The Secret History (2015)

The Secret History is the 200^th release in the main range and is the final story in the Locum Trilogy. I remember when the range reached 100 back in September 2007, I wasn’t totally impressed with it partly because I wasn’t convinced that you could tell a story in 25 minutes and to do it four times would be impossible. Years later I re-listened to it and thought that it was a better story than I gave it credit for. This story sees the Fifth Doctor team up with Vicki and Steven and as they are companions of the first Doctor it seems inevitable that the story is a historical adventure and whilst listening to this story I found myself thinking about the 2001 release The Council of Nicaea which I really like and so the idea of this set up seemed to be the one with the most potential.

The first scene between the Doctor, Vicki and Steven is dealt with quite quickly. This might be because the third time round the novelty is becoming repetitive so there is no need for a long scene about the who’s and why’s. The first part of this story does feel like its going at a casual pace.

The big reveal of this story is that the person that he has behind all of the locum trilogy is the Meddling Monk and I didn’t see this coming although it sort of makes sense when you think about it. The previous two stories have been dummy runs for the Meddling Monk. The Monk is going to try and make the Doctor interfere with events forcing the Timelords to notice and take action against the Doctor. As plans go it’s convoluted to the stage that the Master would be suing for copyright infringement.

The supporting cast are all entertaining enough. Lysette Anthony is quite good as Sophia. Anthony has previously appeared as Clara Harris in Assassin in the Limelight (2008) and as Hazel Bright in Hothouse (2009) and so she shows us on more than one occasion how good she is. Another BF regular is Tony Millan who last appeared in Situation Vacant (2010). His contribution to the story was enough to make his characters memorable. Having Graham Garden back in Doctor Who is always a good thing and he seems to thrive playing the Monk so hopefully it wont be another four years before returning.

As a story it worked out quite well. It was a nice setting that got even better when the Meddling Monk. Peter Davison was on fine form and it was nice to have Peter Purves and Maureen O’Brien involved in a full cast audio even though it could be argued that they get pretty close to this type of story in the early adventures. As the final story in the Locum Trilogy it was the best largely because it actually attempted to answer the questions as to why Doctors were popping up where they should. I can’t say that it was a largely successful trilogy but that is because it had quite a lot to live up to with the set up and the anniversary.

Big Finish has accomplished a lot in 200 releases and sixteen years. The stories have been largely good and some classics like Live 34 and The Chimes of Midnight. Its quite impressive that Big Finish have managed to find 200 stories that could easily work on TV and I look forward to the next 200 releases.

1963: Fanfare for the Common Men (2013)

Big Finish’s build up to the 50^th Anniversary of Doctor Who starts off with a series of stories that have 1963 as a theme. The first story is written by Eddie Robson who is a writer that I think has had a mixed run. When he’s good he’s on ‘Memory Lane’ form but when he’s bad he’s on ‘Industrial Evolution’ form. It’s not the first time that music and Doctor Who have collided. The most memorable was ‘Doctor Who and the Pirates’ back in 2003 which I enjoyed and then there was ‘Horror of Glam Rock’ in 2007 and then there was ‘The Ultimate Adventure’. It’s not necessarily a guarantee that this was going to work but two words. Open mind.

The story sees the Doctor and Nyssa arrive in a 1963 where the Beatles aren’t the massive band that they should be and it a group called the Common Men are just as popular. It’s a nice mystery as to who has changed things. The story is complicated somewhat when the Doctor and Nyssa become separated by time this allows them to do the one is ahead of the other in the same timeline. I like how a great deal of effort is made to make the Common Men appear just as big as the Beatles and even the  ‘bigger than jesus’ line that John Lennon used in 1966. There is also the theory about Paul McCartney being replaced used here.

The thing about this story is that it starts off in quite light hearted  manner but then after the second episode starts it seems to shift in tone and becomes the sort of story that Eddie Robson is good at writing. The truth about what’s going on is quite a fun explanation. The aliens/baddies are a bunch of hypnotised alien from Bional. The aliens feed of power and fame and the Beatles were the biggest band ever and so that would be an all you can eat buffet. The moment when its revealed that the Common Men are actually alien is something that was revealed earlier than I thought it would be. I’m not saying that I saw it coming because I didn’t but it wasn’t a big surprise really.

One of the big names in this is Mitch Benn who many will know from the BBC Radio 4 comedy ‘The Now Show’ amongst many things. He was having to do a Liverpudlian accent and half the time I was expecting him to say “Thomas had been a very naughty engine”. His role in the story is very good and he’s a strong presence in the story. The other members of the common men were also good additions to the story. Andrew Knott & David Dobson do a good job in complimenting Benn’s performance and I believed that they were three guys from Liverpool that have becoming the biggest group on Earth.

I like how they have decided to go with the 5^th Doctor and Nyssa as I think that this is a strong combination and Nyssa is a companion that can always deliver. In fact both Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton deliver sound performances despite being separated for so long. As much as I have enjoyed the Nyssa/Tegan/Turlough adventures over the last few years, I am relieved to have the Doctor work with just one companion as opposed to three. It’s always good to see Nyssa out of her depth as she has to submerse herself with a group of liverpudlians.

The final scene is brilliant as it ties up to the very first story in Doctor Who. The Common Men were the name of a band mentioned in the first episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’ and this feels like a lovely bit of continuity which would have seemed obvious to someone else but to me it was a nice surprise and it’s the sort of thing that works quite well. Fanfare for the Common Men is definitely Eddie Robson back on fine form. It was a nice balance of fun and drama and it’s a good start to the 50^th Anniversary celebrations.

