The Sirens of Time (1999)

The Sirens of Time heralds a new era in Doctor Who. 3 years after the last story was transmitted and 10 years after the last serial aired with Survival, we now have a brand new adventure admittedly not like Survival. This story features the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors which begged the question ‘Where are Doctors 4 & 8?’ This story is written and directed by Nicholas Briggs who we know as the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen. I started listening to Big Finish plays about 5 years after they started so I had listened several of the more newer stories before I got round to The Sirens of Time. If you pick a story from now and compare it to The Sirens of Time you can see how far the stories have progressed and ultimately it shows the weakness of this story. The first three episodes are given over to each Doctor and what was quite strange but would turn out be a good idea and that being that there are no companions. This enables the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors to shine in their own right.

The first episode has no theme music at the beginning and we find that Gallifrey is under attack. It also features the Seventh Doctor. It would have been nice if they used the right theme tune for the right Doctor. But that is a minor issue. What we have is the Doctor landing on a planet, rescuing someone from quicksand and being locked out of his TARDIS. It soon becomes clear that Sancroff, The Doctor and Lyena are prisoners of Ruthley and the Drudgers. We discover that the planet isn’t suppose to exist and doesn’t have a name. We learn that Sancroff is actually a war criminal. Despite the first three episodes featuring a different Doctor we are treated to a cliffhanger. In this episode we have the Doctor, Lyena and Sancroff being shot at by the Drudgers who are there purely to execute Sancroff but don’t want anyone or anything to know they have been there. It was unexpected.

Sylvester McCoy sounds exactly the same as he did when he was running around with his umbrella and rolling r’s. This episode is set sometime between Survival and the TV Movie when Ace has left the TARDIS. It was like this was taken from the TV and not made especially for radio. If you closed your eyes you could imagine him without that silly jumper and picture him in something more modern. McCoy seems to be enjoying himself which is why the Seventh Doctor in this story is the same as in Silver Nemesis or Survival.

Maggie Stables plays Ruthley who is some sort of old hag and she sounds exactly like Evelyn who Stables would play in five releases time (The Marian Conspiracy). Ruthley does seem to have a purpose to this as she is reporting the Doctors presence. We also get the impression that she is actually serving out a sentence. I quite liked Ruthley because she seems very pantomime-like. Colin McIntyre plays Sancroff who sounds like an old professor and is in fact with Ruthley. He seems frail and requires help from Ruthley. Like Ruthley I quite liked Sancroff because he sounds like a grandfather who has seen many things. I thought it was quite sad that it turned out that Sancroff was a criminal. Sarah Mowat plays Knight Commander Lyena who starts the episode in quicksand and is rescued by the Doctor. Mowat plays the character like a companion and McCoy treats her as such. Nicholas Briggs does a good job as the voice of the Drudgers. They do sound like your typical robot.

Strong language (for Doctor Who anyway) was a slight bit out of order. I thought that for a show once aimed at families it was unnecessary. It wasn’t a strong swear word and it was only used once but it still spoilt it for me a bit. This episode was a good opener as it was a slow build up and there was an intrigue throughout.

The Second episode is handed over to the Fifth Doctor. This story is set some point between Terminus and Resurrection of the Daleks. Turlough and Tegan are mentioned but ultimately don’t appear at all in this episode. The Doctor lands on a submarine presumably during the Second World War. The Doctor tries to talk to Captain Schwieger about how Schwieger actions could damage the German War effort. The Doctors actions in this story means that the Lusitania is not destroyed

Schmidt goes from being normal navy personnel to being an attacker. He is getting messages from Vansell to kill the Doctor despite the Doctor being told by Vansell to return to Gallifrey (even though he didn’t give his name!). Its quite a shock when Helen shoots the German Officer and also that the Doctor has been shot. This doesn’t stop the Doctor from getting off the submarine and to the TARDIS. He leaves Helen but she suddenly disappears. The Doctor suffers the same problem as the Seventh Doctor as he can’t get into the TARDIS and Turlough and Tegan don’t answer. The episode ends with “The Timelords really do want me dead!”. We leave the Fifth Doctor at the moment in the middle of sea with no way of getting into the TARDIS. An enjoyable episode and in terms of quality it is better than the McCoy part.

Peter Davison is very good as The Doctor. He sounds a little different than when he appeared as the Doctor out of the three actors but his tenure was longer ago. He still has the same mannerisms as he use to have and have the same relationship with other characters than he did. Sarah Mowat makes another appearance as Helen. Her voice is very different compared to Lyena. She does well making completely difference and instantly has issues with the Doctor. She is slightly amusing as she keeps thinking that the Doctor is a Hun spy. John Wadmore plays Lt Zentener. The problem is that Zentener doesn’t really stand out for me. With Schwieger being the Captain and the way that Schmidt goes a bit made there’s not much room for Wadmore to shine. Mark Gatiss plays Captain Schwieger. Gatiss’ voice is quite distinct and is easily noticeable from the moment he starts speaking. He is very good as the Captain because he is very wary of the Doctor and his actions but slowly becomes more willing to accept what the Doctor is saying. Andrew Fettes plays Schmidt in this episode. His character is your typical German character that obeys his Captain without any hesitation. Fettes goes from one extreme of normal German man to a maniac.

The third episode is handed over to the Sixth Doctor. At the beginning of the episode we learn that the situation in Gallifrey is getting worse with the introduction of the Temperon and the alien crafts appearing are being piloted by the Knights of Velyshaa. The Doctor lands on a spaceship and the structure of that ship seems to under threat. At the time of the Doctor’s arrival there is a conference going on. Like the 5th and 7th Doctor, the sixth Doctor is cut off from his TARDIS. The spaceship is heading towards the Kurgon Wonder through momentum. The monsters that attack the Doctor are in fact viruses. Then we have the Knights of Velyshaa shoot dead the President. As the episode comes to a close the Doctor finds himself back in the TARDIS and the Temperon tells the Doctor that he has released the Knights of Velyshaa and gets smothered by the Temperon. The ending was quite grim and also the unnerving voice of the Temperon helped.

