Mission to Magnus (2009)

Mission to Magnus is a story that I knew was planned for the abandoned 23rd series. I knew from the Trial of a Timelord DVD that it was to feature the return of Sil and the Ice Warriors. This story was written by Philip Martin who had written Vengeance of Varos (1984) and also Mindwarp (1986). He also wrote the Big Finish play The Creed of the Kromon (2004). The thing that you have to bear in mind is that as far as this story is concerned, The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp adventure hasn’t happened yet. So Vengeance on Varos is the only time in the Doctor’s timeline that he has met Sil.

The idea that the Ice Warriors want to change the climate of a planet to make it suitable for them is quite a good one to use in a story. The Ice Warriors are used very well in this story, we know that their coming and so their arrival isnt a surprise but is dramatic enough. The story has elements of Galaxy 4 where there is a race of women and in this story they want to use time travel to try and destroy men from another planet who they feel will ruin their way of life. Sil of course is quite unoriginal with his plan to travel forward in time to see what makes a profit and what doesn’t and then invest in the ones that do. What is also unoriginal is that he stops his loyalty with the Ice Warriors and turn against them.

There were some interesting plot points in this story, the male members are kept hidden and only allowed to live for recreational purposes and the rest are given a disease to keep them alive until their 20 years old which is quite grim but matches the grimness of the Colin Baker era. The boys that were used did a good and adequate job and also managed not to irritate me. Also it was quite entertaining to learn that the Doctor was bullied at the academy and it was nice when he finally stood up to him.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were very good in this story. Whereas in The Nightmare Fair their relationship was more like their TV than their Big Finish one. In this story it seems to be the other way around. The one reason why I was looking forward to this story was the return of Nabil Shaban. Whilst he sounded slightly different to what he did in 1986 the laugh was still there and as silly as that might sound that is what I wanted to hear. I also thought that Malcolm Rennie was brilliant as Anzor who was the bully. His voice was the perfect fit for such as character.

Despite some less than original thinking my final impression is how good the story stands up. Even if it had been made in 1986 this story would have been one of the highlights of the series. More than 20 years later this story benefits from the listeners imagination. This story also benefits from not having massive expectations on it. Another great story for the Lost Stories range and now we really go into unknown territory.

Death in Blackpool (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Eighth Doctor Adventure

Death in Blackpool sees the end of Lucie Miller’s time. This story is a Christmas special but there’s little festive cheer to be had anywhere. Like Alan Barnes commented on in the extras. All the soaps are full of misery especially on Christmas Day so that seemed to be his motivation for part of this story. This story is the 25th to feature Lucie Miller since she debuted in Blood of the Daleks on New Years Eve 2006 on the digital radio station BBC7. Since then they have travelled and encountered Morbius, the Eight Legs, Wirrn, Zygon and the Headhunter. This story required something big to be a fitting end to this character.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with this story. I think after everything that the character of Lucie Miller has been through to just get upset and not trust the Doctor was a bit of a kop out on the part of Barnes. I can understand how she was upset about her real Aunt Pat being dead and possibly being a bit annoyed with the Doctor but I think that Lucie’s exit deserved a more dramatic exit. The final scene between the Doctor and Lucie was very good indeed. I think that after everything they have been through together it was important to make sure that it wasn’t negative but heartfelt and as far as I am concerned it achieved both. Despite the betrayal that Lucie felt she was more disappointed with the Doctor than angry.

I thought that the relatively small cast were very good in different ways. The most memorable for me was the role of Father Christmas (played by Jon Glover). The brummie drunk Santa was a nice bit of joy to an otherwise grim story. His Slade ‘It’s Christmas’ was a particular favourite of mine. Helen Lederer who played Aunty Pat has become the Jackie Tyler for Lucie. She’s a nice strong character who like Glover’s character added a bit of humour that was much needed. Then she was able to play the emotional side of Pat brilliantly.

It’s really sad that they have decided to ditch Lucie. I felt that the character was a more tolerable version of Rose. Sheridan Smith always put in a nice strong performance in every story that she has been in and has really developed since she first set foot into the Doctor Who universe. I felt that she had really bonded with the Doctor and her departure is confusing. Hopefully she will pop up in future Eighth Doctor stories. Paul McGann was at his very best in this story. After listening to this story straight after An Earthly Child I felt that this was more suited to the Eighth Doctor’s style. The moment when the Doctor left the hospital wanting to go to the TARDIS but Aunt Pat trying to convince him not to was one of the best moments that the Eighth Doctor has recently been in.

At the end of the day this was a bit of a missed opportunity for Big Finish. Unlike the Charley exit, Lucie’s wasn’t all it could have been. There were certain things that were good but I was expecting a bit more drama than what we got. Lucie Miller, you will be missed.

Plague of the Daleks (2009)

The final of the Stockbridge Trilogy sees the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa thrown into the future after the time bubble thingy in The Eternal Summer. This story also sees the third time that the Daleks have been used in 2009. I have liked how the stories have bled into each other. This story is the full story debut script from Mark Morris who wrote one of the stories from Forty-Five in 2008.

In many ways this story is a traditional adventure. The Doctor and Nyssa are separated for most of this story. The Doctor was paired off with Issac Barclay and Nyssa is paired with Lysette Barclay. It’s the characters that I was particularly impressed with in this story. Keith Barron was very good as Issac and the way he interacted with the Doctor reminded me of Stein in Resurrection of the Daleks. Barron who previously appeared in Enlightenment back in 1983 and his voice is ideal for radio and gave the character a friendly feel to it. Liza Tarbuck did a similar job as Lysette. In fact the revelation that she was a sort of RoboDalek was quite a shock.

I thought the idea of a Zombie plot was quite fun. However the idea of rain water turning people into Zombie just weeks after Waters of Mars was perhaps just a case of bad timing. I also thought that the Doctor’s Dalek voice was quite entertaining. It did slightly confuse me how if the Doctor was being changed did he manage to then act like nothing happened a few moments later. Then it became clear he was just trying to con the Daleks. Peter Davison put in another great performance and seemed to revel in having the opportunity of playing a different Doctor like he did in The Eternal Summer. Sarah Sutton was on usual good form, it was good that she was able to become the driving force of the events at times.

Out of the three Stockbridge plays its not the best and perhaps a bit of an anticlimax. Ultimately the story would have benefited without the Daleks as their part in this story wasn’t really what I had hoped. Also out of the three Dalek stories we’ve had this year it is also the poorest of the three. Don’t get me wrong its not that I think it’s a poor story , just that it wasn’t the ending to this mini series that I was expecting. I have enjoyed this Stockbridge Trilogy, not knowing anything of it before didn’t really hamper my enjoyment. I think these three adventures were better for the Fifth Doctor than the Key 2 Time series at the beginning of the year.

An Earthly Child (2009)

Ever since I heard that Carole Ann Ford would be returning to do a full cast drama as Susan I was excited. Then I heard that it would be the Eighth Doctor that would be the Doctor in this story that changed to curiosity. An Earthly Child is a subscribers special which is set 30 years after the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). Following the return of Krotons in 2008 and Zarbi in 2007 this was a return that I think everyone wants and there was a lot riding on it.

Susan is exactly what I expected she would be like. She has become political and more importantly she has become more grown up, she isn’t the screaming brat that always got into trouble acting like a 5 year old instead of a 16 year old alien who would be should be more mature than a human. She’s still respectful of alien races like she was in Here There Be Monsters.

It was quite unusual to discover that even though she has become a political power figure she has enemies who are trying to harm her and her son. Earth is restarting after Dalek Invasion and politics and terrorist organisations are starting up again. The Watch organisation seems to portrayed as a trouble making group. The Peacemakers seem to be trying to calm things down and are portrayed as the good guys. Hope is offering a desperate civilisation the opportunity for a better life even though we know they are up to something.

The moment when Susan and the Doctor met for the first time was played exactly the way it should have been with both actors sounding like they have known each other for years not a few hours. Nice little reference to Ford’s appearance in The Five Doctors was nice. Strange though to have the Eighth Doctor referred to as Grandfather, that’s a title is associated with the First Doctor.

All the cast worked brilliantly. It seems strange when Paul McGann has an adventure without either Charley or Lucie but he shows how versitle he is with putting in a superb performance. Carole Ann Ford was the star of the show and rightly so. She played Susan superbly and she also reminded us of the Susan when she was on TV but more importantly she has grown up and Ford should be applauded for giving a superb performance. Hopefully she will do another one soon. Leslie Ash returns to Doctor Who having appeared in The Haunting of Thomas Brewster. Its quite good timing she appears in this as she is currently in the BBC drama/soap Holby City. She plays Marion Flemming and also voices Hope. Hope-fully she will be in another Doctor Who sooner rather than later.

The story was more about the emotional re-connection between the Doctor and Susan and not about the alien threat and in that sense it was well done. The ‘B plot’ was essentially Susan doing something noble but equally stupid in trying to seek the first piece of alien help. Once it was revealed the true intent of the aliens everyone seemed to quickly sort things out. An Earthly Child is the best of the special subscriber releases since they became a regular thing in 2005.

Ringpullworld (2009)

Ringpullworld is the final story of 2009 for the Companion Chronicles. It sees the turn of Vislor Turlough to tell a story of his. It’s only the fourth time that Mark Strickson has reprised the role since his 1983/84 tenure. His previous adventures were Phantasmagoria (1999), Loups-Garoux (2001) and Singularity (2005). I always felt that the character of Turlough was under written and not valued highly enough. So whenever Strickson reprises the role I always feel that it’s a nice chance to see what Big Finish can do with the character.