The Apocalypse Mirror (2013)

The latest Companion Chronicle sees Fraser Hines and Wendy Padbury join up to tell a story that sees the TARDIS land on Earth. This story has been written by Eddie Robson who’s last story was the very good ‘The Jigsaw War’ and in the past he has been a writer who I feel has been a little bit inconsistent but after his last story I was confident that this would be just as good. I like the combination of the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie and its good that both Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines are here to tell this story.
The story starts with the Doctor trying to do keepie-uppies in the TARDIS console room. The Doctor then manages to break something on the TARDIS and they land on earth in far future (even for Zoe) which has been devastated by flooding. The setting of this story is rather well done. Credit to Richard Fox and Lauren Yason who created the right sounds to help me imagine this rather grey and broken down place to be.

The main threat of the story is a meteorite which is making its way towards the earth and there is around five hours before it hits. This helps force the story into movement. The fear is now trying to save the residents lives and the main problem was that I didn’t really care about them. Despite Eddie Robson’s best efforts I just found them to be a bit annoying.

Despite this featuring two of our favourite companions, it’s really more of a Jamie story as Fraser Hines features largely throughout. Even in the interview at the end its only Hines and not Padbury that features. It’s not very often that speeches stand out in my mind but the speech that Fraser Hines gives towards the end is one of my favourite speeches that I can remember in the companion chronicles.  

Fraser Hines is very good in this as he usually is and this isn’t just because he does a great Patrick Troughton impression but he also have a wonderful way of telling the story and he’s like William Russell in that respect. In the interview, it was revealed that he is one of the most popular people in the range and it’s not hard to see why. Despite being slightly side-lined at times, Wendy Padbury is a great presence here and is entertaining from start to finish.

We’re going to get at least one more Jamie story before the Companion Chronicles end next June (2014). I cant say that I was totally bowled over by this story as there were things that I found a little difficult to follow but there were things in this release that I enjoyed and think that it’s a story that has some ideas even if it isn’t quite as good as some of the stories that we have had in 2013.

The Jigsaw War (2012)

This is the second Jamie story that we have had in just three months but this time he is on his own. This is also the second story to be released that has been written by Eddie Robson. This one seems to be the more interesting on because it has a simple premise. I say simple in that the idea is simple but not necessarily the story itself. Jamie is a prisoner and has to put a sequence of events in order so that he can escape. This CC story isn’t a regular one because it isn’t told as if it were happening in the past. This is as if it were a normal story. The story could quite easily have gone off and become a totally bonkers story and lose my patience. We know (or think we know) that Jamie ends up shooting his captor Si.

Getting someone to put events in order is quite a bold idea but giving that it’s the responsibility of Jamie who isn’t as smart as other companions makes the story a whole lot more interesting. The fact that he manages to pull it off and uses logic to work things out is something that wouldn’t have happened on TV. It’s not until part two until we get to the plot device that writers use from time to time and that is putting the companion in a situation where their faith in the Doctor is rocked. In Jamie it’s done quite effectively as the Doctor/Jamie friendship is one of the strongest in Doctor Who. The idea that Si was trying to change Jamie.

As there should be there is an explanation as to why Jamie is where he is and thus the purpose of the story. Unhelt’s have powers which Si is trying to control but they are scared that they will rise against them, Si and his race are using humans to slow down the Unhelt’s development. The humans would be convinced that the Unhelt’s are dangerous when they clearly aren’t. I’m guessing that I have spelt the name of the race correctly. It seems to be right and even though we never get to encounter them I must say that I found them to be an intriguing race and quite like Robson’s previous story (Jupiter), they are portrayed as one thing but in reality are the exact opposite. At first I thought it would have been nice to hear them but then thought that it would probably have slowed the pace of it and got in the way of the storytelling.

Frazer Hines is as usual brilliant in this story. He has to play Jamie like he did on TV and in the Sixth Doctor series in 2010 and he seems to be enjoying himself. It’s nice that the Jamie we get in these adventures is slightly more rounded than on TV and shows that despite not having the Doctor and/or Zoe beside him, he can still work things out and doesn’t always need a smarter person to fill in the blanks. Dominic Mafham makes his debut to the Doctor Who world (though he will be turning up in a future fourth Doctor adventure). As Si, I found him to be very good because he wasn’t coming across as the evil genius intent on world domination and neither was he someone who I didn’t believe in. He was just someone that seemed to be doing his job on a planet that he didn’t want to be on Mafham does a good job in pitching it just right. Yes you could argue that Robson had a hand in this but the writing only takes it so far and as a result its left to Dominic to flesh it out and in his first performance he does very well indeed.

This is Eddie Robson’s strongest (and smartest) story for quite sometime. Out of this story and ‘The Jupiter Conjunction’, this is the better of the two by a clear mile. I suppose if I had to find fault with this story then it would be that I wish there was more of Frazer doing his Troughton impression cause I still maintain that it’s one of the best impressions in Doctor Who. Apart from that ‘The Jigsaw War’ is a highly enjoyable companion chronicle and the ending whilst abrupt seems to slot in well with the disjointed format of the release.

The Jupiter Conjunction (2012)

After a highly enjoyable story last month, I knew as I started to listen to The Jupiter Conjunction that it would have to try very hard to beat that story. It is written by Eddie Robson who is someone that I rated quite highly when he first started to write stories for Big Finish but it’s cooled somewhat in the last year or so. Prime example is the 2010 release ‘Industrial Evolution’ which I wasn’t wild about whereas stories such as Human Resources, The Condemned and The Five Companions are stories which are enjoyable and very strong. The Jupiter Conjunction sees the TARDIS crew arrive on a comet near Jupiter and in no time at all the Doctor and Turlough are put on trial. It’s not long before the story moves into a political style conspiracy where Earth are being tricked into starting a war because of an alien species that they have never heard of.  

Rebecca Front returns to the Big Finish world after her appearance in ‘The Mind’s Eye’ back in 2007, the BAFTA winning actress played Patricia Walton. I thought that the character was very strong and well performed by Front. If I had to pick a fault then it would be that I wish she had made it through to the end. Another person that I thought did well was Zoe Lister who played Violet Silvaner. Again a well written character that was helped by Lister’s performance. The regulars are also on good form with the fantastic double act of Davison and Strickson shining through. Fielding and Sutton also did well and it showed that the Doctor/Turlough and Tegan/Nyssa splits are the best.

