The Pyralis Effect written by George Mann and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What’s it about: Long ago, the planet Pavonis IV was saved from certain destruction by the Doctor. Now it is dead, laid waste by environmental catastrophe, but a few survivors and their precious race bank survive on the starship Myriad. Their mission: to scour the universe for the fabled dimensionally transcendental obelisk in which their saviour travels, and persuade him to save their world again. As the TARDIS arrives, by chance, on the Myriad, the Doctor and Romana are just in time to see the crew achieve their goal. Or so they think… Death stalks the corridors of the ship, the artificial intelligence CAIN has lost control, and a force is about to be unleashed that threatens the entire galaxy.

Aristocratic Adventurer: I’m not convinced that Romana makes the best narrator for the companion chronicles and with her character being so beautifully explored in the Gallifrey series these dips back into her timeline are nothing more than throwaway adventures which rely on the strength of the story to hold my interest. Mind you being a Time Lady I’m not sure we should be hearing stories directly from her point of view because it exposes how she reacts pretty much like a human and there are no signs of the powerful intelligence I always thought she had. Listening to a story from Romana’s POV is like listening to a story from the Doctor’s – it spoils the illusion of wonder the character brings to the show. When she realises they are in the constellation of Kasterborous Romana feels an uneasily disquiet. She doesn’t want to return to Gallifrey, not yet and perhaps not ever…not after the things she had seen out there in space and time with the Doctor.

Teeth and Curls: Sometimes the Doctor had a lot to answer for. He thinks the idea of himself being a mythological hero a load of old poppycock even though the idea does appeal. He better not ever skip forward into his own time stream then because he might be in for a big shock!

Standout Performance: Being such a fine actress Lalla Ward brings much of her talent to the role although in the first few minutes when Romana is saddled with the Doctor you can almost hear the disgust in Ward’s voice at having to say nice things about Baker’s Doctor!

Great Ideas: The Doctor and Romana land on a colony ship and discover a genetic race bank. Pervonis IV was their homeworld, a beautiful and verdant planet and home to their people for a thousand years before it was destroyed by a series of cataclysmic environmental disasters. Now completely uninhabitable and ravaged by fierce radiation storms. Only a handful of people escaped on ships like the Myriad carrying with them all the stored DNA data they would need to restore their people. Thousands of strange amorphous beings spilling out of the anomaly – the Pyralis escaping their millennia long imprisonment. The Pyralis are a warlike race of photonic mimics, energy beings with the power to adapt to almost any environment. They seed themselves on alien worlds by learning to act like the native and then mounting a devastating invasion. Parasites who only exist to conquer others. After a century long war with another race they were imprisoned with a void where they have festered for thousands of years.

Audio Landscape: The Doctor’s heavy feet on the grating, the moon imploding, sirens, the screaming faces of the entity, heart monitor, breathing apparatus, a broken monitor fizzing and popping,

Musical Cues: Talk about a musical score that makes you sit up and pay attention in the first few seconds! Throughout this story there are some electronic stings that sound just like the chilling music as the Angel played about with Amy on the screen in The Time of Angels.

Isn’t it Odd: The Pyralis Effect takes a very odd approach to its storytelling by having Romana walking about the Myriad for a full fifteen minutes with nothing of great importance going on. If the majority of the listeners haven’t fallen asleep in that time I would be very surprised. Things do pep up towards the end of the episode as the Pyralis flood from the vent in space and attack Romana at the cliffhanger but since we know very little about them we still don’t actually know if they are threat or not. When they say ‘we shall illuminate you’ they could just be electricians from another dimension come to fix a bulb. I have always been unconvinced by the scientific approach of Christopher H Bidmead in season eighteen (despite the shows high production values in that season) and this feels like another story in the Leisure Hive/Meglos vein which abandons characterisation in favour of not terribly interesting science.

Standout Scene: Less about the writing and more about the execution, the Pyralis streaming from their prison is a top dramatic moment and the only one the story really achieves – the exciting music and Lalla Ward’s hurried delivery helps to highlight the panic of their release.

Result: A shame to halt the momentum of quality of this series of Companion Chronicles so dramatically, The Pyralis Effect is the dullest entry in this series since Fear of the Daleks. It lacks the humour of the Williams era and the energy of JNTs tenure and the story tries to take on a poetic atmosphere (highlighted by the superb music) but the script isn’t strong enough and its ideas fails to generate much interest. Romana feels more like a plot function than a character in her own right and the Doctor is lost in a story that doesn’t fit his exuberant character from this time in his life. None of the guest characters grabbed me and so all I was left with was the science of the piece which leaves the overall atmosphere very dry and dusty. I had to force myself to stay focussed on this story as my attention tried to drift away every couple of minutes or so. I remain unconvinced that Romana makes a good avatar for this series: 3/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/404-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Pyralis-Effect

The Prisoner of Peladon written by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright and directed by Nicola Bryant

What’s it about: "Tonight, I am going to tell you the story of the Prisoner of Peladon, and of the time when a friend and protector returned to our planet. A man called… the Doctor." The planet Peladon has joined the Galactic Federation, and has undergone a painful period of change. Still eager to embrace alien culture, King Peladon has welcomed refugee Ice Warriors to his world - innocent creatures that are fleeing the New Martian Republic. But, as an old friend returns to the capitol, there is murder in the refugee camps. Could the truth lie in an ancient legend?

Mature King: The Prisoner of Peladon marks another departure from the norm for the Companion Chronicles following in the footsteps of Jago & Litefoot in the last season and whilst I don’t think this has potential as an entire spin off series like its predecessor it is still an intriguing one off and a worthwhile experiment. Quite aside from David Troughton being an extraordinary performer, Peladon was a rich character and a return to the planet a few years after the events of Curse of Peladon is very welcome. When he was a boy, Peladon used to listen to the rain lashing and the violent storms safe under his furs in his bedroom. A ruler of a planet must listen to his people, to his High Priest and his Chancellor and above he must listen to his heart. Peladon and Alpha Centuri have developed a firm friendship over the years and he has come to rely on the Hexapods consul. He admires the fierce, proud and resilient Martians. Not a man to shirk his responsibilities, King Peladon heads straight to the grieving family of the murdered Martian mother to offer his condolences and see what he can do. He likes to think that he tried to save Axlaar when he fell down the mountain but the scream haunts him every night suggests otherwise.