The story sees Turlough in a stolen ship with novelisor called Huxley. They are travelling to a time of space called the ringpull which seperates to universes in the form of a ringpull. Apparently this is a bad thing to want to open it for reasons that I never quite understood. I have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed with this story. I actually though it was quite dull. The problem was that it started off telling a story that took place in the past and then for no reason what so ever started talking about a part of the story that could happen but there is every chance that it won’t happen. That’s a waste of 20 minutes.

Mark Strickson did a very good job as Turlough. Even though this is the only time he returns to acting he sounds exactly the same as he did when he was on television. I thought that his Doctor impression was very good and quite similar to how Davison sounds on most Big Finish. However his Tegan impression was a bit all over the place. It was just like he thought ‘what the hell, I’ll just do an exaggerated Australian accent!’. That said the Turlough that Strickson gives in this story is the same that we saw in 1983.

I thought that the ending was well done. It was that sense of wanting to know how things go that made it enjoyable. A sort of Lost feeling to it. Apart from that however I thought that the story was trying to be too clever. If it had been like every other CC story then the release would have been more enjoyable than it ultimately was. I think that the trying to tell a story in the past and potentially the future was a gamble that didn’t quite pay off. It’s not a terrible story by any means but unfortunately it’s the weakest story of this fourth series and possibly even of 2009.

Museum Peace

Museum Peace is a subscriber’s special which is about an adventure featuring Kalendorf. This is set some time after the Dalek Wars have finished and sees Lord Chancellor Kalendorf visit a museum not to have a face to face with a Dalek but for contemplation. The story was written by James Swallow and NOT Nicholas Briggs which considering Dalek Empire was Briggs’ creation was surprising.

I thought that the story was an enjoyable piece. I wasn’t aware that the Doctor was going to be in it, instead of it being the Seventh Doctor that Kalendorf encounters like he did in Return of the Daleks but the Eighth Doctor. The Doctor that we encounter in this story is a more emotionally battered character. It’s more like the Ninth/Tenth Doctors that we see on TV than what were use to. There’s also an usual use of the Daleks in this, well Dalek. The Dalek in this story is presented as a dead and inactive prop whereas over the course of the story we learn that it become active and has enough power to kill just one more person. Its typical, you wait for two enemies of the Daleks to appear and you can only get rid of one of them.

The story was a slow building one and the way that Briggs’ describes what is going on sounded like he swallowed a dictionary. I wasn’t so keen on Briggs’ Kalendorf voice. I think it was perhaps too far down the gruff voice and was a bit of a distraction at first. The ending was perhaps the most well written and most emotionally felt that I have ever witnessed. Briggs’ should be applauded for playing at such a high level.

I know that I got it for free and shouldn’t really grumble. So I’m not, this is a wonderful story and I would gladly have paid for this. I listened to this whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M6 and this story made it the most bearable jam in history. If only it would have carried on for another 35 minutes.

As someone from the 1950’s would say “Bravo!”

The Eternal Summer (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Director (Barnaby Edwards)

The Eternal Summer is a story that takes place straight after Castle of Fear and it was a dramatic start. Then the strangeness begins. The Doctor can’t remember things and all the inhabitants act like they have known the Doctor “for as long as they can remember”. The thing about this story is how strange it seems to be. The scenes move forward and backward in time. It was a little confusing knowing what was actually going on. Whilst it was strange I did find it quite enjoyable. The more it happened the more I found it strange that it put me off this entire story.

The Stockbridge that we see in this story is the different sort than I was expecting. It was in a time bubble that goes over the events of the inhabitants lives. I quite liked how the inhabitants actually knew what was happening and were happy with it. The story then reveals that the Lord and Lady of the Manor that we hear so much of actually turns out be the Doctor and Nyssa or at least them in a million years time.

Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are brilliant in this story. They get to play another version of their characters and sounded totally terrifying. Its great for them to get to play something different but what I liked was how these new versions of the Doctor and Nyssa weren’t over the top or stupid. Mark Williams and Pam Ferris are two big names for this story. They both played interesting characters but it was Williams’ character that I found funnier. He plays Maxwell Edison who appeared in the DWM comic strips. The reaction that he gave when Nyssa had been taken at the end of episode one was hilarious. Ferris’ character was quite charming and was typical of the characters that she has played over the years on TV. Susan Brown makes her second appearance in succession playing Alice Withers who was also a charming character along. Nick Brimble returns to the Big Finish universe after appearing in Extron (2007). His character was very well played by Brimble and added a lot to the drama. Roger Hammond also deserves a mention. He plays Harold Withers and gives quite an emotional performance when he is grieving over his wife’s passing away.

Jonathan Morris has a mixed track record with Doctor Who stories. He writes a brilliant story like Bloodtide (2001) and then he writes a poor story like Flip-Flop (2003). Morris recently wrote The Haunting of Thomas Brewster which wasn’t a simple story but was still entertaining. This is perhaps the best Fifth Doctor play since Son of the Dragon (2007). The story was had so many settings and went back and forward that it could have been a sequel to Brotherhood of the Daleks.

The Nightmare Fair (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Lost Story

From the moment that I heard that Big Finish were doing the lost season there was only one story that I wanted to hear made and that was this story. Written by Graham Williams who was producer of Doctor Who from 1977 to 1979, this was originally meant to form the first episode of the 1986 season with the Doctor saying he was going to take Peri to Blackpool before the end was edited due to the hiatus. This story sees the return of the Celestial Toymaker who made his only appearance in the 1966 story of the same name. For this release John Ainsworth did the audio adaption and also directed what was for me the most anticipated story of the year.

The Toymaker is hiding inside a ride in Blackpool and is just waiting for the Doctor hoping to get revenge after what happened in their previous encounter. The story was itself a pretty standard one. It works along the line of simple revenge and nothing more. The Doctor discovers that the Toymaker is the only one of his kind. I thought that was nice and gave him a human side to his character. The Doctor that we encounter in this story is not the one that Big Finish have been using for a decade but more like the one that that we knew on TV. Nicola Bryant plays the Peri that she did on TV which whilst is annoying is quite pleasing that there is continuity taking place. Together Baker and Bryant manage to perfectly recreate their 1985 relationship and not their 2006 one.

David Ballie was fantastic as the Toymaker. I was hoping for some continuity from the actor who played the Toymaker in The Magic Mousetrap. Having said that I’m glad they went with Ballie because he added something to the role that Michael Gough didn’t. Ballie’s voice was truly wonderful and the moments when he was angry were some of his best. I also thought that the character of Stefan was well played by Andrew Fettes. He was essentially the Toymaker’s dogsbody but was still very good and believable. I also thought that the character of Shardow was quite sad actually. Having being a prisoner of the Toymaker for 200 years you feel that he should be set free in one way or another.

Had this story actually been made then I think it would have been a pretty decent story. I found this story to be pretty standard and nothing more. I thought that for most of the story not much happened apart from the Doctor being trapped in a cell. When he did meet the Toymaker that’s when the story really picked up. Even though this story was Graham Williams it was John Ainsworth who made the adaptation to audio and he did a good job managing to make what probably would have been a large visual piece into an audio story that made sense.

As an opening to the Lost Season it was the most well known but I think that it’s the ‘what would have been’ thought that has been circling in peoples head for 24 years that has elevated people’s expectations (including mine) and people should treat this as a normal story.

Real Time (2002)

This story was made by Big Finish but originally released on BBCi which is an interactive service. Admittedly I didn’t listen to it like this but when it was released on CD a few years later. Gary Russell is the man responsible for this as both writer and director. The story had a lot riding on it, for most people at the time (mid-2002) no one really knew about the Cybermen except for die hard fans of Doctor Who and/or Big Finish.

The story itself is very good. Its restricted by the length of each episode (15 minutes) but it was still a nice strong plot that felt like a proper Big Finish/Doctor Who story. It had a more adult feel to it with some quite dark and gory moments. This story works best when listening it with the images that were designed specially for the BBC website.

Colin Baker and Maggie Stables are on usual fine form. It’s only a short time since they started together and now it seems like they have been doing for more than 2 years. Maggie Stables arguably is given more to do and ultimately has the better story. Its nice to note that the Sixth Doctor has shed his horrible multi-coloured coat and gone for a more eye sensitive blue coat. But its Yee Jee Tso who appeared in the Paul McGann TV Movie (1996), his character of Doctor Reese Goddard was one that appeared to be nothing special but then there was a major plot twist that his character was involved with.

If I had to find a fault it would be with the logic of having to watch this on the internet. I think that most people wont have fast internet connection and so would struggle to enjoy it at all. Having said that if you were listening to it on CD your still going to enjoy the story and actually might come up with some different images in your head. Still an enjoyable release with that everyone should listen to especially if you like the Cybermen to be a bit darker than you have seen them on TV.

Medicinal Purposes (2004)

Medicinal Purposes is a story that I loved from start to finish. This story was one of the first that I listened to when I first started bying Big Finish releases. This story is the first to be written by Robert Ross and he has put together a superb adventure.