The Jovians are the alien presence in this story and whilst at first I was a little put off by the slow nature of their talking. By the end I had been totally won over by them and found them to be an interesting addition. They were interesting because they seemed very powerful but not egomaniacal. They weren’t interested in being the next Dalek Empire or Cyber force but they were still relevant to the story. Philip Pope deserves praise for coming up with a voice that stands out. I don’t know whether they have enough mileage to be used in future stories but I liked how Robson started them off as the bad guys but by the end their true points were shown I think this reinforced how much I liked them.

This isn’t on par with ‘The Emerald Tiger’ but then again I never expected it to be, it did seem to faulter a little part way through episode three but I think that by this point it had earned enough of my good will that I let it slide. It’s the best Eddie Robson story for sometime and there is something about the next story which I am quite excited about.

Binary (2012)

I have a bit of an issue with Liz Shaw stories because I can’t say that I have been totally bowled over by them. There are things that I like and always happy that Caroline John gets a story but after the last story (The Sentinels of the New Dawn) I was slightly weary when I knew there was a Liz Shaw story coming along. However my dread disappeared when I realised that this Companion Chronicle wouldn’t be like previous stories from this release as it doesn’t have any linking narration and its happening. Pretty much like a main range release but with just a couple of actors. Eddie Robson has written this story and his recent track record hasn’t been quite as strong as when it started. Recently he wrote Prisoner of the Sun (2011) which I really didn’t like and before just after that was Industrial Evolution which wasn’t a great story. However I approached this story with an open mind. Liz Shaw is on the verge of leaving UNIT but will stay and sort out a machine which was been kept hidden from the Doctor.

The story takes the nice direction of being set inside a computer which lets be honest is always going to be an interesting concept providing its done properly. There is a wonderful sense of how new computers were to the likes of Liz Shaw in 1970 and the idea that computers could take up entire rooms is only something that seems strange nowadays when you can surf the internet on something the size of your hand. The story does its best to make sense however at the halfway mark I started to lose track of what was going on and it was only a brief explanation towards the end that redeemed it for me. One thing I did like was how there seemed to be something forming a satisfactory reason why Liz left the Doctor, how she felt she wasn’t been utilised enough and by the end she had performed a u-turn and decided to stay however there is no way of us knowing how many more adventures there are before she does eventually leave the Doctor for good. Hopefully further adventures will go into this area. I also liked how it seemed to be a bit like the very first set of Companion Chronicles where we don’t have the Doctor. There are some moments when the Doctor is typing something but he’s not physically involved in the story and I did like that as it was Liz’s story.

It’s always great to hear Caroline John in these plays as she voices it exactly as Liz sounded back in 1970. I like how she makes her performance seem effortless and how in the interviews she seems to be enjoying herself. As the two ‘supporting cast’ members I thought that both Joe Coen (Childs) and Kyle Redmond-Jones (James Foster) do their best to help give Caroline John someone to act against however they do just enough to allow John to shine as the lead star.

Whilst its not my favourite Companion Chronicle it isn’t the worst. I think that there are interesting things that are going on and Caroline John is very good throughout but I cant deny that I just didn’t connect with this story and it may be me or it may be this story. I do think that this is a partial return to form for Eddie Robson and Lisa Bowerman does her usual high standard. She has directed at least 75% of these stories and she has a knack of making each story feel different. It’s certainly better than Sentinels of the New Dawn but I still think that Blue Tooth remains the best Liz Shaw story.

The Five Companions (2011)

The Queen Speech, Misery on Eastenders, Turkey. These are just a few things that are traditional in the final month of the year. Perhaps the most relevant is that Big Finish say Thankyou to the subscribers by giving them a free full cast release. In previous years we have had Daleks, Krotons and the Doctor returned to The Web Planet. Even last year we had a multi-doctor story. This year is similarly as spectacular. As the title suggests this story features five companions from the Doctor’s past. However there are also Daleks and Sontarans to add as the threat and something for the companions work together.

The companions are Sara Kingdom, Steven Taylor, Ian Chesterton, Polly and Nyssa. They have all found themselves in this strange place along with Daleks and Sontarans. No one can seem to leave and the whole story seems to be aiming for escape. For me that is not really important because its more about the relationship of the companions with each other as well as with the Doctor. This is for me how I would judge the story. Congratulations to Eddie Robson for managing to balance it out perfectly. Each companion and monster were given enough time and dialogue to justify their prescene in this. In fact only the T-Rex doesn’t get enough time. It’s typical isnt it. You wait years for a Sontaran story and then you get two within a year. Ok so this isnt their own story but it good to see how a battle between the Daleks and Sontarans would have ended up looking like. It was far more satisfying than the Daleks/Cybermen battle in the 2006 adventure ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’.

Peter Davison is the Doctor chosen for this story and he plays a secondary role which he does very well. It probably would have been better to have a later Doctor because whilst it was nice to see the Doctor meet up with Ian, Steven, Sara and Polly but it just felt like a normal release when it came to Nyssa. Speaking of Nyssa, Sarah Sutton gets to do all the brainy stuff and when she joins the story she is already working for the Daleks. It was nice to have Peter Purves and William Russell in the same story because as they pointed out in the extras they only did two episodes together and considering they were the first two male companions in the show and were very much involved in the action it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t play their characters as they were in the TV show (Russell is 87 and Purves is 72). They still hold their own and have some of the best stuff. It’s just a shame they didn’t get more TV time together because on this evidence it would have been great. Anneke Wills and Jean Marsh are also very good and their partnership.

