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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The War Master: The Master of Callous: Call For the Dead written by James Goss and directed by Scott Handcock

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

War Master: Derek Jacobi kicks off the story by narrating as the Master and I truly think a petition should be in place that every Big Finish story should start in this way because his voice just oozes quality from the first syllable. You know you’re going to be in for a good time with Jacobi featuring. It’s a voice that oozes charm and menace, like a dark honey. You know when the Master turns up in a Doctor Who story having already set an entire plan in motion and it reaches its apotheosis when the Doctor appears? This is just like that; we’re seeing one of the Masters immense schemes at work and this is all the leg work that he does long before the Doctor shows up. However, the thing that worries me with this set is that the Doctor isn’t billed and so perhaps this is going to be one of those instances where the Master corrupts and gets away with it. Let’s find out…

Standout Performance: Good grief, I haven’t heard Barnaby Edwards put on a cod French accent since the very early days of Big Finish in The Marian Conspiracy.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Even in fairy stories the good people don’t always win…’
‘One day you will hear it and you will obey…’

Great Ideas: When they founded a colony on Callous, that did not include the mineral rights because IMC wanted to hold onto them. Naming IMC instantly places this story fairly contemporary with Colony in Space so we know quite a bit about the tie period already. Now the mineral rights are granted on Callous to the colonists, in perpetuity. What the people know is mining here drives people crazy, as the bonkers Ood can attest that roam the wilderness. Even IMC abandoned hope of exploiting the rich seam here. Apparently, there is something ancient and evil in the mine, the stuff of legend. The colonists are sitting on a wealth of Swenya and it would be a crime not to capitalise on it…although doing so might just drive you insane. Callous is a business prospect is something of a contradiction, people are scratching as living on the surface when underneath their feet is a fortune in minerals that they cannot mine. When the colony was founded it was supposed to be a haven for artists but nobody knew that the Earth Gov would collapse. ‘Off you go robot! Bring me some luck! Make me rich!’ When has a character that so badly wants to exploit and undermine ever have a happy ending? What is it about the Ood that makes them so expendable? They manage to be both creepy and sympathetic at the same time, which is a hard balance to get right.

Standout Scene: Kudos to James Goss for the stirring concept of the ringing telephone that isn’t connected to anything that the Ood attempt to deliver to the colonists. Every time the phone rings I my blood ran cold, like a portent of doom. ‘The call is for you…’ Imagine getting a call from the War Master telling you to commit suicide? He’s such a smooth talking, hypnotic fella you would have no choice but to obey. Remember when the Beast took the staff of the Sanctuary Base to task and spelt out all of their foibles? This is precisely what the Master does on these calls but far more insidiously. He bores down into your character, exposes your darkest secrets, spells out your ugliest traits. There’s something about phone calls on audio…they freaked me out in John Dorney’s Absent Friends and in Jonathan Morris’ Static too.

Result: There was a strong feeling of both the New Adventures and Power of the Daleks from this first adventure. Let me explain that. The New Adventures spent a great deal of their time building an impressive and vivid future history and would often feature the Doctor in stories waiting in the wings and pulling strings but not having much exposure. Swap him out for The War Master that is exactly what you have here. Power on the other hand featured a colony world with a new, apparently exploitable commodity, which if they stepped back and examined they would realise it would lead them to their doom. In both cases it is a strength in Call for the Dead, a story that bravely chooses to eschew most recognisable continuity elements (a very rare occasion for Big Finish these days) and paint its own picture of the future with some fresh, original characters. I was more impressed with this than anything, just how novel it feels to have an almost entirely original story that still feels like it takes place in the RTD era of Doctor alongside the Pertwee future history developed by Malcolm Hulke. The story is in no great rush and so we get a chance to see this world sketched in some detail and introduced to the characters in a way that feels natural and unforced, getting a clear idea of their motives. Imagine getting that call from the Master that spells out all of your ugly traits and imagine if it was the Master that was played by Derek Jacobi? You’d be reaching for the gun before you know it. That was the most sinister idea in this slow burner, but it was one that really got under my skin. If you’re going into this expecting it to be a big campy space opera with the Master chuckling a lot, hypnotising people and juggling the fates of worlds then you are going to be disappointed. But if strong, character led drama in a vivid SF setting with disquieting moments is your thing then you will be in for a treat. This is exactly the sort of thing that Big Finish would be producing more frequently if they weren’t such a factory line these days, mature storytelling that has been crafted rather than forced. Not exactly enjoyable (we’re talking suicide after all) but riveting: 8/10

