The Romance of Crime (2015)

The Romance of Crime is a story that many fans have been waiting for since Tom Baker joined Big Finish in 2012. It sees former husband and wife Tom Baker and Lalla Ward reunite for the first time since 1981. I have always been surprised that Lalla Ward wanted to work with Baker because it was clear that they didn’t always get on before they got married. I suppose the passage of time can change people’s opinion. The Romance of Crime is based on the 1995 Virgin Novel of the same name written by new series writer Gareth Roberts. Like previous novel adaptions that Big Finish have done I haven’t read this book so I come to this release cold. The story is set on an asteroid prison in the Uva Beta Uva planetary system on the rock of judgement.

Miranda Raison is about to become a companion for the sixth Doctor but here she plays Zais and Zais has a rather interesting way of killing people. This is by squeezing people’s head until they burst. It’s a horrid idea that is made even more horrific by the sound effects used to realise this. It doesn’t happen once but several times. Miranda Raison does a very good job in this story and the character is one of the strongest ones in recent Big Finish plays.

The cover sort of ruins this and those that had read this book would already know this but the Ogrons make a return. The Ogrons are perhaps most associated with the Daleks but its nice to think that they work for other people/alien races. Zais isn’t the sort to do any of the donkey work so its seems like a logical thing to do to have the Ogrons. If memory serves me correctly, they didn’t do much talking in Day of the Daleks but in this story. I don’t know if I like the idea that they are more chatty than normal because there was something rather simplistic with them not talking but grunting their way through a story.

Despite the good start that the story had I think that it seemed to get a bit bogged down with stuff in the latter stages but to best hones this story was more an exercise about what a Fourth Doctor and Romana 2 story would be like and I have to say that it was a moderate success. I that the performances were all good from the central characters. Tom Baker was his usual self and by that I mean brilliant. His interaction with Lalla Ward was fun to listen to and it seemed like they genuinely got on which is good to know. Lalla Ward hasn’t always been the strongest performer in these stories but she steps up her game in this story and manages to hold her own with Tom. I even found John Leeson to be entertaining to listen to. That’s a bit cruel, I meant to say that I even found K9 entertaining to listen to.

As far as novel adaptions go. This is one of the more enjoyable. This felt more like a Fourth Doctor Adventures story as opposed to a novel adaption. John Dorney did a good job of making this work and I would say that I might try and find the book on ebay or something. I am looking forward to listening to the next Gareth Roberts adaption.