Sarah Mowat makes her third appearance as another character called Ellie. Her character is just a waitress but quickly become a companion in all but name and works well with Colin Baker. It’s not the most glamorous role but it seemed like an everyday character. Or at least that is how it starts because it’s revealed that she belongs to an organisation that is trying to free someone trapped on the Kurgon wonder. John Wadmore makes his second appearance as Pilot Azimendah. Wadmore is very good as the Pilot. He sounds serious and just like a captain. I thought after his small (ish) role in Episode 2 it was good that he finally got a meaty role. Mark Gatiss makes another appearance as Captain and sounds slightly different. It’s not slightly on par with Captain Schwieger in Episode 2. He has swapped larger roles with John Wadmore. Nicholas Briggs successfully creates a different alien voice for the Temperon.

I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as I found it harder to understand. The first two episodes were quite simple but that simplicity seems to have gone missing when Colin Baker arrived. It never gave Baker a chance to show his old self unlike.

The fourth and final episode sees all three incarnations meet in the first Multi-Doctor story since The Two Doctors in 1985. The Sixth Doctor’s cliffhanger is concluded which was quite nice. I certainly got a nice feeling when all three met for the first time. The moment they made contact together harks back to The Three Doctors (1973). At this point we get a recap of the previous three episodes. We then learn that the characters Sarah Mowat has been playing is the same in all three parts. I like how the Doctors are bickering and like to make digs at each other.

We learn that the Doctor’s actions have changed history. We are treated to more recaps from previous episodes. We all know that the Doctor’s actions have consequences but this is the first time for quite sometime that the Doctor is forced to be made aware of what they did and how they affected time. Lyena asks the Doctors to go back in time and correct the “mistakes” to change history to prevent the Knights of Velyshaa from being affected by the destruction of the Temperon. But if the Doctors go back and change history then it will create another wave of energy for the Sirens of Time.

The Sixth Doctor releases the Temperon and as a result Sancroff is killed, the Lusitania is destroyed by the submarine and as soon as Vansell’s TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey he leaves. We then go back to when the Seventh Doctor goes to the point where he encountered Lyena and he changes what he does by ignoring her. As the episode ends all three incarnations go their separate ways and into their own time lines

Sarah Mowat is perhaps at her best in this episode as we learn just what she really is. Due to the fact that the characters in the first three parts are nice characters anything other than nice would seem a strong improvement. John Wadmore appears as his fourth character in this episode as Sub-Commander Solanec who is working with the Knight Commander. He does well in supporting Mowat to give her the authority that being the Knight requires.

The main characters in this are the President and Coordinator Vansell. Michael Wade plays the President in this story and the only problem is that he doesn’t sound like a President to me. He does sound more authoritative than Vansell and its good how they are together. Its just a shame that the President gets shot. Anthony Keetch plays Coordinator Vansell and I think that Keetch does a good job despite how he tries to defy the president. He does slightly redeem himself just as he gets shot by the Knights.

As a first of a brand new range it’s a good start. Compared to more recent stories it’s a bit slow in terms of pace and the characters aren’t quite as strong. The sound effects are just as good so I’m not saying that The Sirens of Time is terrible. When I first heard this a few years ago I wasn’t particularly a big fan of it. However listening to it I have to say I have re-evaluated it and it is actually a good story. Its not without it flaws though because it starts off well with the 5th and 7th Doctor stories and then goes downhill slightly with the Sixth Doctor episode before becoming very complicated in Episode 4. Nicholas Briggs has written what I would class as a ‘smart who fan’ story and the lesser intelligent fans like myself will struggle to keep up. But despite that it’s a good first attempt.

No More Lies (2007)

No More Lies is the sixth story and technically the penultimate story of this first season. What we have is a story that starts off with the listener feeling like they have to dislike a character but then within 50 minutes actually pity him and feel like telling him to run along and see him run into the sunset. Paul Sutton has written this story having already penned stories such as Arrangements for War (2003), Thicker Than Water (2005) and Exotron/Urban Myths (2007).

One thing I liked about this story is that we join the action half way through some big trauma. I really like this form of storytelling because providing it’s not too complex then you find yourself hitting the ground running. The essential point to the story is that Nick Zimmerman has created a time loop so that his sick wife will essentially never die. This time loop is decaying with every time the whole day starts again and the result is that Vortisaurs seeps through and cause their usual mayhem. The Vortisaurs may sound familiar because they appeared in Paul McGann’s first full cast audio adventure Storm Warning (2001). The ending of this story is very good and totally unexpected. We finally see The Headhunter capture Lucie. This instantly leads into Human Resources and just shows that the next two episodes will be totally unmissable. I have to admit that I had to listen to it again because I was just a little bit confused as to how the opening scene related to all that business in the garden party. The second time that I listened to it I found that it all made sense. What is amazing is that despite the complex script that Sutton has written, this story makes quite a bit of sense and becomes really enjoyable.

Paul McGann is very good as the Doctor. He is overshadowed by Lucie but that may have been deliberately by writer Paul Sutton but McGann still gives a top notch performance. With every story we see what McGann could and probably would have done with the Doctor. Its one of the bug bears about McGann’s time as the Doctor that we only got one story with him in on TV because I think if he had been given more time then he would have been a superb Doctor. Sheridan Smith puts in another enjoyable performance. She is really getting into the role of the companion. She takes the lead out of the two. Smith has really got to grabs with the character and it is really a cliché to say this but its difficult to have someone play the role of Lucie.