Gallifrey Time War 2: Assassins written by Matt Fitton and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: Pushed to the brink by Rassilon’s actions, Romana is thinking the unthinkable. A new threat has breached Gallifrey’s defences. And its target is clear. A race of assassins has evolved at the heart of the Time War, dedicated to one purpose. The Sicari are coming for Rassilon…

Madam President: Romana has served Gallifrey for a long time and defended her academy from all manner of attacks and she wants it on record (even to Rassilon) that she is actively seeking other methods of fighting the War. If not by diplomatic means, then any other methods at their disposal. Surely it makes sense to keep all their options open rather than naturally moving onto a war footing. It’s worth remembering that Romana has been at this sort of thing for a long time now and has picked up more than a few things along the way. How she displays tactics for counter espionage here impressed me. She has learnt to think like the enemy and to give them enough to make it feel like she is mistakes when really she is seeding that information and a few steps ahead. Romana accepts that this is not the Gallifrey that she fought for and that she no longer has a home and needs to travel back out into the universe. She’s running from a Presidential assassination attempt and will in all likelihood never be welcome home again.

Narvin: Romana always wondered how far Narvin would follow her and it seems that killing the President is the bridge that he refuses to cross. Rassilon knows that Narvin is loyal to Romana and so they go on a mission to try and win him over with extravagant promises (his regenerative powers restored) and important positions. I was never convinced that he could be turned, not after everything that he has been through with Romana. Would that all be for nought?

Rassilon: I love the fact that Rassilon is so convinced by his own superiority that even when he is under attack he won’t run to safety or cower. What a fabulously arrogant despot. He has an entire arsenal of weapons to protect his person, some of which we have heard about during the long run of classic Who. Rather wonderfully he laughs his head off at the assassination attempt and declares those who stood up to him and attempted to kill him are exactly the sort of people he needs by his side in the Time War. Facing a regeneration, he welcomes the change as another step towards Godhood. What a guy. With Ollistra and all the other game players off world he feels that Gallifrey has been left dry of talent.

Standout Performance: I’m sure that the creators of this set would want Terrance Hardiman’s name to be emblazoned in this section of the review and in truth he is quite superb in the role of Rassilon. I prefer the scenes where he gets to underplay and try and corrupt Narvin because Hardiman’s purring voice really sells this nightmarishly nasty version of a Time Lord of mythology. However, I want to sing Sean Carlsen’s praises again for what is turning out to be a consistently excellent performance as Narvin. He’s a character who has never had it easy and this set is no different and I loved the suggestion that he might turn on Romana in this story because of the terrifying actions she wants to take. Carlsen makes you wonder which way Narvin is going to jump and that’s exciting with a character that I’m invested in. It goes without saying that Lalla Ward is fantastic. But I’m going to say it anyway.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I imagine spending your entire life sitting on the fence must be extremely uncomfortable.’
‘It seems I’ve found the bridge you wont cross.’
‘You’re going to make Rassilon’s first true regeneration a public spectacle?’
‘You’re terrified of him Livia…precisely how Rassilon likes it.’

Great Ideas: There is no neutral ground in the Time war anymore, stand with Gallifrey or face the consequences. That is what the events on Ysalus have proven. The Matrix has shown thousands of races fleeing from potential battle zones. Training camps are being set up across the cosmos (I believe we visited one in an appalling Matt Fitton penned eighth Doctor story once). Cardinal Ollistra has been given special dispensation to move ahead with projects. How nice to see all of the ranges merging into one here, with Fitton contributing to all three it feels perfectly natural that he should tip the wink to both the War Doctor and the eighth Doctor War stories. For once it feels like they are all inhabiting the same universe. And it’s fascinating to see so much material we have already enjoyed being set up in this series. This is where it all began after all. Livia has been behind the President throughout this entire series but Roman can see the cracks in her armour now as the chess pieces have been moved to extreme positions. How long before the Daleks can use flotsam from the vortex to breach Gallifrey’s defences? There is talk of trying to find their previous allies but Braxiatel more than covered his tracks before skipping Gallifrey (leaving multiple false trials that lead precisely nowhere), Ace’s history cannot be tracked from her biodata and her time trace is blurred and contradictory (much like her appearance in so many ranges, goodness knows where she is supposed to belong anymore), and all evidence points to Leela being deep within the Time War. The Celestial Intervention Agency is to be disbanded. The War Council has delved into as many of the Sisterhood of Karn’s secrets as they possibly can and have a broad understanding of resurrection now. We learn that Ace is safe on Earth and time locked but how much Braxiatel left of her memory intact is anyone’s guess. Leela has appeared at several temporal co-ordinates. The Sicari Collective are borne of a universe that live in fear of the Time Lords. They were always going to come for Rassilon.