The final scene with them all is similar to the final scene in ‘The Four Doctors’. It is loaded with nostalga and it’s a nice moment. It’s not very often that William Russell, Anneke Wills, Jean Marsh and Peter Purves get to feature in a full cast adventure like this so its an important release. I always say that its difficult to really critise free releases but that isnt a problem here because The Five Companions is a lovely release that doesn’t try and over complicate things or make them seem dramatic but just tells a nice straight forward story and does it well.

Industrial Evolution (2011)

After his previous story, I was hoping that Eddie Robson's next script would be an improvement, and I’m happy to say that this is the case with Industrial Evolution which is the final story of the latest Brewster mini-series. The story is a nice historical story where Brewster is trying to get use to a normal life. The first episode and a half is spent setting the story with a workplace that is unionised and people who are either the workers or the employees. The story really does have all walks of life. What seems like a typical run of the mill (sorry for the pun) story, soon turns into this story with machines wreaking havoc. The story sees a device which creates stuff using everything around and this creates monsters that are humans with bits and pieces bolted on, sort of like a historical version of the Cybermen. There is an interesting idea about this and there is a lot of good stuff happening when they start getting involved.

I think that out of the three stories involving Brewster this year, this is by far the best because he gets a bit more to do actually moves part of the story along. He forms a good partnership with Belfrage which is where there were some moments where it seemed like the Doctor and Brewster’s relationship was better than we had thought. The conclusion for Brewster is the best one that they could have gone for. If they had killed him off then it would have been a massive mistake and if they had let him walk off into the sunset that that too would have been a mistake but by letting him fly off with Belfrage means that there is room for Brewster to come back in future adventures with either the sixth or later Doctors.

The supporting cast was also on good form with Rory Kinnear my particular highlight. I found him to be a nice strong character that thankfully has the potential to come back with Master Brewster. I also like Joannah Tincey as Clara Stretton. She started off as some sort of human rights campaigner but by the end she had progressed into someone whose whole world had fallen apart with the destruction of her home and the death of her father. Tincey’s performance was very heartfelt and believable. Hugh Ross was another good piece of casting as Robert Stretton, I thought he was best when he had stopped being Clara’s father but as a baddie.

Colin Baker and Maggie Stables put in good performances as usual and whilst it’s been a long time since we had an Evelyn story, I have to say that it’s been worth the wait. Their relationship is one of the highlights and I also liked in these three stories how Evelyn is still willing to see the good side of Brewster and is forcing the Doctor to see the good in him even after everything that we know he has done. As the third ‘member’ of the TARDIS crew, I have to say that I quite like John Pickard as Brewster. I think that now he has a few more stories under his belt its easy to see why he is such a good companion because he’s not quite like what we’ve had before in Doctor Who.

With the departure of Brewster it’s clear that the next time we hear a story featuring the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn that it will just feature them and not Brewster. Industrial Evolution isn’t the best story of the year but compared to Prisoner of the Sun this is a massive improvement and it’s a satisfying conclusion to this mini series.

Prisoner in the Sun (2011)

Prisoner of the Sun is a story that I had high hopes for. I think that Eddie Robsn is one of the best writers that Big Finish use. Such stories as The Raincloud Man, The Condemned and most recently Situation Vacant are stories that I really rank highly. However this story falls slightly short and its sad to write this but it could be a contender for worst story of 2011. The story sees the Doctor imprisoned inside a sun and the Doctor cannot escape otherwise the sun will explode and kill two billion people.

The story starts off quite well as the captures know that the Doctor wont escape and risk the lives of billions which is quite clever but then the plot changes where in fact nothing happens and again I think that is clever and makes the drama better with a reasonable twist but then the story just nosedives in terms of quality. I have listened to this story three times and I just don’t get it and that is what I find disappointing about this story. It’s never made clear (or to me at least) what is actually going on. Was the Doctor aware of what was going on or is he just pretending? Just when I thought I had got a hand on what was going on something happens to make me confused. There are some good things in this release. I thought that Paul McGann put in a good performance and Sheridan Smith also had a good outing as she was playing an android called Daphney. Anthony Costa was a surprise as a former pop start I wondered whether his acting would be any good and actually it was. I would go so far to say that he was the best guest star. That’s not saying that that the rest of the cast aren’t any good but I was quite impressed with Mr. Costa.

I did like the end of the story with the message from Lucie, it leads in nicely to the next story ‘Lucie Miller’. I really have high hopes for this release. Prisoner of the Sun is not the weakest story of the series (that particular honour will always go to Nevermore) but its nothing special and that’s sad because after a good run of stories I was hoping that this story would continue the trend. I still think that Eddie Robson is a extremely good writer and I suppose that every writer is entitled to a below par story. Hopefully the next Eddie Rosbon story will seem him back to his best.

Situation Vacant (2010)

What would happen in Doctor Who met the Apprentice? It’s been seven months since Lucie Miller left the TARDIS and the anticipation has been amazing. There was no news about Sheridan Smith’s replacement so we would find out in Situation Vacant. Four people would ‘fight’ it out to be the companion but not all is as it seems. The four candidates seemed on the face of it to be your typical group of people who seemed to have nothing to stay on Earth for but during the course of the story each one of them reveals their true colours. There was Theo (played by Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas) who was a computer geek who as it turned out to be a vampire who met a very grim ending. Asha (Shelley Conn) seemed to me to be the most likeable because she seemed to have a head on her and would have suited life with the Doctor but she was someone who had a secret. Her secret was that she had been hired to kill the person who had placed the advert and thought it was the Doctor. The one that started to grow on me during the story was Hugh (James Bachman) who was a bumbling fool but quite sweet. His secret was that he was in fact a vampire, his ending was quite good but it was shame he didn’t become a companion. The person that did become the companion was Juliet who was the first to get the boot but she also had a secret in that her name was really Tamzin who was an actress. Her speech about how she rather face the dangers of the universe than spend another day in the unemployment office. This was a nice speech by her and cemented her place at the side of the Doctor.