Nigel Havers is perhaps the biggest name of the entire series. He has appeared in such shows as Little Britain, Dangerfield and Manchild all for the BBC. In this story he plays Nick Zimmerman. Havers plays a character that has changed from his evil ways to one that is just trying to spend some time with someone who has made him change his priorities and is a better person for it. Havers puts in a good performance and I genuinely felt sorry for him as we learnt how much Zimmerman had changed. Julia McKenzie also is a big name having starred in Cranford and also set to appear as Miss Marple plays Rachel Zimmerman who is in love with Nick but to add a tragic element to the character she has cancer. Her character is very likeable and her illness helps add a tragic side to this role. McKenzie performs well from start to finish and has some truly moving scenes with Havers.

Tom Chadbon returns to Doctor Who for the first time in nearly 30 years. Chadbon had appeared opposite Tom Baker’s Doctor in the 1979 adventure City of Death. He also made another appearance alongside Colin Baker’s Doctor in The Mysterious Planet segment of The Trial of a Timelord. He played a bungling over aggressive police officer in that but in this he plays the brother of Rachel and seems to have been a former security guard or someone in the security sector who has fallen on hard times and seems to have been given the job as Head of Security at this garden party just to keep him happy and make him feel like he’s valued. Katarina Olsson’s appearance at the end of the scene was a nice surprise and helped create a different shift to the final two episodes of this series. Her regular contribution to the series has helped create a nice feeling to this series as a story arc has slowly but deliberately mapped out over the previous episodes.

Paul Sutton has contributed a nice strong script that might require a second listen to this story but most people will probably be able to follow the action just listening to it once. If I do have a critiscm about this story then it is that the story could have done with a few more actors. There are only five actors in this story and I think with one or two more roles then some of the plot could have been changed slightly to make this story seem a bit more epic. After the brilliant start to the story we settle down and have to listen to the same 5 people and not have any more characters to enjoy.

Barnaby Edwards has done another superb job with this story. He manages to keep the slightly complex plot and interesting characters going along at a nice plot for 50 minutes. This is not exactly an original statement but Edwards does a good job in making sure all the plates are continually spinning (actors and plots) which can always be relied upon to do. Overall whilst its not the best story of the season it is a marked improvement of previous stories such as Phobos and Immortal Beloved. It seems that the quality of stories are gearing up towards the end of the series so that all the plots are tied up. It does the job of leading us into Human Resources with expectations and a desire to know exactly what has happened to Lucie.

Immortal Beloved (2007)

The fourth episode of this first series featuring Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith sees a curious story written by Jonathan Clements. This story sees the historical elements of Ancient Greece and the modern images such as helicopters. What we get in this story is a clear example as to why science can be a bad thing. After three strong stories the series needed to get into its stride and show that it doesn’t need to rely on Daleks to get a good story but what we get in this story is a different type of story.

Essentially what is going on is that a spaceship has crashed on a planet that isn’t earth but is in fact a long lost Earth Colony far in Lucie’s future which has been breeding clones of themselves for the sole purpose of transporting the brain of an old person and then placing it in this young and new body. It didn’t start out like this but when Zeus and his wife Hera and the rest of the colony started to live their life based on Greek Myth. In a classic attempt to try and keep their life going beyond its intended time. The remains of the original inhabitants of the colony have placed themselves in a God like position and force the clones to go through this horrible and deplorable process. There is a thrilling moment when Hera’s mind is transferred into Sararti but it doesn’t work and that leaves Sararti in control of her body and kills Zeus which frantically leaves Zeus having to transfer into another body. With Zeus dead it leaves the Doctor to convince Kalkin and Sararti to pretend to be Zeus and Hera. They reluctantly agree to do this and allow the Doctor and Lucie to leave. This was a clever end to it because it seemed that everyone would die and it was nice that the current inhabitants would be able to live their lives normally and not needed the mind transfer machine.

Paul McGann is on very good form in this story. He really puts in a great performance and in particular being appauled by Zeus’s use of the machine which transfer the brain for body to body. He does seem to take a bit of a back seat in this story but still manages to show why he is such a good Doctor. Sheridan Smith puts in another good performance as Lucie. Unlike other stories in this series we don’t get any real character development. She seems to spend most of the story fending of lustful Zeus and preparing to be tortured to be cloned time and time again. She does seem to take the lead out of her and McGann but shows what she can do. It feels like this relationship between McGann and Smith has firmly been set and shows signs of going from strength to strength.

Ian McNeice plays Zeus. McNeice has plays all sorts of characters. He plays Gerhard Klopfer in the 2001 HBO/BBC Movie Conspiracy and can also be seen in the ITV drama Doc Martin. The Zeus we have in this story isn’t quite the Zeus I learnt about as a child. We learn in the story is actually the pilot of the original colony ship and perhaps over time thinks of himself as a god being that he is the oldest inhabitant of the colony. He is superb playing this god like role and revels in what he is given to do. Anthony Spargo plays Kalkin who at first appears to be Zeus’s son but is in fact next clone. Spargo does a good job in rebelling and not accepting his fate. What I liked about Spargo was that he acted well alongside Lucie and the Doctor but it was with Zeus that he has some of his best moments and that is where he shines. Jake McGann plays Ganymede and also as you can tell he is Paul McGann’s son. The role of Ganymede isn’t the biggest in the story but does have a significant role towards the end. McGann does play the role well and clearly has inherited some of his dads acting talent. What is a shame about the character is how destined he seems to his fate. He will lose his personality and inhabit someone else’s and thus cease to exist. Elspet Grey is truly a delight in this story as Hera. Grey appeared in TV Who as Thalia in the 1983 story Arc of Infinity. She plays Hera with a nice sense of decency and works well with all the cast and becomes a likeable and reliable character.