Good Grief: The same careworn face, the same piercing eyes. The Doctor came and went like the ghost of Aggedor in the time of the planets greatest need, an almost mythical figure to the people of Peladon. When asking the Doctor about Princess Josephine of TARDIS, Peladon can see there is a sorrow weighing down his heart when he admits that she has moved on. He could never resist a locked door but since this one has myths and puzzles to solve before opening he wonders if they should leave it too the past and return to the present. Rather than surrender to the gravity of the situation of a war between the Martians and the Pels the Doctor uses his mind to unpiece the mystery of the death to prevent it. Peladon constantly felt whenever the Doctor was close that everybody knew what was going on except him! He wonders what sort of lifestyle the Doctor must lead where he can treat tragedy and danger with such levity. Peladon accuses the Doctor of treating this whole thing like a game and rather than just revealing the truth he had to play the magician and reveal his deductive prowess instead. Destruction hangs over his head like a broiling cloud.

Standout Performance: David Troughton’s talents never cease to amaze me. Quite aside from his various roles on television and audio away from Doctor Who that I have enjoyed over the years, his two performances on the show could be more different. And yet it is his audio work that impresses me the most – he has a marvellously deep, rich voice that is very easy to listen to and I was thrilled when I heard he was bringing some of his fathers stories to life in the Target audio range. In The Prisoner of Peladon he runs the show with ease, his narration is crisp and guiding, his take on Pertwee’s Doctor sublime (with just a few ‘good grief’s’ and ‘old chaps’ he was whisked before my eyes), Alpha Centuri is chirpily evoked and he brings King Peladon back to life almost as if he has never been away. Clearly he is older but there is still the same youthful enthusiasm and angry naiveté that stood out in Curse of Peladon.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Many still called the Martians Ice Warriors. A xenophobic throwback to a violent heritage. A heritage some sought to resurrect.’
‘When you have a nose like this its wise to follow it sometimes.’
‘You have a choice, Doctor. The deaths of thousands of Pels…or my prey.’

Great Ideas: Five years after Peladon had been accepted into the Federation and the planet had flourished. It had been a struggle but they had become much more than the barbarous planet of repute and an influential voice in the Federation. Any worlds harbouring political prisoners from New Mars will be considered enemies of the Martian State. This doesn’t frighten Peladon however and he sets up a refugee camp on Mount Megeshra and his decision didn’t go down well with some of the courts of the planet. A Martian mother is slaughtered by a Pel weapon whilst she was trying to protect her young. She was stabbed after being murdered by a sonic disruptor – the suggestion of both Martian and Pel weaponry brews up mistrust amongst the two species and proves that perhaps there are still race issues to be resolved between them. The woman died because of an act of kindness, taking in an orphan girl after her own child had been killed. Axlaar came to Peladon to find such a child and murdered the old woman when he suspected she was harbouring her. Alpha Centuri is very loyal but hardly the first person you would call upon to head a murder investigation. It is Centuri that has been concealing the prisoner of Peladon - Princess Lyxgar, daughter of the true King and heir to the throne. She is last of the line that Axlaar believes threw away the might of the Martian race and turned them into intergalactic policemen and her death will see that regime end today. Centuri wanted to tell Peladon but the Galactic Federation thought it would be best to conceal the child’s location – it was only ever intended as a bolthole until they could safely smuggle the child back into Federation territory.

Audio Landscape: Peladon always had a fantastic stormy atmosphere which is ripe for recreating on audio. Chilly winds, crackling fires, violent thunder and lashing rain all combine to evoke of the medieval planet. A spacecraft roaring overhead and striking the mountain, screaming voices amongst the wreckage, a hypnotising view of the madness from King Peladon, a baby gurgling, a flash of metal as Axlaar unsheathes his dagger, creaking doors opening,

Notes: A common problem with the main range and Companion Chronicles is that they try and sell danger to characters that we know wont be affect them that badly by their audio adventures because there was no sign of it in their television appearances. However with characters like King Peladon who never returned to the screen after his first appearance all bets are off which adds a little more tension to the cliffhanger that sees him literally on a knifes edge. The same was true of Jago & Litefoot and Sara Kingdom and I do wonder if there should perhaps be more experiments of this nature. Certainly Grun’s death comes from nowhere and makes an impact.

Result: There is something about the wistful way in which King Peladon recounts this tale that reminds me pleasingly of a dark fairytale and it has all the magic and sinister atmosphere I would expect from such a story. Pleasingly this was the evening I decided to put some candles on rather than the light and listened in a haze of moody flickering light which just seemed to enhance the mood. In episode two the lyrical nature of the piece surrenders to Martian politics but this serves to build a powerful image of Martin culture at this time and there is still the mystery of the prisoner of Peladon to solve to see you through to the conclusion. The answers are very satisfying when they come and it once again sees an important galactic event taking place on Peladon – a planet can get a terrible reputation you know! The dramatic confrontation between Peladon and the Doctor at the climax is exceptional and ends the piece on a dramatic high. Nicely done indeed: 8/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/403-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Prisoner-of-Peladonhttp://

The Glorious Revolution written by Jonathan Morris and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What’s it about: After years as a companion to the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon was returned to his own world and his own time, and his memories of his travels were erased. Until now. A visitor from beyond the stars needs to explore Jamie’s past, and discover what went wrong. What happened in the year 1688, when the TARDIS landed in London, and the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe were welcomed into the court of King James II. It was the year of the Glorious Revolution. And the birth of a whole new history.

