Another review update

Invaders from Mars: A strong start to season two, a witty, clever and riotous farce with a nice dash of history and some very amusing aliens: 8/10

The Chimes of Midnight: The 8th Doctor adventures have really hit their stride now; this is a beautifully directed chiller with a strong emotional core. I never get tired of listening to this story, the black humour and Christmassy atmosphere and the superb exploration of Charley: 10/10

Seasons of Fear: Fun and involving, if a little fractured. The Doctor and Charley seem to be having a whale of a time in this one with an excellent return of a much-maligned monster: 8/10

Embrace the Darkness: Atmospheric but plot less with some unclear characterisation. This story is superficially enjoyable to listen to but its currency is shock moments rather than intelligence: 5/10

Time of the Daleks: The author’s love of Shakespeare swamps everything in this confused closed loop of a story. Nobody gets the chance to shine: 4/10

Neverland: A triumphant, cumulative blockbusting season finale. Boasting great ideas, unforgettable soundscapes and end Charley’s arc on a dramatic climax, this is the rarest of things: a story about the Time Lords that is awesome of and myth making. A Dazzling achievement: 10/10

Spare Parts: Not the classic it is made out to be because this is a very clinical apocalypse, this is still an effective ‘genesis of the Cybermen’ tale with a strong role for both the fifth Doctor and Nyssa: 8/10

Ish…: A mind expanding, loquacious puzzle of a story, screaming with intelligence and rewarding subsequent listens. Patience is a virtue with this story as the literate script hides a treasure trove of goodies within: 9/10

The Rapture: A failed experiment, trying to bring together Mile High, Eastenders and Star Trek and winding up an embarrassing farce. Pop psychology, crass religious metaphors and tedious soap operatics make this a painful experience: 2/10

The Sandman: A dense, fascinating piece that shoves Colin Baker into the role of the villain with delicious abandon. Another fine setting and a juicy musical score really boost this alien adventure: 8/10

The Church and the Crown: Extremely likable and frothy with more fun lines than you can shake a stick at. Nicola Bryant gets the chance to show us what she’s really made of and the casts relish of the script is infectious: 9/10


Bang Bang a Boom: A failed comedy that gets more painful as it goes along. The performances are generally dreadful and the murder mystery plot lacks substance, Big Finish hits a new low when the Doctor succumbs to the pits of Angvia: 3/10

Jubilee: Inventive and brooding with a strong blend of jet-black humour and drama, this is one of my favourite stories. Both Colin Baker and Maggie Stables are astonishing and the story is crammed with thoughtful (and sick) moments: 10/10

Nekromenteia: A dull story featuring bland characters and little in the way of relief. As much as I like Big Finish to experiment I think attempted rape might be a step too far: 3/10

The Dark Flame: Another disappointing McCoy story with signposted twists and stereotyped characters and very little in the way of entertainment. Lisa Bowerman excels amongst the dreck: 4/10

Dr Who and the Pirates: The sixth Doctor has the Midas touch at the moment; this is another brilliantly written and acted piece for his Doctor. Jac Rayner has tremendous fun playing about with narrative and the musical episode is a delight: 10/10

Creatures of Beauty: The second of two back-to-back classics, this is hardcore puzzle Who and uncomfortably dramatic to boot. Sarah Sutton will really make you feel for Nyssa and David Daker gives an unforgettable guest appearance: 10/10

Project Lazarus: Too many good ideas squeezed into one story and the end result leaves you feeling a little short-changed. The Forge is Torchwood before its time and really feels like a dangerous place. Extra points for Evelyn’s shocking breakdown: 7/10

Flip Flop: Another challenging story but laced with humour to make it go down easier. Jonathan Morris has written a clever reversible story, which perfectly captures season 24 and introduces us to the brilliantly insidious Slithergees: 8/10

Omega: A patchy tale with a really clever twist at the end of episode three that puts a whole new spin on the story. Weak direction sabotages what could have been an intriguing character study of a forgotten villain: 6/10

Davros: Very scary in places, this tale redefines Davros like no other and positively drips with malevolence. The sixth Doctor is more rebellious than ever and Terry Molloy manages to both tug at your heartstrings and frighten you to death: 10/10


Master: Claustrophobic and melodramatic whilst juggling some very powerful ideas, Joe Lidster redeems himself with real style. Some people found the revelations about the Doctor and the Master difficult to accept but I thought the implications were intriguing: 8/10

Zagreus: The ultimate insult. Dull, unintelligible, bloated and languid with horrible characterisation and perverted continuity. When the script writer, director and producer are the same person and they produce something this shocking there are some big problems ahead: 1/10

Catch-1782 written by Alison Lawson and directed by Gary Russell (I know I say this over and over…but was there another director at Big Finish

What’s it about: When the Doctor and Mel visit the National Foundation for Scientific Research as it celebrates its centenary, Mel expects only to be able to catch up with her uncle. She doesn’t expect to meet her own ancestors... What is buried in the grounds of the Foundation? What secret has Henry Hallam kept from his descendants for three hundred years? Can Mel escape her own past? Visiting your relatives can sometimes be trying, but surely it should never be this difficult?