Audio Landscape: The realisation of the Sicari was a little underwhelming. I could barely understand what they were saying.

Standout Scene: The moment Romana contemplates the unthinkable…the assassination of Rassilon. Have things really gotten this bad? I was literally gritting my teeth with tension as he realises that she is going to betray him and calls her out on it. When the hell did Gallifrey become the temporal equivalent of Game of Thrones?

Result: ‘This isn’t Gallifrey, not anymore…’ Exciting and climactic, although I’m not sure the set has justified such an approach. This feels like the end of a terrific arc with exciting things being promised for the future and lots of fun details coming together. However, this set has been the epitome of a slow burner with two stories that were all set up and no pay off and two stories that kick start the idea of Gallifrey gone rogue in a riveting way. My point is you probably could have excised the first two stories or at least truncated them into one tale and gotten to this point even sooner because it frustrates me that as soon as this set starts getting really good…its over. However, kudos for avoiding the one duffer syndrome; there is usually one story in a set of four that compares terribly to the rest and the biggest complaint I can make is that the first two instalments are only above average. Can it be treason to have the Lord President executed if it is no longer the Gallifrey they swore to protect? Is Rassilon the only one that the Time War has corrupted? Interesting questions are raised around this grey morality. The story doesn’t scrimp on discussing these points in depth, looking at how Gallifrey has evolved and how the series regulars have too. It’s a refreshing study and features some of the best Matt Fitton dialogue I’ve heard in a while. More fantastic scenes for Sean Carlsen. More fantastic scenes for Lalla Ward. A star turn by Terrance Hardiman who is so cool as Rassilon that he wont even raise an eyebrow when his life is in danger because he is so assured of his dominance. I found myself discussing this series with a friend who has never heard it but has dipped his toes into the War Doctor stories with mixed results. The Briggs and Barnes approach to the Time War is all high concept and no heart, and relatively few consequences. Handcock’s Time War is less showy but with a narrative that builds and develops into something impressive, with tight character moments and smart dialogue. I know which approach I prefer. I’m looking forward to hearing more and after a bit of a wobble in the middle series of Gallifrey, I’m right back in the zone with a series that has caught a second wind: 8/10

Gallifrey Time War 2: Collateral written by Lisa McMullin and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: As the scavenging Sythes descend on Ysalus, Narvin discovers how far his people will go to protect their interests. The universe is discovering that no place is safe from the fury of battle. Every victory in the Time War comes at a price, and too often it is the innocent who will pay…

Madame President: ‘You must see that this act is utterly reprehensible!’ We’ve heard Romana at the edge of sanity before with the ridiculous actions that her people have committed but this is the first time that she has been truly trapped beyond the ability to act, railing as outrageous, genocidal acts are being rained down on worlds. She’s completely impotent and if she shows signs of resistance then good ness knows what fate would befall her. She has to stand back and watch a world that she has a grudging respect for transforms into something morally ugly, fascistic and unrecognisable. That’s a great dramatic standpoint for the character. The Doctor and Romana once had dinner with Albert Einstein…let’s let that sink in for a moment. Romana tries to save some people on Ysalus, when it becomes clear that she cannot save the planet. Is that something else that she picked up from the Doctor when they made excursions into history?

Rassilon: Terrance Hardiman made an instant impression in the first story of this set but has been pretty quiet in the first half, his influence spreading and his presence felt but not experienced. He considers a world where its people have no desire for peace is one that needs putting out of its misery. The fact that that world is of strategic importance to the Daleks barely gets a mention. Perhaps he enjoys playing God just because he can. How far is Rassilon willing to go to stop the Daleks? It’s a pertinent question and I’m pleased that Romana says it out loud.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘It is not a decision that should have been taken at all!’ Am I the only person who comes over all wibbly when Lalla Ward gets bossy?
‘Start at the beginning…’ ‘Said a Lord of Time? How disappointing.’
‘God doesn’t play dice with the universe.’
‘If we are to save anyone, we cannot save everyone!’
‘This is Co-ordinator Romanadvoratrelundar’ ‘Easy for you to say…’
‘Save the flirting until after Armageddon!’ Always good advice.
‘To destroy it at the point of genesis? That is something new and terrible!’
‘The planet will cease to exist 47, 000, 000 years ago.’
‘Where are you going?’ ‘To tell a 100,000 frightened children that they are about to have never been born.’