Who’s the Yahoos: Whilst The Highlanders and The War Games offer an intoxicating peek into history they don’t use the period to get under the skin of the characters like the best Hartnell historicals did and The Glorious Revolution repeats the enchanting conflict that stepping back in time can brew between the regulars. Jamie feels very strongly about being given the chance to alter history in Scotland’s favour, he has had a life full of the English triumphing and pushing the Scots around and here he has the opportunity to make a difference for his people. When the Doctor says his usual spiel about observing and not interfering Jamie throws a handful of occasions in their travels when they have done far more than just observe. Jamie feels that it is only okay to meddle when it is something that the Doctor feels strongly enough about. A terrible suspicion enters Jamie’s mind that by defying the Doctor’s instruction he has set history on a terrible path and that the Doctor and Zoe are now in danger. Its easy to forget what a man of action Jamie was and he really comes into his own as he leaps into the throng of jeering observers to the Doctor and Zoe at the gallows, throws some punches and saves their lives. In his experience travelling with the Doctor mean danger was hiding in every shadow. When the King admits defeat and dismisses the throne, wallowing in self-pity, Jamie gets his first taste of being let down by somebody he has always admired.

Oh My Giddy Aunt: The Doctor is said to have fought with his umbrella and scampered down the street! As they were still developing their relationship Evil of the Daleks revealed that there was some scorching drama that could be coaxed from having the Doctor and Jamie at odds with each other. Jamie is quite a hot headed character for all his comic edge and its fascinating to see that if he is worked up enough that he will openly defy the Doctor’s instructions and there is nothing the Time Lord can do about it. When Barbara defied the Doctor in The Aztecs he was furious but his successor doesn’t take that approach – he can understand why Jamie did what he did even if he doesn’t agree with it. He is far more concerned with undoing the damage than remonstrating with his friend. When the time comes the Doctor insists that it is Jamie who stops the King from fleeing the country and ensures history goes back on track but again its less of a punishment and more him trying to see if his lesson was learnt.

Brainy Beauty: Even Zoe objects that she should be the one to dress up as a laundry maid (being a girl and all) but clearly the Doctor cannot resist dragging it up when he heads back into history!

Standout Performance: Once again I am struck at how uncannily accurate Frazer Hines’ portrayal of the Doctor is – at times you will genuinely think that Troughton is taking part. He conjures up that quiet throaty cheek the second Doctor brought to the series and the script takes the effort to remind us just how charming he could be.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘We looked like a couple of old fishwives!’
‘That’s history Jamie. Often not how we would wish it to be but all the more interesting for it.’

Great Ideas: By stepping in and helping a woman struggling with a riotous crowd, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are directly responsible for saving the life of James Stewart, the Prince of Wales! The War Games proved that there was an incredible amount of untapped potential in the historical genre for the second Doctor to explore and I am pleased to see writers taking up the challenge so well (Resistance was a similarly bold historical drama). William of Orange has an army waiting to march on London to usurp the King and make him change his policies – involving the Doctor in such important events can only lead to trouble. They call it the Glorious Revolution because almost nobody died. Now Jamie has seen to it that the Prince wont abdicate there is talking of burning fires in every town and killing all of his enemies and only then there will be peace. You’ve got two very strong images; the first of the Doctor and Zoe facing the gallows and then of Jamie slowly vanishing as he starts altering history to an extent that he never existed. If King James never abdicated there was no Jacobite uprising, no battle of Culloden and consequently Jamie never met the Doctor. Two timelines, co-existing and yet contradictory, are running parallel.

Audio Landscape: Listening closing to the script I was impressed how Jonathan Morris managed to sneak most of the sound effects needed into the dialogue itself. The TARDIS landing and interrupting Jamie playing his bagpipes, rain pattering onto a narrow alleyway, a gunshot ringing out, a rowing boat bobbing on the water and thudding into the mooring post, horse and cart clopping along the road, a ticking clock reverberating around the throne room, crackling fire, a cheering crowd, the church bells ringing out for the Kings abdication, a terrible storm brews with hailstones battering down, the creaking deck of the ship,

Musical Cues: I don’t know if it is because they are narrator by one or two people only or if the production levels are simply strong but I find the music for the Companion Chronicles often exceeds that of the other ranges – both the main range and the other spin offs. The score for The Glorious Revolution is exceptional, much more of a driving force than the disquieting stings of The Drowned World and constantly upping its game as the story takes on more and more dramatic twists. The insistent beats as the Doctor and friends desperately try and sneak the King out of the City by boat was breathtaking.

Standout Scene: The cliffhanger is extraordinary as time is rewritten within Jamie’s story to the point where he doesn’t remember telling it in the first place. History is damaged by their adventure and Jamie doesn’t know who the Doctor is at all. A haunting idea in both cases and a cliffhanger that has been skilfully built up to for maximum impact.

Notes: When a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency turns up in Jamie’s time he thinks the man must be soft in the head when he starts going on about travelling to the Moon with the Doctor. Sometimes him and Hamish get mistaken for each other. There are so many reasons that he had his memory taken away and amongst them were his knowledge of future events. Shockingly Jamie asks for his adventures to be wiped away again because if he had known all these years what he had lost he would never have moved on with his life and been as happy as he was. It’s a brave decision but one that I understand. And this time it is his choice.

Result: History whips a potent drama once again and this time (for Jamie) it’s personal. You get a lot of bang for your buck in The Glorious Revolution; some mouth-watering and unusual conflict between the Doctor and Jamie, another valuable and interesting history lesson in the unique Doctor Who format, a chance to hear Frazer Hines charm his audience as both the Doctor and Jamie and another typically flawless production with the direction, sound effects and musical score at the top of their game. By taking the Troughton characters and planting them in a Hartnell style drama is a stroke of genius because there is so much untapped potential in Jamie’s previous life that is ripe for exploration. I love that this story takes Jamie’s defiance of the Doctor about as far as it can go and yet never once feels out of character – he is a boy of strong beliefs and is willing to do his bit to make history easier on the Scots. There are surprises aplenty (especially the terrific cliffhanger) and throughout I was enraptured by the detail and educational nature of the story. It’s worth listening to just for the hilarious scene where the Doctor and Jamie drag up as washerwomen and remove the King from the Palace in a linen basket! If the Companion Chronicles can keep up this level of quality in their fourth year it will easily be the best year yet: 9/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/402-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Glorious-Revolution