Aristocratic Adventurer: In their two short adventures in TV I have found that the sixth Doctor and Mel compliment each other beautifully and their audio adventures together have only served to strengthen that opinion. I’m starting to get the opinion that you could shove Matthew Waterhouse in a story with Colin Baker and they could somehow make it work! Here they have an extremely relaxed chemistry and considering this is the twilight of his era the Doctor seems to be a very gentle soul now, stroking cats and cuddling up to cats, declaring them magnificent animals and showing considerable concern for Mel. A far cry from the boisterous, psychotic, Peri strangling loony we began with! He fancies a trip somewhere they can mix with the finest of minds…and chooses Berkshire! Why he puts up with someone as bossy as Mel he has no idea (Mel suggests they are birds of a feather). I love it when they discover the trunk and whilst Professor Hallam wants to carbon date the Doctor wants to smash it open and see what’s inside! Hallam wonders if there is a kink in the Doctor’s head as well as in time but considers himself to be a good enough judge of character to recognise that the Doctor is an honest man. Together they make quite a good investigative team. The Doctor usually makes up plans and cover stories as he goes along. A Doctor of many things, including medicine the last time he looked. Whilst it may fit his cover story I find his assertion that his line of work regularly exposes him to mania, schizophrenia, hysteria, delusions, neurosis and dementia to be perfectly accurate! He studied in Gallifrey, a specialist university in Ireland. He has a knack for making things complicated.

Generous Ginge: How nice to see Mel back so quickly, normally we have to wait a year to hear from her again! I’m in two minds about how effective this study of Mel is; on the one hand it is nice to get some backstory and find out about her family but on the other hand I don’t see the point of putting Mel through all this if she isn’t going to remember any of it! In computers, Mel is very gifted and has been fascinated by science since she was a child. Professor John Hallam is her uncle and she hasn’t seen him for ages, he’s the one that got her hooked on science. Mel loves libraries and the smell of books. She states that history is fact and ghosts are fiction matter of factly, clearly a woman of unshaken beliefs and the Doctor declares her to be too cynical for such a young person. Mel loves a good ghost story when grown men are scared out of their wits! I found it hilarious that she keep grabbing for the champagne, Alison Lawson seems to think Mel is a right lush! As soon as she is transported back in time she begins to lose her mind. The idea of being whisked back to a primitive time, losing your identity and being forced to stay in a dark room and fed laudanum laced water is frightening. Mel tends a garden on the terrace. The Doctor states she is exactly the sort of girl to go wandering off on her own! She rejects Hallam when he proposes to her and states her intention to leave…wherein he practically threatens that she will want to marry him one day! For a moment Mel wonders if the Doctor has left her so history can be preserved. Once this adventure is over (mirroring The Juggernauts) she says she doesn’t know where her home is anymore. If her memories are wiped because of the laudanum there are no consequences to what she has been through and therefore no point. I shame, Mel should have been able to take something from this.

Standout Performance: Bonnie Langford has unwound so much in the role of Mel you would barely recognise her from the saccharine high fitness freak on the telly! Some might say that she overplays the melodrama of her predicament but frankly I found the performance fitted perfectly into the Austen-esque genre.

Great Ideas: A side note – Catch-1782 has one of my favourite covers from a Big Finish release, I love the idea of the open pendant and both the Doctor and Mel look
gorgeous in their finery. Plus it has the snowy feel of a ghost story! We’ve got a kink in time and a haunted house, I wonder if the two are related? Attempting to bury a time capsule to celebrate the centenary of the Department of Scientific Research they discover a wooden chest containing a prototype canister that Professor Hallam is currently working on now! Somehow it has wound its way a few centuries back in time and buried on the estate. The capsule is made from a new element supplied by the space agency and proximity to the TARDIS caused it to reach out to her and protect her but wound up blasting her to whatever time she has been thinking about. All of Hallam’s journal entries from 1872 have been ripped, but why? Mel has become Eleanor Hallam and for history to stay on track they will have to leave her here until she dies in 1811 as written in Hallam’s diary. You really want McGregor to have a happy ending but instead Hallam attacks her! Mel made such an impression that leaving him causes him to have a breakdown (usually that’s when she turns up!). Ultimately Mrs McGregor did become Hallam’s second wife after she nursed him back to health so everyone gets a happy ending.

Audio Landscape: Spectres cry out for help in the TARDIS, a cat meows, purrs and hisses, Hallam gets on with the washing up, wine glasses smash, a grandfather clock ticks away the seconds, crunchy footsteps in the snow, Mel is swallowed up within a scream, heavy rain patters on Hallam Hall, the TARDIS gets a good buffeting, birds twitter in the summertime.

Musical Cues: Inoffensive but not very memorable, so perfect for the story really.

Isn’t it Odd: The cliff-hangers to this story are as understated as everything else but the end of episode two is especially odd, Mel coming to terms with something we knew about at the beginning of the episode! Irritatingly the most exciting thing that happens is that Mrs McGregor breaks down, Mrs Bennett style (‘Now I shall never become the second Mrs Hallam!’) and Mel and her uncle try and set the two of them up! The time travel implications are so easily rectified you have to wonder why they bothered to set it up in the first place. There’s no obstacles or dangers, the Doctor simply buries the casket to be discovered later. Even worse is the solution to the catch-22 – actually you can’t really call it a catch-22 when the solution is this easy! Mel is trapped in times clutches because the diary says that Eleanor Hallam didn’t die until 1811 and she is Eleanor Hallam…but the entry in the diary was just symbolic, the year when Hallam gave up on seeing her again! What a useless resolution that is! So they can just leave at any time knowing that time is on track. That’s the least clever solution I can imagine, dismissing every the story has told us to allow Mel to simply leave. After Dreamtime’s plotting issues I am starting to wonder if there was a script editor at Big Finish at this point!

Standout Moment: I was never riveted but I did enjoy episode ones reunion between Mel and her uncle, it was really nice to see her get some backstory.

