Prisoners of the Lake (2015)

The Third Doctor Adventures is a boxset which on the face of it has one main selling feature. Tim Treloar would be playing the Doctor. Not just pretending to be him but actually be him. We all know that Frazer Hines can do a great Patrick Troughton impression but we all know that its just an impression and Treloar’s task isn’t just to be the lead in this boxset but also make the listener believe that this is the third Doctor. The idea of recasting the Doctors is something that is somewhat of a controversial finish but if you want the likes of Katy Manning or Frazer Hines or William Russell having full cast adventures then Big Finish need to take the bull by the horns and look for someone that people can accept as being a version of that Doctor. No one is ever going to replace William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton or Jon Pertwee but if you can get the right person then I think that goes someway to please everyone.

Before I get to the meat of this review which is the story itself, let’s talk about Treloar in particular and I have to applaud him for his performance. When I first heard him talk as the narrator I thought that this wasn’t a good impression but then I realised he was just narrating and when he starts as the Doctor then I realised how good he was. It wasn’t that he sounds like Jon Pertwee but the way that he spoke and the delivery of the lines made it seem like it was the Third Doctor. From that point on I was totally sold on this release and could stop worrying about Treloar and just enjoy the story. Katy Manning was really good as Jo and when Jo and the Doctor were talking I could believe that it was as good as on TV and that is also another reason why Treloar was good. Richard Franklin was also good as Yates but he was sort of pushed to the side as the story and Treloar took centre stage.

The thing about this story which was written by Justin Richards is that it felt very familiar. At several points I thought that this story owed a debt to Doctor Who and the Silurians because this story involves the Doctor encountering a new race and the possibility of it being blown up which would annoy the Doctor. There is a bit where the Doctor is going underwater in a diving bell which is similar to The Sea Devils and then then there is a stone spaceship which is similar to The Daemons. It’s like Justin Richards is writing a greatest hits of the Pertwee era which isn’t a bad thing and whilst I listened to this story and thought of which stories were being referenced I just found myself completely immersed in the story. I like how it has a base under siege

It was well told and Justin Richards is one of my favourite writers largely because of his work on the Jago and Litefoot series and he doesn’t disappoint with this story that had an awful lot riding on it. You couldn’t do a story that really tested the audience in terms of intelligence so I think that they chose wisely with this story because it allows the listener to get use to Treloar as the lead. Nicholas Briggs also deserves some credit because he is a reliable director and knows how to keep things moving along at just the right pace and he works his magic in this story.

This story is pretty much a nuts and bolts story because it does everything that you would expect from a traditional Doctor Who story and allows the listener to enjoy listening to what is going on. Anyone who is a fan of the Pertwee era should give this a listen because its really a good story with a good plot, great performances and more importantly, it feels like a story from that period of time and that is something that the Companion Chronicles or The Lost Stories could never achieve no matter who the writer was. I go into the second story with a lot more optimism than I had when I started this story and that’s because I didn’t know what to expect from this series and now I do. Well done to everyone involve.

 

The Rani Elite

The final release of 2014 is the first to feature the Rani. Originally played by Kate O’Mara who passed away in March 2014. It is always going to be one of the biggest things that we wish could have happened to hear Kate O’Mara reprise the role and she was keen to do so but sadly she never got the chance. The Rani previously appeared opposite Colin Baker’s Doctor in the 1985 adventure ‘The Mark of the Rani’ and less successfully in Sylvester McCoy’s opening story ‘Time and the Rani’ in 1987.

The thing about the character of the Rani is that even though she is bad, she doesn’t have any plans to wipe out humanity or invade a planet but to do her work in science. The only problem with that being is that her techniques aren’t exactly above board. Quite why its taken Big Finish so long to get round to the character of the Rani is a bit of a mystery however its better late than never and at least the first story for the character is such a good one.

Since Kate O’Mara passed away it was always going to be interesting to see who was cast to replace her and before it became a big thing to have a female Master, we have a female Rani and this time its played by Siobhan Redmond who according to Wikipedia has starred in such things as Eastenders, Holby City and Midsomer Murders (who hasn’t been in that). The story sees the Doctor arrive at the College of Advanced Galactic Education where is he receiving an award/honour. But its not long before he gets involved in trouble. Even though it has Rani in the title, there is an agonisingly long wait before we get the first indication that it is the Rani and then an even longer wait before the Doctor and the Rani meet. When they do its q good scene and they pick up where they left off.

Data Cube is something that is bought up in the early part of this story and in the business end of the story its gets bought back in a way that is quite clever and as I had forgotten about it, I thought that it was quite a good thing to include in the story.

The Rani is helping rich people by planting their minds put into new people’s body. It’s an idea that is very much of the character. It’s very similar to what she was doing in her two TV adventures. It’s hard really to really dislike her because I always get a feeling that she is doing it with honourable intentions but just has questionable morals and could with a bit of work be persuaded to change. The thing I like about Redmond’s performance is that it isn’t over the top. There was a hint of that in Kate O’Mara’s version but with Redmond she’s stuck to what the character is really about and with a new version of the Sixth Doctor to work against this means that the Rani’s involvement in the story is worth it.

