat wave in July and a tube train is discovered buried in twenty inches of snow. A Saturday afternoon in Hyde Park and scores of people are instantly frozen to death where they stand while the sun beats down from the sky. Freak weather conditions in London, and the Doctor and UNIT are called in to find the cause. Meanwhile, a street magician, who was witnessed at the scene of the tragedy, entertains crowds in Covent Garden. As Jo Grant and Mike Yates disobey orders and investigate alone, they discover an enemy with terrifying powers. And they may not live to share his secrets…

Camp Captain: The framing scenes are set a long time after Mike Yates was discharged from UNIT and he reminisces about times when Sir Alistair was in charge and the Doctor was their scientific advisor. He used to love working for UNIT back in the old days but is disheartened that it doesn’t even mean the same thing anymore. Mike caught up with Jo Grant last week and they laughed and cried and drank far more than they should. He has seen people’s minds broken by extra terrestrial influences, their souls bent out of shape. Mike can be casually sexist, dismissing Jo’s suggestions as ‘sweet’. Mike steadfastedly refuses to have his unwavering loyalty to the Doctor shifted, he knows he is a friend and he will save the Earth whenever they need him. Jack tells Mike that Jo knows how he feels about her and she knows that he would never tell her and she’s glad about that. All that love with nowhere to go, loving the girl with so much life in her. Mike sat with Jo daily as she recovered from her ordeals with Jack, just wanting to be there for her, as she lay comatose for weeks. If she remembered anything about his feelings for she never said anything. So many years later Jo remembered the card that contained her memories of these events and she tracked Mike down to apologise to him, now realising how he felt about her. Everybody he knew has either died or moved on, they either have partners to cherish or families to love but Mike doesn’t really have anyone and he’s not going to pretend that it’s all right. He gave his life for this job and it never gave him anything but that’s okay because it was his choice.

Good Grief: Something of a legend now. He saved the planet so many times. He doesn’t think magic exists; he always chases the logical explanations. The Doctor changes his face, a mask against the universe, a mask with which he chooses to hide his true self away. The whole of time and space trapped within a police box, his to lord it over.

Brilliant Brig: Nothing seemed to faze him. Sums up the Brig beautifully.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘For a while we had been receiving reports of freak weather conditions around the central London area…’ ‘
I watched them, water dripping from their bodies, trickling from their eyes, never blinking. The dead were weeping and there was nothing we could do.’
‘Diamond Jack was coming home…’
‘You have opened the floodgates, Doctor and I thank you’

Great Ideas: Scott Hancock mines a wealth of clever ideas making this is a strong science fiction story as well as a good character study. Hyde Park freezing over is an astonishing idea, one I would have loved to see realised. People had been frozen alive, families out picnicking, children licking ice creams even people queuing for the bus and people swimming in the water. Mike comes across the shattered remains of a Collie, jumping for a Frisbee and splintering as it hit the ground frozen. An entertainer with the ability to control the elements on such a scale? There’s a wonderful moment when Jack explodes into shards of ice, utterly unexpectedly. Jack was able to perform conjuring tricks since he was a lad but each one drains him but he goes on because it is a talent to exploit. He can read memories, picking the ones that he likes and discarding the rest because he doesn’t have any of his own. A spaceship under Highgate cemetery, containing all of Jack’s personality and memories that have been deleted from his mind. He committed so many crimes; so many obscenities that the Doctor wasn’t around to prevent and now they have been given back to him like the Doctor. The bullets drift lazily in the air towards Jack and he steps aside, letting them hit the wall beside him. Jack absorbs his energy from movement and life for his tricks. He manages to tap into the national grid, turning out a single street with the wave of a hand. Prison ships have basic precautionary measures of being able to track their occupants. Think of Jack as three separate entities; first you have his memories, consigned to a databank on board the prison ship. Then you have the blank mind in a new human body designed to blend in one Earth, the imposter Jack. And creature is the animal Jack, the thing that he was before he lost his mind. The essence of evil undiluted by any humanity. Half of London drained of power, blackouts in districts as far as the eye can see. Jack doesn’t realise he is fighting himself and he summons up the elements at his command to destroy the creature.

Audio Landscape: I was very impressed by the sound effects in this story, for a story that is all about magic tricks you get a real sense of the wonder of Jack’s powers. Typewriter, footsteps, cup and saucer, there’s a chilling sequence of Hyde Park ringing with the laughter of children and paddling and suddenly cracking with the sound of frosty ice and people screaming, birds flying through the air, the crowds that Jack draws, Jack shattering, Mike smashing a window, ragged breathing and sounds of something stumbling, crackling fire, thunder cracking through Jack’s home, screams and flames as Jack’s memories come flooding back, an explosion of light, owls hooting, computer banks bleeping, the electric force hitting the creature and causing it to scream to death, ticking clock.

Musical Cues: An emotive piano score to evoke the feeling of ice and sorrow as the people in the park freeze and melt. Atmospheric violins slide in and out of scenes as Mike and Jo go investigating Diamond Jack. Drums burst into life as the Doctor and Mike head off to defeat Jack during the climax. Another superb Jamie Robertson score, it appears he can turn his hand to any genre with equal skill.

Isn’t it Odd: Is that David Richardson screaming ‘Show us a card trick?’

Standout Scene: I thought nothing could top the genuinely horrific moment when Jack freezes over Hyde Park but the sequence where Jack gets his memories back is equally frightening all thanks to Michael Chance’s dark performance.

Notes: It might not have meant to be the case but this is a perfect starting point to reacquaint yourself with Mike Yates before heading into the Hornet’s Nest series. He starts that series as a lonely man looking for a direction in life which is precisely how he leaves this story.

Result: Whilst the first Doctor stories have been consistently excellent, as far as I can see so have the third Doctor Companion Chronicles and The Magician’s Oath is no exception. Diamond Jack is a chilling creation and not just because he can suck the warmth from a picturesque scene, Michael Chance gives a superb performance imbuing Jack initially with much charm and then a quiet menace. He genuinely feels like a formidable force bringing the Earth to its knees. As a character study for Mike it really works because it poignantly reminds us of his betrayal of his friends, how he never really moved on with his life and how he never loved anyone quite like Jo Grant. It’s ironic that he should have started out so stereotypically dull as a military figure because he became one of the shows more jaded and realistic characters. Richard Franklin is a terrific dramatic narrator and he brings this story to life with some skill, aided by some precise direction. This was tense, melancholic and unexpectedly powerful, a real surprise: 9/10

Buy it from Big Finish her: http://www.bigfinish.com/310-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Magicians-Oath