Result: I honestly don’t know what to make of Catch-1782. It’s a gentle, unassuming story with a plot so light a gentle sigh could send it on its way and nice performances that recall Upstairs Downstairs and Pride and Prejudice. At the same time it is one of the most meaningless Doctor Who stories, setting itself as an examination of Mel and a time travel puzzle and fudging both of them with the laziest answers imaginable. Mel forgets everything that happens and they could have left at any time so let me ask you, what was the point? The 1781/2 sections lack the witty wordplay and entertaining characters of a good Austen whilst highlighting the melodrama of the genre. It’s never a chore to listen to and quite enjoyable in spots but I cannot fathom why it was made. Now I remember why I don’t remember anything about Catch-1782, because there’s nothing to remember: 5.5/10

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

Dreamtime written by Simon A. Forward and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: You’re asking me?

Master Manipulator: Unmemorable to be honest, the Doctor spends most of the story floating about in the Dreamtime talking a load of spiritualist nonsense. His relationship with Baiame lacks interest because they never once share a single line of natural dialogue with each other. The Doctor enjoys all the mysteries of the first episode (I’m glad somebody was enjoying it) and comes to the astonishing conclusion of a ‘sense of something ancient’ when confronted with a fossilised city. He admits if he is to save one, he must save everyone. He’s unlikely to be the Sandman! He commands time.

Oh Wicked: Was Ace in this story? Oh yeah she’s hanging out with the Galyari. Forgive me for being naïve but what is the point of including a character if you aren’t going to explore her? All we learn about her is that people are still tentatively calling her McShane. Woohoo.

Sexy Scouse: In what will become a regular occurrence in the 7th Doctor audios, Philip Olivier outclasses the other two in every way. Because Hex is such an identifiable character he is our eyes and ears in these adventures, even stories as diabolical as Dreamtime. Hex expected space to be a bit more…Star Trek. The characterisation is all over the place though with Hex initially taking everything in his stride considering he is standing on an alien rock floating through space and yet as soon as he sees aliens and a spaceship he’s all ‘oh my God!’ He never thought he would be so happy to see giant lizards with guns. Less gunboat, more diplomacy. Once his dad took him shooting, a rare attempt at father/son bonding and Hex hated every minute of it. The depth of characterisation here is Hex describing himself as the one who goes ‘oh my God’ a lot. He’s got a bad sense of humour, that’s what a medical career will do for you, teach you to laugh in the face of adversity. He hopes he gets to be a veteran at this…lets just hope he gets more interesting stuff to do.

Great Ideas (lets not go that far): Out in the depths of space, a protective bubble surrounding a town on an asteroid. A ghost town with stony ghosts. Who would carve cars out of stone? Every soul that is drawn into the Dreamtime lends the Dreaming strength. Baiame the guru extended the boundaries of the island in the stars. He founded the colony and brought it to the stars and he exists in the Dreamtime. Uluru became a multi cultural society, one that was raised on western ideas, that was its destiny. We paved paradise and put up a parking lot! The power of an entire peoples dreams, the minds of the entire race over the universe of matter all channelled through Baiame. He is the force field. Or something.

Audio Landscape: A didgeridoo plays persistently throughout, breaking up the shantytown, Galyari voices, bleeping scanners, screeching brakes, blaster fire, growling Bunyips, the screaming voices of the Dreamtime, tapping wood, tear gas, riots, wading through water, struggling underwater, the kookaburra.

Musical Cues: There are some nice cultural pieces of music, what a shame the story couldn’t live up to the score. It’s all very Farscape.

Isn’t it Odd: The opening sense have no description in them and so frustratingly all we hear is a right old racket but have no narration or imagery to back them up. By the end of the first episode my interest was seriously waning, it had little atmospherics, no interesting dialogue, said nothing about its characters…little did I know how much worse it was going to get. ‘Your Doctor is lost to us! He sleeps in stone!’ – that’s the end of episode one, how are we supposed to relate to a cliffhanger that we don’t even understand? The Galyari characters have no reason to be there aside from the fact that it is this author writing the script, they learn nothing from the events and exhibit no personality. Episode two is more talk and no action, I don’t mind talk (after all that’s what audios are about) but nobody seems to do anything
but pontificate! Perhaps the mystical dialogue contains lots of hidden meanings that a rough townie like me can’t understand! ‘You have crossed the Dreamtime! I can see it in your eyes!’ – bollocks symbolism. ‘The land dreams what it will and wills what it dreams…’ – stop talking in riddles and tell me what the feck is going on! What is going on at the end of episode two? It’s all chaos and tearing and no bloody explanation? Am I supposed to make it all up as I go along? You shouldn’t be both bored and confused by the end of the second episode! The standard of dialogue is ‘my friends are stranded on the far side of an altogether different abyss.’ ‘Feel the sound, feel it travel your body, the vibrations pass through your fingertips…’ Do any of the characters have dreams, desires, pasts or personalities because all seem to be shockingly vacant? Everyone seems to be there to spout for emblematic gobbledegook. ‘Where time sleeps! Time breathes in and out?’ – what are they talking about? ‘Reach out with your karma feelings!’ – I nearly turned it off at that point but I did have a friend I was texting at the time giving me the encouragement to go on. Are the Bunyips (and Hex is right that is an awful name) there just because this is Doctor Who and we expect monsters? ‘The end begins!’ – if only I was thinking at the time…this was only halfway through episode three. Mythological terraforming, I can accept some pretty kooky ideas but that’s embarrassing! When they started talking about a bond between man, the land and the spirits I thought I had wondered into a Chris Carter season opener of The X Files! All the voices we have been hearing are the sound of life dragged back to the primordial soup – did anyone manage to follow this script? When McCoy started dribbling ‘jaraperi! Garaloo! Unduwat! Kurakaban!’ I thought I had succumbed to some kind of madness. I thought it was the return of Kalid! ‘Your place is in the Dreamtime’ – what is going on!!!??? Should I have been cheering when the fake Doctor drowned Ace? ‘What’s that? ‘Angry waters!’ – why doesn’t anybody talk naturally? John Scholes completely fails to convince as Baiame, he stresses his already florid dialogue and the character seems like a parody of every shaman and wise man you’ve ever seen on the telly. A story shouldn’t be so badly written that you need the Doctor to summarise the last three episodes in the final instalment. So…we have stopped believing in the old ways of Dreaming so the Dream decided to do something about it and start again – that’s what this has all been building to? ‘Your angry heart knows peace…fly to him Kookaburra!’ – the Doctor does something (apparently) clever at the conclusion but I don’t have a clue what it was. ‘I was always a fan of Rolling Stones. They gather no moss’ – this is painful stuff.