What I like about this story is that its written by Justin Richards who is a nuts and bolts writer. That might not sound like a compliment but it’s a huge compliment. Richards doesn’t do stories that have complicated things going on that I struggle to understand. What he does and has done in this story is written a story that is straight forward in narrative terms but it feels like a traditional Doctor Who story. This is the perfect end to a perfect series. I think this has been one of the strongest series that Big Finish have done because each story has been really good in different ways. It’s good to have few more Six and Peri stories because they seem to be a bit thin on the ground. Now what they to do is try and address the Flip situation to a satisfactory point.

The Wax Princess (2014)

The final story of this series has a curious title. The Wax Princess is a curious title but that’s been a running theme during this series. I like how this is a relatively straight forward story which has Jack the Ripper in it. The idea that Ripper is creating these waxworks to bring back his love is quite a good one though I am not sure whether I like the implication that the Ripper is a waxwork himself is probably going a bit too far. However despite this, I still thought that the plot was very good and thoroughly entertaining.

Jago and Litefoot are acquitted which came as a massive relief because it means that the series can go back to what it does best and it wont have this thing hanging over them. The end of the story sees the Scorchies appear. The Scorchies appeared in what I considered to be one of the best Companion Chronicles of 2013 (it was runner up to Mastermind at the 2013 Toms Tardis Awards) and for those who hadn’t heard that story would soon find out what they are about because we get a lovely song.

Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin have given some superb performances throughout this series and they are complimented well by Lisa Bowerman as Ellie, Conrad Asquith as Sergeant Quick and I also like Adrian Rawlins performance as Inspector Abberline.

I think that The Wax Princess is one of the strongest finale’s to a series for quite some time. The story was exciting from start to finish and I never found myself bored at any point. There were several times during the course of this story that I felt it seemed very much like a story that we would have heard during the first couple of series. Not surprising really because Justin Richards is one of the best writers that Big Finish has and he has written for the series since the very first one. The eighth series comes out in October 2014 so we won’t have very long to way and on the evidence of this series and what is about to come it seems that the future is bright for our very own dynamic duo.

Ascension (2013)

So this is the end. A spin-off that started in 2004 ends nine years later with Ascension. Would we be given a satisfying end during the next 67 minutes. I knew one thing that some people weren’t going to like this story and some were going to thing that it’s the perfect ending. The story continues with Romana not in fact regenerating but finding herself back on another Gallifrey. It was obvious that it wasn’t going to be like when the Tenth Doctor ‘regenerated’ back in series four but there was going to be some sort of explanation and it was done well. Despite having a relatively short amount of time (they gave three hours to a First Doctor Lost Story), they managed to fit an awful lot into it.

I liked how they tried to tie things up with ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. It was an unexpected link and it felt like they were going to do something like tie it up with known Doctor Who events. There were things that worked that I did manage to understand. I like how it was the Daleks that created the Dogma virus all that time ago.

It seems that the final story was going to be going back to the early days of the spin-off when I struggled to understand what was going on. It sounded like what was happening was all very important and dramatic but I couldn’t tell you what was happening. I think that this is probably a good sign because it means that the show is ending in the same manner than it all those years ago. I thought that the central performances were very good and the one that has been consistent and that is how wonderful Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson have been over the last twenty-three episodes. Despite being a fan of War and Jameson, I cant deny that I felt somewhat underwhelmed by things. I thought that they would try and throw everything at the wall and some things stick and some don’t but because it was so difficult to understand I was only able to enjoy some of it and as a result I think that for some this finale would be what they wanted but for me I just felt that it wasn’t the epic finale that it should have been.

The Trial of George Litefoot (2013)

The final story of this series is also the shortest. The first story was just over an hour long and this one is seven minutes shorter. At the end of the previous story, Professor Litefoot was charged with murder of his friend Henry Gordon Jago. It seems that the Colonel has survived the explosion yet somehow Jago hasn’t. It soon becomes clear that the Colonel has friends in very high places and what I like from this moment is that it’s going to be two people (Ellie and Quick) trying to prove the Professor’s innocence. Whilst they are doing that it seems that Litefoot has his own drama where he is trying to get use to eating the sort of food that people like him wouldn’t eat. It’s a fun thing to see Litefoot endure. What’s not so much to see is how thanks to the Colonel, the Professor has little to no chance of being found not guilty.

It is 15 minutes before Christopher Benjamin enters in and we get a nice explanation as to how he managed to survive the explosion. The fun continues when it’s decided that Jago isn’t going to try and help Litefoot escape but allow the trial to continue. The scene ends of a fine not when it’s revealed the HGJ will be the one to defend Litefoot. The court scene is a fine moment in the story as it seems that everyone and their dog is lining up to condemn Litefoot as the guilty man. It just seems to be a question as to how much of a farce does this become before the inevitable happens and that is when Jago shows that he is in fact alive. In fact the question that should have been raised (unless I missed it and I must have missed it) and that would be why Jago didn’t do this sooner? It soon becomes obvious. It’s because if they would have done it sooner then they would have run out of things to do towards the end.