The main thrust of the story was about finding out who the Doctor would pick as his companion but there were some mysteries to solve. The B-Plot was something that was ok but was never intended to be a full story. It never grabbed me and it was nothing special. The only aspect that really grabbed me was who had set up the conference. There are quite a few theories that are running through my mind but only time will tell. Eddie Robson was given a tough job in many respects. Even though this story was the second story of the Fourth series it was effectively the first. There was a lot for Robson to try and cram into a relatively short time. Robson is one of the most enjoyable writers that Big Finish have and this is a fine offering. Its not his best but certainly there are a lot of things that I liked about this story.

I have to be honest the only thing I thought that wasn’t right about this was the choice of companion. I would rather they have chosen either Asha or Hugh. Both these characters seemed to have more about them that Juliet/Tamzin. Nothing personal about Tamzin but I think that only time will tell. This wasn’t Paul McGann’s finest outing. To be fair it wasn’t really about him but when he was in it he was his usual good self. I think that his relationship with his fourth companion might be his most unique.

Situation Vacant is a good starting point for what will apparently be the final separate series of Eighth Doctor adventures. The next six episodes will determine whether Tamzin will be as popular or as successful as Charley, C’Rizz and Lucie.

The Criminal Code (2010)

The Criminal Code sees Lisa Bowerman actually starring in a Companion Chronicle as opposed to director. The story is written by Eddie Robson who has written some truly brilliant stories over the last few years. So I had high hopes of this story, especially as I was intrigued reading DWM and said it was “a rare and welcome return to the era of the popular New Adventures novels”. Now I am probably with a large majority of people who are fans of the companion chronicles and also of the seventh Doctor but to me that doesn’t really make much difference. Its also quite a departure for the CC series in that this is the first story to feature a companion that never actually appeared on TV.

The story takes place on Shanquis where the Doctor is playing negotiator trying to get a peace settlement between the people of Shanquis and a neighbourly planet. There was a clever little bit about why Bernice is with the Doctor and not Ace. In a nutshell The Doctor and Ace landed where Bernice was doing her thing and Bernice and Ace swapped places. It was something that made the reason why Ace wasn’t there more believable. The opening few minutes were good, it laid the groundwork and gave a purpose behind the story but then it really went downhill. I’m not going to have a go a Lisa Bowerman’s impression of the Doctor because impressions of the Doctor is something that is very rarely done properly. But for me there are more concerning problems that an impression.

The first part of the story was so boring that for the first time in quite some time (perhaps listening to Flip-Flop) that I thought about pressing stop. But I persevered and it’s a long 30 minutes. The problem was that the story was told at a very slow pace as if Bowerman was having a chat with a friend. Normally there is a pace to the story which is helped along by the actor as well as the writer but in this story neither of them help this story. Also where the hell did the cliffhanger come from. The Doctor had been kidnapped. Unless I fell a sleep how did this happen and the build up was weak.

The second part was much better (but then it couldn’t be worse). Its were the who purpose of the story got revealed. Its were the clever parts come to the story. There is a terror forming machine where people in the future can look at it and see what mistakes have been made and hopefully not make the same ones again. It’s revealed the Bernice has been talking to this machine. Other clever bits include the language that is illegal was actually English. Quite a revelation. I didn’t see that one coming. It was quite a clever thing to put in the story. Also the fact that Bernice used think for a force field to be created was quite smart.

It would be rude not to mention Charlie Hayes. This is her second appearance after appearing in Seven Keys to Doomsday back in 2008. Hayes is the daughter of former companion Wendy Padbury. I wasn’t so keen on the character because I felt the character was a bit dry and there was nothing really for Hayes to do with the character. When the ending finally came I have to admit that it certainly picked up. The first half was really bad with a very slow pace, hardly any music to keep my interest and a weak ending but then suddenly it hit top gear and became a much better story than it could have been.

Memory Lane (2006)

Memory Lane marks the first contribution of Eddie Robson. Memory Lane is quite a complex story as you would expect. Ever since the Doctor, Charley and C’Rizz left the divergent universe at the end of 2004. The type of stories that McGann has had over the last two or three years could be defined as more complex than other Doctor’s adventures. The story sees the TARDIS land in the living room of Mrs Braudy who quite surprising thinks nothing of a 1960’s Police Box landing in her living room. What also is quite surprising is that she treats them as friends. When the Doctor goes out onto the streets he discovers that every house is the same with an identical Mrs Braudy inside with her grandson Tom who appears on TV. There is something quite eerie about Tom because he is much older physically than mentally.

The characters are something that Robson should be praised for. The Doctor and his companions are given some got lines to act against each other. Paul McGann has some good moments and Charley and C’Rizz are on equal good form. Mrs Braudy was a likeable and warm character that you just could fault and was brilliantly played by Nina Baden-Semper. She is the beginning of a long list of good supporting actors. In particular Sara Carver was who played Kim. Its always good when a character who’s a bit sharp gets put into a Doctor Who story. However for big names it was Anneke Wills who wins the prize. Wills previously appeared as Lady Louisa Pollard in Zagreus and she has such a great voice that it doesn’t matter who she plays she adds something to a story.

I have to admit that I found Memory Lane to be a bit dull. It seemed to just plod along at times and not really feel dramatic. Sad to say that for a first time writer, Eddie Robson hasn’t hit the right notes with this story. In the year when Doctor Who comes back on TV it is now more important than ever to have stories that hit the right mark. Memory Lane wont go down as my Top 5 but I sense than I might be in a minority on this one.

Grand Theft Cosmos

This story continues the good start that this second series has had. It’s at this point of a series where the novelty of a new series has warn off and the story has to stand on its own merits. Grand Theft Cosmos is written by Eddie Robson who has developed a reputation of writing good sound stories. This one is no exception. Admittedly it’s not one of his best efforts but is still a good effort. This story sees the return of two characters from the first season in the form of the Headhunter (Katarina Olsson) and Karen (Louise Fullerton).