Result: Perhaps somebody could explain this story to me because I’ve just finished listening to it and I don’t have a clue. I honestly don’t mind a touch of mysticism but it needs to be tethered to an engaging narrative of which Dreamtime has neither. Either this is an experiment gone horribly wrong or I am completely the wrong audience for this sort of mystical mumbo jumbo but I found this story never generated an ounce of tension or interest, it was far too busy up there on its philosophical cloud to entertain me. Easily the least digestible thing that Simon Forward has written (and he had a pop at Russian literature in the EDAs) and one of Gary Russell’s most ineffectually directed stories, with nary a memorable performance or set piece. Dreamtime is aptly named, since I felt I had slipped into a coma throughout: 1/10

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/67-Doctor-Who-Dreamtime

The Game written by Darin Henry and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: On the planet Cray, it's game time. The Gora and the Lineen are set to face off in the grudge match to end all grudge matches. The players are limbering up, the commentators are preparing, the fans are daubing themselves in their team's colours. The arena is set, and the kick-off is approaching. When the Doctor and Nyssa arrive, however, they find that Naxy is a sport that anyone can play - whether they want to or not. Cray's entire future depends on the match's outcome, but the time travellers soon realise that it is anything but just a game.

Fair Fellow: It feels like a lifetime since I last heard Peter Davison on audio and it is very nice to return to his era with a story that highlights one of his Doctor’s strongest characteristics, moral outrage. I really have taken a complete 180 with the fifth Doctor, going from finding him the blandest of the lot (and in some of his televised stories I think that is true) to really looking forward to his adventures on audio. Whilst the best audio character transformation goes to the sixth Doctor I already adored him so it is with the fifth Doctor that they have weaved their magic best with me. It makes perfect sense for this Doctor to be so looking forward to meeting Darzil Carlisle, one of the most eminent advocates for peace in the galaxy. He would have tried to cross paths with him before but he does have a slight tendency to interfere. Its great to see the sportiest of Doctor’s getting thrown in at the deep end of such an aggressive game but I did think he was a little naïve to not realise this was a fight to the death. Nyssa says the Doctor’s ‘not like that’ and they assume he is gay! Scenes of the Doctor surrounded by barbaric slaughter and not being able to make a difference make for uncomfortable listening, Davison really pushes the Doctor’s sheer bloody frustration. A superb parrier, a wizard with a wand! He attempts to get his team to walk of the pitch in protest but instead they use it as an opportunity to wrong foot the other team and bring down 160 of them. This accidental manoeuvre turns the Doctor into the golden boy of Naxy! His naiveté stretches to thinking that Carlisle is disarming them so they underestimate him when he in fact doesn’t have the first clue what he is doing! The fifth doctor is the only incarnation I can imagine genuinely criticising with the greatest of respect! He learns the greatest lesson of all, that you should never meet your heroes. The relationship between the Doctor and Darzil takes many twists and turns but it is ultimately very touching. He realises at the story’s conclusion that he has three dozen wars to fight but Nyssa asks if he can wait until she has left him to do so.

Alien Orphan: The Game is a great story for Nyssa as well who has blossomed beautifully in the audio adventures. Another eighties companion denied decent material during her time on the telly, Nyssa has had a wealth of fantastic adventures to more than prove her worth (Spare Parts, Circular Time). What’s more Sarah Sutton has never seemed more confident in the role and she makes Nyssa’s decision to leave the Doctor sound perfectly plausible. I love the way she immediately insults the Doctor at the beginning of the story and then apologises immediately, the latter proving how different she is from Tegan. Don’t get this Trakenite broad roused, she’s terrifying, she screams ‘STOP IT!’ at a gang of Naxy thugs and they reel back from her! Since she is such a looker everybody wants her to be a cheerleader! Half of Cray want to get inside Hollis’ knickers to which Nyssa responds ‘I must belong to the other half.’ Too young and fine to be a bureaucrat. Nyssa is naturally disgusted that
Naxy could be considered entertainment. She wants to stay on as Lord Carlisle’s aide, a role where she can do some good and bring peace to the galaxy. He needs her more than the Doctor does and besides she never intended to travel with the Doctor indefinitely. This is all healthy development and totally in tune with Nyssa’s thinking when she does finally leave the Doctor. Nyssa proves potent at politics. Hollis asks her to marry him much to her surprise and she admits that when she gets close to people things don’t always work out for them. Following Lord Carlisle’s death she accepts that her place is with the Doctor, at least for now. She has almost developed a black sense of humour too (laughing at Hollis’ suggestion that they are all walking to their deaths). Nyssa knows that she could have helped Darvil live up to his reputation.