Great Ideas: The time breach on Ysalus has been breached. A race is planning an invasion of that world to harvest the mineral stream, enough to fuel an invasion of half the temporal vectors. The Daleks need this fuel to oil their war machines. The plan is to use a chronium blast to fire a hole through the core of Ysalus, reducing the planets gravitational field. Will this course of action reduce the number of enemies that Gallifrey faces…or make them more? It’s the ultimate gesture of power; a hostile world combusting and an invading species sent screaming in space. The Time Lords have the power to remove planets from actuality, to delete them from existence. Now forgive me but if there were such things as the Guardians in the universe I think they should be putting an end to that sort of thing. Nobody should have that kind of power. Rassilon wants to remove Ysalus from time and space at the very moment of its origin.

Isn’t it Odd: It’s bizarre because we don’t set foot on Ysalus in the first half of Collateral and yet the situation feels more urgent and emotional than when actually visited in the previous story. I think that’s because of Romana’s increased presence (Lalla Ward can make anything sound suitably apocalyptic) but also because we are up close and personal to the Gallifreyan officials who are making these decisions and can see just how badly the tide is turning morally as they do.

Standout Scene: It’s interesting to learn that the only reason the Daleks are looking for mineral seams on other worlds to fuel their time travel is because the Time Lords torched their oil fields? I swear if you look back far enough and you can see that the Time Lords are the instigators of every devastating act in the universe. It makes that scene in The Ultimate Foe all the more powerful. Ten million years of absolute power, that’s what it takes to be really corrupt. It’s fascinating when Eris points out the primary mission of the Time Lords is the preservation of history, past and future. Those days are long past mate, aside from some honourable exceptions such as yourself. When it transpires that the Daleks were never a threat here but this entire escapade on Ysalus has just been a grand gesture of strength on the part of Rassilon…well it’s clear that he has complete lost control of his senses.

Result: ‘Rassilon is going to destroy a planet at its genesis! Void all the people who were ever born and whoever will be born for the spectacle of it? This isn’t War! This is genocide by superiority complex!’ Where has Lisa McMullin been hiding? She has an excellent grasp of quotable dialogue and she recognises how to suggest the temporal stakes have been raised without resorting to hysterics, which has tripped up many a Gallifrey writer. ‘Where is the line that we will not cross?’ is the premise of this story, one that pleasingly gives Lalla Ward some smashing chances to rail against the Time Lords and drive home the calamity of the situation. I love the scattershot plotting that Gallifrey excels at which shows Romana reacting against her attempts to evacuate Ysalus before she has a chance to set that plan in motion. Everything feels heightened and fraught but it never descends to the angst or hysterics of the more amateurish Big Finish stories. After two relatively cold and clinical pieces its nice that a writer goes for the jugular and the heart with a story that shows people being truly affected by what is happening. Without that personal connection there is a troubling distance between the epic storytelling and audience. Needless to say the veil is drawn away from Rassilon’s schemes and it has become clear that the greatest threat comes from Gallifrey itself and not the Daleks. The Doctor revealed as such in The End of Time, that things had gone too far and that they had gone to extreme lengths to save themselves. Seeing this happen through Romana’s eyes is quite something and few people blaze as brightly when they are pushing against tyranny than Lalla Ward. I was genuinely very impressed with this instalment and I’m sad that it has taken three hours to get to something as vivid as this. Surely the premise of Romana versus Rassilon is enough to whet the appetite of anybody? I can’t see this ending well for her…: 9/10

Partisans written by Una McCormack and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: When the world of Ysalus becomes a strategic target for the Time Lords and their opponents, Gallifrey takes an interest in the planet’s civil unrest. But the CIA and the War Council each have their own strategy. And, as good intentions only make things worse, the true horror of the Time War will be visited upon the people of Ysalus.

Madame President: There’s a delightful chemistry between Romana and Narvin these days that is borne of years of tension, rivalry and now friendship. He’s gone from the person that she cannot trust at all to the only person she can trust completely. That’s some fair development between two characters regardless of how long they have been working side by side. I like how she can gently mock him for his cynicism and age, whilst still entrusting him to have taken all the paranoid precautions he is famous for. If Romana is the Doctor then Narvin is her ultimate companion, even more so than Leela. She likes to try new blood for field work because some senior officials are getting a bit too long in the tooth for it (yeah, Narvin). She believes that they can win the war without destroying everything in their path and becoming like the people they despise.