As the story suggests there is a lot of chasing around in this story. Its not a normal Doctor Who story and leans quite a lot to the comedy side of things but not too much. The Doctor, Lucie, Karen and the Headhunter are searching for the Black Diamond of Claudio Tardelli. We are given a bit of a back story to Tardelli who was actually in the Black Diamond. Hopefully we will get a future adventure where we look back at their previous encounter. Fingers Crossed!

The use of the Headhunter and Karen was a nice. The Headhunter has slightly lost some of her menace after the first season but she is given a more free reign and Katarina Olsson is now given more freedom. Louise Fullerton does seem slightly lost in the flow of the story but does interact with Lucie well. This story is Sheridan Smith’s best performance so far. Its nice to have the character move on from the events of series one. Paul McGann was very good also in this story, he had some good scenes with Tardelli and also with the Headhunter. It was nice to have McGann’s Doctor do something a bit light hearted this time. He is too often given something that is very complex and serious so this was a nice change from the norm. This story also boasts an actor who appeared in ‘classic’ who and that was Christopher Benjamin who appeared in the Talons of Weng-Chiang. He was highly enjoyable in this as Tardelli. Colin Spaull should also get a mentioned as he was Henrik. Both actors should do more radio work because their voices are ideal for this medium.

When I finished listening to this story I thought that it wasn’t going to top the best stories of the season awards but it was still better than most comedy laden stories that Big Finish have produced over the years. Eddie Robson has written another enjoyable story and Barnaby Edwards should be applauded for giving this story a pace to it that is normally reserved for a more traditional story.

Phobos (2007)

Phobos is a strange story but in a good way. After Blood of the Daleks, Horror of Fang Rock and Immortal Beloved the one thing that could be said about these stories is that they are different from what we have heard but all have classic Doctor Who elements. This story is written by Eddie Robson who’s last contribution was for the Eighth Doctor in Memory Lane (2006). That story wasn’t a particularly memorable story for me (sorry for the pun) but this story is a far better offering.

The thing about Phobos (by that I mean the planet) is that it is for adrenaline junkies. The thrills of a 26th century adrenaline junkie can’t be met on earth but on a moon. Throughout this story there are characters who typically personify this type of activity. Due to that they are annoying but they are expected to be and so are useful characters to have around. The story is essentially everyone on Phobos ignoring Kai Tobias who is always going on about monsters. But of course no one listens to him in the glorious tradition of storytelling. It only happens at the end of the story and is done in a particularly memorable way.

Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith are very good in this story. Their relationship has settled down and Lucie Miller is starting to become a very strong companion and could be up their with some of the best that Big Finish has created. But it is the guest stars that make this a wonderful story. Timothy West is very good as Kai Tobias, the character was well written and West gave the character the edge that it needed. Nerys Hughes was great as Eris. Hughes previously appeared in Kinda (1982) and so becomes the first person (to my knowledge) to star in a TV and radio Doctor Who story.

After not having not hearing anything from the Headhunter in Immortal Beloved. It was good that this part of the story got back to the forefront of the series. We all want to know about Lucie. At the end of the day, Phobos isnt that bad a story but it just didn’t engage me like some of the other stories from this series. Those that enjoy watching skiing programes or skydiving shows on late night tv would probably like this story but as far as I am concerned it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

I.D (2007)

I.D is a truly unique story. Well its new for Big Finish anyway. This release has two stories over four episodes. I.D is a three part story whilst the fourth episode is a single 25 minute adventure. To start this new way of putting the releases out they have chosen Eddie Robson who has become one of the best writers so far with such stories as Memory Lane (2006).

The I.D story was quite a complicated one I found. The idea that people who basically have their personalities uploaded onto a computer chip was quite a good one. There are also people who are a new version of dyslexic. These people’s brain can’t connect with a computer which is probably what will happen in the 32nd century.

As much as I wanted to like Urgent Calls I must say I was disappointed with it. All these single episodes stories are set to form part of the virus strand. The story needed much longer than 25 minutes. I also sort that the story (as it was) was a bit dull. The chances of the same two people just happening to meet each other on the phone stretched the believability factor a bit too far. Colin Baker did his best to try and make it a bit entertaining but ultimately it was a lacklustre story that just did nothing for me. Baker has a wonderful chemistry with Kate Brown. In particular Brown manages to show a genuine niceness about her character which shines through.

As a whole release I must say that this 3+1 format has potential. I think it would require the single part story to be extended by 10 minutes but the 3 episode format is ideal for some stories because a lot of the regular stories have to have a lot of padding to make it fit four episodes.

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.

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.

The Raincloud Man (2008)

The final story of 2008 sees a sequel to the March story The Condemned and follows on from Return of the Krotons. The Raincloud Man is written by Eddie Robson who even though he hasn’t been writing for Big Finish for long (Blood of the Daleks in 2007) he has become one of the best writers for the range. This is perhaps the only other story that I was looking forward to more than The Condemned. The only way it was going to this is by having a different focus to before. As a result story is less serious one that The Condemned but it was still entertaining.

Back in Manchester the 6th Doctor and Charley encounter DI Menzies who is still as entertaining as she was previously. What I felt in this story was how much of a rounded character she seemed, back in the Condemned she was bordering on the annoying whilst managing to be entertaining I think that because it seemed to have gone down well with either everyone at Big Finish or the fans it was decided to have her modified slightly different. I wondered what the name Raincloud Man meant. It didn’t seem to have any relevance but the idea that the name refers to the bad luck that this guy brings at casinos is very smart and works well into the setting of the story. I liked the idea that the story is set in Manchester because normally stories that are set on Earth are in rural areas or in London whereas to set a story in the North of the country is quite different. There were some memorable moments in this story and the best one was the scene where The Doctor is gambling his life and stuff in a game of Top Trumps, now in a normal show like Coronation Street or Holby City this would be a silly thing to do and would totally waster any potential the story had left however it worked in this story and it gave several minutes of superb action that genuinely had me wondering just exactly where the story was going and more importantly whether the truth about Charley would come out.