The Drowned World written by Simon Guerrier and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What’s it about: Space Security Agent Sara Kingdom is dead, her ashes strewn on the planet Kembel. But, in an old house in Ely, Sara Kingdom lives on… To the Elders of this ruined world, Sara is a ghost, a phantom that must be excised. She must prove her right to exist, and she does so with stories. Stories of a time when she travelled the universe with an ancient Doctor and his heroic companion Steven inside a magical space/time ship called the TARDIS. And one story in particular could make a difference. The one about their trip to a world covered in water, where a human expedition is being wiped out. It’s a battle to survive, as the travellers face the horrors of the drowned world…

SSS: A copy of Sara haunts the house in Ely. Not a ghost, more of an echo. She gave her mind to the house because it needed a sense of right and wrong. When the TARDIS slipped beneath the silvery waters Sara’s first reaction is relief because she remembered to shut the doors on her way out. As her life is in terrible danger for the first time in ages Sara is grateful for her service training. She isn’t scared; she just has a strong desire to get things done. The instant she shot her brother it made her as a person, changed her. She became a good person through a terrible act. At the story’s end Sara wants to slip into a dream where things are different and she doesn’t regret a thing. Sara wonders longingly why the Doctor has never been back to see her considering he can travel anywhere in time and space. She has granted the wishes of Priests and Prosecutors and they have never come back to see her.

Humble Husband: Imagine the perspiring embarrassment of being so proud of your recordings of a manifestation and having to face the Elders as the recorder reveals nothing. There was only ever one wish that Robert wanted of Sara and that was to aid in his desire to have a baby with his wife, something they had been trying and failing for some time. Robert was happy to disperse Sara when she embarrassed him but when he needs a wish granted – the sickness that is gripping his people having taken hold of his daughter – he calls her back into being. Despite this he doesn’t ever feel like a selfish character thanks mostly to the thoughtful performance by Niall MacGregor. Robert has a tricky decision to make at the climax and one that will leave you eager to listen to the final instalment.

Hmm: When facing new creatures the Doctor’s eyes twinkle with curiosity and excitement. As the sea rises the Doctor has to make the impossible choice between saving Sara’s life and saving the lives of everybody else. Fortunately for him it is a decision that she makes for him because I don’t think he would have been able to live with the consequences. The Doctor’s mind is said to work furiously as he tries to think of a way to save his friend and that is probably the best description I can think of to describe the first Doctor’s intelligence.

Aggressive Astronaut: Not even Steven knew how the Ship was bigger on the insider or how it travelled through space – the Doctor guarded his secrets jealously. Always a people person to the Doctor’s fierce intellect, Steven insists that they stay behind and make sure everybody is okay and see things through to the end.

Standout Performance: Jean Marsh has played four very distinct but equally good roles in Doctor Who. Her portrayal of Joanna in The Crusade is still one of my favourite performances in the shows history and in particular her argument with her brother in episode three is a highlight of how sophisticated the show could be in those early days. Next up was Sara Kingdom, an Emma Peel in space complete with a kinky uniform, a gun and a kick ass attitude. Such a shame she never stayed on and spared us Dodo but she still has one of the best departures a character had. Battlefield is not a favourite of mine but Marsh’s turn as Morgaine is clearly one of the stories highlights and she finds hidden depths to the character beside the bits the script tries to crowbar in unsubtly. Finally she enjoyed another villainous role in Paul Magrs’ The Wishing Beast – not the best written of stories but Marsh commits herself to the role and camps it up fabulously. Not forgetting her glorious turn in Upstairs Downstairs which saw her nominated for several awards. Marsh is a British icon and that’s not an overstatement. We are extremely lucky that she has agreed to continue her association with Doctor Who because she brings a real touch of class to these stories.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Sara Kingdom is now at peace. Let that be an end to it.’
‘It ate into my brain and all the things I am and recoiled from my touch.’
‘I’ll save your daughter if you’ll surrender me your life…’

Great Ideas: Sara knows what wishes the Elders will want her to grant including an end to the war in mid Africa, a cure for the sickness that is coming this way and children dropping to sleep. Sara talks about the story of the old men who got caught up in the workings of a clock which sounds like a pretty awesome story to be told one day to me. Pioneers on the furthest reaches of space with a do or die attitude. The creature in the silvery waters teases with them for a while before lashes out and consuming Keith with one whip of its tendrils, melting him away to nothing. Its wonderful how Robert stops Sara’s story at the appropriate point for a cliffhanger because he wants to come back to the story begging for more. There is a beautiful image of Sara looking back at the complex from outside it and seeing that it looks like a spider clinging onto the edge of a rocky precipice with more than two thirds of it submerged by the mercurial sea.

Audio Landscape: Scratchy writing, a rain lashed voyage across the sea with thunder rumbling ominously in the distance, clock ticking, water rolling in the distance, the bubbling, the tendrils lashing out like a whip, an ear piercing scream, the mumbling deliberations of the Elders, banging on the squeaky door, there’s a lovely effect at the beginning of episode as Robert reintroduces us to Sara’s story and slowly rain starts to fall and it gathers ferocity the nearer we get to the story, smashing the porthole, firing at the tendrils, Sara’s scream when she keeps telling herself she wont is chilling.

Musical Cues: Quiet, poignant and very effective – again the musicians understand that sometimes less is more.

Standout Scene: The creature recoils from Sara when it realise that she is cold enough to shoot her own brother dead. It sees into her heart and mind and it pities her.

Notes: Doctor Who’s legacy never ceases to amaze me. The very idea of telling a twelve-part Dalek story in which two ladies dressed up as the new companion both die and a story that spans all manner of genres from high drama to farce – that alone is a crazy idea. But it works. Then to skip forward over 40 years and have a trilogy of audio dramas based around one of those characters played by the original cast member – well that is just absurd! But it really, really works. I’m not only impressed that the producers and writers see such potential in 40 year old characters that can explored but I’m also wowed by the fact that Jean Marsh was happy to come back and play the part. It’s completely insane and totally brilliant.