I thought that the idea of the Colonel doing everything he does is to ultimately kill Queen Victoria was a good one. It seemed like the whole point of the arc made sense and it’s at times like this that you can appreciate how much thought went into setting up this series. The final scene started off with everything seeming to be all ok with the Colonel being killed. However like the last story, Quick has to be deliver some bad news. This time the news is somewhat more serious. A bounty has been put on Jago and Litefoot’s head because of the death of Agatha. Our favourite duo are on the run and this series has ended in a way that I could possibly have imagined. By the end they are known as Lithgoe AND Jackfoot and series seven cant come quickly enough. I wish I had it on my iPod NOW.

As the concluding part it managed to tie up the loose ends nicely, tell a great story and also end the series in grand style. I always think that Justin Richards is a very good writer and his stories are always enjoyable to listen to. This is another story which continues to show what a very good writer he is (not the first time I’ve written this during the course of listening to these stories). I have enjoyed each story of this sixth series (yes even the Matthew Sweet story). It’s quite impressive how each series of Jago and Litefoot has been just as good if not better than the previous one. Normally a spin-off would start to run out of steam by this stage of their run but credit to both Benjamin and Baxter as well as Big Finish that they have managed to make each series seem fresh and fun to enjoy.

The Last Act (2013)

The final story of this series has a lot to live up to. After the fine cliffhanger in the previous release we get to see a return of Magnus Greel which is the most direct link to their TV adventure and so makes this the best finale in ever. The story arcs have been slowly simmering throughout the previous three episodes and this is where ‘theoretically’ the strands are suppose to end. Despite this series being set later than the previous four series, ironically it goes back to the very early days of Jago and Litefoot. It’s quite impressive that they have held out till now to bring Greel and Mr Sin back. I was curious how they were going to make Mr Sin work as all he did was snort a bit and that’s not really enough to sustain through the episode however it somehow works. Those grunts and snorts somehow make the character seem like an effective villain and I was surprised at how much I thought that it added to the tension.

The demise of Sacker was well done and I thought it was a shame as I was starting to get to like him. It was done in a way that was unexpected as you wouldn’t have thought that they would kill off such an important character but I suppose no-one (except for Jago, Litefoot and Ellie) are safe. For Greel to use his body was a good moment and it seemed to make the reunion complete. I’ve been trying to find a fault with this story and the only one that I can come up with is the betrayal to Guinevere Godiva. It was a tiny bit obvious and its been done a million times. There that’s it, that’s the only thing I could think of. The Final Act was a story that had top notch performances. Benjamin, Baxter and Bowerman all stepped up their game in this story and were very impressive. For the supporting performances I particularly liked Duncan Wisby as Sacker and also Raquel Cassidy as Guinevere Godiva.

The final scene sees Jago and Litefoot is something that I had heard various people say that it’s a good ending and I agree with them. It’s a curious one that leads nicely into series six. They have left the 1960’s but a very important person wants to have a word. I wonder what it could be. As I said at the beginning of the review, this is the best finale that there has been in this series. The decision to have a brief excursion into the 1960’s is a wise move by Big Finish as otherwise it would get tiresome quickly so its good that they are moving on. Thankfully I won’t have to wait too long for the next story to feature Jago and Litefoot as they are appearing in. As a standalone story its got everything that fans would/should want but as part of the series it compliments it very well and ends it the best way possible.

Dragons Wrath (2000)

Dragon’s Wrath is the final story in the first benny series. It is also the first story since the Time Ring trilogy. The story starts off with a slightly dodgy opening with some singing, I call it singing but I don’t think it would get through on X-Factor (then again!) but after that we get into the story and it feels  like the Benny stories before the trilogy. It has an interesting set up before the story sees our favourite heroine involved in drama surrounding an artefact known as the Gamelian Dragon. The thing that I like about this story is that it doesn’t waste any time as the plot moves along. The story sees Benny arrive a dig for a statue that as the plot progress isn’t what is seems. Then there is a mock trial and then we find out that it has something to do with the Knights of Jeneve. I understand that the novel of this story has far more going on than what we get in this audio story. The biggest lose is of Irving Braxiatel. I know that this character would go on to be quite important in the story of Bernice Summerfield but it was probably a wise thing to do to end this first series without the Braxiatel character.

Each story has featured someone from the TV series era of Doctor Who and in one story a future companion. In this story we have Richard Franklin who plays the wonderful Romolo Nusek who plays the villain of the story. The character of Nusek is well thought out and Franklin seems to having a ball playing him. He could have been a bit more a bit more sinister but it was an amusing performance. Lisa Bowerman continues to impress as Bernice. After the somewhat grim circumstances the character was in during ‘Just War’ it was nice to see the old Bernice back. Jane Burke is a good performance as Truby Kamadrich though it was the best of what was otherwise a standard group of characters.

I really liked this story as it was a relatively normal story. After what was a fairly dark story it was inevitable that they would go for what was a more light hearted story however they didn’t go overboard and what we got was an enjoyable adventure which was the shortest of the Bernice stories of the series. I think that it’s the perfect end to what has been a promising series. As I am still relatively new to the Bernice Summerfield I must say that I’m not 100% sold on this range but I think that as the stories and series progress then the stories might get stronger.  Overall I would give the series 7/10 as there was plenty to like though I think in hindsight I would have left the trilogy for another series but that’s my only real gripe with the series.