The characters are what I really like about this story. Two of the characters I knew from when I did history at Secondary school. Burke and Hare are known in history as the Body snatchers. Quite a grim duo to put in essentially a family drama. At first it looks like the story is a simple case of the Doctor and Evelyn stopping these body snatchers but then it’s only when Doctor Robert Knox that it really goes up a gear. Leslie Philips is absolutely superb in this. He is reknowned in British culture as a star of the early Carry On films and his legendary “Ding-Dong”. The character of Knox is portrayed as another Timelord because he is travelling with a TARDIS but this isn’t the case as he won it. I also found the character of Daft Jamie was well done. Played by David Tennant (what’s he done with his career since?) the character was given a child like way which part of me found irritating but then the other part found it quite charming because he wasn’t being vindictive or horrible but just being himself. The moment when you know he has to do to let history get back on track was really sad and hits home how these characters can affect you. That is what makes great drama.

What we get is a difference of morals from the Doctor and Evelyn. Obviously being an alien the Doctor will see things slightly different than Evelyn. The Doctor realises that things have to go as history says but Evelyn wants to try and do some good. Their relationship is one of the biggest successes for Big Finish and its nice to have a slight conflict between the pair but hopefully it will just strengthen their relationship and I don’t want every story to be like this.

Overall this story is a fantastic effort. The characters are well written, the music and sound effects are superb and also the directing helps move the story along at a regular but fast pace. I would recommend this story to anyone who loves a historical story with a little twist.

Arrangements for War (2004)

Arrangements for War is a story that has to deal with a lot of fallout from Project: Lazarus. Evelyn was affected a great deal by what happened in that story. We have had to wait for a long time for the conclusion of this emotional strive that has entered the relationship of the Doctor and Evelyn.

The thing that Evelyn seems to not be able to get past is that the Doctor’s morals are going to be slightly different. He may look human but his beliefs are not necersarily human. The Doctor takes Evelyn to the planet Vilag to try and give her some space to try and get over the death of Cassie. As if that isn’t enough the planet is in the middle of forming an alliance to fight off an invasion from the Killorans. The story paints an alternative way of life for Evelyn. Normally this wouldn’t be something that she would give a second thought about but follows recent events she does sees a different way of life. This is due to her friendship with Governor Justice Rossiter (played by Gabriel Woolf).

Gabriel Woolf is the big name of this story. He had previously appeared in The Pyramids of Mars (1976) as Sutekh and it was his voice that made the character so memorable which is why he was fantastic as Rossiter. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables were fantastic as two friends who’s relationship has been strained by recent events. Stables in particular was the star of the story because it was her character who needed to try and get over Cassie and perhaps spend a bit of time away from the Doctor.

Arrangements for War doesn’t quite have the dramatic feel that Project: Lazarus but what it does do is deal with the fallout of that story and does it in an emotional way. I thought that the characters and the setting of the planet was well done and whilst its not my type of story I think that it’s one that quite a few people would like.

The Nowhere Place (2006)

The first story featuring the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn since Pier Pressure at the beginning of the year. We are treated to a story that could pass as one of the best stories of the year. The Nowhere Place was written and directed by the marvellous Nicholas Briggs. A story carries a lot of weight when Nicholas Briggs has his name of the writer and director credits. It’s a far cry from The Sirens of Time (1999) when it was a weak story (compared to today) but nowadays it’s a very strong indication of how the story is going to be.

This story starts of quite simply enough on a starship called the Valiant where the crew having been going mad when they hear a bell. Things step up a gear when the Doctor then follows that bell to 1952 and more precisely a train. The character of Captain Oswin (played by Martha Cope) is a wonderful character because we haven’t had a character like her for quite sometime. The way she talks down to the Doctor without having any fear of retailiation from him is quite refreshing. Cope played the character very well.

The two is split into two halves really with the first two episodes taking place on the spaceship and the second half on the train. It’s the train that has the most action because its about finding the source of the bell. Then the story shifts back to the spaceship which did seem quite odd but ultimately I loved this story so much that it didn’t really matter.

Colin Baker is on usual good form in this story. His distress when Evelyn starts to hear the bell is well acted and shows how strong their relationship is. Baker also has some good scenes at the start with the Captain Oswin character who is the chalk to Baker’s cheese. Maggie Stables is also on very good form and it’s a story of two halves for her. Her role in the story really gets going after she starts hearing the bell, then it’s the drama gets cranked up and Stables plays to that brilliantly.

Once the music played for the final time I thought that this story was a truly superb story. The characters were great and well throughout and the main characters seemed to serve a purpose to the main plot. The execution of the entire story was sound and Nicholas Briggs should be applauded.

Return of the Krotons (2008)

It’s a tradition now that Big Finish seems to stick ‘Return’ at the beginning of a story for the subscriber special. We had Return of the Daleks in 2007 and Return to the Web Planet. Last Year Big Finish bought back an alien that appeared once in 1965 in the form of the Zarbi and I thought it was a bit of a weird choice but it did actually work. This release also got a similar reaction from me. The Krotons! What on earth can you do with an alien that didn’t exactly shine when it first appeared back in 1968? Thankfully Nicholas Briggs takes over the writing and directing of this story so it’s a little bit reassuring.

This story takes an awful long time to get going and that might have something to do with the 70 minute length. But it soon did and then really became a nice enjoyable piece. Big Finish has a reputation of doing something different with well known characters. This story was no different as we were treated to a different Kroton that we previously knew.

The casting was lead by Philip Madoc who is making his second appearance in the Big Finish/Doctor Who series. Having obviously appeared in the original Kroton story, 1976 The Brain of Morbius story he had appeared in the 2003 story Master. He was brilliant in both of those stories and he was brilliant in this story. Colin Baker and India Fisher were on good form as usual. This story has an unusual feel in the fact that the whole Sixth Doctor/Charley story arc is doing is progressing on the normal range but at the same time not everybody is going to listen to it until well after the arc is completed so this story does feel slightly different.

As a freebie for me I cant complain but if I had paid for it then I would still rate it quite high. The Krotons were used a lot better than they had been on TV and the whole story just had a better feel to it. I thought that as a freebie release it was better than Return of the Daleks or Return to the Web Planet.

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (2000)

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor is somewhat of a landmark story in Doctor Who. It’s the first time that the Brigadier has featured in a Doctor Who story since Battlefield (1989). This means that he has worked with the first seven actors to play the Doctor.

The story (as the title suggests) takes place on a Moor sometime presumably after the events of Battlefield. It gives an almost idyllic setting which whilst maybe beautiful to look at would not work so well on audio. In fact as this is their second story as a combination its perhaps better for them to have encountered aliens in a future time on Earth or on another planet before returning to the Moor.

James Bolam (Likely Lads & New Tricks) was the second big name of this story and its amazing that he agreed to do this. He plays Sir Archibald Flint and puts in a sound performance which is what you would expect from an actor of his calibre. I must mention Mrs Moynihan (Susan Jameson) who I found to be an entertaining character and one that was played just right.

This is another fine performance from Colin Baker. He has a special story where he encounters a character from the show which he knows will attract a lot of fans and works well with Nicholas Courtney. Courtney himself sounds exactly like he always did as the Brigadier in the TV series. Its hardly surprising considering he’d been playing the role on and off for 30 years. Maggie Stables is perhaps left in the background as Evelyn as the Doctor forgets his new friend and works with his old one.

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor is an enjoyable story that is what would I would class as a Sunday evening play with a science fiction elements. All the actors worked well in this story and Nicholas Pegg wrote and directed a story that moved at a fair pace. Good stuff.

The Sandman (2002)

The Sandman is the first Sixth Doctor/Evelyn story for quite some time. In fact it was back in August 2001 (Project: Twilight) that we last had an adventure featuring these two. The reason for the extended absence was that the Eighth Doctor’s season was extended from four stories to six. This story also has the hard task of trying to match such modern classics as Spare Parts and The Chimes of Midnight.

I quite liked the twist that this story gave on the Doctor’s reputation. You would imagine that everywhere he goes, the Doctor is considered a hero or a saint. It’s the same around the world. There are people that you would consider to be good but to others would be bad and evil. There are faults with this story. The problem that I have with this story is that the voices are unbearable. I just found them really distracting and so it put me off a bit.

Colin Baker isn’t on his usual good form in this story. This isnt because of him but more to do with the writing. He seems very over the top at several times during the story. This story sees Colin Baker playing Doctor with a dollop of the Sandman thrown in for good measure. Maggie Stables isn’t used very well in this story, it was because of her acting abilities but because of what the writer has not done.

The guest star is Anneke Wills who played Polly during 1966 with the First and Second Doctors. She plays Director Nrosha who is interesting because she has a grudge against The Sandman. Ian Hogg is also a name from Doctor Who’s past to feature in this story. In that he played Josiah Smith in Ghostlight (1989) but in this he played something far different but nowhere near as entertaining.

At the end of the day this is one of the weakest stories to feature the Sixth Doctor. I think that it was a messy plot that didn’t really go anywhere and I felt a little disappointed when it finished.

The Holy Terror (2000)

The Holy Terror is as subtle comedy. What do I mean by that? Well it has a serious plot to it but it has sprinkles of humour. This is Robert Shearman’s first contribution to the audio series. It’s the first use of a companion that I was not familiar with but was well known to the Doctor Who fans. Frobisher is a shape shifting alien called a Whifferdill who preferred to stay as a penguin. He previously appeared in Doctor Who Magazine several times over the years but since I was never a fan of the comic strips I knew nothing of him.

I have to admit I liked Frobisher, I think that a prolonged tenure in the range would make me dislike him. He is a 1930’s style American private detective so he is thankfully something different from what we have had in Doctor Who. In this story he is rather amusingly seen as a god but there is a slight dig at organised religions as people are rushed into making the talking penguin this god as opposed to just thinking about it.