Standout Performance: Finally we get to hear Peter Davison and William Russell together, the pairing we were denied in Mawdryn Undead. You can trust Russell to give a phenomenal performance and what a gift of a role Darzil Carlisle is, a counterfeit hero trading on his reputation built up by the Doctor. Its River Song before her time, it does make me wonder if Steven Moffatt had heard this adventure before writing The Silence in the Library because there are remarkable similarities to how this plays out – Darzil’s last meeting with the Doctor being the Doctor’s first and after his death forcing the Doctor to uphold his debt to the future. Regardless, I winced my way through Darzil’s terrible peace conference opening and was grieved by his death at the end, that’s the work of an actor of Russell’s calibre.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘We’re going to a war for a holiday!’
‘The Game is the War.’
‘We simplify so all we can see is us versus them. Players sacrifice themselves for nothing except to keep the game alive.’

Great Ideas: For centuries Cray has been the main stage for a war between two major social groups but since Cray has been twinned with the Earth the civil war has suddenly become a major embarrassment. Even the most generic galactic guides suggest you give Cray a miss! The war is being fought out as a game called Naxy, 50,000 people were killed this season alone (sorry ,retired). Once Naxy was an innocent enough sport until the fans started meeting afterwards for vicious, deadly brawls and the interest transferred from the game to the fights and soon the game become fights. Neither side wants to give up until the other side is dead. Carlisle is revealed to be a fraud, a shame, he doesn’t have a clue how to old a peace conference. Every negotiation he has ever been involved in the Doctor was in the driving seat, his best friend. All he wanted was to be a musician, not an icon for peace! The Doctor is given the option to fight a one to one or forty of his team are forfeit. Carlisle’s crazy reasoning is that the Doctor can only help in the future if he survives this but that’s shot down by Nyssa suggesting the only reason he may survive could be because they help him (‘Oh blast!’). The women on Cray are making the very weapons that are killing their husbands and sons. Faye turns out to be a traitor, Morian’s lover. I love how the commentator narrates his own death (‘he’s aiming it again, this time at my…’). Morian’s guests are here to watch and wager on the games in comfort. Residents of the planet Maser secrete a pheromone that is highly addictive to many species and Morian is using this ability to seduce Faye. The whole Naxy negotiation was to capture the Doctor since Morian wants the TARDIS to keep ahead of the gambling game, he could own the whole universe! A retirement home full of coffins. Darzil writes the Doctor’s future by telling him of his past.


Audio Landscape: There’s some very rowdy crowd scenes of sports fans, clashing steel, an impressive spaceship landing (I almost ducked!), chanting, blades being unsheathed dramatically, dying screams, a robot butler, striking a match and taking a puff, growling and snarling beasts, vehicles whizzing past…

Musical Cues: The score has a very authentic 80’s feel with a disco beat playing throughout the action sequences and yet punchy and bombastic with it. I really liked the soothing Muzak for Morian’s guests.

Isn’t it Odd: There are far too many tracks on the first disc and some are only a few seconds long which keeps chopping up the action on my mp3 player. Why could there have been ten tracks, which stitched together the action scenes rather than 72 tiny moments.

Standout Moment: Carlisle’s death is very sad and opens up a world of fulfilments for the Doctor.

Result: Another strong story with a great blood pumping idea at the heart of the drama with the sports commentary is another great way to tell a story on audio. The episodes are short and punchy, exactly how a six parter should be and each instalment twists the story in a new direction. The fifth Doctor rails against a morally bankrupt system and Nyssa almost leaves him in a fascinating turn for her character and both of them enjoy an intriguing relationship with William Russell’s Lord Carlisle. What a shame it becomes less interesting when Morian takes centre stage, a two bit gambling bully with little charm and a clichéd motivation. Still the story manages to keep up its swift pace for the two hour running time and there are plenty of exciting moments to keep things dramatic. A fun commentary on football hooliganism with lots of interesting moments: 8/10

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

The Juggernauts written by Scott Goddard and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Within a small mining colony on the dark and distant planet of Lethe, events are occurring the results of which could dramatically affect things on a universal scale. For within the dingy corridors of the artificial biosphere, the lone survivor of a devastating crash has expertly wormed his way into the lives of the colony¹s personnel. A scientist known as Davros. Separated from one another across space and time, the Doctor and Mel find themselves in very different predicaments: Mel has been employed on Lethe, while the Doctor has been imprisoned aboard an alien spacecraft. Both situations are inexorably linked, however,and at the apex of the two sits Davros and the terrifying possibility of a new threat even more powerful than the Daleks! Rescuing Mel and stopping Davros should be the Doctor¹s primary goals, but could it be that this time, Mel does not wish to be rescued? And might Davros actually be working on something for the benefit of the civilised galaxies.

Aristocratic Adventurer: The Juggernauts does something very unusual and gives Mel the focus but that hardly means the Doctor is sitting quietly on the sidelines, especially not this Doctor! Although there are plays that give him more development it is fascinating to see the Doctor working for the Daleks and inveigling himself into Davros’ little set up to bring the insane little Hitler down. He finds the TARDIS a sight for irritated iregulai! When he regains consciousness he calls out for Evelyn. Upon seeing the Daleks he tells them it isn’t a pleasure and this time he really seems to relish in provoking them, especially when they reveal they want something of him! The Doctor hasn’t been rescued; the Daleks want to recruit him to prevent the creation of a species that would go on to threaten them. I was surprised that he didn’t laugh in their faces at that but he agrees to help the Daleks in the re-capture of their creator for Mel’s sake. Mel makes a valid point; how can a man with such colourful taste in clothes have such drab décor in the TARDIS? He sweetly admits that it didn’t take Mel long to make an impression on him (a compliment…he really has changed!). Davros blames the Doctor for his degeneration and he staunchly denies this, saying the twisted genius cannot accept responsibility for anything. The relationship between the sixth Doctor and Davros is as good as it gets, in their three stories together they have developed an ugly mutual respect for each other whilst still maintaining that they are enemies. I love the quiet tension between them with Davros spending all this time building up something (even if it is something as vile as the truth behind the Mechanoids) and the Doctor coming along and pulling it all down. The Doctor cannot reveal the fate of the Daleks and Davros wonders if that is because he has a hand in it? He even doubts himself once a lifetime. Mel says that his is a noble heart. You have applaud any story that makes the Doctor work for the Daleks and Davros is attempting to wipe them out! What an ingenious role reversal!