With such a strong series of stories over the course of this series, this always had the look of a story that might be seen as a weak link in an otherwise strong chain. Jonathan Clements made his first contribution to the main Doctor Who range after writing scripts for the Unbound series and for the UNIT series. This isn’t a weak script from Clements as there are some interesting elements to it. The idea of continuing life in a different body could be argued to have been borrowed from The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp. Whether or not that is the case it is well used in this story and there are interesting characters. Jason Haigh-Ellery did a good job as director. Being the Managing Director of the company perhaps means he doesn’t have to try too hard to push to become director or writer or do any part of the story. He manages to keep the story going at a steady pace that never gets tiring or feels rushed at the end.

A good story throughout and whilst it would have been nice to have more of the Headhunter storyline in this story and perhaps they could have change the setting and use less of the Greek Myths. This is an ok story that is worth listening to but it isn’t the best by any stretch of the imagination. One to listen to if you in the mood to watch Jason and the Argonauts on DVD.

Worldwide Web (2009)

Worldwide Web is the concluding half of this series finale. I really like the Eight Truths because there was a sense that it was building to a big pay-off. However it didn’t seem to materialise in this story. The first half of this story was just a mess. It didn’t seem to have any point to it and it wasn’t until the final part that it all just came together. It was frustrating trying to stay with this story as apart from it clearly not having any focus it just seemed to drag. The style of the voices was very similar to what was used in Planet of the Spiders. I liked the little history lesson about the Spiders, how they were just normal house spiders that were on the spaceship that landed on Metabilias 3 and found their way into the caves. I know that was more for the newer fans who perhaps haven’t seen Jon Pertwee’s swansong but it was a nice short sharp bit of information.

It was a bit obvious that the whole idea of The Eight Truth Fold was a sham. That was clear from the outsight but the idea that the crystals were planted in the cave that Clark Goodman was coincidentally in was not expected. The Headhunter had planted them because she was in collusion with The Eight Legs. The ending was a nice as it leads into Death in Blackpool which is a Christmas Special and hopefully will be an enjoyable piece.

Paul McGann was quite good in this story. I think due to the fact that the story seemed so disjointed that it was hard for him to really shine. It was good how he worked with Kelly and was really sad about her death and really angry with Clark Goodman. Also his relief that Lucie was safe at the end was well played. Sheridan Smith was very good in this story, she really has become a top notch companion in these two stories as it seemed in The Eight Truths that she was just being possessed in the classic sense but actually we learn that her mind is being locked away and in the second half had being transported to what people were calling Heaven. If I do have one complaint I wish that they would have had more scenes together. I know that the plot didn’t allow for that but at the same time they could have had more scenes at the beginning of The Eight Truths.

Katarina Olsson was superb in this story. She has been one of the best things about this series of adventures. The thing I liked about her in this story was that she played the character who clearly was just trying to make some money for herself by aligning herself with the Eight Legs. When the crucial moment came she tried to control the Great One it was a sad moment as she started to lose the battle and died. It’s a shame that they decided to end the character but they did it in a nice way and they didn’t do a cop-out. Sophie Winkleman continued to do well in this story and like Olsson’s Headhunter, she got a good send off. The thing about Kelly was that she was a companion like role as Lucie was elsewhere and then suddenly she turned bad and her death was a surprise and emotional one. When she appeared in ‘Heaven’ it was still not the Kelly that we had known in The Eight Truths but was a still better than evil Kelly.

Sanjeev Bahaskar was perhaps not a good in this story as he had being in The Eight Truths. This was more because he didn’t have much to do apart from look for signals. He was better in the previous story but what he did contribute was a likeable character than interacted well with the Doctor and the final scene was nice to listen to. The idea that he benefits and hopefully will become a success was a nice send off for the character. Stephen Moore was really good in this story. In the previous story he played the leader but he was better when he had been deposed and was actually helping The Doctor. He was better as the former leader who was trying to gain revenge as apposed to a leader. I liked how he was genuinely shocked that all of what was happening was actually true despite the fact he was making it up. I really like Karen as played by Kerry Godliman. At first I found her annoying but she really developed well in these two stories. At one point I was hoping that they would make her into a companion. Alas they didn’t but I’m hoping that in Series 4 they will bring her back in a few stories.

I quite liked the character of David as played by Anthony Spargo. The character seemed easily persuaded and was also seemed to have taken a shine to the Queen. Beth Chalmers who has appeared regularly in Eighth Doctor adventures is very good as The Queen and has some really nice scenes with Lucie. Her demise was just right and Chalmers should be congratulated for such a good performance. Barnaby Edwards swaps the Directors chair for the acting one as a Newsreader which is a nice performance that adds a bit of reality to proceedings. Finally Richard Earl plays Rob that was a throwaway character that served a purpose in this story.

Eddie Robson has written some great stories in recent years. Human Resources in series one was highly enjoyable and also the superb The Condemned and later The Raincloud Man. This story wasn’t his greatest and I don’t know why. Its not because it’s a four part story essentially because he has written four part stories that have been superb. Its not a bad release but it is let down by way too many characters and too much going on. Nicholas Briggs has been a superb influence on Big Finish/Doctor Who in recent years and can always be relied upon to direct a thumping good adventure. This story wasn’t bad but at the same time I think he had difficulty with trying to get the story told as well as the unnecessarily high number of actors.

Ultimately when it is compared to previous series finales it isn’t the best. Way too many characters made it confusing and at times difficult to listen to. It was necersary in The Eight Truths but in this story it would have been nicer to lose a few characters early on. An enjoyable story but it did have some flaws and as a result is not as good as pervious series finales.