The Hourglass Killers (2012)

The final story of the fourth series follows on from the (not so) surprising revelation that Dark was in fact the Doctor. As Colin Baker appears so does Terry Molloy, making his first non-Davros appearance in a Big Finish adventure since 2008’s Kingdom of Silver. Written by Justin Richards, this final story is clearly designed to be the big finale which the previous three stories seemed to lack. This is the fourth story that Justin Richards has written for this range and he seems to the writer who has the best handle on what it takes to come up with a great adventure. His previous stories (The Bloodless Soldier, Litefoot and Sanders & Dead Men’s Tales) were the best stories from each of their respective series and this trend continues with The Hourglass Killers. The story sees the revelation that Mr Hardwick and Mr Kempston are after the Doctor or more importantly (?) after the TARDIS because they want time travel.

The truth about Mr Hardwick and Mr Kempston being sand was quite a surprise. I do think of that character in the third Spider-Man film which was made of sand and instantly thought this was better done. Their intention is not quite so much of a surprise but it was still fun. The plot is a good one though I was worried that the introduction of the Doctor would be a problem as it would blur the lines and also would turn Jago and Litefoot from leading characters to supporting ones. Thankfully this wasn’t the case though it did feel slightly strange finding that the Doctor was the supporting character but it didn’t last long as the story was good enough to maintain my attention.

I thought the departure scene was actually my favourite scene in the entire thing. I thought that Leela’s departure was well done and it was actually quite sad that after 8 adventures, Leela won’t be with Jago and Litefoot. However it got better when the Doctor offered Jago and Litefoot the opportunity to fly the TARDIS. Thankfully they accepted the offer because it would be nice to have Jago and Litefoot in an alien world or a futuristic setting. All the performances are solid. Both Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin have not put a foot wrong and I thought the Benjamin was possibly the better of the two. It will be sad that Louise Jameson won’t be in these stories because she has added something different to the partnership of Jago and Litefoot and despite this being the eighth or ninth story to feature Leela that I have heard since the start of the year, I haven’t tired of Jameson or Leela. I think that Leela has suited Jago and Litefoot and the style of stories in this series very well. Colin Baker did a good job in not taking over this story. Normally he doesn’t have to try hard to be noticed in the main range stories but he did well in coming across as an equal to Benjamin and Baxter. Lisa Bowerman seldom gets a mention in these reviews and I thought she was great in this story. The character of Ellie has always been in the background in these stories but she has consistently been a very good character and I just loved the scenes where she and Benjamin had to pretend to be the Doctor and Leela. She managed to pull it off and if Louise Jameson ever decides to stop playing Leela then with a tiny bit of tweaking, Lisa could take over. Terry Molloy did a good job despite his character not being in it for very long. It’s always good to have Molloy in anything.

The Hourglass Killer ought to be the best story of the series and it should but that’s only because the previous three have felt like they were good but lacking something. Overall whilst this has been an ok series it hasn’t been as good as the previous three. Though I think that at some point the series was going to through up something that didn’t meet the high standard that the series has set for itself it was still worth the money and the future of the series looks as strong as ever.

The Renaissance Man (2012)

After a great start with Destination Nerva and getting use to how the Fourth Doctor stories would work, I settled down to listen to this second stories with some excitment. It's written by Toms Tardis Award winning writer Justin Richards and it is an interesting story because it features Ian McNeice who has appeared in a Big Finish story before namely 2007's Immortal Beloved and of course recently appeared as Winston Churchill opposite Matt Smith's Doctor. The story sees the Doctor trying to continue Leela's education (which is something that never really got done on TV) and arrives in a quite little English village, its the second story in as many releases to have the setting of a lovely little village.

When listening to this story I did have a feeling that this was similar to the 2005 story 'Dalek' where a collector basically keeps everything locked under the ground but collects things because he likes it. In this story we have Harcourt (McNeice) who collects things to assume knowledge, persumably thinking that knowledge is power. I thought that this area of the story was what made it stand out for me. I thought that despite the unoriginal setting and the link to Dalek the whole story flowed pretty well. As this story is a two parter it means that some padding which would be required for a four parter isnt needed and so as a result time is short and everything has to matter but in the early stages I think that sufficent time was made to lay down the bits and pieces that would make up the story and Justin Richards did this very well.

Tom Baker continues to impress in these stories. His voice might be quite different from his time on TV but there are certain mannerisms and tones that help the listener believe that this is the Fourth Doctor. He doesnt sound like he is making that much of an effort yet it still sounds like he is having a lot of fun playing the Doctor (despite those Hornet Nest stories away from Big Finish). It's a times like this that I wish that Baker would have done Big Finish stories years ago but will embrace the fact that he's doing them and be happy with that. Louise Jameson is better than she ever was in these stories and continues that in this story. Ian McNeice is the best thing in this story because like Baker he is effortless and his performance is enjoyable throughout. As Harcourt, he is someone who thinks he is smarter than he actually is. It's hard to imagine McNeice without thinking of Winston Churchill. It's something that slightly marred the performance for me which isnt McNeice's fault but it's true. The rest of the supporting cast were also good Laura Molyneu (Beryl and Professor Lutthewaite) being another enjoyable performance.

