Here There Be Monsters (2008)

2008 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Companion Chronicle Story

Here There Be Monsters is the opening story of the Third Series of Companion Chronicles. It’s safe to say that this range has become more popular than anyone could have imagined and its impact is felt through other ranges in Big Finish. Such as Highlander, Robin Hood and Dark Shadows have benefited from this simple yet effective format. The third series is going to be 12 stories long instead of the previous 4 releases which came out for Series One and Two. This first story sees the return of Susan Foreman who was the very first companion in Doctor Who way back in 1963 played by Carole Ann Ford. Ford played Susan from November 1963 until December 1964 and whilst is the first of the companions she isn’t the most highly regarded which is a shame because she did have potential and there were areas of her character that just were not explored. She was always written as a child that just got into scrapes as the adults did all the exciting stuff and that’s the main downside to the early years of the show is that they never really explored what a character could do. Nowadays you get companions with families and husbands or boyfriends but you got none of that stuff in 1963.

It is nice to hear Carole Ann Ford back in Doctor Who. I always wished she had stayed in the show for longer but I understand her reasons for leaving. I wish that they had bought her back in Series One or Two but at least they bought her back and gave a story that really showed a grown up Susan instead of a child like Susan. I also thought that Stephen Hancock put in a good performance as The First Mate. Hancock biggest role of his life is playing Ernie Bishop in the popular soap Coronation Street from 1969 until 1978. I didn’t realise this until I looked it up on other websites. It’s quite important that in these stories the supporting actor puts in a good performance. Hancock does this which is very well and his interaction with Susan is very gentle and sincere which I liked a lot.

This story is written by Andy Lane who is making his debut for the range and whenever we get a new writer it’s always quite difficult to judge what sort of story we are going to get and that can be quite exciting. Lane has written a very good script that whilst it is brilliant it is a good first attempt. What he has managed to do is capture the essence of the group and the dynamic that we all know from that period. Lisa Bowerman is making her directing debut with this story. She is really better known as Bernice Summerfield who she has been playing for 10 years but also appeared in the last of the Classic Doctor Who’s in Survival (1989). I don’t think that the story flows quite as well as it perhaps could. There are several moments especially early on where you are just praying that it will move on a bit quicker. By the latter part of the story it has got up to a good pace and enjoyable.

This is an enjoyable opening story for the third series of the companion chronicles. The music and sound effects really added to the action but it doesn’t dominate and allows the actors to take centre stage. The setting was very good and what it managed to do was feel like it was one of the many 1960’s Doctor Who stories that only exist in audio format.