Horror of Glam Rock (2007)

The second story of this first series to feature The Eighth Doctor and Lucie sees the Doctor travel to the 1970’s. It is also the chance for us to encounter a member of Lucie’s family even though it’s not quite the way the way that we expect which is not unusual for a Doctor Who story. The story is written by Paul Magrs who has written The Stones of Venice and The Wormery. Neither of stories are what I would class as enjoyable in my mind but I was going to reserve judgement until I heard this story. Whilst trying to get Lucie back to Blackpool in 2006, the pair ended up on the M62 in a blizzard in 1974. They walk to a service station where they discover a dead body that has been torn apart by a grizzly beast. Once they get inside they meet The Tomorrow Twins who are the next big thing. As they try and cope with the monster that seems to want to destroy them they have to deal with Tommy Tomorrow and his bizarre behaviour. It soon transpires that the controllers of this monster called The Only Ones are going to use Tommy and his stylophone as a bridgehead to Earth.

This story has a base under siege type feel to it which I actually really like because it cracks up the tension to a high level and providing the characters are played right then the whole story can be a classic. Such as The Tenth Planet and the similar name Horror of Fang Rock. In this story we find out that The Tomorrow Twins are set to record their appearance on Top of the Pops. It brings back a feeling that appearing on Top of the Pops was a big thing as opposed to the terrible meaningless acts that appeared towards the dying days of the show until it was axed in 2006.

Paul McGann is very good in this story. He is given a situation where he can thrive and show what a great Doctor he is. His first encounter with everyone at the service station was very entertaining and I like the second reference to whether his hair was real. This was of course due to the joke that he wore a wig in his 1996 TV Movie but I still cant see why that’s a big thing considering William Hartnell wore one for all of his time as the Doctor. Overall it was another good display from McGann. Sheridan Smith is very good in this adventure as she tries to get over the disappointment of being in 1974 but soon gets over that when she encounters her Aunty Pat. She seems to be on good terms with the Doctor and is starting to feel like a proper companion. The way that she just shrugs off the dead body that they encounter was well played and I like McGann’s reaction to it as he found it a little unnerving. She is very much like Rose but with a northern voice.

It’s the supporting cast that I think help make this story work. Una Stubbs is very good as the underwritten canteen cook Flo. Stubbs gives the role a very down to Earth feel and you can’t help but warm to her. It’s nice to have Bernard Cribbins in this story. He appeared in the second big Doctor Who movie in the 1966 film Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150AD. In this story he plays the manager of the Tomorrow Twins named Arnold Korns. Cribbins has a nice voice for radio and his character is one that is there solely to make sure that the twins get to where their potential takes them largely so he can make a fortune and retire in the lap of luxury. You just want to tell him to shut up every time he opens his mouth but that is what you would expect from this type of character. Stephen Gately is perhaps the biggest name that has appeared in these audios. It’s not everyday that a former Boy-band member appears in a Science Fiction programme. In this he plays Tommy Tomorrow whose behaviour is getting slowly more erratic. Despite his character being integral to the whole point of the story there is something about this character that doesn’t quite work. I don’t know whether it’s Gately or whether it is Tommy Tomorrow but it just seems a bit unnatural. It does seem that he has been cast purely so that he can sing the main song which he does very well.

Clare Buckfield plays Tommy’s sister Trisha who seems like the more adult of the pair and she puts in a nice strong performance. Buckfield interacts well with both Tommy Tomorrow and Arnold Korns. This is Buckfield’s second role in a Big Finish play having starred in the 2001 story The One Doctor. This is her better performance but that is because she is given better dialogue. Lynsey Hardwick plays Pat who turns out to be the future Aunt of Lucie is a well played role that is the hidden gem of this story. We don’t know much about Lucie and instead of going down the Rose route where we know almost every facet of Lucie’s family we get bits in this story. There is a lot of emotion as Lucie talks to her and it is Hardwick that makes this work. Katarina Olsson appears in this as The Only Ones but more importantly as the Headunter. It is the Headhunter that I found more impressive as she this character is well written and Olsson puts on a nice voice and gives the feeling that the future stories in the series are going to be amazing.

Paul Magrs has written a story that’s biggest strength are the supporting characters. The biggest being Tommy Tomorrow. His story was what the main plot point of this story is all about. The role of Pat helped add a bit of meat to the character of Lucie and the base under siege format helps create the extra bit of drama that makes this a more stronger story and much more enjoyable than Blood of the Daleks. This is the sort of story that Big Finish should be doing. Barnaby Edwards does a good job of directing this story, he helps keep the listener interested with a well paced story and actors that have a nice audio voice. A credit must go to ERS who have created the music and managed to make the story have the 1970’s feel to it without using any of the music associated with that era.

Overall I thought this story was a nice sold single story and its amazing what is achieved in just 50 minutes. This is the benchmark for all future McGann stories. This is ultimately Magrs’ best story to date.

The Eight Truths

The penultimate story of this third series sees the return of a creature that made their only appearance 35 years ago but it was quite an important appearance in the shows history. The Eight Legs appeared in Planet of the Spiders back in 1974 which was Jon Pertwee’s swansong. In that story there is a group that use are a sort of new life place and they use the Eight Legs to get their goal. This story is written by Eddie Robson who has written the series finale from 2007 with Human Resources which was a superb ending to that series and he manages to do something different with this story.

The story takes quite a long time to get going, most of the this story consists of the Doctor working with Dr Avishka Sangakkara and Lucie with Karen at the old BBC Television Centre with the Eight Truths. When we get to the cliffhanger what we get is a bizarre conclusion which doesn’t really seem to have much going for it. This at least the second time this series that Lucie has screamed out which seems to be a bit of a letdown .The conclusion of this story is much better as we have chaos and the revelation of the Eight Legs. The conclusion of this episode was truly spine-chilling. I’m not a massive fan of spiders and so the sound of them crawling about and the music used help to make me genuinely fear that I have never felt in all my years of watching or listening to Doctor Who which spans 17 years. We got a brief glimpse of the queen at the end of the first part and she sounded exactly like she did in 1974. When we get to part two we see that time has progressed by about three weeks and that the Earth is being joined by a sun but as the episode progresses it is in fact just pretending to be a sun (like you would expect). The Doctor was injured by a bomb that had some dangerous gases and that resulted in him shutting his himself down to recover properly. This was unexpected and was actually more of a concern plot wise than Lucie’s predicament.