Colin Baker was on fine form in this story, I think that even with a weak script he can still put in a fine performance. I love the fact that he knows there is something not quite right with Charley but he still travels with her, more to try and find out the truth than anything else. I am quite enjoying the fact that the relationship seems to have softened between the Doctor and Menzies. There is still a level of banter that helps create some comedy but ultimately it doesn’t distract from the main story. The Top Trumps scene was played really well as he didn’t know quite exactly whether he was in control of the situation and ultimately that is what helps heighten the tension. India Fisher was also very good in this story, I think that the Charley character is perhaps the strongest character that Big Finish have created. It seemed that she was destined to just be useful for a short time with the Eighth Doctor but with the introduction of C’Rizz in 2004 it shows that the character of Charley is one that has limitless potential and with the interaction with the Sixth Doctor it has given a new lease of life to the character. India Fisher plays the posh adventuress very well and has also done very well in trying to keep the truth from the Sixth Doctor since she appeared in The Condemned. Her storyline of when the revelation is going to appear is gripping stuff and she seems so different from the Charley that appeared in the 2001 Storm Warning story.

Anna Hope was the star of the story for me, she played DI Menzies well in the Condemned. She showed in this story that the character had taken in what happened during The Condemned and it has helped her to do her duty of protecting Manchester. She is a character that works very well in perhaps any story that you could think off due to the way that the character has been written and how Hope portrays the role. As I was listening to the story I was hoping that she would stumble on board the TARDIS and become a companion because I think she would be very good. Unfortunately she didn’t but there is still hope (no pun intended). I think that if they bought back the role of Menzies that it would be as a short term companion. Give Hope 3 stories to see whether its just a novelty thing or whether she would work well as a companion. The other guest stars were all very good and all had a massive roles in the story. I thought that Michael Fenton Stevens was very particularly good as Brooks with Octavia Walters also good as Carmen. I though that Steven Hansell was funny as the Bouncers and Jeremy James was also very good as the Tabbalac Leader.

Eddie Robson has written a good story which did well to try and maintain the interest in the Doctor’s quest to find out the truth about Charley. Robson has developed Menzies enough to make it seem like she has the potential. I don’t think that Robson has written a poor script and he managed to keep that trend going with this story. The characters in this story were very strong and all contributed to the development of the story. Nicholas Briggs was superb as director. He generally is as previous stories like The Nowhere Place that he can effectively create tension and helps push the story along at the right sort of pace. Being the Executive Producer of the range and probably being behind the Charley storyline means he has an idea of where the storyline will be going and how much is going to be revealed in this story.

Overall this story isn’t quite as good as The Condemned it is still an enjoyable four part story that rounds off a fantastic year for the Sixth Doctor. This story arc has been the biggest success of 2008 and hopefully they give it a satisfactory conclusion at some point in 2009.

The Condemned (2008)

2008 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Writer (Eddie Robson)
• Best Music & Sound Design (David Darlington)

Back in December 2008 we said goodbye to Charley. After 7 years it seemed that Charlotte Louise Pollard had taken her last adventure with the Doctor. Despite wanting to leave at the end of Absolution there seemed to be a hope of staying with the Doctor. What we got was the biggest twist in Doctor Who Big Finish history. This story was written by Eddie Robson who wrote Memory Lane back in 2006 and also 4 of the 8 episodes of the Doctor Who & Lucie series. This story is a first for Doctor Who, not just in audio but in TV as well. A companion who has spent time with one Doctor is now travelling with another. I know that it has happened with Romana appearing with the sixth Doctor in The Apocalypse Element but this is the first time that a companion has appeared with a previous Doctor. The main question I had for this story was ‘How could the Eighth Doctor not recognise Charley if she met the Sixth Doctor?’, anything else seemed irrelevant. One thing that I never comment on is the cliffhangers. The first was a big let down and just felt like they were going to end it in a place where they didn’t intend to. The second and third ones were better. The idea that Sam was actually Ackley House was quite a good idea as you thought it was strange that he didn’t interact with anything in this story.

Colin Baker put in another good performance and his Doctor seems to work well with Charley. Mr Baker is the best Doctor in this audio range as every story seems to play to his strengths. In this story the Doctor starts guessing straight away that there is something wrong with this visitor to his home and no sooner has he got one mystery to deal with he has a dead body to deal with. Then he as DI Menzies who I will come to later. But no matter who he works with be it Maggie Stables, Nicola Bryant or Bonnie Langford, he shows he can work with anyone. India Fisher is also very good in this story and shows that there is still more to see from this character. The Charley that appears in this story seems so different from the Charley that travelled with the 8th Doctor from 2001-2007. I liked the bit where she is trying to pretend to the Doctor that she’s never seen the TARDIS before was quite entertaining. She is a hopeless liar but I have a hunch that she wants to be caught out. The supporting cast was also on good form in this story helping support the Doctor and Charley. The star was Anna Hope, who has appeared in two Doctor Who stories (New Earth in 2006 and Gridlock in 2007). Her character was well written and Anna got the most out of the character that help the interaction between DI Patricia Menzies and the Doctor all that more entertaining. The character of Menzies was written as your typical stereotypical Northerner. She clearly doesn’t take any rubbish from her colleagues or from the public but she is forced to deal with the people and events that occur. William Ash who appeared in the 2007 story 42 was very good in this story and was a good casting decision. His contribution to this story was well very important. It takes a while to really work out what his role in the story is but pretty soon it’s a shocking revelation that I would never have guessed. Sara De Freitas was also another good actor in this story as Maxine, she was the sort of character who had fallen into trouble and the evil elements were manipulating that fact and forcing her to keep Charley hostage for quite sometime. She started off a little bit weak but picked up brilliantly by episode 4.