Result: Lisa Bowerman has emerged as one of the standout directors in Big Finish’s repertoire and whilst I thoroughly enjoy her louder, brasher stories she seems to have found a disquieting niche in the under-the-skin atmosphere of the calmer stories. The opening fifteen minutes of The Drowned World reminded me of Home Truths and her other masterpiece, A Thousand Tiny Wings, in that it is almost terrifyingly quiet in how it is played. This just helps to serve the story when the excitement builds and the sudden moments of horror really take effect. I love a director who is not afraid to let the quality of the script step forward and holds back on all manner of audio trickery until the story needs it. Simon Guerrier has really tapped into something special in the continuing adventures of Sara Kingdom and he gives Jean Marsh some strong, emotive material to play and (naturally) she acquits herself tremendously. You’ve got two equally strong plotlines intertwining; Sara facing the danger of the silver sea and her developing relationship with Robert. The Companion Chronicles occasionally tap into something that is far greater than its source material and The Drowned World is one such example – a stirring drama in its own right and a second piece of this trilogy that leaves you hungry for the third: 9/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/401-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-The-Drowned-World

A Storm of Angels written by Marc Platt and directed by John Ainsworth

What’s it about: 1480: Leonardo da Vinci visits the stars. 1508: Vasco da Gama sets foot on Mars. 1585: Francis Drake begins charting the Asteroid Belt. 1588: Earth is destroyed by a storm of angels. The Doctor was really enjoying his freedom. But now there’s a Temporal Agent on his tail. Gloriana and the President of Gallifrey are not amused. And Susan’s none too well either. Possibilities, like the Doctor, have a habit of running away with themselves. But who cares, when the jewels are so dazzling…

Alternative Hmm: How fantastic to finally see some of the potential of the Bayldon Doctor realised and he is every bit as impressive as I hoped. I love the fact that like Hartnell he is portrayed as intelligent and eager explorer but with a dangerous past and one that he is willing to go to any lengths to avoid. At last free in the universe and on the run from his people, the Doctor is being pursued by Agent Zeuro through all time and space. They consider his travels repeated interference in the established patterns of history. A glimpse at possible adventures for the Doctor see him genuinely helping out Hannibal, enjoying some time with Elvis and gaining the respect of the Daleks. He considers the Elizabethan Age the cultural flowering of England and does all but clap his hands in excitement at landing in a period he has never been to before. The Doctor always has a snooze after a good meal. So many things spring to mind when he is offered anything he ever wanted. He is interested in everything. When the Doctor recognises the coffin in space as emitting a Time Lord signature he orders Drake to destroy it – his fear of being reigned in by his own people will lead him to murder. It takes one pirate to know another and the Doctor has been bleeding the Hind of energy to power his TARDIS. The Doctor thinks he knows how to handle the paparazzi but they insult him by calling him Methuselah and almost lynch him! When he sees Walter Raleigh in the crowd he shouts out ‘I enjoyed your book!’ As a suitor the Doctor is like marrying a crab apple! He cannot stand back and do nothing when other people are making brave life or death decisions.

Alternative Susan: Is undergoing medication for some unknown ailment. Because Susan wasn’t the first out of the tomb the Aztecs mistook the Doctor for their reincarnated High Priest. She doesn’t like being thought of as a trophy to be taking home to Gloriana. Susan believes that they don’t meddle in established history but merely help people in trouble. It is a sweet but naïve viewpoint. In a lovely touch of Dalek Invasion of Earth Drake offers to take care of Susan down on Earth, to buy here a little cottage in Devon to recuperate from her ails. She objects of course thinking of her Grandfather but Drake insists he was never part of the equation. The real Susan has spent her entire Presidential term covering her Grandfathers tracks through time. The Susan the Doctor travels was created in the possibility chamber with all the memories he had of her. The Doctor once told Susan that they choose their future themselves and she thinks perhaps she should have listened. She never wanted to be a President and wishes she had left with her Grandfather when she had the chance.

Standout Performance: Carole Ann Ford gets to be wonderfully bossy as President Susan and her chemistry with Geoffrey Bayldon once again makes me wish for more adventures with them.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘The Angels guide our course across the sky.’
‘His eyes…they’re hard like cut jewels.’
‘Your travelling days are over.’
‘Envy rolls around this court feeding on the vanity of the young. And the jaundice tongue of the ancient.’
‘You explained advanced technology to Leonardo! Rescued the Prince in the Tower! Warned the Aztecs that Cortez was coming! You even made Beethoven a hearing aid!’
‘She’s as mad as Quince Jelly!’
‘When you’re ankle deep in tears and blood you can’t let people suffer because its history.’

Great Ideas: The TARDIS has disguised itself as a barrel and the Doctor chuckles that it has always been a bit of an old tub. As an example of the Doctor’s meddling in time and space you couldn’t find a much more dazzling shift in history than mankind’s finest scientific minds like Leonardo da Vinci and Francis Drake reaching the stars before their time and attempting to conquer the heavens. A steam powered spaceship cruising the solar system is such a romantic notion it warms my heart. Rather than acknowledge his own corruption of the timelines the Doctor thinks they have slid into a parallel reality. They are navigating the stars via astrology in a mirror of polished obsidian. The Angels guide the universe as it turns. The Doctor is giddily smug to discover that Zeuro’s TARDIS is as crippled as his. It was President Susan who issued the Doctor’s order for arrest and sent Zeuro after him. Before the Doctor’s interference Earth’s Empire lasted thousands of years but now it is on course for imminent destruction. Fettiplace climbing over the hull of the Steamship with bloody jewels bursting from his face is a memorably grotesque image. The storm of Angels of the title scoop up the ship and cradle them in a tidal wave – it’s a beautiful moment. The ‘Gloriana’ cliffhanger is chillingly played by Ian Hallard. Not realising that they are dangerous alien intelligences the crew of the Hind attempt to line their pockets with some of the jewels before unloading the cargo but they move to attack. After introducing him to the concept of space travel Leonardo’s mind soaked up all the ideas and within a hundred made the dream a reality. The Queen descends on her crowd in a glass case from above. Francis Drake is a showman at heart and he delights in revealing the 300 cases of jewels he has brought back to deck Her Majesty on splendour. Each jewel contains a single thought like scattered brain cells. Mountains spinning in space, a colony on the move – an asteroid belt drawn to the Earth by the show stone.

