Enemy Aliens (2013)

  This release is something of a historic release. It's the first time that a Big Finish companion has been used in wha is effectively a non-big finish adventure. it's the only time this will happen and its more to do with the fact that his number companions is low and the two characters that they could use are unavailable so out comes Charlotte Louise Pollard as played by India Fisher who's last adventure was a couple of years ago.

I'm going to come out with it straight away and say that I reall enjoyed this adventure. From start to finish the story was highly enjoyable and what sold this adventure to me wasn't necessarily India Fisher though I will get onto that shortly. It was the actual story which I found quite charming and I liked how it uses the title in quite a clever way. When you read the word aliens you imagine aliens in the traditional sense but actually it means aliens in the international sense. 

There a several good moments throughout this release. The first of them and the one that made me instantly like this story was the death on stage and how it leads Charley to be accused of murder. There something of the 39 steps about this story which isn't a bad thing just an observation. Then Charley fleeing to Scotland manages to make me feel that this could have worked as a full cast adventure for the main Big Finish range.

India Fisher is very good in this, actually let me correct that and say she is superb. Anyone who watches MasterChef will be familiar with her voice and whether its telling us what some wannabe chef has cooked up or whether Charley is talking about the latest peril, Fisher delivers the lines brilliantly and with the same amount of enthusiasm. If this is the first time that you are encountering Charley then you don't need to have heard any of her adventures with the sixth and eighth doctors.

The story does start to run a bit out of steam towards the very end but I enjoyed it so much that I didn't mind it so much. With a running time of around an hour it zips along at quite a good pace and its easily the best of the range which when you consider how good and consistently good the stories have been then it shows you how good this release is. As the range is coming towards the end its probably the best time to say that this series has been a pleasant surprise because even though Big Finish have produced it, there was a possibility that with AudioGo being involved that it was going to fall flat and just not work but I'm happy to say that the series has workedn and in the shows 50th Anniversay that is a massive relief.