Generous Ginge: Astonishing that Mel can be given such development, exposing the ineptitude of the characterisation in the late eighties for the companions. Whilst The Fires of Vulcan and The One Doctor really gave Bonnie Langford something dramatic and fun to play respectively, it’s not until The Juggernauts that she actually has a vehicle to really show what she is capable of. We get to see her surviving on her wits and intelligence in the future, making friends and even pursuing a romance of sorts. You’ve got to watch these geeky redheads; as soon as your back is turned they are up to all sorts! The Juggernaut programmed wouldn’t be at the stage it
is without Mel’s help, despite her ‘primitive’ education. She feels sorry for the Professor not knowing that she is actually working for Davros. Isn’t it amazing how likable Mel is when you tone down her character and let her fit in, Bonnie is really given the chance to be more natural here. Despite wanting to stay on Lethe, the Doctor has shown her the universe and as soon as he turns up again she will have to say goodbye. She admits that working with the Professor has been a welcome break from the Doctor and Davros admits she is a programming specialist. I loved the quiet moment Mel gave Jeff ‘just a kiss…don’t make a fuss’, she likes him. Jeff gives her a music box so when she is off flying around the universe she will have it to remind Mel of him. What I liked about the writing here is that Mel is taken in so much by Davros that she tells the Doctor he is wrong and it feels right that she should say that (unlike, say, Adric in Four to Doomsday when he sounded like a dick for believing Monarch). Hell hath no fury like a Melanie Bush scorned! She’s socialising in a bar, playing games, acting like a normal person! Mel always ensures there is a backdoor in every programme she writes. She’s furious when she realises the Doctor is working with the Daleks. I love it when she gets mad – ‘You will not hurt my friends Davros!’ and turn the Mechanoids on him. Mel is responsible for Davros’ near total emaciation in Remembrance of the Daleks! Her reaction to Jeff’s death is really upsetting; she admits they were almost more than just friends. She breaks down over everything when she gets back to the TARDIS and plays the music box in a solemn last scene.

Standout Performance: Whilst Bonnie Langford is very good in this standout showing for her character it is Terry Molloy who gives the most memorable performance, really selling the kindly Professor routine and slipping into his growling and purring psychotic Davros menacingly.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Daleks? Where did you find these, a jumble sale?’

Great Ideas: Separating Mel from the Doctor and forcing her to find a life for herself in the future was a great place for this story to start. The Juggernauts are the most advanced service robots ever built with a retro design to please the Earthers.
I loved the sequence of Mel talking to the Professor from the Doctor’s point of view…how his kindly voice suddenly becomes Davros! Davros has infiltrated the small mining colony on Lethe and Kryson knows exactly who he is because he is a stimulant addict and can see through the disguise. Time does not always heal, Davros is even more scarred and disabled but his mind is still alert. It was never his intention to become the stuff of nightmares but to use the Daleks to bring order to a chaotic universe. Was it a foolish dream for him to want a legacy? The Daleks come to him in desperation expecting Davros to solve all their problems and now he has had enough! This was a chance for him to start anew and everybody liked him as Professor Vaso. He created the Mechanoids as re-imagined Daleks, the ultimate Dalek killers! They are self sufficient, self-repairing and self-replicating and human blood leaks from inside them. When they open one up inside and Davros has been carving up personnel and hooking up their heart, brain and blood. Davros is trying to negotiate contracts with hospitals so at the moment of termination the various facilities collect the component parts and ship them to the Juggernaut facilities. What a sick, sick idea! I love it! Offering customers immortality…only Davros could try and commercialise something as sick as this! The deceased miners have all been turned into Mechanoids. Can Davros no longer be held accountable for the Daleks actions just as a parent can be for a child’s? When the Juggernauts attack Davros his self-destruction mechanism is activated. The Doctor ponders that if Davros is allowed to die it is unfair that someone like him has found peace. Did they go ahead with the Juggernaut programmed then, considering what we saw in The Chase?

Audio Landscape: An impressive soundscape in this story. When I first started listening to Big Finish stories I found they used to be at their most vivid in the earthbound stories but they have really got the hang of futuristic environments now. What could have looked dated on screen becomes another world on audio. The story opens and closes on an explosion, sirens, footsteps on metal grating, I love how the noise cuts as the escape pod closes around Mel, the aching, groaning hull, bulkheads crashing to the ground, glass smashing, an impressive blast radius, lots of electronic voices, shower jets, the Dalek heartbeat and doors, those gorgeous Mechanoid voices, hovering (!!), the poorly sounding Dalek that can’t quite get ‘EXT-TERMINATE!’ out, a Gary Russell tannoy, the Peter Cushing movie control room noises, a heartbeat, the impressive production line stamping metal and all out war as the Daleks and the Mechanoids blast the ¤¤¤¤ out of each other! The story closes on the music box.