There isnt really much of a plot here but the story still manages to move along at quite a pace and is highly enjoyable. Colin Baker seems to be having fun alongside Rober Jezek’s Frobisher. Two big names are in this story in the form of Roberta Taylor (formerly of Eastenders) and Sam Kelly (Allo Allo). Both their characters are very good and very entertaining.

This is one of those stories that would never have worked on TV. The production values would have been poor and talked about in the same breath as The Happiness Patrol (1987) and Delta and the Bannermen (1987). Fortunately with this being radio it allows the listener to use their imagination to create this planet. The Holy Terror is an example of how Big Finish have taken a gamble on a different type of story and it working.

Jubilee (2003)

Jubilee is one of those stories that will go down as a classic story. Robert Shearman is fast becoming a steady and reliable pair of hands to write a damn good story. Its quite fitting that the first story of the 40th year of Doctor Who should be a Dalek story.

The story sees an alien creature who has spent centuries being tortured in the Tower of London. He is humiliated to the point where you actually feel sorry for it. The Doctor encounters Rochester and his wife who he frequently belittles who rule over the citizens of the country with an almost dictatorship feel. This story does start getting a bit too complicated and smart for its own good. The changes between the 1903 and 2003 scenes were coming close to being blurred and ruin the story. However it doesn’t quite get to that stage.

Its quite rare that a story would actually spook me. I found the scenes where the Dalek was being tortured to be very unpleasant. The violence that the Dalek is threatened with somehow is no less that they would threaten us with if the tables were turned. This conflict of morals is what makes this story stand out. Shearman has managed to ask ourselves if we would be willing to torture or humiliate something or someone if we had the power knowing for well that they wouldn’t give a moments thought before doing it to us.

Colin Baker and Maggie Stables put in their strongest performance since Project: Twilight. They were simply mesmerising. The moment when the Doctor first encounters the creature in the tower and discovers it a Dalek. It was well written and more importantly well acted out by Colin Baker.

Jubilee belongs in the top 10 of anyone’s favourite Doctor Who story. It has Daleks and more importantly it has four episode that has a lot of action and more importantly a lot of plot which is helped with some wonderful music and sound effects. Put simply Jubilee is a classic story.

Her Final Flight (2004)

Her Final Flight is a subscriber freebie that explores the Doctor’s regret at abandoning Peri on Thoros Beta at the end of The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp (1986). This is the first story to deal with such a subject and was given to a new writer. Julian Shortman was given the responsibility of writing this story but unfortunately falls a little short.

One of the things that I liked was how there was a small cast. Apart from Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, there are only four other characters. Peri doesn’t really feature much in this story considering its set at her exit during The Trial of a Timelord. The story sees a mysterious figure trying to destroy the Doctor and his TARDIS. This figure puts the Doctor in a void of space where he is left with the option of destroying the TARDIS.

It’s not often that we see the Doctor in a state of self contemplation. New Who has the Doctor regularly feeling sorry for himself for the way that a companion has left him but this is the first time a Classic Doctor has felt like this. At the end of the day, if you were given this for free as a subscriber then you cant really complain. If you bought it then maybe you will feel a little short changed. Either way it was a bold story that is more of a character piece than alien invasions or something like that.

The Apocalypse Element (2000)

The Apocalypse Element is the second story to form a series of adventures to act as a teaser to the Dalek Empire series. The first part was The Genocide Machine which was a good story whilst being a little bit complicated. This story sees the return of Lalla Ward as Romana II. Ward played the second incarnation of the character from 1979 to 1980. Following on from Nicholas Courtney’s return in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, it was going to be interesting to see how Big Finish would handle a proper companion of the series.

The events of The Genocide Machine haven’t happened yet for the Doctor but they have done for the Daleks. It’s because of what the Daleks have learnt from the Library in that story that leads them to understand about the Apocalypse Element. The way that Romana was introduced to the story was quite clever. She was kidnapped some 20 years ago.

Colin Baker was on good form again for this story. Not only is it his first Dalek story with Big Finish it is only his second story with them. Maggie Stables does slip into the background for the second story running. Yet another friend from the Doctor’s past comes back and carries on where they left off. She does have slightly more to contribute in this story but ultimately falls into the number three role. Lalla Ward was simply wonderful as Romana. I always thought that she was an undervalued companion and was the more natural companion out of the two actresses to play Romana.

The Daleks are better in this story than they were in The Genocide Machine. They sound better as well which is the issue that I had in the previous story. Thankfully whilst they don’t sound their usual self’s they are definitely going in the right direction. Their plan seems to be their usual conquer and destroy one but compared to previous plans this one is quite clever.

When I finished listening to this story I thought that it a more enjoyable story than The Genocide Machine but was still riddled with complicated plot points. It’s one that should be listened to as it has two things going for it 1) the return of Romana and 2) its has loads and loads of Daleks in it. Now that cant be bad can it?

...ish (2002)

...ish is a story that is one of those unusual stories that Big Finish produce from time to time. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are bad. Unfortunately in this instance …ish is bad. This is the first story to be written by Phil Pascoe and new writers always try and be bold but this went to far off the mark.

This is only the second Sixth Doctor to feature Peri since Big Finish started to produce these stories. It’s a shame that there haven’t been more as I think that this combination were never given enough time to work well with each other once they got past the strangling each other phase.

The story (as you would imagine) is about words. The Doctor and Peri are attending a conference of lexicographers. Now here lies the problem because its just a who-dunnit and its not an alien invasion but just a murder. Its not Poirot. There were good elements about this story such as Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant who put in enjoyable performances. This doesn’t save the story sadly but it’s nice to hear Bryant and Baker getting along. Out of all the characters that were guest ones in …ish I think that the character of Warren was the best used. He had an admirer in Peri who was slightly different from what were used to.

…ish isn’t going to go down as a classic in any ones lists. Unfortunately though the story is one of those that could have done with a few more years of development to try and make it a more edgier piece of drama.

Year of the Pig (2006)

The last time we heard from the Sixth Doctor and Peri was in the modern classic The Reaping which was a 140 minute adventure which had everything that a Doctor Who story should have. Here we don’t. The first time I listened to this story I found it to be a slow boring affair. The second time I listened to it I had a different response. It was an enjoyable piece that whilst not up to the levels of enjoyment I had with The Reaping was still worthy of a listen.

Essentially the problem with this story is that its slightly too long. At nearly two and a half hours the story is stretched to breaking point and thus has a lot of padding which ruins it slightly. It’s a fun Christmas type of story which sees the Doctor interact with a talking pig. The story takes an awful long time to actually get going but once it does it moves along at a fair pace.

The most notable name of the supporting cast is Maureen O’Brien. She played Vicki during 1965 alongside William Hartnell’s Doctor. In this she plays Miss Alice Bultitude who is quite a posh upper class figure that is desperate to capture Toby the Sapient Pig. Another big name is Adjoa Andoh who played Martha Jones’ mum during the 2007 series. She was very impressive as Nurse Albertine who is Toby’s butler/carer.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are as usual very good. Following from the emotionally draining story in The Reaping, Peri and the Doctor are given a slightly more emotionally stable story which is a typically normal (elongated in length) story. In particular Colin Baker gives a really nice performance and seems to have a wonderful time throughout.

At the end of the day this story has the unfortunate points of being about 45 minutes too long and also being at the tale end of some fine stories to be made from Big Finish. As I stated earlier I really didn’t like this story on my first listen but on a second listen I viewed it in a different way and saw the positive points.

The Reaping (2006)

The Reaping is something of a break from the norm for Big Finish. The Reaping is the first of a two-parter. The Gathering would follow next month and both stories would be written by Joseph Lidster and also feature the Cybermen. When Lidster’s name appears on a CD cover then you know your in for a treat.

The story is not structured to be a normal Doctor Who story. For one there are two 45 minute episodes and the beauty of this is that it allows Lidster to pile more action into the story. The story is set some four months after the events of Planet of Fire (1984). The early part of this story is about Peri and how she grieves over the death of Anthony Chambers who was her stepfather. It struck me at how upset she was considering they didn’t get on.

The Doctor and Peri in the early stages of part one go to time in their history where they are bickering at each other but it sounds more grown up than it used to be. There is a brief moment of humour in the form of the Gogglebox which is essentially an giant archive machine. Then there are the Alans who are clones tour guides. There is also a slightly amusing character in the form of Mrs Van Gysegham who sounds like a mildly chain smoking and bourbon drinking maid. I thought her performance from Denise Bryer was another highlight.

But what of the silver giants? They haven’t had many stories in the Big Finish universe (compared to the Daleks) but like Spare Parts (2002) they are stunning in this story. Their presence is felt throughout this story and they are the menace that they should be.

The story does descend into a bit of self pity and gets a bit down and for a split second I thought I was listening to a radio episode of Eastenders. Apart from that blip I found the whole two episodes to be absolutely fantastic. The story does quite a new series thing here where Peri tries to explain where she’s been. For the first time we are treated to a back story to the character. She has a family and also an ex-boyfriend. It fleshes out the character far more than in any other story.

I’m always full of praise for Colin Baker’s performances. Put simply he doesn’t do dud performances. When given the right dialogue he could knock all the other Doctor’s out. Nicola Bryant gives her best performance in the Big Finish stories. Its nice to see her be a bit more grown up and not doing the sister thing with Erimem. She has to do some pretty strong scenes and delivers them superbly.

This story at the end of the day is one of the best stories of the year and possibly the best of all time. It has everything that you would want from a story and leads to one of the most eagerly anticipated stories for quite sometime.