The Renaissance Man is the story that I would really start to evaluate the series because Destination Nerva still had the novelty of the new series about it. Overall I liked this story, it was well written adn several of the characters were well written and well performed however I must admit that I did think it started to get a bit bogged down around the 2/3 mark but it managed to pull it together at the end and as a result was a good adventure and shows that this series has some even better moments going for it.

Disassembled (2011)

2011 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Gallifrey Story

The second instalment of this series is my favourite so far. I have to take issue with the new theme tune. Whilst it’s quite a nice one I much prefer the one that had been used in the previous three series. Written by Justin Richards who is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers, this story sees the regulars arrive in another portal except it’s far more brutal than normal Gallifrey. The Timelords in this version are far more involved than we had previous known them to be and there is a Temporal Intervention Agency. Timelords are basically eradicating people out of time to make things better for themselves. The process that this is done is quite a dark and grim one. We encounter a General Leela who is even more aggressive than normal Leela ever was. I had a slight concern that when the two Leela’s inevitably meet that I would have difficultly in telling the two apart but Louise Jameson does a great job in creating two different tones but keeping them appropriate to the character.

The story moves along and is interesting and then comes in Mr Colin Baker. Now I am a big fan of Colin’s and think that his Doctor is one of the best in the Big Finish range but in this story he plays a different version of his incarnation who is called The Lord Burner who as it turns out is the Presidential Assassin. It’s at this stage that the story really becomes a strong contender for Best Gallifrey story ever. The story is trying to rid of a paradox which as anyone who watched Last of the Timelords in 2007 knows that this is a bad thing. The portal plot point plays an important part in dramatic terms and I was worrying that this portal stuff was just a convenient plot tool that was going to become silly however due to the fact that its weakening then it seems like they (the writers/producers etc) knew what they were doing with it. Yet again Braxiatel is used to save the day and I think that he is one of my underrated characters because he is superbly played by Miles Richardson.

There is a nice little cameo from Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield. This is perhaps done to explain Braxiatel’s arrival in her reality. It was a nice little scene that came at the end of a story that I really had enjoyed and so I had nothing but good will towards it and whether they appear in future stories or not I think that it’s a nice scene that works very well.

The regulars are all on good form with Lalla Ward continuing to show why she’s the better Romana. I think that Louise Jameson wins out of these two because of her portrayal of the ‘bad’ Leela. I also thought that Sean Carlsen put in another great performance as Narvin. You can never quite trust him and his unstable friendship with Leela is a highlight. Colin Baker as I have mentioned is just fantastic in this and whereas it could have been a normal performance like he would in the main range, to appear in a series where he isn’t the star of the story and not try to steal the show is credit to him.

Before I finish, I thought the biggest and best thing about this story is something that literally had shocked me and I was driving on the M6 at the time which isn’t perhaps the best time to be listening to this story. It was the revelation that the Doctor was to be killed and this is why he fled Gallifrey with Susan. Though this isn’t specifically named it’s pretty hard to argue otherwise. When all is said and done this is a brilliant story and this series is shaping up to be the best out of the four so far. It’s clear that the complex stories that were regular in the previous series would be replaced with far more understandable adventures but of course with two more adventures in this series it could all change but at this moment in time (and space) all I have to say is – Marvellous.

Dead Men's Tales (2011)

So Jago and Litefoot are back! Well it’s’ not just them as they are reunited with Leela who they met along with the Doctor in ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’. This is quite a big decision that they have made because they are effectively changing the dynamic of the series. Instead of it being Jago and Litefoot, it’s Jago, Litefoot & Leela. The opening to series three was written by Justin Richards whose previous contributions to this series include ‘The Bloodless Soldier’ (2010) and ‘Litefoot and Sanders’ (2011) which are my favourite stories of those series. The first thing that the story has to deal with is given a satisfactory answer as to why Leela has turned up. Thankfully that explanation is quite good. She has been sent by Romana to locate and repair ‘time leakages. The first leakage takes them to the Thames and we are introduced to a curious individual called Mr Paine who stands out purely by having a mobile phone on him which goes off during the story.

This stories’ villain are the ‘Wet Men’ who are ghosts that come up from the Thames. Now whether this becomes the ‘Sanders’ arc for the series remains to be seen but it’s a wonderful creation cause it congers up a wonderful image in my head. The story is split between the regular place where Jago and Litefoot frequent and The Jolly Roger which is considered a not as sophisticated as the Red Tavern.

There’s a nice familiarity about the supporting characters. Ellie is the most obvious one and is played brilliantly by Lisa Bowerman. Her role has been through a lot over the previous eight episodes and it’s nice that she gets something to do in this one. The fact that she knows when a barmaid is working in another pub was quite an important revelation about the character because it shows how much knowledge and wise she is in the area. Then there is Sergeant Quick (Conrad Asquith) who has become a slightly under written character but whenever he is in a scene he is always entertaining.

Bringing Louise Jameson into the fold was a brilliant idea. It’s another bit of Classic Doctor Who creeping back into one of its audio spin-offs. Despite being set during her Gallifrey days she is different compared to when she first appeared in Doctor Who but it doesn’t show here and despite being fiery she is still out of her comfort zone in Victorian England. There is a lot of comedy around Leela and trying to get her into some suitable attire. There is a reference to what she wore in the TTOWC and I did like the interaction between Leela and Ellie. I also liked the lesson that Leela has about Cockney rhyming slang which she tries to get a handle on but doesn’t always sound convincing.