Narvin: How wonderful to have Narvin, the seasoned (let’s not say old) CIA agent partnered with a young wanabe with no experience of field work whatsoever. He’s appalled at the idea that Eris might take notes on their mission. It’s a great story for Sean Carlsen, this. I loved the scene where he gets to express his shock at how far the Time Lords would go to win the war (let’s not forget that Narvin himself would have been delivering these sort of bombshells in the first few series of Gallifrey) and then his panic as a fellow Time Lord is shot to death over and over and then how he has to try and reason with a primitive mind and explain the concept of the Time War and Gallifrey to her to save his own life. It’s a script that gives Carlsen a lot to play with and he is more than up to the challenge.

Standout Performance: ‘We’re all working towards the same goal to ensure the right-side wins…’
‘And the deaths of several million people are considered acceptable collateral?’ ‘Yes, given the wider context…’

Great Ideas: Romana is afraid of intervention in the timeline on Ysalus. One day it will be of considerable strategic importance but in the time zone that they are visiting it is of no importance to anyone. Someone is meddling in its history. The planet is in the middle of a major war, the worlds first major global conflict. On one side a bunch of rather nasty ideological puritans and on the other side another nasty bunch of xenophobic imperialists. The collapse of these sides leads to a global government committed to pacifism and the exploration of space. If life ends on Ysalus instead the way is open for the Daleks to take the planet and all its resources. It has an abundant supply of a mineral oil that is rare that the Daleks need for their form of time travel. CIA have been collecting information of the planet for some time now and its time for Narvin and Eris to push the planet (and the War) in their direction and to help history take its rightful course. Have the War Council been raising Brax’s shelves or did he take more with him than Romana suspected? Would the Time Lords end all life on a planet just to aid the war effort? Do I need to even answer that question? The idea is to make the Daleks think that their own interventions on Ysalus have been a success, wait for them to turn up in the future and wipe them out. Typical Time Lord plotting, over complicated and dizzying. A temporal freeze can pause a whole world in a moment of time, caught in a moment before history changes for the worst. The people survive but don’t exist, not until they are unfrozen after the Time Lords have made the alterations they choose.

Isn’t it Odd: The trade off to losing Leela, Brax and Ace from the series means that a series of newbies step into the fray and bolster the numbers and the comparison between the two is not in their favour. It’s not that the performances are terrible or that the new characters aren’t well defined (to be honest it’s a little hard to tell at this point) but just that a cast list that includes Louise Jameson, Miles Richardson and Sophie Aldred (okay maybe not that last one) is packed with talent, colour and shade. This new bunch are just starting out and are nowhere near as rounded or interesting. I figured there would be a twist in the tale somewhere. This story has several and the least impressive is the idea that the fascist organisation that Narvin thinks are trying to destroy the other side are actually the benevolent faction. For a story that is written in such an intelligent way that really is an obvious twist.

Standout Scene: I was quite surprised when the story dared to have a character shoot a Time Lord over and over, running through their lives. It comes to a point where the villain of the story is begging for their final life. It’s the most shocking moment in the story, and it’s treated as a throwaway moment in the grand scheme of the story. It quite turned my stomach. The ending is…ambiguous. It’s either audacious to refuse the listener a coherent conclusion. I can’t help but think that this will be picked up before the end of the set so I will defer judgement until then.

Result: ‘We are fighting for the whole of Time!’ Your opinion of Partisans will depend entirely on whether you prefer the story set on Gallifrey that deal with political machinations or the stories set off world with all kinds of temporal jiggery pokery. If it’s the latter, you’re in luck but if it’s the former you might feel like the promise of the first instalment of this et made false promises. We have never really had a story like this before, where the stakes are so high that our heroes have to head to a world and interfere with its political development to ensure that in the future it won’t be a stepping stone for the Daleks in their aim to bring down Gallifrey. It’s a huge concept but it’s brought down to a comprehensible level thanks to an informative briefing by Romana and some enjoyable interplay between Narvin and Eris, the old hand and the new boy. Add in a presence from the new fascist Gallifrey to oppose their mission and turn the planet to a more sinister purpose and you have a delicious premise for a story. I was unconvinced by the situation presented on Ysalus because in classic Doctor Who style (or should that be in economic audio style) it is reduced to a few speaking characters trying to suggest an epic conflict happening elsewhere out of sight (hearing). However, the suggestion that the planet could be pulled in one of three ways; Romana’s hope for a peaceful future, the Time Lords hope for a strategic post or the Daleks’ mining facility for their time travel exploitations means that there is an underlying tension to the story regardless. Una McCormack has written an intellectual exercise rather than an emotional one. I respected the writing, appreciated the performances but I didn’t really feel anything because this is all realised conceptually. That’s an interesting approach, an experimental one and it does suggest the enormity of what is happening in the wider universe. Ysalus is a world that is talked about in great detail but experienced in scant moments. Sean Carlsen excels: 7/10