The Human Factor (2001)

The second instalment of Dalek Empire sees the plan to try and defeat the Daleks move up a gear. The events in this story take place around six months after Invasion of the Daleks and things have got even more desperate. Kalendorf and Susan’s relationship is starting to fall apart a bit. Kalendorf is with Susan to offer her hope however at several points during this story he’s distinctly not being supportive. It was nice the moment that Susan and Alby finally see each other on screen for the first time since the very beginning of Invasion. It had to happen sooner or later otherwise it would just become silly.

Susan’s development continues as she is known now as the Angel of Mercy. Bit of a curious title considering all she’s doing is to keep people alive so they can do the Dalek’s work and then will presumably be killed when its all done. For me the best part of this story involved Susan which sums up how she is someone that cant really be trusted to know who’s side she’s on comes when Morebi and his gang are exterminated by the Daleks after being ratted out by Mendes. She justifies this to Kalendorf by saying that if Morebi had survived then the Daleks would have got the truth out of him and their great big plan would have been found out. Its great working out whether she believes it in her own mind or that it is just a lie to Kalendorf to keep him on her side.

The Pellan/Alby partnership is quite a nice one. You could tell half way through that there is something quite odd going on with Pellan. However there isn’t much time to ponder on that as most of the action between the two takes place on Guria. A planet that with help from the music and sound effects makes it sound like a hopeless place to visit.

The main thrust of the story starts to come to the for front of this story as we learn that the Daleks are after Project: Infinity. This is what the Reinsburg Institute were working on before the Dalek’s attacked Vega 6. This episode was a brilliant one. It develops the characters and manages to portray the size of the Dalek Empire and how it has affected everyone. Nicholas Briggs continues to create an enjoyable story with characters that all have emotional baggage that you know will be instrumental of the main story sooner or later.

Invaders from Mars (2002)

After a very strong first series. It was really sad that the first story of the second series of Eighth Doctor/Charley stories is quite bad. This story is the fifth adventure to feature this combination and on the whole its been very good. With a wide range of stories the one thing that could be said about the Eighth Doctor is that their not normal adventures. Invaders of Mars is the second contribution from League of Gentleman member Mark Gatiss.

Unfortunately they decided to effectively turn this story into a comedy. If it had a darker tone to it then I would have found it easier to listen to. If there is one thing that I cant stand its American accents done by non-americans. I think that it’s the over the top way that there done, it ruins the whole thing for me as I just don’t listen to what their saying but how their saying it.

There were two big names in this story. Simon Pegg & Jessica Hynes are big names in comedy and were perhaps well suited for this story. It would have been nice for them to be in something a bit more substantial but hey-ho. Paul McGann definitely seemed to have a good time as did India Fisher. Their combination is definitely developing well and shows no sign of going downhill.

Overall this story wasn’t one that will get me wanting to listen to it again anytime soon. In fact I would be hard pushed to listen to it ever again. Mark Gatiss did a story that was perhaps to close to a pantomime story than a science fiction story.

The One Doctor (2001)

The One Doctor is a comedy that is actually quite funny. Its almost a pantomime but doesn’t quite cross that line. The story has quite a lot of jokes and funny descriptions of aliens and games that it is very enjoyable. Comedy stories are quite a risk as they either go to far or are just not funny so it was

The basic thing of the story is that there is a conman called Banto Zame who is pretending to be the Doctor. He also has an assistant called Sally-Anne. Zame uses hoax threats to scare people before coming in to save the day.

This story has quite a lot of big names. Christopher Biggins who has starred in such things as Porridge was very good as Banto. He gave quite an OTT performance but it was still enjoyable. Clare Buckfield was a wonderful assistant to Banto as Sally Anne. The pair could have had their own series. Matt Lucas who is now famous for being in Little Britain was very good as the Jelloid and also the Cylinder.

Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford were both brilliant in this story and acted in the way that the story was supposed to be. They didn’t treat it deadly serious or treat it like an episode from Only Fools and Horses but as a light hearted story. In the few stories that Bonnie Langford has done I have managed to change my opinion of her. She’s still irritating on TV but in future stories when I hear that she is doing a story I wont be so quick to moan.

The One Doctor is a perfect story to listen to if you want cheering up or stuck in a traffic jam.

The Pyralis Effect (2009)

When the Companion Chronicles first started back in 2007, Romana II was one of those companions that were used. The story wasn’t a particularly great one but that was largely due to Big Finish not knowing a) if it would work and b) how it should be structured.

There were several things that I really liked about this story. One was the early scare of a robot that was very dangerous. The robot was left in a locked room but Romana (as a typical companion) makes the mistake of letting the thing out. Another was how the story was set in the Kasterborous system which is where the Doctor and Romana come from. This is the closest that the series has come to the Doctor’s own planet. The crew want the Doctor to help them recreate their world. I liked how they didn’t believe that he was THE doctor.

Jess Robinson is a name that is gaining a bit of momentum. She previously appeared in the recent Charley series as Mila and got to play a series of roles in this story. Lalla Ward is simply brilliant in this. Admittedly she doesn’t do anything spectacular but to her credit she gives her best. She sounds exactly like she did back when she was on TV.

Not many stories have spooked me but this one did. The spooky sound effects and the music helped to add a massive amount of mystery. Richard Fox & Lauren Yason have done some great work on recent audios but this is their best effort to date. George Mann has written a very good debut script. This story has a nice central plot and some interesting characters. Lisa Bowerman has directed a nice paced story. Its not a dull piece or a rushed one but just a nice normal one.

When you take the sound effects and music out of this story then you are left with just a normal story but let’s take nothing away from this story. It’s a very good offering and will enjoy many.

Dalek Empire 1: Invasion of the Daleks (2001)

I first listened to this first series of Dalek Empire back in 2004 some three years after it was first released. I did wonder whether this series would work as it doesn’t have one ingredient of why they have been successful. The Doctor. Invasion of the Daleks has a lot to do as it has to set characters and also give an idea about what the series will be about. There are references to previous stories in the main range. The Knights of Velyshaa were mentioned in The Sirens of Time (1999). The Kar-Charrat Library was the setting for The Genocide Machine (2000) and the Apocalypse Element was the Sixth Doctor story of the same title (2000). The character of Susan Mendes is a likeable one. She starts of as just a normal researcher who is forming a relationship with Alby Brooks and then soon becomes an act of defiance for the Daleks. Its was inevitable that her defiance was going to get her noticed by the Dalek Supreme. It was almost like she had gambled on this and hoping that this was keep her alive. Kalendorf is a character that isn’t what he seems to be. When we first meet him he seems like an old man waiting to be exterminated. By the end of the story he is a Knight of Velyshaa who is an old hand of telepathy. The relationship between him and Suz was nicely done in this first story and there were trust issues which quickly dispersed. Alby Brooks is a character that I couldn’t quite make my mind up about. Half the time he seems to be a desperate romantic who has fallen in love with Suz and gets drunk soon into the story. Then suddenly he snaps and becomes action man in space. I think that if he continues in the latter then he will be a very good character.

The Daleks were very different in this story from what we are used to. They are being typical in terms of destroying and taking over Vega 6 but there is a cunningness that is more obvious in this story than in previous adventures. They are allowing everyone to eat and rest in the hope that it will make everyone more productive. It’s a logical plan but it does seem very un-Dalek like. But that’s what makes them seem a lot more sinister than in previous adventures.

At the end of the day this first part did exactly what a first story is supposed to do. It sets up the main characters and you firmly know where you stand with them. The Daleks are magnificent and set a new benchmark of how they should be used. Nicholas Briggs has written and directed a fantastic opening story.

Phobos (2007)

Phobos is a strange story but in a good way. After Blood of the Daleks, Horror of Fang Rock and Immortal Beloved the one thing that could be said about these stories is that they are different from what we have heard but all have classic Doctor Who elements. This story is written by Eddie Robson who’s last contribution was for the Eighth Doctor in Memory Lane (2006). That story wasn’t a particularly memorable story for me (sorry for the pun) but this story is a far better offering.

The thing about Phobos (by that I mean the planet) is that it is for adrenaline junkies. The thrills of a 26th century adrenaline junkie can’t be met on earth but on a moon. Throughout this story there are characters who typically personify this type of activity. Due to that they are annoying but they are expected to be and so are useful characters to have around. The story is essentially everyone on Phobos ignoring Kai Tobias who is always going on about monsters. But of course no one listens to him in the glorious tradition of storytelling. It only happens at the end of the story and is done in a particularly memorable way.

Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith are very good in this story. Their relationship has settled down and Lucie Miller is starting to become a very strong companion and could be up their with some of the best that Big Finish has created. But it is the guest stars that make this a wonderful story. Timothy West is very good as Kai Tobias, the character was well written and West gave the character the edge that it needed. Nerys Hughes was great as Eris. Hughes previously appeared in Kinda (1982) and so becomes the first person (to my knowledge) to star in a TV and radio Doctor Who story.

After not having not hearing anything from the Headhunter in Immortal Beloved. It was good that this part of the story got back to the forefront of the series. We all want to know about Lucie. At the end of the day, Phobos isnt that bad a story but it just didn’t engage me like some of the other stories from this series. Those that enjoy watching skiing programes or skydiving shows on late night tv would probably like this story but as far as I am concerned it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Castle of Fear (2009)

Having no knowledge at all of Stockbridge I ventured into this story. When I say that I new nothing I mean nothing. I didn’t know that the story had featured in Doctor Who Magazines and also that it was a real town. That said I was expecting a lot from these stories. This story sees the first appearance of the Rutans who made their only appearance in the TV series in Horror of Fang Rock (1977). This story also makes references to their war with the Sontarans which has gone on for so long that no one knows what started it.