Audio Landscape: I remember this story was delayed because of some last minute tweaks required to make this story as good as possible and it really shows. A Storm of Angels is still one of the most evocative audio experiences and ERS perform their most sublime job at creating enchanting locations through some gorgeously realised sound effects. The glorious build up of the TARDIS taking off, elephants trumpeting, helicopter taking off, the Doctor tearing a rift in time and space and forcing Zeuro’s TARDIS to be shredded in the vortex, a heaving deck of a sailing ship, a creaking rope hauling aboard the TARDIS, the TARDIS door openings with a squeak of wood, the Doctor cleaning a squeaky porthole, sonar, the tinkling, whispering jewels, clanking on the hull, birdsong, the jewels bubbling to attack, a squeaky pulley system winching the Queen down from the ceiling, a steam alarm (awesome!), scratchy gramophone, the scraping sound of the jewelled feet of Moses dancing, the batting of Angels wings, raining jewels, the Time Ring activating, the people made of jewels snapping in two, Gloriana shatters a jewelled man with her pistol, gorgeous steam powered technology.

Musical Cues: A beautiful score that stresses how unusually exotic this story is. The uplifting, triumphant music as the Hind returns to Earth is gorgeous. I love the colourful Sitar work when they land at the space station.

Standout Scene: The end of episode three is an excellent surprise and makes full use of the quality final scene of Auld Mortality. The beautiful notion of the Doctor’s fake Susan heading back to Gallifrey and the real President Susan taking her place pretending to be ‘his’ Susan is the perfect fairytale touch to end these two stories on. He isn’t fooled for a moment and is so proud that Susan in whatever guise managed to make her own decision and break free of Gallifrey.

Notes: Aside from a few misfires (for me The Skull of Sobek and Thin Ice), Marc Platt remains one of the most consistently excellent writers of Big Finish Productions and some examples of his work (Loups-Garoux, Spare Parts, Frostfire, Mother Russia and his two Unbound scripts) are about as good as Doctor Who comes on audio.

Result: Marc Platt has always enjoyed injecting a touch of poetry into Doctor Who but in A Storm of Angels he ups his game and conjures a story full of enchanting romantic imagery and ideas. A Steamship in space, cut treasures containing an alien intelligence, a tidal wave of flying Angels, an Elizabethan space station in orbit of the Earth, a man with a skin of jewels – yes its easy to fall under the spell of this dreamy brew of graceful creativity. Whilst the plot itself is quite thin there are simply a wealth of goodies to unearth; Geoffrey Bayldon’s masterful performance as the Doctor, Ian Hallard’s morally indignant Zeuro, gorgeous dialogue, stellar direction, an affecting musical score, dazzling imagery and set pieces and a hungry desire of what could have been. Every few minutes there is a moment that will take your breath away. It’s the rarest of things but A Storm of Angels is less of a story and more of an experience and it is best to switch off your critical faculties (because you wont find anything to feed on) and simply luxuriate into the beguiling atmosphere of the piece. Another favourite of mine: 10/10

Exile written and direct by Nicholas Briggs

What’s it about: All the Doctor has to do to avoid being caught by the Time Lords is work in a supermarket and go to the pub. It's a cunning plan - certainly far less dangerous than fighting the dreaded Quarks and all those other alien fiends. But just when everything seemed mundane and safe, alien transmissions, exploding poison gas, Princess Anne and wobbly trolleys burst onto the scene to ruin everything. It's a crisis! A fiendish alien plot! And the Doctor must use all the resources at her disposal to defeat it. She'll probably need to have a large vodka first, though.

Female Doctor: What a shame to have the extraordinary idea of exploring the Doctor as a woman wasted on such a dreadful, dreadful script. The Doctor used to find things fascinating but now she prefers getting pissed, burping loads and throwing up. I think I’d rather hang about the idiot Valeyard from He Jests at Scars. Scenes of her confronting who she thinks is the Master and burping a lot is as painful as it sounds. Why change the habit of this lifetime…she usually winds up hugging the loo in the evenings. Hearing her exclaiming ‘shit!’ whilst spitting out the last remaining vomit and finishing off with a vomit burp might just be the lowest ebb Big Finish have sunk to. Her intelligent reasoning is that if she behaves like a pissed idiot the Time Lords will never be able to find her.

Standout Performance: There are some awful attempts to hide the fact that the small cast are playing other parts by disguising them behind offensive accents.

Sparkling Dialogue: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Move along.

Great Ideas: Apparently you only change sex as a Time Lord when you commit suicide.

Audio Landscape: For a story with this much toilet humour naturally there are plenty of burps, vomit forcing it way up peoples throats and of course toilets flushing!

Isn’t it Odd:
· Opening on a terrible gag is not a good sign. Sainsbury’s shortbread biscuits are most definitely not good for dunking.
· I know that humour is blokey sitcoms is supposed to be forced and obvious but did it have to be quite this forced and obvious. Being scheduled next to Deadline does this story know favours at all because Rob Shearman’s opus was intelligently written comedy whereas this is about as in the gutter as you can get and suffers because of the comparison.
· The Doctor is a woman who works at Sainsburys and has friends called Cherrie and Cheese and they get drunk every night and do an awful lot of burping. I wouldn’t want to know the sort of people that find this sort of thing funny.
· ‘After five pints of lager Cheese starts thinking his beer tastes like cheese. That’s why we call him Cheese’ – and that’s the level of sophistication the characterisation reaches.
· The previous Doctor returns to haunt his current self and accuses her of murdering him by jumping off a telescope. ‘But the moment had been prepared for!’ she exclaims. Fuck me this is bad. Don’t get me started on the chat about Quarks not being able to go up stairs.
· The swearing, badly clothed Time Lords buying dog food from the supermarket add insult to injury – its material that even David Tennant can’t rise above (‘both of us are wearing the stupid trousers!). The scenes where they pretend to be ‘oooh-argh!’ country bumpkins defy belief.
· There is a fascinating discussion of how poo-ey gases are released into Sainsburys car parks otherwise everybody would be showered in shit. I was on the verge of giving up at this point.
· Where would we be without blokes in rubber masks with silly comic voices? Unbelievably the aliens are in league with the Quarks and are trying to explode the anal gases to kill Queen Anne in Sainsburys car park! I know I keep mentioning Sainsburys but that banality of the supermarket setting seems to embody everything that is wrong with this story.
· ‘Feels like a bear’s done a big poo in my mouth!’ and ‘But worse of all you had a sex change regeneration!’