What with the return of Leela and the Wet Men it’s easy to undervalue Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter. With Series 5 scheduled to be released in 2012 it’s quite astonishing that just two years ago we were still waiting for them to come out for a single return in a companion chronicle. The characters are just superb and don’t put a foot wrong. I am sitting here trying to think of a bad thing to say about either actor and just cant so wont.

Yet again, Jago and Litefoot have started in fantastic fashion. I loved everything about this story and think that if the stories in this season are like this then this will be another cracking series. If I did have a complain then it would be that it should have been longer. Admittedly this story was roughly around the same time as Litefoot and Sanders but when you have stories in Gallifrey that are 70 minutes long and this story could have benefitted from it being 5-10 minutes longer. Apart from that, Justin Richards has written a superb story. Splendid.

Mindbomb (2006)

The penultimate adventure of the third series is a story that is arguably the finest story so far. This sees the first Gallifreyan elections in hundreds of years. The story is written by Justin Richards (Red Dawn) and his previous two stories have been interesting but slightly complex to understand. Both The Inquiry and Pandora had lots of good things about them but this is his best offering. Over the course of the last few stories there has been a steady build up to these elections and the lack of clarity over who’s President of the High Council of Timelords needed resolving and this is where it needed to be resolved. The story has three candidates in Romana, Darkel and Matthias. It’s clear from the outset that Matthias is the one that’s going to steal the presidency. Whilst Romana and Darkel are bickering about whether certain rules apply and whether Romana is eligible to stand for office and when people become president can they excuse political prisoners and so on and so forth.

Matthias has become one the best characters of the series and his rise to the ultimate prize has been a well handled and well crafted one. He has gone from being a nice normal character to being quite a caniving one and that’s what good about him. Stephen Perring’s performances have always been solid. His slyness was on par if not ahead of Darkel’s at times and Darkel has been the prime baddie throughout. Lalla Ward is very good now that Romana is back to full health. Now that’s she an ex-President there is a different feel to the character. However the relationship between Romana and Leela has been neglected to a certain degree over the last few stories however it doesn’t mean that Louise Jameson has suffered as a result. In fact she seems to have a new lease of life following her blindness. Jameson has more to do than just say that her blade thirsts for blood. She has come on leaps and bounds recently.

The story marks a surprise return of Braxiatel who’s return well and truly comes out of the blue. The moment that it was becoming clear that he was going to be named as president and not Darkel was one of the most enjoyable moments that I can recall whilst listening to this series. The idea that he is still regarded as Chancellor before and due to some long winded reason, he is still Chancellor and becomes President. However it’s a short lived joy when he accidentally admits placing Darkel under arrest was a political point and has to rather embarrisingly let her go. It’s a this point that he starts to stumble over his words. This is when an exciting story steps up a gear and it’s not long before Darkel’s demise sets up the end of the story and also the end to the Pandora story arc well and truly. I am gutted that Darkel has gone because I thought that Lynda Bellingham was one of the best things about the series next to Romana and Leela. Her demise was quite brutal and it was possibly the only way that the character could have been written out. I’m hoping that she returns in future stories.

Despite being 75 minutes long it didn’t feel like it. I would have said closer to 50 minutes and its surprising how they fit so much in it. The story is a wonderful adventure with the political side of the series getting comfortable centre stage and not wanting to budge. After all the epic things that happened in this story its quite a interesting thing to work out just how would they end series three.

Pandora (2005)

Panadora is the second of an unofficial two-parter which hopes to clear up the mystery of who this mysterious figure was that arrived and interrupted Romana and Leela’s holiday. The thing that I wanted from this adventure was for a satisfying conclusion to the identity of this mysterious figure and that is exactly what we got and more importantly we got a satisfactory answer. Written by Justin Richards (Red Dawn), this story manages to build on the foundations laid down in Spirit. The story does a great job of balancing the main story arc but also give the conclusion that the mysterious individual deserves.

The replay of what happened to this figure who is called Wynter is truly horrific. We learn that Pandora is planning on using him to help get power but one he realises this he tries to prevent this from happening. as he tries to drink a flask thinking its poison but it is in fact a regenrative mutagen. There is then a sense of desperation as he tries to kill himself with K9’s nose laser and then crushing his hands in a door before biting off his own tounge. This is all in vain as Pandora keeps him alive. This was totally engaging and its one of the finest scenes that I have ever heard in this series. It was brilliantly played by Ian Hallard as Wynter. Another great performance was from Miles Richardson as Cardinal Braxiatel who seems to make the ultimate sacrifice as he tries to control Pandora in his mind but is forced to leave Gallifrey to save. Braxiatel is a very good character that is well played and goes through all the possible character moods but I felt quite sad when he left because I liked the character so much. That said it might not be the last we hear from him.

I have really liked this series so far because the quality of storytelling is far greater than in series one This was a very good conclusion to the unofficial two-parter with the last two stories potentially going to be superb stories. On its own this story benefits from some truly great acting mainly from the supporting cast. I think that the series has found itself and it seems to benefit more from having less complex time stuff and more from what we know (or think we know) about Timelords and the politics and backstabbing that goes on.