Paul McGann has put in another superb performance. His Doctor doesn’t have much time with Lucie but that’s not really a major problem because he works so well with Dr Sangakkara. He seemed quite perturbed about Lucie’s behaviour. Sheridan Smith is good when she is nice normal Lucie but when she becomes possessed by the Eight Legs she doesn’t quite pull it off. I don’t know why but whenever Lucie is in this position she just doesn’t pull it off. Despite that though she did come close and on some occasions she sounded a little menacing.

Sanjeev Baskhar is best known for starring in the BBC comedy Goodness Gracious Me and also more recently the ITV comedy Mumbai Calling. In this story he plays Dr Avishka Sangakkara, this character has been written as a likeable character that gets on well with the Doctor. We learn that he isn’t the sort of person that takes fools gladly but ultimately knows when to trust someone who knows far more than he does. It’s good to see Katarina Olsson back in the series as the Headhunter. She made a triumphant return in Orbis and we have not heard anything from her since. Her first scene was a bit underplayed which was different for the character. Olsson seems to enjoy playing this role and in this story she is never actually recognised as the Headhunter but her tone and the way she speaks to Lucie shows that she is the Headhunter. I’m not sure whether it was worth bringing back Karen into this story. She was integral to Human Resources because it explained the reason why Lucie was placed with the Doctor and in Grand Theft Cosmos she served a comedy purpose as The Headhunter’s sidekick. However whilst it would have been good to mention Karen and she isn’t wasted in this story I don’t know whether it would have been better served to get another character or actor to play this part. Kelly Godliman is very good as Karen and is one person out of four (the others being Paul McGann, Sheridan Smith & Katarina Olsson) to have appeared in all three series as the same character. Sophie Winkleman is another big name to appear in this story. She has appeared in The Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look and played Kelly Westwood in this story. Westwood is a reporter to is trying to uncover the truths about the Eight Truths Westwood sounds like your usual journalist/author. She wants to get the truth and has contacts which include people that use to be a part of the group and is reluctant to give any information from her book to the Doctor. Stephen Moore is a name that isn’t necersarily one that jumps out at you but when you hear his voice or see him on the television you know who he is. He did the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on the Radio and TV. He also played Kevin the Teenagers Dad in the Harry Enfield Sketch Show. In this story he plays Clark Goodman and his voice gives the impression that he is a leader who has the respect of everyone in his group. I think that he was superb in this story and possibly we may get a new side to him in Worldwide Web.

Essentially we have a four part story and as such the story feels like it is structured that way. The first two parts of this four part story is the build up and as there is not much coming from the Eight Legs it gives Robson chance to give some good character development to Clark Goodman and the rest of the Eight Legs as well as make Sangakkara a stronger and more rounded character. Robson is one of my favourite writers in this range and he has delivered a slow but steady story that gives enough to fans who remember when the Eight Legs appeared in Doctor Who and what happened in the end. Nicholas Briggs has done well in the directing chair helping to create a different feel to the previous stories in this season. Knowing how important the ending to the series is this story bodes well for Worldwide Web.

Blood of the Daleks (2007)

2007 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER - BEST EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURE

Blood of the Daleks is a two part story that opens up the Eighth Doctor and Lucie series. This is the first proper series that McGann has had since The Doctor, C’Rizz & Charley came back to our universe in The Next Life back in 2004. In this story we are introduced to a new companion, totally original and never before seen in either the classic or new series. Lucie Miller is a young brash Northerner from Blackpool who is on her way to a new job when she gets taken out of time and landed with the Doctor. This story was written by Steve Lyons who has written in the past The Fires of Vulcan (2000), Colditz (2001) and Gallifrey: Insurgency (2005).

The opening of this story is quite similar to the Christmas Special The Runaway Bride. I don’t believe that was intention able but seen as they both aired within two weeks of each other it’s a comparison hard to not make. This scene sets up what we can expect from the rest of the season. Due to the turbulence of Lucie’s arrival we find the Doctor and his new friend arrive on Red Rocket Rising which is a planet that has been devastated by asteroid strikes and the inhabitants are waiting for some sort of help. Inhabitants include Eileen Klint who is the acting president, Asha Gryvern who is a disgraced scientist and Tom Cardwell who is a bit nuts and also paranoid.

The story reveals that Gryvern who we were led to believe was assistant to a Professor Martez was actually Martez in reality and was creating a new race of Daleks. It’s also revealed that Gryvern is just occupying Martez’s body and it is slowly breaking down. We learn that the Daleks had created the asteroid strikes to try and destroy the new race of Daleks which they must see as some sort of an abomination. It was weird that the Doctor aligned himself with the real Daleks so that he could help destroy Martez’s Daleks. It wasn’t long before he gets help from Tom Cardwell to destroy both Daleks and thus have a happy ending. The Doctor tries to leave Red Rocket Rising without Lucie but soon finds out that he can’t because of the Timelords.