Gallifrey Time War 2: Havoc written by David Llewellyn and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: Rassilon has returned – summoned back from the dead, to lead his people through their greatest crisis.  But the Time Lords will reap what they have sown, and the consequences of this resurrection will determine Gallifrey’s fate. And in among the schemes and strategies of war, Romana and Narvin are losing friends and allies, as they become ever more isolated… In the aftermath of Rassilon’s return, Romana finds herself at the heart of the War Council’s machinations, with the High Council, the CIA, and the Lord President’s new security force all vying for control. But then, a mysterious stranger arrives in the Capitol itself. And they bring a terrible warning from the future…

Lady President: Why, when she has repeatedly done everything in her power to save Gallifrey, at times at the potential cost of her own life, is Romana’s integrity still being called into question? You can understand completely why the Doctor wanted to get away from this infernal planet and why Romana (once she had been corrupted by the Doctor’s way of life) didn’t want to return. Romana is hired as the Co-ordinator of the CIA, a role she never sought. Most of Romana’s family were what humans would call bohemian types. This isn’t the first time she has encountered Rassilon and she knows exactly what he is capable of. Romana talks about resisting Rassilon and fighting the future. But we know that that doesn’t happen. We know where this ends. Does that mean the ultimate path of the Gallifrey audio series is to watch Romana’s downfall?

Narvin: When Romana shows such affection for Narvin, it reminds me of how far they come. Narvin admits that they have been doing this for a long time now (let’s not even get started on how long Carlsen has been playing in this series) and that he is so tired. You can understand. Gallifrey seems to lurch from one terrible crisis to the next. If it isn’t Pandora, it’s alternative universes or the Daleks or bonkers Romana’s from the future with portents of doom. There’s always something. His father was an engineer and his life was unspeakably dull. Sometimes Narvin wishes he had followed in his footsteps.

Standout Performance: Kudos for the inclusion of Lucy Robinson, whose Mayoress Chrissy Wickham from The Thin Blue Line still makes me grin from ear to ear.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Something ancient has returned and it echoes through the citadel like a cloister bell…’
‘If we become a tyranny how are we any better than the Daleks?’
‘All is lost. Our world is coming to an end and we have no way out’ – an ominous warning from the future.

Great Ideas: The bravest thing that could be done to the Gallifrey is to strip it bare of all the things that make it so popular and see if it can stand on its own legs without old favourites Braxiatel, Leela and Ace propping it up. Produce Scott Handcock was very courageous to start excising all of these crowd pleasers (in the most memorable and exciting of ways) in the first Gallifrey Time War set but it has the left the series without a core cast of characters to lean on and thus we enter the second set with only Romana and Narvin and growing sense of dread at the ever encroaching Time War to guide us. I think it is rather exciting, although I wouldn’t want the status quo to be shaken up forever. The destiny of Gallifrey was to maintain order in the universe rather than messing around in its sewers warring against mechanised vermin and squabbling amongst themselves like children. Rassilon is aware that previous allies of Gallifrey have turned their backs on them in their hour of need and this something he won’t let pass. He wants to invade those worlds and use them as pawns in this ghastly temporal war. I suppose the idea of ghosts from the future heading back to avert some terrible catastrophe first cropped up in Day of the Daleks but really all of the Doctor’s historical adventures were in this vein. When somebody travels the ebb and flow of the Time War to warn Gallifrey of it’s future, that’s possibly the most extreme interpretation of that idea. The Chancellery Guard is to be absolved and its guards sent amongst the existing agencies. The Drylands precedent is an archaic law that grants the Lord President the opportunity to create a militia. Even the War Council are starting to feel like a means to an end.

Audio Landscape: The previous set took place on a myriad of locations and felt especially atmospheric in its direction. This in contrast feels like a stripped back Gallifrey with minimal sound effects and music. The result is the focus is on the script and the actors, a sensible move in this new shakeup.

Standout Scene: Once Trave is revealed, his death is certain. Rassilon reacts like a frightened child, ordering his execution rather than investigating his crime. Trave knows about the War, about Rassilon and what he will do to Gallifrey.