Standout Scene: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Move along.

Notes: Even with stories like He Jests at Scars and The Dark Husband that execute their naff ideas abominably you can understand what the writers were going for even if it was appallingly misconceived. With Exile I have absolutely no idea what Nicholas Briggs was getting at when he wrote this story. I don’t get the point of it whatsoever.

Result: Arabella Weir is a fine comic and good actress but you would never be able to tell with a story this lousy to front. The script never goes for anything but the sleaziest of jokes and I find it hard to believe that there is anybody out there who would consider listening to the Doctor vomiting, getting pissed and passing wind a worthwhile experience. Its not even so bad its good…its just offensive. Sainsburys car parks, pornography, sick, swearing, poo jokes, vomit burps…Exile has got it all. The thing is we have now had an episode written by the creator of the blokeiest sitcom around (Amy’s Choice) and it was miles better than this load of old cobblers. I was convinced we had seen Big Finish’s nadir in He Jests at Scars but you have to had it to the Unbound series – two such irredeemable disasters so close together probably saw this series cancelled on the spot. One of the very few Big Finish stories I actually found it a struggle to write anything about: 0/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/6-Doctor-Who-Unbound-Exile

Heroes of Sontar written by Alan Barnes and directed by Ken Bentley

What’s it about: Planet Samur was once a peaceful haven. Pilgrims journeyed across the seven galaxies to meditate in the courtyards of the vast Citadel that spanned its equator. It was Samur’s misfortune, however, to find itself situated on the furthermost frontier in the eternal war between the amoeboid Rutan Host and the belligerent, troll-like Sontarans… Twenty years after detonating a bacteriological weapon over Samur, rendering it uninhabitable, the Sontarans are back: a select platoon of seven has landed here on a secret mission, carrying sealed orders given to them by Fleet Marshal Stabb. The TARDIS has landed here, too, bringing the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa into the second great Battle of Samur. Fighting not only the Sontarans but mystical mercenaries… and a deadly, decades old curse…

An English Gentleman: He always had a bit of the Boy Scout about him. One of the results of the Sontarans being quite as useless as they are means that the Doctor and Tegan have some fun running rings around them. Why couldn’t they have been this much fun to be around on TV? There is actual…dare I say it…chemistry! Usually the Doctor just does as he is told by his ladies because its less painful all round. When a Sontaran calls you heroic you are clearly doing the wrong thing. He proves to be quite the fighter as he avoids blows from Stabb and indulges in verbal wordplay at the same time. Observation, experience, a little intuition sums him up perfectly.

Alien Orphan: She’s not the helpless young girl that Tegan thinks she is, not anymore. She begs the Doctor not to leave her because she doesn’t want to die on her own. Nyssa admits to Tegan that she is married to Lisarti and has a boy called Adric and a girl called Tegan. I really like how firm she is these days; she really has grown up and refused to be pushed around. She thought her death would be painful. Nyssa and the Doctor carry on each other’s sentences like an old married couple.

Mouth on Legs: Having not yet reviewed her return in the Cobwebs-Cradle of the Snake trilogy this is the first time I am properly exposed to Janet Fielding’s return to Doctor Who. Please please please please please say that they have calmed her down a little bit! Big Finish is not averse to playing about with television characters giving Peri a homecoming story and Nyssa something to do (neither of which were considered by the TV series) so lets see if they can take this miserable, aggressive, misanthropic character and turn her into something likable…

Bloody hell they’ve done it! I mean I wont be recommending her for companion of the year but with a little humour and lot of loosening of the character Tegan is by far the most entertaining regular in this story! She’s not going tramping about outside without a pair of sling backs! After her experiences with the Mara Tegan doesn’t need a respite or to hug a tree and sing kumbya! All she wants is to go somewhere that isn’t dull. I was laughing my head off when she started mouthing off at the rubbish Sontarans! ‘All you’ve done is swagger about with that stick like Napoleon, colour me unimpressed!’ Tegan Jovanka declares war on the entire Sontaran army by calling one of their number ‘shorty!’ Because she is such a gobby bitch the Sontarans find a use for Tegan as a human shield! ‘Turlough!’ screams Tegan and he replies succinctly with ‘her I’m afraid of…!’ On reflection almost causing their certain deaths might not have been Tegan’s best plan. She speaks like a warrior. As her Auntie Vanessa always said…’bog off!’

Over the Shoulder: Nyssa thought that Turlough should have a penknife being a boy…but she should have known better! I’m not sure about Barnes highlighting Turlough’s cowardice quite so brazenly – stories like Loup-Garoux and Phantasmagoria did a much better job of bringing this to the surface without making him look like this is his only character feature. ‘I’m only thinking of your safety!’ he screams as he runs away from Nyssa being captured by Sontarans and she notes he has the speed of a gazelle when he sense a threat to his own neck. He is described as a ‘humanoidling!’ Where his cowardice does work is in the scenes between Turlough and the trooper, they are a genuinely poignant pair as the Sontaran opens up to having unnatural feelings of fear and Turlough empathises. Very sweetly he refuses to let Vend sacrifice himself and in his one moment of depth he orders the trooper out of the ship.