Paul McGann is given a new breath of fresh air with the introduction of Lucie. After five years of Charley and C’Rizz we know get the fresh scenario of a Doctor and a new companion. Having only started listening to Big Finish plays since late 2004 I have never been in this scenario where I am encountering a companion from the very beginning. McGann’s Doctor has to contend with the arrival of Lucie and the encounter of the Daleks. He seems to having a fun time with all the action going on. Sheridan Smith is someone that I have seen on TV from appearing in such shows as The Royle Family (1999-2000) and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001 to present). It seems that Lucie Miller is going to be a strong companion. She is a feisty individual but isn’t annoying, it’s a fine line which they have managed to get just right. She has some funny lines in this which helps a lot, such lines as wondering whether the Doctor’s hair is real or a wig which is funny because he wore a wig in the TV movie. Her line when they encounter Tom Cardwell for the first time and saying that Tin Hats “Not a good thing!” was also funny and made her seem more human and more real as a result. Anita Dobson is the biggest name of the guest stars. She appeared in the soap Eastenders as Angie Watts from 1985 to 1988, she is also married to Queen Guitarist Brian May. In Blood of the Daleks she plays embattled acting president Eileen Klint who has a hard time getting on with inhabitants. She is too willing to get on with the Daleks and due to the pressures of office she makes a monumentally bad decision. The character was written as weak and Dobson played that brilliantly. Hayley Atwell was perhaps the best of the guest stars as Asha Gryvern and Professor Martez. By creating a new race of Daleks she was the female version of Davros and she played that brilliantly. I was really impressed with the way that she played both roles and how she integrated with the other characters as well as the Doctor.

Other characters in this story include the Headhunter who is a character that will have such an important character throughout the series. The Headhunter is played by Katarina Olsson who also played the computer which is an ok role. Kenneth Cranham plays Tom Cardwell which is a character that is designed not to be taken seriously but obviously is ignored to the cost of the survival of Red Rocket Rising. I did find him a bit annoying but that shows what a good character he was and how he was right in his paranoia. Last but by no means least we have Gerry O’Toole who played Lowell. The character of Lowell wasn’t a particularly standout character but served a purpose and did well.

I thought that this was a really good opening story. There was the classic element of a planet under siege but with a different element. The introduction of a new companion was handled well and this should bode well for the future. Steve Lyons has written a highly enjoyable story which is amazing considering he had to bring in a new companion, bring in the Daleks and adapt to the new format of two 50 minute episodes. Nicholas Briggs does a superb job of directing this story. He managed to keep the intrigued at top notch throughout bout parts. Due to this story I have high hopes of the rest of the season and hope that Lucie’s story is told in a satisfactory manner.

Enemy of the Daleks (2009)

Enemy of the Daleks is the second story of three in this mini series to feature the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex. Following on from the very entertaining Magic Mousetrap we encounter the Daleks for their first adventure in the main range since Brotherhood of the Daleks back in October 2008. This story is written by David Bishop who makes his debut in the Doctor Who range having written stories for Judge Dredd and Sapphire and Steel. Another point to make is that this is Hex’s first encounter with the Daleks in his five year stint with the show.

For some reason Hex seems to be annoyed that neither the Doctor or Ace mentioned the Daleks at any point of their travels. It seems to me a redundant point because unless you need to know about them then why should you be told. I can’t believe that its taken this long for him to meet the most popular monsters in Doctor Who history. He met the Cybermen in his very first adventure so what took them so long? Hex seems to step up a gear in this story. He doesn’t become the normal Hex by staying in the background and actually stands up for himself. I thought that the characters were all well written as they all showed the weariness of the Dalek War taking its toll on all of them especially Stokes who has encountered them before when she was a child. As the story progresses we get to see Stokes become more and more unbalanced which helps add to the tension of the situation. The secret of what Professor Shimura has been doing was very creative and gives meaning to the title of the story. It was only after the Kiseibya starting screaming for metal that I got the thinking that they were created to destroy the Daleks. In this story we got the classic confrontation between the Doctor and Shimura which helped elevate the character of Shimura from a crazed scientist to almost Davros status. Even the Doctor commented on that in their big scene.

The ending to episode one was a really good cliffhanger. The idea that the Doctor is in a situation where he has to make sure that an atrocity actually happens is totally bizarre. It mirrors the early plot point in the 2006 story No Mans Land where the Doctor and co had to investigate something that had already. Again we are in the position that we don’t know what going to happen but the Doctor does which is a really fun place to be. The Daleks take a back seat throughout the early parts of this story. This enables the characters and the plot to really shine, as the Kisebya get stronger and stronger they target the Daleks not because they have been told to but because they don’t see the Daleks as a true threat but just as lunch. The creation of the Kisebya was another great idea from Big Finish. Their purpose was well used. It took a while for me to work out how they develop. They get injected into muscle or meat and then they feed off that when they are born, soon afterwards they start to feed off metal thus making them more dangerous than the Daleks. With everything going on it isn’t until Part Four that we discover what the atrocity that is supposed to happen and that is an entire race being wiped out and the Doctor being the one to do it. There was a brief moment when Hex questions his time with the Doctor and Ace. This mirrors the mood that Erimem was in towards her last few adventures. I wonder whether this marks the end of Hex’s time in the show. The mood is certainly very down at the end of Part Four, with Hex feeling inept at not being able to help. It was Lieutenant Beth Stokes who had the biggest emotional journey. She starts off as the brave lieutenant and then just breaks down and at one point is willing to sacrifice her life to destroy the Daleks. This is quite a sad moment but you feel that it would be the end of her suffering.

Sylvester McCoy was truly superb in this story. He never put a foot wrong throughout this story and had some memorable scenes with Professor Shimura. Sophie Aldred is very good in this story she becomes the soldier of the group and that is when Aldred really shines. Philip Olivier puts in his strongest performance. Despite the quite ridiculous whine about not being told about the Daleks before they arrive on Bliss he really shone for me. Kate Ashfield who has appeared in such films as Shaun of the Dead stars in this as Lieutenant Beth Stokes who is an emotional mess but to start off with she is a determined woman. It was only a matter before she crumbled under the mental stress that comes with what had happened to her when she was younger. Bindya Solanki makes her second appearance in this series, she previously appeared in the 2005 story The Juggernauts. She plays Sergeant Tahira Khan who actually should really be in charge because she stands and fights when Stokes flees. I found the character to be a nice strong character that served the purpose. I thought the most entertaining character in this story was the character of Professor Toshio Shumura. The guy playing the role was Eiji Kusuhara was very good as the Davros like character. He was great when he started off trying to hide something from Stokes. His sacrifice at the end was totally unexpected but actually made sense because he created the Kiseibya and would do anything to ensure their survival. At no point does he seem remorseful at what he has created and the potential damage that he could cause. He seems genuinely dedicated to destroying the Daleks but anything else is fair game. Jeremy James also put in some good performances as Sistermatic (the robot), the Kiseibya, the male patient and the voice. All the voices were well done but it was the Kiseibya that was the best.