Result: ‘From this day forth, all worlds that do not declare themselves allies of Gallifrey are enemies of Gallifrey!’ The question on everybody’s lips is what happens to Gallifrey if the odds are tipped against it in such an extreme way? To survive the Time War what do they have to become? And does Romana’s free spirit vision for home world hold any weight in climate of warfare? Havoc is a slow burn story that takes quite a while to get going but when it does the implications it highlights are dramatic and far reaching. The problem is this series settling down after a major reshuffle in the previous set and at first I was adjusting to a Gallifrey without all the staple characters I have come to expect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always a delight to listen to Lalla Ward and Sean Carlsen, but the absence of Louise Jameson and Miles Richardson is uncanny. That’s good, it should be, times are dangerous and the last thing Gallifrey should be doing in this climate is resting on its laurels and playing it safe. I’ve read criticisms that the Time War is a creative cul-de-sac for Big Finish and it is something I have levelled at the company in certain cases (mostly the eighth Doctor range). However, if there was ever one avenue to explore the possibilities of the war to end all wars then the planet that was at the centre of the conflict is certainly a viable option. With so much Time War merchandise being delivered from Big Finish it makes this just another in a long line of stories to handle the theme where I feel giving it exclusivity would add to its lustre and make it feel less of a tired setting. By suggesting that nobody should fill in the gaps of what happened on Gallifrey between the end if the classic series and beginning of the new is absurd, and even with the endgame on screen for everybody to see in Day of the Doctor there is still plenty of dramatic leverage in seeing how we got there. There’s a feeling of The Invasion of Time about this opening instalment, that Gallifrey is adjusting to a war footing and that the wrong people are in power and those that put them there are paying the price for their misjudgement. Terrance Hardiman makes an instant impression, although he doesn’t really feature until the end of the story. Rassilon is a tricky character to take on (even Donald Sumpter tripped up and the less said about Don Warrington the better) but Hardiman earns his stripes by playing the part as though nobody else’s opinion has any relevance. He attacks it with unquestionable authority and that makes him a rather terrifying prospect. The mystery of who the temporal figure is far more interesting than who it turns out to be but again the suggestion of why he has travelled back is enticing. I’m heading into this set with guarded optimism. I trust Scott Handcock a great deal, I trust this cast and I trust Gallifrey to provide consistent entertainment. Perhaps the range should be rebranded with a new fascistic logo for Gallifrey: 7/10

The Odds Against written by John Dorney and directed by Ken Bentley

What’s it about: The Doctor, Liv and Helen have landed near an abbey housing the gateway to the dimension in which the Ravenous were originally imprisoned. But their plans to enlist the inhabitants’ help in defeating their pursuers are disrupted when they stumble over a dead body. Strange creatures roam the corridors and something monstrous may be awakening beneath their feet.

Physician, Heal Thyself: The Doctor doesn’t trust the Eleven but he does trust his fear and selfishness. They are the Eleven’s enemies’ enemies and that means they are uneasy allies for the time being. A formidable foe is the perfect ally. Is it just me or does everybody else enjoy it when the Doctor is in the dark about the alien race of the week, as he is here with the Ix? Or is that simply another clue to their ultimate identity? How very unlike the Doctor to admit that he has no idea what to do. Does he always leave it to the last second deliberately?

Liv Chenka: I think it is perfectly natural for Liv to be suspicious of the Elven when he has a bit of a turn in the TARDIS, especially given everything they have been through together so far. He’s hardly been what you would call an ally. Why is it always her who stumbles on the surprise villains?

Helen Sinclair: I feel Helen has been a little neglected in the past four stories, often falling into obscurity next to Liv. Perhaps it is because she had such a strong showing in Ravenous 2. It’s worth remembering your characters in the midst of all these temporal shenanigans.

The Eleven: Imagine this. I have been a new relationship for nine months and have introduced my partner to the wonders of NuWho, which he lapped up all 11 seasons in about three months. I’ve always listened to the audios with earphones in and for once I decided to review a story with the speakers on whilst he pottered about the house. He had never experienced a Doctor Who audio before and this was an interesting first reaction. Everytime…and I do mean everytime the Elven opened his mouth in any incarnation, Ludo laughed his head off. He was astonished that anybody was given the greenlight to play a part in such a pantomimic fashion. And that is my problem with the Eleven. The idea behind the character is a fascinating one but the execution has been an abysmal failure, at least in this household. I can’t take him seriously as a villain or an ally. He’s a great big cartoon character who has been given too much importance and over exposure. When you study how many appearances he has had he hasn’t been as omnipresent as you might think but if a character isn’t working for you over ten appearances is nine too many. The Elven is quite appalled that with all the knowledge he has about the Ravenous at his disposal that all he has done is set a trap for the Doctor. He’s only been working with the Doctor through fear of the Ravenous but now he knows better it is time to step out of the shadows.