Musical Cues: There are creepy electronic stings, very reminiscent of Davros and just as effective. Nice mournful xylophone playing by Jeff. The music gets very exciting as the Daleks and Mechanoids fight!

Result: The Juggernauts throws lots of interesting ideas into the mix and lets the resulting drama bubble to the surface. It’s a quiet piece for the most part but with a great role for Mel, the Doctor at his sarcastic best and Davros insidiously trying to redeem himself in the most revolting way possible its never boring. Gary Russell directs this story with precision, creating a very believable futuristic environment. Episode four picks up the pace and features what we have been waiting for all along, the Daleks and the Mechanoids blowing the crap out of each other! An assured production with plenty of funky set pieces but lots of intelligent undercurrents too: 8/10

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

Home Truths written by Simon Guerrier and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What’s it about: There’s a house across the waters at Ely where an old woman tells a strange story. About a kind of night constable called Sara Kingdom. And her friends, the Doctor and Steven. About a journey they made to a young couple’s home, and the nightmarish things that were found there. About the follies of youth and selfishness. And the terrible things even the most well-meaning of us can inflict on each other. Hear the old woman's story. Then decide her fate.

SSS: What a fascinating idea bringing Sara Kingdom back especially since it has been hotly debated over the years whether Sara can be considered a companion or not. Having only two episodes of her character to watch and only an audio recording of the rest this was a real chance to get under the skin of a character people might not know as well as the others. One thing is for certain, Jean Marsh is a superb performer and slips back into the role effortlessly after 40 odd years and she makes this ghostly story as creepy and dramatic as it can possibly be. I was extremely impressed by her reading, one of my favourites so far for absorbing me into the story. Because Sara died at the end of The Daleks’ Masterplan it gives this story an extra layer of poignancy and I was eager to find out just how we could be hearing her (clearly older voice) telling Robert this story. If this is the standard of experimenting with peripheral companion characters bring on some more! The story opens with Sara claiming that she runs a guesthouse and has a hundred stories to tell about the people who have stayed with her. She claims that when she was younger she was as sharp as broken glass because as soon as she met up with Steven and the Doctor everything was shifting around her and she wasn’t certain about anything. A member of the Space Security Service which was sort of a night constabulary. Since his death she has carried Bret with her, he was the reason she signed up with the Service in the first place and she realises now that killing him was one of her biggest mistakes in life. She was on the run, outcast from everything she knows. It wasn’t all fun and games when they were on the run in the TARDIS. Sara came from a place where people were crammed into tiny domestic cubicles, where space is more of an extravagance than air. She had learnt since travelling in the TARDIS to be wary, even in an open room. A forthright headstrong girl who cannot let an injustice go unpunished. Sara loved making sense of the senseless, turning a chaotic mess into a working model, using evidence to explain how something ended as it did. She hates fairytales, some slight lack of foresight met with terrible justice. She had been enjoying herself in the house, loving the mystery of it and it took her desires and tucked away anything that spoilt it (Steven). The conclusion of this story is slightly predictable once you know what the menace is but all the more affecting because the real Sara is dead, its lovely that some part of her remains alive because of her travels with the Doctor.

Hmm: Simon Guerrier wrote a superb first Doctor in his mind bending novel The Time Travellers and he once again provides a blistering examination of his character. He really nails those little details that allow me as a listener to see Hartnell walking around this spooky old house, clutching his lapels and thinking he’s always right! Sara once thought of the Doctor as a criminal, an enemy of everything she knew. He was so ancient, so travelled, so deeply marked by time that he appeared to wield magical powers. He investigates details that other people miss, routing out the detritus of clues. The Doctor can sense a presence in the house even if he can’t explain how. How he hates to look foolish, like a cat caught in the headlights. The Doctor hates his companions wandering off, not taking their lead from him, he treats them like children. He delights in the strangest things like a naughty child. If he sees you are upset all the bluster fades away, he will take your hand and calm you down. Investigating makes his eyes twinkle. When he realises the danger they are in he focuses his mind and forces himself not to desire anything. When he thinks he is going to die he meets his end without anger or resentment, a kind of peace like a willing sacrifice. I cannot imagine a moment in the companion chronicles that I have been more gripped then when the glass prison is shrinking with the Doctor inside.

Aggressive Astronaut: Steven is kicked out of the story quite early on but rather than falling unconscious (ala Empathy Games) there is an extremely clever reason why he vanishes. He finds Sara exasperating, especially how she always follows orders. Sara thinks he can read people quickly.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘This wasn’t a house like I had ever known before. It was more like exploring a dream.’
‘Whatever progress we make, whatever enlightenment we gain, we can’t ever be rid of that ghost of superstition.’
‘Well, what’s it going to be…?’

Great Ideas: They land in as house of dreams and magic, one that hasn’t been built from malice. This house can reach into your mind and give you what you most desire. They discover two corpses that look as though they were alive until they came into the door. There are no signs of a struggle or clues as to what had done this. Everything here is tailored for Richard and Alex, provided for their whims. It’s a tomb, frozen in the moment that the people had died. Whatever it was that had taken them takes Steven! Alex had a frustrating moment of thinking life would be much simpler without Richard…and the house plucked that desire from her subconscious and acted upon it. She then thinks there is only one other thing she could wish for…to make this pain go away and the house murders her too. Now it’s trying to grant Sara’s wishes. Sara wanted to explain the mystery and Steven wanted to leave so it whisked him away. Any spoken thoughts are acted upon so they have to control themselves and they need to trap it like a genie in a bottle. A glass TARDIS that you cannot get inside. It shrinks with the Doctor inside! The house is responding to Sara’s wishes as best it could, things she didn’t even know she was thinking. It doesn’t want to be destroyed but it doesn’t know how to react to peoples wishes either, which to grant and which to ignore. Sara gives herself to the house, she is determined to try and make it better. The house now draws its power from the sun and the stars. Whose science built it? Were there more built? She’s all that’s left of Sara Kingdom and the ghost in the house hopes that the real Sara found some of her wishes although assumes (1000 years on) she is now dead. Is Robert going to murder the ghost of a dead woman? It’s a nail biting ending that leaves you hanging for the next instalment.