David Bishop has written a brilliant story. All the characters in this story mixed in with each other so well that it’s difficult to imagine the story working without even one of them. The plot never got weak at any point throughout this story. Ken Bentley did another superb job as directing, the pace was non stop and shows why he is such a great director.

I didn’t think that they could get any better than The Magic Mousetrap but they have managed it with this story. Also I think that this is the best Dalek story since Terror Firma in 2005. The last two Dalek stories have been a bit to complicated and in the case of Renaissance of the Daleks even felt a bit flat and empty. There was nothing that I didn’t like about this story and felt that this is the top story of 2009 so far.

The Cannibalists (2009)

Due to the strong stories that there have been during this series of adventures for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie it was only a matter of time before their was a weak story. On a star city there are two tribes of robots where one is good and the other obviously is bad and that’s why they are called Cannibalists. Written by Jonathan Morris this is his second contribution of the series and is perhaps his weakest effort. When I say weak don’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad story but when I finished listening to it I did have an empty feeling.

Essentially this story sees the Doctor and Lucie arrive on a star city which is supposed to be full of live but all it has are robots. There are the Assemblers and the Cannibalists. Due to the fact that humans are a bit late in showing the programming has forced some of the robots to go on a killing spree. When the Doctor and Lucie arrive they head towards the lower levels except that is where the Cannibalists live and following on from the opening scene that isn’t where you want to be. When the Doctor encounters the Assemblers he realises what he has to do and that is to just hit the reset switch because as we learn due to the excessive time that had lapsed the robots has basically broke their programming and it needs the reboot to get things back to where they were. The story essentially rested on the Doctor and co’s search for the mythical reset switch which isn’t such a bad thing. I generally thought that this story is perhaps the most difficult of the stories that have been produced for this range. It was definitely a brave attempt on the part of Morris but ultimately it fell slightly short of the mark. I am a fan of Morris but this wasn’t his best effort.

This wasn’t the best story that Paul McGann has been in. It wasn’t that McGann was bad but it was due to the fact that he has had some cracking stories in this series that it wouldn’t take much to have a poorer story. I normally have praise for the relationship between the Eighth Doctor and Lucie however it didn’t really shine in this story apart from the beginning. I suppose it may have been because it didn’t really serve much of a purpose in this story. Sheridan Smith did have a good time in this story which shows what a good companion she is. I think that being away from the Doctor isn’t necessarily a good thing for Lucie because she bonds so well in this story. However she did well without the Doctor and showed that she is a strong companion that can work well on her own.

There were some big names in this story. One being Phill Jupitus. Phill Jupitus was good as Servo. Jupitus is best known for starring on the BBC2 Music Quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks and like he is in that show in The Cannibalists he was equally enjoyable.The character of Servo was designed to be a likeable and helpful character and in this story it was the idea that he had a thing for poetry but was really bad made him seem more human than robot. I had the feeling that something bad was going to happen to Servo because he is someone that we like even though he is the same kind as Titus. Another big name was Phil Davies has starred in many BBC drama’s including more recently The Curse of Steptoe, Ashes to Ashes & Lark Rise to Candleford. But he perhaps is more known to Doctor Who fans as starring in The Fires of Pompeii as Lucius. In this story he played Titus and the thing about Titus was that he was the leader of the cannibalists so became the main bad guy. Perhaps one of the other main guest characters that I thought played an important part was Minerva who was played by Charlotte Fields. The character is another in a long line of computer voices. It seems to be a staple part of any spaceship or space city however unlike most of them Minerva actually helped the Doctor instead of trying to kill him. I quite like the Crusher as played by Teddy Kempner who also provided the voice of Macrinus.

Others actors in this story also performed well and their characters served a purpose due to the group that they are in. Nigel Lambert performed two roles including Diode and Domitian. For info-freaks he does the voice of Papa in the Dolmio adverts. Oliver Senton performed well as Probus & Ripper and Beth Chalmers had a brief but nice role as the elevator voice.

There were something’s that I didn’t like about this story. The first being is that the opening scene with the Cannibalists ripping another droid to shreds and taking all his parts. I thought that it was quite uncomfortable and thought that it went on way too long. It seems to be a habit of Big Finish’s to have gruesome seems either over exaggerated or extended. I find unnecessary and think that it detracts from the main plot. I also thought that it did take quite a long time to get this story going, the voices also made it slightly hard to listen to and thought that they probably over-treated the actors’ voices in post production. Having said that as the story got going I didn’t find the voices too much and it didn’t stop my enjoyment.

Jonathan Morris’s second contribution to the series is perhaps his weakest one. I think maybe that it is because it seems like a rushed job and because he put in so much effort with Hothouse that it resulted in The Cannibalists being perhaps weaker than it could have been. Had they released this story next year then it would have been a lot better. Jason Haigh-Ellery is in the directors chair and I think he did an ok job. I think that with a complicated story he did the best he could but I still rate him as a good director and hopes he does more stories in the future.

Overall I think that this story is perhaps not the best story of the series and it largely suffers due to the fact that it needs more time to add more of a threat to proceedings. All the actors performed well and did well with a different script. An OK story that isn’t particularly the greatest in this third series.