Stephen Aintree & Steve Hansell provided 8 voices between them and so as a result they deserve some credit. Lennox Greaves has performed in several stories for Big Finish and can always be relied upon to perform well. The main plot of the story which was not the mystery of Charley but in fact what was going on in Ackley House. It took a long time to get going but once it did get going it was non stop and I though it worked really well. The moment when Charley discovered Sam was the flats was one of the eeriest scenes I have known. I was hoping in this story that there would an answer to why the 8th Doctor doesn’t remember Charley when she met the 6th Doctor but that might get explained in future stories but the only point that was raised was the fact that the Doctor kept calling Charley Charlotte all but once. The line that the Doctor doesn’t recall doing that means he is either lying or has a brief bout of memory loss. The potential for this story is the strongest one for quite some time and the one with the most potential and we will have to wait and see whether the mystery is answered. The combination of the 6th Doctor and Charley worked very well and bodes well for future stories featuring this combination and hopefully it wont be long before there is a sixth Doctor/Charley/Evelyn story because I think that would be as good in quality as this story. The thing about stories like these is that people’s desire to know what is going on and hopefully Big Finish will manipulate this for as long as they can.

Eddie Robson has written another superb play. The revelation that Sam was in fact the flats was truly shocking and totally out of the blue. All the characters were really strong and no one was weak. This dark story is a superb start to the Sixth Doctor/Charley mystery. Nicholas Briggs does another great job as Director. He always manages to direct a great story and give it that much more energy that it normally needs but it just adds to this story.

Overall a fantastic story.

Human Resources (2007)

Well all good things must come to an end. After six weeks of adventures the whole plot point of Lucie would be concluded. Human Resources is the final story of the season however forms the seventh and eighth story in the series and it begins at a very strange point because in No More Lies, Lucie has been taken by the Headhunter. This story was written by Eddie Robson who had penned the last 8th Doctor story in the regular range Memory Lane (2006) That story has something in common with Human Resources in that is complicated in some ways. I wasn’t a major fan of that story but there were some enjoyable elements. You have to really listen to these stories otherwise you are completely lost. This story has a lot to live up to after the great opening of Blood of the Daleks and the strong consistent stories in between it was important to make sure this story wasn’t a letdown. It’s hard to believe that its only been six weeks since the start of this adventure.

After using the Daleks to open the series it was only fitting to use the Cybermen to finish it off. The Cybermen are used in this story in a way that they haven't been used before in this audio range. The idea that they weren't looking for trouble but now are set on taking over Earth is like waking a sleeping giant in that it will get you into trouble waking them. There were several different plot points in this story and some of them worked and some didn't. The plot point that Lucie was working for a company that was secretly terror forming planets but using people like Lucie to work on the information was a good line, the other plot point that the reason for Lucie been paired with the Doctor was done by the Timelords who were removing her because they had made so many changes to her timeline that she needed to be taken out so they could sort itself out was also a clever part except until you realise that the Timelords or CIA got the wrong person was a bit of a anti-climax because your would have thought that a race of people who had developed time travel wouldn't make a silly mistake like getting the wrong person but that doesn't really spoil the story too much.

Due to the fact that there 100 minutes instead of the usual 50 it gave Robson and co a lot longer to develop some of the plot points. It enabled the relationship between Lucie and Karen. Within just a few well written scenes we got the feeling that these two characters would be going out on a Friday night in Blackpool.

The story moves along a quick pace over the two parts and the cast have a lot to do with that. Paul McGann is great as the Doctor because he has gotten to like Lucie and when you think of what their relationship was like in Blood of the Daleks then it has come a long way and mixed in with the threat of the Cybermen, McGann is given a lot to do and works well with the dialogue he is given. Sheridan Smith deserves a great amount of praise because she has consistently put in superb efforts in every story and the final two parts are where she really shines through. Over the past eight episodes she has shown what an important character she has been. I hope that this continues in future adventures. Nickolas Grace was very good in this story. Grace had previously appeared in the 2002 story Bang-Bang-A-Boom and also has appeared in the fantastic House of Cards, My Family and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1993) appears in this story as the Timelord Straxus, The character is very much how you would imagine the Timelords to be and when he swans in to meet the Doctor it just has the air of arrogance which is how the Timelords have been portrayed. Katarina Olsson has been one of the best things in this series. In this series she played the Headhunter and puts in her best performance in this story as she is given some good dialogue. Roy Marsden who appeared opposite the Tenth Doctor in Smith and Jones plays Hulbert who is the owner of Hulbert Logistics which is where the story is set and the character is well rounded and has some good scenes in this story. Owen Brenman was very good in this story as Jerry. He is the David Brent of this story. He cracks terrible jokes and wants to be everybody’s friend which isn’t exactly original but is done well in this story. Andrew Wisher was also very good as Malcolm. Even though he entered in this story quite late he managed to contribute a lot to the story and interacted well with the other characters.

The Cybermen were very good in this story and they weren’t wasted at all. Big Finish always try and do something different with monsters that are familiar to all Doctor Who fans and they managed it again in Human Resources. Their sound is always different and I thought that it was the best one. Nicholas Briggs is the gov’ner of Cybermen/Dalek voices and yet again his made the Cybermen seem like a genuine threat.

Overall these two stories are well acted and well written if a bit over complicated but because of the length of each episode there is just enough time to explain all the plots and give enough dialogue to justify having each character in the story. The idea of the Doctor offering Lucie the chance to join him in the TARDIS after everything they have endured during these two parts was nice because it mirrors the 10th Doctor and Martha in the TV series but in the audio version Lucie accepts the Doctors offer and that means we will get some more adventures in this combination. Eddie Robson has written a superb story that delivered what we all hoped for and shows why he is becoming one of the best writers for the range. Nicholas Briggs also directed a story that maintained pace and enjoyment throughout.

I really like the series as a whole.