The Inquiry (2004)

The third instalment of the first Gallifrey series that was released in 2004 is arguably the best written by Justin Richards, this story sees an inquiry opened to examine the events of the previous story and whether Romana over did it. This story sees the return of the Inquisitor played by Linda Bellingham. Considering the story is called The Inquiry, there is very little of it. Instead we get a threat to blow up the Matrix because some sort of Anti-Tamper device has been activated by K9 which is another reason to dislike K9. This is a good story that gets bogged down in science jargon, to the degree I actually thought that Christopher H Bidmead was involved somehow. The story does have a B-Plot to give Leela something to do. There is a bit more on the whereabouts of her husband. You now that never sounds right in my head.

The stuff with finding proof of the Titmoic device was interesting. The idea the proof of something was erased after it went off was different. I may have got it slightly back to front but it sounded very exciting. Just when I thought that I had understood that Cardinal Braxiatel was somehow involved it all disappeared and it took me another listen to understand it properly what was going on. This is becoming a regular thing which I find slightly annoying which is a fault with the series so far. The plot with Leela was far more exciting as we had more than scraps to digest. There was still no real definitive news but I found this stuff had more dramatic weight to it than the Romana stuff. It seems like Louise Jameson had the better deal in this story.

The supporting cast were very good with a great showing from Sean Carlsen as Coordinator Narvin. He was written as a slim character and Carlsen played him brilliantly. I also thought Miles Richardson gave a good performance as Braxiatel. I also liked John Leeson’s contributions though. I still don’t like K9. I also thought that the partnership between Leela and Romana was vey strong. It was Louise Jameson’s best performance because there was a proper reason for her character to be there as opposed to just making up the numbers. Overall a strong cast.

The Inquiry is the best release of the series so far. We had two quite important plots that continue to keep us guessing. Hopefully there will be a satisfying conclusion in the next story which if the trailer is to be believe features the inclusion of a familiar voice and possibly character who at the time was quite a big character. So far all three stories have impressed me but they are slightly more complicated than a normal Doctor Who adventure. It’s a good if slightly more realistic portrayal of the Timelords than we ever saw on TV.

Litefoot and Sanders (2011)

Has Big Finish gone mad? Have they split up one of the finest double acts in Doctor Who history. Has Henry Gordon Jago being replaced with Gabriel Sanders? Of course not, thankfully this is Big Finish’s way of bringing Jago and Litefoot back for a second series after their wonderful debut last year. Written by Justin Richards who previously wrote The Bloodless Soldier which in my mind was one of the best from the first series has written another story that has drama yet doesn’t get bogged down in science and complexities of science. Litefoot and Sanders sees a mysterious guy called Gabriel Sanders join Professor Litefoot in solving a series of grizzly deaths.

The story moves along at a steady pace and never gets boring. This is largely due to Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter who show what fun they are having all the time. In particular Benjamin who I think is a wonderful character and a fine actor. Of the other cast, Chloe Howman puts in a lovely performance as Mags. To be honest I thought it was Lisa Bowerman doing another voice but either way it’s a performance which seems quite minor to begin with but turns out to be important in the final scene and also the moment where Jago kills Mags was quite moving. David Collings was very good as Sanders. I thought the character of Sanders was quite sinister and it’s almost a shame that he got killed because I think the character could have been quite a good villain.

I quite like the twist when Litefoot reveals he knew from the beginning that Sanders was a murderer. It did seem odd that Litefoot being the intelligent guy that he is would be so stupid. There were several instances where there were pretty big clues yet Litefoot didn’t seem to be putting two and two together. The revelation of Litefoot’s plan was well played and led to a fun scene at the end between Jago, Litefoot and Sanders. I was genuinely shocked at the end by the news that Ellie had been killed. I thought that it ruined a otherwise fine story but its clear that its part of a story arc so that particular judgement will have to be put on hold.

Litefoot and Sanders is a wonderful story that shows the first series wasn’t a fluke. The thing I like about this story is the same thing that I like about the first series and hopefully this series is how the stories are quite straight forward and more importantly the characters are well written and well acted. From Baxter and Benjamin to Lisa Bowerman and Conrad Asquith, all the casting decisions appear to be spot on. Everyone on the production should be praised for a superb story that set the series off nicely

The Bloodless Soldier (2010)

Well its finally here. The first Jago and Litefoot series finally arrived in my download box. Four full cast adventures featuring the double act that made their only appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang back in 1977. This series is due to the popularity of the Companion Chronicle story ‘The Mahogany Murderers’ back in 2009. All four stories are written by people who have contributed to Big Finish Doctor Who stories over the last eleven years. The first was written by Justin Richards who wrote the 2000 story Red Dawn. Richards has a tough job in trying to take what we loved about The Mahogany Murderers and translate it into a full cast 50 minute drama.

The story sees a group of soldiers return from serving overseas but one of them has been infected by a beast and is mutating. Back in London there are a series of deaths and unexplained events. One of the soldiers was the brother of Ellie who is the barmaid at the pub that Jago and Litefoot frequent. The story sees Private Michaels trying to sell the Captain to Jago to put in one of his shows like some sort of Freakshow act. During the impending battle that takes place at the end Private Higson (Ellie’s Brother) becomes infected and is the subject of a mercy killing at the hands of Jago. Ellie is told he died a hero and is not told the truth.