Standout Performance: Janet Fielding by a million miles – this is the quirky character that turns up on the DVD commentaries let loose in a Doctor Who story! For the first time ever I get a sense that she is actually enjoying herself and she gives a glowing performance. Derek Carlyle as Trooper Vend was the only actor who really appealed to me out of the Sontarans, he was remarkably sweet throughout.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘It has all gone quiet’ – first time I laughed.
‘Me and my big mouth!’ – Tegan is making me giggle…what’s going on?
‘Tegan Jovanka! You have vexed me for the last time!’
‘I shall have to Sontaran up!’

Great Ideas: The planet Samur marks the furthest incursion of Sontarans into Rutan space. The citadel of Samur stretched the length of the planet, it has its own eco system as a symbiosis of the building itself and those who dwell within. People came from all over the galaxy to Samur in search of peace and solace. The moss is eating the floor and working at consuming the entire planet (‘Attack of the purple astro-turf!’). I rather enjoyed the scene between Turlough and the Sontaran where he cannot help him until he is his prisoner – they clearly have a very strict moral code. There were only seven Witchguard but they managed to deflect the Sontaran weapons and destroy six Divisions of soldiers. Years later they unleashed a weapon that housed their enemy – Samur. Standard field equipment is a choronic acid pill in case you are so damaged you need to commit suicide. This platoon of Sontarans are obviously poor stock but they were saved by Stabb to be sacrificed on Samur. They are still a bit sore about the Gallifrey business. The Witchguard corrupted the gene banks and made the Sontarans marginally more clumsy – that is why their empire is taking a right old pounding.

Audio Landscape: We open with a Sontaran march of glory, a howling wind, ripping moss from trees, a crack in the floor that swallows the Doctor, the Sontaran craft losing its batteries, a ship crash landing on the planet, flickering flames, blowing a hole in the wall, Sontaran communicator (love that sound), blades sheathing, shifting rubble, laughing in the darkness, chanting, humming pod, the Doctor being shot at by a Rutan scout ship, the Witchguard tearing itself apart, rain splattering,

Musical Cues: Absolutely the best thing about this story is Jamie Robertson providing another whopper of a score! Go listen to the scene where Nyssa first mentions Sontarans and we get a beautifully cinematic militaristic theme. I guess if you are going for all out farce you should extend that to the music but the comedy trumpeting whilst good music only added to how ridiculous these Sontarans were. The Doctor’s execution has an impressive bell tolling at the end of episode one. The synchronised action scenes of the Doctor blasting into the stratosphere and Tegan blowing ship out of the Sontaran ship out of the ground are build up to a delicious bombastic crescendo by Robertson’s music.

Isn’t it Odd: I have to say that isn’t one of my favourite covers…the Sontaran looks like his head has literally been gouged out of a spud and that he desperately needs a crap and the older Nyssa definitely looks as though a new picture has been squeezed in with an assembly of hastily pasted together publicity shots. The first scene doesn’t inspire much confidence with throaty voiced, comedy Sontarans larking about and singing ‘Sontar! Sontar! We die for Sontar!’ I hate to be prejudiced against a new angle for old villains (because that is something I would usually admire) but this opening would probably turn off anybody who was giving Big Finish another go after being away for a while. The scenes of the mute Sontaran making comic mouthings at the proximity sensor is painfully unfunny. These Sontarans are so rubbish they can’t even work their way out their own ship without getting into a hissy fit! Lets just be glad it wasn’t this rotten lot who stumbled out of the ship in The Time Warrior – we never would have seen the Sontarans again! More humour that fails dismally occurs when Nyssa asks Turlough for support and he tries to go Clare Rayner on her. This story is trying too hard to be funny – Alan Barnes’ Death in Blackpool managed it effortlessly – I haven’t seen this humour this forced in the main range since Bang-Bang-a-Boom and we all know how well that turned out! Groan…the sequence of deciding how in which order to execute the Doctor was…you get the idea. On a plot level this story feels extremely padded in places too. When we learn that the troopers are going to Samur and the moss is eating the planet quite early in the story the plot dances about for two episodes of comic shenanigans before actually pushing the narrative forward. I’m glad that the trooper translates what the Witchguard myth was because I could hardly understand a word they said! I’m not sure if the continual cuts to Turlough and company screaming is hilarious or wince making so I will err on the side of caution – I laughed and I cringed. The Witchguard turn out to be nothing special and provoke no great danger. Aren’t the Sontarans supposed to be clones? The five that we meet here all have very distinct personalities and voices – wouldn’t it have been a lot better to have had one actor play the role in slightly different ways to accentuate the most distinctive aural detail about the creatures?

Standout Scene: Oh my God somebody slap about the face with the longest, suckiest octopus tentacle you can find but…how much fun was Tegan in that story? Whilst I don’t know if I liked it within a Doctor Who setting I was howling with laughter as she insulted the Sontaran warriors and they were trying figure out if she has and I have pitched a new sitcom for the BBC, Tegan and Thurr, Sontar-hahaha!

Notes: Does this mean that every inept Sontaran we have met in Doctor Who (that fella who trips over the deck lounge in The Invasion of Time and hands-on-hips Stike from The Two Doctors) are all from the same corrupt stock as Field Major Stabb? Nyssa makes Tegan promise to take the Doctor back to Terminus with the data recorder – there is still much to be resolved for her character.

Result: The worst first episode for a release in many years…Heroes of Sontar had to get better as it went along and thankfully it does. The biggest problem is that the humour fails more than it hits the spot and there is nothing more painful than something that is trying too hard to be funny and failing. It’s in its moments of pathos that the story scores its biggest triumphs; the trooper who cannot admit he is afraid, questioning his people’s warlike attitude and refusing to commit suicide because of who he is are all great moments that actually mean something. Tegan and Turlough are a fantastic pair and work far better on audio than they ever did on TV and the story at least skips along a fair old pace. But the narrative itself is pretty mediocre, the ideas tired and beyond the few moments that I smirked and overall it felt more like filler material than the impressive reintroduction of one the Doctor’s greatest enemies. An energetic failiure: 5/10