Audio Landscape: A gorgeous ghostly atmosphere is brewed: rain lashing, splashing footprints, biting wind, thunder, creaking doors, fire crackling, ticking clock, rain pattering on the window, a breath of a ghost water flushing from the taps, terrifying deaths of the ghosts advancing…

Musical Cues: The music is a melancholic piano score, and superbly dramatic at times. Sometimes that music just stops to allow the spooks of the story to make their mark.

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

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/35-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-Home-Truths

Empathy Games written and directed by Nigel Fairs

What’s it about: The present: Leela is doomed, trapped inside a prison cell of a dead race. The past: After a disaster aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Leela arrive at the capital city of Synchronis, a world renowned for peace and civility. But an attack by a vicious creature leaves the Doctor in a coma, and Leela is persuaded to fight in the forthcoming Empathy Games, where she discovers that nothing on this world is as it seems.

Noble Savage: Empathy Games reminded me strongly of one of Chris Boucher’s BBC novels where the story was a bit meh but his handling of Leela is superb. Fairs wrote an excellent Leela in The Catalyst, my favourite companion chronicles thus far and so my expectations were quite high for this story. With Louise Jameson once again highlighting what a superb actress she is (I paused this one minute into the story to enthuse to my husband about her, that’s how good she is) Leela once again pushes to the ranks of the best companions. There’s such mileage for her I could imagine these first person stories going on and on. Leela is still imprisoned by the Z’nai and what she once thought of as a blessing, her body, is old and a curse. She doesn’t fear death and she has been denied that release by the Time Lords. Leela thinks it is good to know what you fear because once you have faced it you have truly become a warrior. When an elder of the Sevateem died it was customary to guard the body against the evil spirits of the night. When Leela thinks the Doctor is dead she does so but also weeps inconsolably. I love how she talks in metaphor (‘once the moon had been swallowed…’). She admits that the Cathartics show strength and skill that rival the best of the Sevateem. Leela is branded the co-ordinators champion. Its great to finally follow Leela on a hunt, she is the only companion that you could tell this type of story with. The Doctor considers her bright and quick to learn. Leela really surprises by taking the rodents’ side and fighting against her trainers, she has a real sense of justice and will not be made to kill just because she is told to. When she was a child she saw her mother struck down, she held her as she bled, protecting her body and soul, told her stories about the first warrior of the Sevateem. Although she does not fear death from that day on she is afraid to be alone. She knows she will see the Doctor once again, some day.

Teeth and Curls: After his excellent characterisation in The Catalyst it is a crying shame that Fairs chooses to take the Doctor from the action for over half the running time and concentrate squarely on Leela. Jameson gave him a real gravelly mood in the last story (very Horror of Fang Rock) but there really wasn’t much chance for him to contribute anything here – he explains where they are, gets knocked unconscious and then pops up at the end to save the day! Leela has only seen the Doctor afraid once when the console room was in flames and he admits that he once saw an entire world go up in flames, the death toll inconceivable and he was powerless to stop it.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘This money must be a powerful God to have so many servants!’
‘The Empathy Games, an annual purge of your sins.’

Great Ideas: It astonishes me that with all the spin off fiction and audios that nobody has ever explained what happened to the gothic season fourteen console room! After all every other gap has been plugged! The story opens with a raging fire devastating the room and the Doctor, after getting over his fear of the flames, is very blaze about the whole thing suggesting there are plenty of other console rooms! Synchronos is a world with no war, no poverty and no crime; it boasts attractions such as the palace of golden tranquillity and the waters of empathy (the largest water sculpture ever created). Rodents live in the pit, they are savages, vermin that scurry about the tunnels under the city and every year the gates are opened and the Cathartics are allowed to hunt them down and wipe them out. Leela is trained to hunt the creatures and if she fails the selection the waters will take her. You form a telepathic link with their prey so you can see through their eyes and watch yourself brutally murdering them. Leela turns on her trainers and refuses to fight the Rodents, allowing them access to the city. The Rodents turn out to be all of the diseased thoughts, the evil, guilt, fear and criminal impulse injected into the creatures as embryos. Like a disease they are wiped out. Imagine your darkest thoughts coming back to haunt you? A new race to share their world with. The people of Synchronos need to conquer their fears on their own.

Standout Performance: Louise Jameson once again has great fun with her many characters, especially her cockney Cathartic and the impish Rodent.

Audio landscape: The production values are very strong and Fairs directs with a dramatic touch. There is a heart monitor, pitiful cries of despair, crackling, ranging flames, market traders selling their wares, exotic creatures and wares, chickens, eerie telepathic contact from the Doctor, the waters of empathy swooshing by, submerging in water (that was really effective, I gasped for air!), underwater with bubbles floating to the surface, horrific screams, the growling Rodents, tearing flesh, the wood tunnel snapping dramatically…

Musical Cues: There is some jolly carnival music as they step from the TARDIS. The 4th Doctor’s theme is played mournfully on the piano when Leela thinks he has died. A new world is dawned with a gorgeous burst of song.

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

Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/34-Doctor-Who-The-Companion-Chronicles-Empathy-Games