January 22, 2011

The Ruthven Inheritance (2011)

The final instalment of this brilliant series has a lot to live up to. Unfortunatley I missed the announcement on the Big Finish Website which said that episodes three and four mixed up. So I listened to the final story before I should have done. This story was written by Jonathan Morris who is one of the best Big Finish/Doctor Who writers and wrote what was voted for in the Tomstardis Awards for the Best Jago and Litefoot story.

The story sees Jago and Litefoot hit rock bottom. Jago sells his theatre but is still left with the debt and Litefoot stripped of his position at the hospital and his reputation in tatters. Things that these two see as their character above all else are taken away from them. With both of them down on their luck it seems there is no hope for either character, then Litefoot is given a job to investigate the remains of his relatives but not all is what it seems. Now that Sanders seems to be involved in the story arc of the series it was inevitable to hear his named mentioned. It arrived at the time that something needed to happen to make the story seem worth it. Ellie was given more to do in this story since the first story (unless Theatre of Dreams proves me wrong). Ellie is a likeable character and helps give a different slant to the feel of the series.

The best of the supporting cast was Simon Williams as Lord Cornelius Ruthven who was instantly recognisable (for me anyway) after his stint on Remembrance of the Daleks. The character is instantly sinister and it’s clear that there is something not quite right and its soon revealed that he is working for Sanders, his ancestors have been working for Sanders for thousands of years and it’s a that point that I really got a feeling that Sanders was a far more important character than I had previously thought. The rest of the supporting cast was great with Sacker being an enjoyable character who’s running time was harshly cut short.

With Sanders beaten yet again, everything is returning to normal and most importantly Ellie is back to her self and it seems like that is how the series would end but the story ends on a wonderful note. The truly shocking return of Leela who last met Jago and Litefoot in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Jonathan Morris has written another fine story and it had everything I would want from the series. The series end on a wonderful note and I cant wait for the third series. I’m not saying that the first series was bad but series two was fantastic. The stories for each series were fun and enjoyable and the whole momentum of the series has been building steadily to a thrilling climax. Thankfully we wont have to wait too long for the third series with it being released in August.

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