The story is mainly a comedy in the first two episodes. It’s actually quite annoying after about 20 minutes. When I first started to listen to it I had to actually stop listening because I was getting so frustrated with it. When I went to listen to it again I started to enjoy it. I thought that the character the Earl of Mummerset was an obviously annoying character but then it changed as we learnt that he wasn’t actually the Earl but just pretending to be. Joe Thomas (from the Inbetweeners) was very good but as both the Earl and as Hubert. But it was John Sessions that stole the show for me. He was just brilliant as Roland of Brittany because when he first appears in the story he is a French knight but is played like John Cleese in the Monty Python film The Holy Grail (1975). Soon he too turns out to be someone else and that’s when he really shines.

I did like the nod to the Sontarans and the connection to The Time Warrior (1973) where Linx has taken refuge in a castle so he can repair his craft and get back to the war. The Rutans plan seems to be to wait for this one Sontaran and destroy him. A bit of a petty but expected thing to do.

There were two things about this story that didn’t quite work for me. The first was the fact that it took way too long to get into the castle. As the castle features in the title I was hoping that it didn’t take until the latter part of episode 2 before we even got into any part of the castle. The second was the voice of the Rutans. I thought that they sounded too similar to Daleks. I know that they sounded similar to the Rutans that appeared in their story but I felt that there was room to change the style slightly as most of the younger fans will not know of the Rutans and think that someone has copied the Daleks.

Despite this being an Alan Barnes story it’s quite straight forward. There were no complex plot points like in Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008) or in The Girl Who Never Was (2007). Barnaby Edwards makes a welcome return to directing a Doctor Who. This story needed someone who would be able to stop the story from descending into an early pantomime. Overall this is a good opening story for the Stockbridge Trilogy.

The Genocide Machine (2000)

The Genocide Machine is the first story to feature the Daleks in the Big Finish range. It’s the first Dalek story since Remembrance of the Daleks (1988). The story is written by Mike Tucker who worked on the show during the last few years and also worked on such shows like Red Dwarf.

The Daleks are known for not being impatient and also for not giving in. So it was quite ingenious that the Daleks had been waiting in some sort of cave. There was a sense of Déjà vu when Ace got copied and her duplicate was took into the library. This mirrors the Daleks plan in Resurrection of the Daleks (1983) so it’s not a new plan so there is not the air of the unexpected. Also the Time tunnel reference in episode two was also first mentioned in that 1983 story.

This story sees a character that could have been a really good companion. Bev Tarrant was a role that would have worked well with Ace and I could see their relationship be more like brother and sister. Louise Faulkner was very good as Tarrant and I liked how she could have been a new Bernice Summerfield.

The fact that Prink wasn’t able to speak was quite funny, it gave a comedic feel to the beginning of the story. It was part four before we even heard the talkative cataloguer speak. Elgin was a very good character. I felt Bruce Montague gave the character a feeling that he could be trusted and gave the idea that you could be trusted. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred sound as good in this story as they did in Survival. The relationship between them is very enjoyable to listen to and is one of the highlights of the early parts of this story.

There were a few things that I found strange. First thing was how strange the Daleks sound. They almost don’t sound like Daleks. Even the strange sounding Daleks back in Day of the Daleks (1972) weren’t as bad as these ones. Ok the Emperor Dalek sounded quite good but the rest of them were weird. It’s not a brilliant story but just average. I think that this being the first Dalek story there was a lot of expectation and it just didn’t work. The pace of it wasn’t particularly fast at time it was frustratingly slow but it’s early days for Doctor Who in the Big Finish world so give it a few stories and we might see what can be done.

The Prisoner of Peladon (2009)

The Prisoner of Peladon is our second visit to the planet in just under two years. Following on from The Bride of Peladon (2008) we have a story that is a who-dunnit. This story is written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright who have a track record of writing great stories. The Project series (Twilight in 2001 and Lazarus in 2003) and also The Church and the Crown (2002) were obviously full cast stories so it was always going to be nice to see how they handle a companion chronicle.

Set sometime after The Green Death (1973), when Lady Jo of TARDIS has left this story sees quite a development of the events that went on in the Curse of Peladon (1972). Peladon is now part of the Federation and in now allowing refugee Ice Warriors. But things are not going as well as they could be. The tensions that are rising could have been taken out of today’s news headlines.

The speech that King Peladon gave to the Doctor about needing someone echoes the one that Donna Noble made to the 10th Doctor in The Runaway Bride (2006). It’s a point that was never raised during the classic series which is quite an obvious one. It seemed an obvious point as the Doctor that we get in this story isn’t quite the same Doctor that we know. He seemed to be very laid back and not taking things as seriously as he normally would. Its not easy to say whether he is still pining for Jo or whether he’s just having an off day but its definetly not the 3rd Doctor we know.

David Troughton was brilliant in this story. Its hard to believe that it had been 37 years since he played Peladon but he made it seem like months not years. The only issue I have was that the voice of Alpha Centuri which was just Troughton doing a high pitched voice. There was no treatment to it which would have made it sound better. The revelation that Princess of the Ice Warriors had been held captive on Peladon without the King’s knowledge did slightly devalue him in my opinion and just showed him as a weak leader. It was a shock to know that Alpha Centuri could be so deceptive but elevated that character above a pantomime horse. Nicholas Briggs did a good job as the Ice Warriors. It was interesting how he did several different versions of the voices. I like how they

This was a good story from Scott and Wright. They wrote a story that was structured to go one way in solving who committed the murders and then change it halfway through and find out the person who had been kept prisoner. Nicola Bryant did a great job in her first story as director of the Doctor Who range (She directed some of the UNIT stories a few years ago). She managed to keep the feeling of the original Peladon stories and weave that way into the stories. Hopefully she will be able to direct some of the regular releases in future.

At the end of the day, the Prisoner of Peladon is a gem of a story. Its got a nice story, strong characters and more importantly the sound effects and music to create the Peladon that we saw all those years ago. This credit goes to Toby Hrycek-Robinson.

Circular Time (2007)

The first release of 2007 is not a good one. It’s an interesting one but it ultimately falls short of what I come to expect from a Big Finish plays. This is also a story written by a new series writer (well co-written) Paul Cornell who wrote Fathers Day (2005).

The story is split into four with each episode representing a season. Cute idea but at the end of the day there has to be a narrative that makes sense and stands out. The first episode (Spring) was ok. The idea of a planet of birds has an appeal that I think would make for a great four part episode. The ‘Summer’ episode was good only because it had the fantastic David Warner in it. Playing Sir Issac Newton was a joy to listen to. The way that he gave the dialogue was what you would expect of him

It’s only the final episode where everything starts to get good. The ‘Winter’ episode is set quite sometime after the first three episodes and we come to a point probably towards the end of the Fifth Doctor’s life when he has parted ways with Nyssa. If the rest of this story had been like this episode then we would be looking at one of the best stories for quite sometime. The idea that Nyssa has a husband and children is completely different from what we obviously know.

Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton did a great job with what they were given. Its such a shame that the story didn’t quite suit them. The main problem with this story is that it just seems aimless and with no real incentive to actually care for any of the supporting characters. It’s a shame for someone of Paul Cornell’s calibre that I find myself writing this but unfortunately Circular Time is one of the weakest offerings from Big Finish in quite sometime. Hopefully the next time that there is a Fifth Doctor and Nyssa it will be a lot better than this story.

Purity (2006)

The second part of this Davros series is written by the same people who wrote the outstanding Live 34 (2005). The story of Davros has move on a few years and we now find the future Dalek creator working as a tester for weaponry. It’s a fairly important job but Davros feels like it is beneath him. Well we know what he’ll become so we know it’s a job beneath him. In this story we get to hear Terry Molloy in a full-length role as a younger Davros. To be honest I wasn’t sure whether Molloy would be able to pull this off considering that he’s not exactly youthful and has spent 20 years doing Davros’ regular voice. But to his credit he pull’s it off very well.

The story itself is quite a nice continuation of the main story. It was nice to see Magrantine return after his unfortunate end in Part One. The character of Yarvell is something that is growing on me. I found her to be just an irritating woman but in this she seems to develop into a more rounded person. Her initial reaction to when Davros returned home did have whiffs of sincersity. But this is shrouded in a lectre because Yarvell is becoming more and more political and this is starting to have an affect of Davros himself.

This story is enjoyable enough with enough names and references to classic Who for long-term fans to recognise. The writers have done a good job in developing all the characters and just making me want more. Gary Russell has also do another good job keeping the pace and the energy going throughout.

All in all an enjoyable release.

I.D (2007)

I.D is a truly unique story. Well its new for Big Finish anyway. This release has two stories over four episodes. I.D is a three part story whilst the fourth episode is a single 25 minute adventure. To start this new way of putting the releases out they have chosen Eddie Robson who has become one of the best writers so far with such stories as Memory Lane (2006).

The I.D story was quite a complicated one I found. The idea that people who basically have their personalities uploaded onto a computer chip was quite a good one. There are also people who are a new version of dyslexic. These people’s brain can’t connect with a computer which is probably what will happen in the 32nd century.