Standout Performance: John Heffernan. More please. Can’t he join the crew instead of the Eleven?

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Surrender humans! Death is certain!’ ‘That’s a statistical inevitability at least, thanks for reminding us.’
‘If you’re planning on killing us, just kill us! Don’t send out warnings in advance.’
‘My my what a handsome devil…’ ‘Shut up Nine!’
‘These temporal mash ups are always hard to remember’ – that’s covering it with a line!

Great Ideas: It’s a fascinating question that has been raised before in Doctor Who (The Two Doctors, but in a very different way) but never explored in any great depth. If you have various incarnations and something catastrophic happens to one of the earlier ones and you are following the adventures of one of the later ones…what happens to them? Do they wink out of existence? Do they feel the echoes of that event down the regenerations? The Ix only exists in their abbey, they are the children of the breach. It brought them there, keeps them alive, they feed on it and through the Time Lords they control it. The Abbey, the forcefield generators and the robotic servitors were provided by the Time Lords. They sit atop the dimension rift, guarding the gap between realities. They control the point where two realities meet, a room where either side of which is the dimension beyond. They manage the ebb and flow between the two with the aid of the Lock. They can sweep the contents of either universe straight into the other, which is what happened to the Ravenous. It was pleasant that the Nine was rewarded for his selfish act at the climax.

Audio Landscape: Did I hear the sound of the 70s TARDIS scanner opening instead of the spangly TV Movie one? Is the TARDIS feeling nostalgic? Best robot voice of all time. Very retro. Given that they are supposed to be stitches in time, the sound like the aural equivalent of nails down a blackboard. So that’s either a very effective interpretation or a painful listening experience, depending on your point of view.

Isn’t it Odd: Where the Ravenous a little difficult to hear in the opening scene? 12 hours to build up the biggest threat ever to the Time Lords…and they are barely audible? The Nine is terrific fun, far more enjoyable to spend time with than the Elven and so the idea of his demise in the pre-titles sequence does not please me. The covers are strikingly unimaginative in this set. I’d say the first was the best but even that failed to give us a decent view of the Ravenous. The rest have been montages of the various actors that appear. Contrasting these with the main range leaves them decidedly in the dark (and it’s nice to be able to say that the main range is doing SOMETHING better). Tom Webster took care of the latest Mags trilogy and all three of those covers are very striking so I can only guess that they were going for a deliberately paired back look here.

Standout Scene: I loved the reveal of who the Abbot really is, especially with who it is revealed to. Talk about timey wimey. There was a whopping great clue in there too, which I completely failed to spot.

Result: ‘Best we don’t forget the Ravenous…they are why we are here after all…’ says the Doctor at one point, a reminder from the main man of what this series is supposed to be about throughout all the distractions. Given that these boxsets tend to be as epic as possible, it’s rather enjoyable that at climax to the penultimate Ravenous set that the cast list is pared down to just the main characters. It has an economy to the storytelling and allows for the Doctor, Helen, Liv, the Elven and the Nine to interact more than usual. John Dorney has assembled a rather jolly plot too, one that seems to be going in a predictable direction and then pulls the rug out from underneath you. The scenes between the Nine and the Eleven were particularly fun…it’s probably the most timey wimey material you are going to listen that is not written by Steven Moffat and Jonathan Morris. There was some wonderfully clever wit in the dialogue in those scenes. Finally, we have a story that mixes the standalone (as this appears to be at the beginning) with the arc plot (a lot of the elements of the previous stories in this set come into play here) and a story that climaxes a box set on a positive note. That last point is something of a miracle because finishing on a high has been a real problem with these four-story sets for some considerable time. A shout out for Ken Bentley, who has been with Big Finish for many years now, and despite the uneven nature of the storytelling manages to realise this set with real energy and confidence. I have been a bit all over the place with my praise and criticism of Ravenous, but any series that has such a huge input from John Dorney is always going to be worthy of encouraging comment. This is all plot plot plot and if you like your Doctor Who emotionally charged you might feel a little short changed but I thought this was very well paced, and that it led to an appropriately furious climax. I really enjoyed this story, and this boxset as a whole: 8/10