The Sands of Life (2013)

Following the success of ‘The Auntie Matter’, I had high hopes for The Sands of Life which was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs. The story also see John Leeson return as K9 and the is set on Earth where an election for the earth presidency has just been decided just before the Earth get visitors. The idea that the Laan (the creatures) are using the Earth as some sort of birthing pool which has the potential to pretty much destroy the planet is an interesting one and the story does a good job in grabbing your attention from the get go. As it’s a three part story it means that the story has to be structured different and there is a different vibe from the previous story. Even the introduction of K9 cant ruin the story. In the Gallifrey series, K9 has become tolerable and also at times become useful, however in this story he does suffer from the problems he had on TV and spends the first part of the story stuck in the TARDIS.

The central performances are really good with Mary Tamm taking the lead in many ways in this story. The voices are going through her and that means she doesn’t fade in the sidelines. Mary Tamm gives another lovely performance which makes it even more sad that we wont be getting many more from her.  Tom Baker has well and truly settled down into doing these releases. I thought it was another performance that was more suited to his Doctor in that era. I like John Leeson but don’t really like K9 but it was nice to have Leeson in the story even if it was for a relatively short period. The supporting cast is another strong group of people. David Warner is always welcome in a Big Finish play and he puts in another solid performance as Cuthbert who is clearly a slippery character. Not quite sure where Cuthbert is suppose to be from as his accent does change from time to time.  He can get away with it because David Warner and the character is rather well created.  Hayley Atwell is another good piece of casting. Having appeared in Big Finish plays before having played Asha in ‘Blood of the Daleks’ back in 2006 before starring in the Captain America movie. Here she plays President Moorkurk who from the first scene is under attack, be it from the Laan or Cuthbert. As the story progresses, I suspect that the President will start to have a more important role in the story. Toby Hadoke is another fine piece of casting as Mr Dorrick. Having become a fan of his through his ‘Moths ate my Doctor Who scarf’ play a couple of years ago, I thought that Hadoke’s character was another well created character.

I knew that this story was the first of two parts and so was expecting it to take its time in telling the story. As a story, I can’t really comment until I have heard the next story but as half of a story I thought that it was still a really good adventure. Not surprising really considering its written by Nicholas Briggs who I think is the Terrance Dicks of audio. He has one of the best track records in the Big Finish group of plays and it was another strong story from him. He knows how to write good characters and more importantly knows how to tell a good story which doesn’t get too bogged down in complicated science stuff. This second series continues to impress.