As much as I wanted to like Urgent Calls I must say I was disappointed with it. All these single episodes stories are set to form part of the virus strand. The story needed much longer than 25 minutes. I also sort that the story (as it was) was a bit dull. The chances of the same two people just happening to meet each other on the phone stretched the believability factor a bit too far. Colin Baker did his best to try and make it a bit entertaining but ultimately it was a lacklustre story that just did nothing for me. Baker has a wonderful chemistry with Kate Brown. In particular Brown manages to show a genuine niceness about her character which shines through.

As a whole release I must say that this 3+1 format has potential. I think it would require the single part story to be extended by 10 minutes but the 3 episode format is ideal for some stories because a lot of the regular stories have to have a lot of padding to make it fit four episodes.

Renaissance of the Daleks (2007)

Renaissance of the Daleks is the first story of the post-Gary Russell era. Nicholas Briggs has decided to shake this up big time. His first offering as Executive Producer is a Dalek story. This story is ‘from a story by’ Christopher H. Bidmead. Bidmead served as Script Editor on the show. Inside the booklet it says that Bidmead wasn’t happy with putting his name to changes made during the script editing process. That meant either it was going to be terrible or brilliant. Sadly I think it was leaning towards bad.

The problem with Renaissance is that it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. The plot seems to be all over the place trying to decide what it wants to be. There is an opening mystery when the Doctor visits the Earth in 2158 and finds that the Daleks haven’t invaded Earth. This is a mystery cause we all know in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) this was meant to happen.

Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton both don’t do well out of this story. They get lost in the messy story and never get a chance to show why they are such a good combination. Also the Daleks are used badly here as there are toy Daleks which show that Bidmead must have had an accident with a Dalek when he was a child. The other characters in this story also don’t work. General Tillington is an annoying character just because of the American accent. I really can’t stand American accents because they are usually done by British actors who can only do stereotypical US accents. Only Hugh Laurie in House has managed to get a decent accent.

Unfortunately for the second story running the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are given a duff script which doesn’t utilise their abilities. Circular Time was a disappointment because of the way the story was told not necersarily the plot. I must mention the Behind the scenes feature which is a new thing for Big Finish. It’s a wonderful thing to stick on the end of the CD. It’s nice to hear the actors and writers opinions of their characters and their knowledge of Doctor Who prior to doing this story. Its irrelevant whether they saw the very first Doctor Who episode or have never seen an episode before but its nice to see they understand their character.

Renaissance of the Daleks is the first of the Nicholas Briggs era however it wasn’t the best of starts.

Innocence (2006)

Well the Daleks had Genesis of the Daleks (1975), Cybermen had Spare Parts (2002) and finally 31 years after he made his first appearance in Doctor Who, Davros’ early years are told. We find out how he became the evil genius he is and how he ended up in the chair. Over four episodes we will see him grow from a child to the leader we see in the Tom Baker story. The first instalment is set when Davros is a child. The story is written by Gary Hopkins who previous credits include The Last (2004) and Other Lives (2005). Hopkins clearly had been watching Rome or I,Claudius because there is a distinct Roman Empire feel to the story.

The characters in this story are really well written and acted out brilliantly. There is such a broad spectrum of feelings towards these people. You start to understand why Davros ended up the way he did partly because of his parents. Calcula who is Davros’ mother is totally manipulative and she is so unlikeable. His father who is Colonel Nasgard is a military man who is your typical army guy.

Richard Franklin who played Mike Yates during the Jon Pertwee years is very good as Nasgard. He sounds the part and is totally believable as what we are loosely told is Davros’ father. Carolyn Jones is simply brilliant as Davros’ mother and I don’t think that anyone would have made the part work like Jones did. Rory Jennings who was recently seen in TV Who was really good as Young Davros. He managed to capture some of the evil genius elements of Genesis Davros. The moment when Davros causes Magrantine’s death was really grim and a bold move by the producers. What was perhaps even more grip was the fact that when Davros took his mother to the laboratory that he wasn’t death but horribly mutated.

Opening stories are very tricky things and very often don’t quite work because most of the story is spent setting up the characters and also the various plot strands. However this story is a really solid opener. It bodes well for the rest of the series.

Colditz (2001)

Colditz is a very strange story. Which isn’t such a big shock considering Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor revels in strange plots and weird stories. Having already done a Second World War story before with Curse of Fenric (1989) it was going to take something pretty big to make different to make this story work. Another reason is that Dust Breeding was such a strong story for the Seventh Doctor.

The two main guest characters of Klein and Feldwebel Kurtz as played by Tracey Childs and David Tennant respectively. I found both characters to be utterly bad and not likeable (as you would expect from Nazi soldiers). In particular it was Childs’ performance that I found the stronger of the two. It was of course the two main stars that stole the show. Sylvester McCoy had some wonderful scenes and it’s such a shame that he never got the chance to do this sort of story when he was on TV. Sophie Aldred seems to be at a turning point in her life. From now on she wants to be called Dorothy McShane. It’s a moment that shows how far she has come from her first story in Dragonfire (1987).

I did find the story to be quite difficult to follow towards the end which is a shame because three quarters of the story was enjoyable stuff. I think when there is a shift is whats going and it happens this late on in the story then it causes problems. It made it slightly easier to sit through cause it was Klein and the Doctor and those two really worked well against each other.

This story is a good story. There are elements that need to be listened to again to be fully understood but everything is there to have a good story. Again I was particularly impressed with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred who showed their wonderfully close relationship for everyone to enjoy. The Big Finish stories for the Seventh Doctor have certainly been the highlight so far and here’s hoping that it continues.

Blue Forgotten Planet (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Writer (Nicholas Briggs)

Back in December 2008 we said goodbye to Charley. After 7 years it seemed that Charlotte Louise Pollard had taken her last adventure with the Doctor. Despite wanting to leave at the end of Absolution there seemed to be a hope of staying with the Doctor. What we got was the biggest twist in Doctor Who Big Finish history. This story was written by Eddie Robson who wrote Memory Lane back in 2006 and also 4 of the 8 episodes of the Doctor Who & Lucie series. This story is a first for Doctor Who, not just in audio but in TV as well. A companion who has spent time with one Doctor is now travelling with another. I know that it has happened with Romana appearing with the sixth Doctor in The Apocalypse Element but this is the first time that a companion has appeared with a previous Doctor. The main question I had for this story was ‘How could the Eighth Doctor not recognise Charley if she met the Sixth Doctor?’, anything else seemed irrelevant. One thing that I never comment on is the cliffhangers. The first was a big let down and just felt like they were going to end it in a place where they didn’t intend to. The second and third ones were better. The idea that Sam was actually Ackley House was quite a good idea as you thought it was strange that he didn’t interact with anything in this story.

Colin Baker put in another good performance and his Doctor seems to work well with Charley. Mr Baker is the best Doctor in this audio range as every story seems to play to his strengths. In this story the Doctor starts guessing straight away that there is something wrong with this visitor to his home and no sooner has he got one mystery to deal with he has a dead body to deal with. Then he as DI Menzies who I will come to later. But no matter who he works with be it Maggie Stables, Nicola Bryant or Bonnie Langford, he shows he can work with anyone. India Fisher is also very good in this story and shows that there is still more to see from this character. The Charley that appears in this story seems so different from the Charley that travelled with the 8th Doctor from 2001-2007. I liked the bit where she is trying to pretend to the Doctor that she’s never seen the TARDIS before was quite entertaining. She is a hopeless liar but I have a hunch that she wants to be caught out. The supporting cast was also on good form in this story helping support the Doctor and Charley. The star was Anna Hope, who has appeared in two Doctor Who stories (New Earth in 2006 and Gridlock in 2007). Her character was well written and Anna got the most out of the character that help the interaction between DI Patricia Menzies and the Doctor all that more entertaining. The character of Menzies was written as your typical stereotypical Northerner. She clearly doesn’t take any rubbish from her colleagues or from the public but she is forced to deal with the people and events that occur. William Ash who appeared in the 2007 story 42 was very good in this story and was a good casting decision. His contribution to this story was well very important. It takes a while to really work out what his role in the story is but pretty soon it’s a shocking revelation that I would never have guessed. Sara De Freitas was also another good actor in this story as Maxine, she was the sort of character who had fallen into trouble and the evil elements were manipulating that fact and forcing her to keep Charley hostage for quite sometime. She started off a little bit weak but picked up brilliantly by episode 4.

Stephen Aintree & Steve Hansell provided 8 voices between them and so as a result they deserve some credit. Lennox Greaves has performed in several stories for Big Finish and can always be relied upon to perform well. The main plot of the story which was not the mystery of Charley but in fact what was going on in Ackley House. It took a long time to get going but once it did get going it was non stop and I though it worked really well. The moment when Charley discovered Sam was the flats was one of the eeriest scenes I have known. I was hoping in this story that there would an answer to why the 8th Doctor doesn’t remember Charley when she met the 6th Doctor but that might get explained in future stories but the only point that was raised was the fact that the Doctor kept calling Charley Charlotte all but once. The line that the Doctor doesn’t recall doing that means he is either lying or has a brief bout of memory loss. The potential for this story is the strongest one for quite some time and the one with the most potential and we will have to wait and see whether the mystery is answered. The combination of the 6th Doctor and Charley worked very well and bodes well for future stories featuring this combination and hopefully it wont be long before there is a sixth Doctor/Charley/Evelyn story because I think that would be as good in quality as this story. The thing about stories like these is that people’s desire to know what is going on and hopefully Big Finish will manipulate this for as long as they can.

Eddie Robson has written another superb play. The revelation that Sam was in fact the flats was truly shocking and totally out of the blue. All the characters were really strong and no one was weak. This dark story is a superb start to the Sixth Doctor/Charley mystery. Nicholas Briggs does another great job as Director. He always manages to direct a great story and give it that much more energy that it normally needs but it just adds to this story.

Overall a fantastic story.

Project: Twilight (2001)

Well two Colin Baker stories in two months and their both absolute crackers. This one is perhaps the more impressive as it doesn’t rely on an old monster to help the story. This story is also far more grittier and darker than Bloodtide and this is why it has to be considered a serious contender for story of the year.

This story is set presumably on modern day earth. Though with most Earth set stories in Doctor Who a ‘modern’ story is usually four years in the future so we could assume this story was set in 2005. The opening scene was very well acted out by Colin Baker and Maggie Stables. There’s something quite charming about a Timelord who has travelled billions of miles in space and time and who has enjoyed some of the finest cuisines imaginable and he seems to enjoy some greasy Chinese takeaway on the Thames.

This story relies heavily on the characters rather than the plot. The character of Reggie (played by Rob Dixon) was one of the best guest characters. The character is a complete nasty piece of work and at times very psychotic. Even before he is revealed to be a vampire its clear that there is something sinister about him. The character of Cassie is one that is written and played to be quite an emotional one and it is down to Rosie Cavaliero and Maggie Stables who had a sort of Mother/Daughter bond that helps give the listener an emotional connection. Its hard not to feel some sort of sadness about Cassie after we find out what a miserable existence she has had. The character of Amelia Doory (played by Holly De Jong) was another very well acted character that helped paint a grim picture in my mind. Stephen Chase (Nimrod) was also another actor who gave a simply stunning performance. The character proves to be nutter who created the Twilight project. These four actors should be congratulated for providing Colin Baker and Maggie Stables with something wonderful to act against.

This story has to be placed in my top 10 stories. Cavan Scott & Mark Wright have written a truly superb story that had nothing but good things in it. Gary Russell deserves a mention for directing this story in a way that wouldn’t be out of place on TV.

Dust Breeding (2001)

Dust Breeding has the hallmarks of an early classic. It has all the classic elements needed to make a truly great Doctor Who story. Eerie setting, strange goings on and a familiar adversary that it portrayed as one character but turns out to be someone else. It has the feel of Earthshock (1982) when the Cybermen shocked us all when they appeared at the end of Episode 1. The Master makes a shocking return for the first time since Survival (1989). Before this revelation he is Mr. Seta (must have taken the writer ages to this that one up!).

The revelation of the Master is quite a different one. It’s the first adventure he has after Survival and the body that the Anthony Ainley Master has been taken away and he is being controlled by the creature that is hidden away. Geoffrey Beevers who played the Master in The Keeper of Traken (1980) was very good as his voice was very sinister and creepy. Another name from the TV series was Caroline John (Beever’s wife) who played Liz Shaw in 1970. She was good as Madame Salvadori, though I do think she over did the voice a little. This story sees the return of Bev Tarrant who appeared in The Genocide Machine (2000). There is a great deal of suspension of belief to think that Bev Tarrant just happens to be on Duchamp 331. Don’t get me wrong I like the character but I think that she should have been put into the story as a companion. I think the setting on Duchamp 331 was a brilliantly thought out place. A planet where the wind sounds like a bunch of Daleks gave a brilliant red herring before the real revelation. I like the idea that the base is a sort of truckers rest stop that you would see on the Motorway services.

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred were on good form again. The first episode of this story really shows how their relationship has developed over the years and since the very first Big Finish adventure. The scene in the art gallery part of the TARDIS was a nice touch and added a bit of the early aspect of the Doctor/Ace relationship.

This is a very good story. It was better than The Genocide Machine but that’s because it was structured so well with interesting characters and a wonderful setting.

The Church and the Crown (2002)

Amazingly its been over a year since The Eye of the Scorpion (released in September 2001). This is another purely historical story and yet again I found myself enjoying it which I wasn’t expecting. Certain aspects of this story are not exactly original. Such as Peri being mistaken for someone else.

Certain scenes are done with a bit of tongue-in-cheek which actually works. The swashbuckling scenes were very entertaining but I liked how Nicola Bryant played Queen Anne. As Bryant has been playing the role of Peri for nearly 20 years there isn’t much more that she could do to make the character sound any different (apart from older) so its refreshing when she does something different. Her scenes with King Louis (played by Andrew Mackay) were enjoyable as Mackay plays the role of the King with such repulsiveness that it becomes fun to listen to. Having pointed that out it seems quite bizarre that the writers have decided that Erimem shouldn’t be the main focus of the story, given that its her second story I would have thought this was her best chance to show what she can do. Instead they seem to have wasted.

This isn’t quite on the level of Project: Twilight (2001) which Scott & Wright wrote. Then again The Church and the Crown doesn’t have any vampires in it. This story is a likeable adventure which shows how this combination has the potential to become a strong one. The Peri/Erimem relationship is nicely played one which is a sister-like one and that means that the Doctor’s role can be more like a father.

If you’re a fan of historical stories then you’ll love this story. Even if your not your still going to find enough in this story to like. Hopefully they will do better in pushing Erimem in the next story.

No Mans Land (2006)

No Mans Land is a story that starts of well (very well in fact) but then just disintegrates and becomes a disappointment. This story is set in a military hospital in Northern France in 1917 and against the backdrop of people losing their lives is the fact that the Doctor has been asked to investigate a murder that hasn’t happened yet. Now there is the temptation to ask the question “Why doesn’t the Doctor just got to the exact moment before the murder is committed?” Well if you start thinking like this then it’s a slippery slope to destroying other parts of this story.

It’s a story that rings true today. This story has soldiers trying to cope with where they are and the appalling conditions that they find themselves in. Hex has the tougher time out of the three regulars. He is subjected to the Hate Machine and the moment when the machine is turned on and he is clearly in pain I have to admit I found it uncomfortable and unnecessary. Once the murder happened the story became redundant. I think I was hoping that the prevention would take up most of the story but it got wound up quite early on and then we were left with the B plot of this story which was what going on in that little abandoned church. I have to admit the sound effects and dialogue used in that part of the story was quite creepy.

All the main cast were very good in this story. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred were on usual good form in this story. McCoy has some good scenes with Michael Cochrane and Sophie Aldred plays Ace in a slightly different way as she is the only female in the cast. This allows for Ace to have a different sort of relationship than she would have done with another female member of the cast.

When I first listened to this story I was really disappointed with it and felt that it was one of the weakest of the year. However upon listening to it again I don’t think as bad about it as I did before. Granted it does go downhill in the second half of the story but that is two different stories that seemed rammed together which is why it doesn’t work.

This story is another story that benefits the Doctor/Ace/Hex combination as they all have different adventures in this story. However I think that it was Hex that did well and his improvement continued with this story. I think that with all the pros and cons of this story laid out I think this is a story that will grow on me.

Sword of Orion (2001)

Sword of Orion is the second adventure for the Eighth Doctor and Charley and it is also the first adventure featuring the Cybermen. Doctor Who’s silver enemy finally makes an appearance. The story could quite possibly have been made for TV as it has all the classic elements. The opening scene was very eerie and made me think of Earthshock in many ways. Nicholas Briggs wrote and directed this story as well as doing the Cybermen voices.

I liked the whole feel of it. The sound effects and the music help creates a wonderful eerie setting. The Cybermen’s appearance in the story doesn’t dominate or dictate the story. Charley seems to be adjusting quite well to live out of 1930’s Earth. A bit too well as her reaction to meeting the Cybermen isn’t quite what I would have given. She does do the classic companion thing of standing up for an alien race which is what she does when the Orion Androids have problems. There are faults with this story. The build up to the Cybermen’s arrival was drawn out a bit too long. Now in the good old days of a familiar character’s return it would happen at the end of the first episode. Not the end of the second.

Paul McGann is doing a grand job in showing what he would have been like had the TV movie moved into a full series. All the comic strips and novels in the world wouldn’t show how good McGann would be as a Doctor. India Fisher is also very good as Charley, her reaction to life outside of 1930 might seem a bit too blasé for my liking but that’s a minor issue from a character that shows promise.

As a Cybermen story its not the greatest that it could have been. I was hoping for more from the metal monsters but the story was a nice progressive one for the Eighth Doctor and Charley partnership.

The Wormery (2003)

Let me get this out of the way. The Wormery is terrible. This story has nothing good about it and I found myself just bemused at how bad it was. Following on from a complex and imaginative Zagreus release we somehow are left with a story that just bumbles through four episodes.

This story sees the return of Iris Wildthyme which wasn’t a massive reason to cheer. Its great that we get to hear Katy Manning on a Doctor Who release but surely something that a bit more suitable. Having a drunk Iris was fun awhile then you start wishing that she would sober up then she would be a good companion for the Doctor. Also the Tequila Worms as interesting as they might be they were just your typical alien menace. Nothing spectacular.

The story isn’t without its good points. The setting of a 1930’s club was interesting and the way that Mickey was telling the story and more over I found her voice almost mesmoring. Jane MacFarlane could read the phone book like this and it would be an interesting four parter. Returning to Katy Manning I thought that she was better in this then in the Excelis story and I also found that she worked better with Colin Baker than she did with Peter Davison. Baker’s Doctor’s reaction when he saw Iris was quite funny and helped add a bit of humour to proceedings.

If you want to say that you have listen to every Big Finish play then listen to The Wormery. However I would stay away from this. It’s a shame that I write this about a Sixth Doctor story but the sooner he gets back with Evelyn or Peri or Mel the better.