The plot suits this story. Had it been a Doctor Who adventure then perhaps it would have been a bit underwhelming which is perhaps worse than a dud story. It’s pace started off quickly at the beginning before hitting a peak at just the right time. The characters in this were all very strong and very well acted. I particularly like Lisa Bowerman who returns as Ellie. The character was really excited about her brother coming home but then absolutely devastated when he died. Bowerman did a great job making the character believable throughout. I thought that the moment when Jago kills Private Higson was a surprising moment. I expected someone else to do that job but I think that probably would have been chickening out which would devalue to character and the story. Trevor Baxter (Professor Litefoot) and Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago) are outstanding in this story. The way that they sound exactly as they did back in 1977 was one of the reasons why The Mahogany Murderers was so well received. They give comforting performances and at no point throughout did I get bored or feel like they we running out of steam.

The Bloodless Soldier is a brilliant opening story. It did exactly what it was suppose to and lay down the groundwork and show what the rest of the season is going to be like. The plot was lightweight but needed to be and quite unusually this story was more of a character piece because what we saw was a different side to Jago and Litefoot when Jago kills Private Higson. For me the £30 I paid for this series was value for money just on this offering alone. You can clearly see why Big Finish commissioned a second series before this first series was even released.

Good stuff!

The Time of the Daleks (2002)

The Time of the Daleks is quite an unusual story to say the very least. It’s the first time the McGann has ever faced the Daleks so it was a release I was quite looking forward to. Justin Richards is responsible for the Eighth Doctor’s first meeting with the metal monsters. The story starts off with Charley not knowing who Shakespeare which baffles the Doctor. With Shakespeare being one of the most famous writers in the history of the world its feasible to think that everyone would have at least heard of the Bard. The Doctor arrives on Earth and finds that no one else has heard of him either. This is partly due to Mariah Learman who rules Britain and despite being a Shakespeare enthusiast has also been doing time travel experiments. Now normally this would form the basis of a good story, trying to stop someone from damaging the time line would make a good four parter. Then Richards throws in the Daleks for good measure. Now I was expecting them to just try their normal invasion thing but the Daleks we get in this story are in fact fans of Shakespeare. Only in Doctor Who!

The Daleks in this story are used in perhaps the most original way for quite sometime. The mere thought that they are fans of Shakespeare stops instantly gets my concentration. The way that the Daleks interact with the Eighth Doctor was very well handled and that line that previous Doctor’s use that “They don’t feel like the Doctor until they’ve met the Daleks” now applies to Paul McGann. There is a mini twist that I didn’t see coming. The Kitchen boy that we meet in this story turns out to be a young William Shakespeare who is dislocated from his own time.

Paul McGann in a really good performance. It was always important that his first encounter with the Daleks went well. McGann really threw himself into this story and had some wonderful scenes with the Daleks. India Fisher also puts in a sterling performance. Of the guest cast I found Dot Smith to be the best as Mariah Learman. I found the Learman character to be a fine example of people who think they are very clever but are actually quite stupid when it comes to something like time travel. Jem Bassett on the other hand is not as impressive. It’s quite obvious that she is trying to play a character that is a pre-pubescent boy. I just found it slightly disappointing.

At the end of the story I found myself not entirely happy with it. I think that some of the elements about it worked quite well such as the setting with was something different but unfortunately aside from the Eighth Doctor’s first encounter with the Daleks there is nothing really in this story that grabbed me. Justin Richards has written a story that couldn’t never be classed as terrible but neither could be compared as good as The Chimes of Midnight or Embrace the Darkness. What he did do was extend the major story arc which was a relief. The Time of the Daleks is a story that should be listened to but ultimately its not going to rank as one of the best Dalek stories of all time.

The Whispers of Terror (2000)

The third release from Big Finish sees the Sixth Doctor finally get his own adventure. This story sees the Sixth Doctor and Peri travel sometime after Revelation of the Daleks. This was at a the time in their relationship when they were still a bickering couple. This wasn’t a particularly golden period in Doctor Who history and unfortunately this story was perhaps too early in Big Finish’s time.

First of all the idea of using sound as an enemy is quite original and has potential. The story of a politician who was murdered is then re-born as sound. However I sound found myself looking at the track number and seeing how much was left because beside Baker and Bryant’s acting there is very little to enjoy from this release.

The story isn’t a total washout. There are some interesting characters in this story such as Beth Pernell (played by Lisa Bowerman). I think maybe more of the fact that it is Bowerman’s acting than the character she plays. Bowerman can always be relied to put in a enthusiastic performance and she doesn’t let the side down in this story. Colin Baker puts in a good performance just like he did in The Sirens of Time. This being Nicola Bryant’s first performance she does a good job. She doesn’t sound any different than she did back on TV.

Justin Richards sees to set up the stall for this story and then sits back and hopes the story carries it home whereas in reality what we are left with is a story that does nothing to help make people think differently of this pairing. I have always thought that Colin Baker was very good as the Doctor but was let down y the outfit and also the outfit. Hopefully future stories will help people revaluate their impression of the Doctor. Gary Russell seems to do the best of a bad situation and directs the actors very well and makes the story bearable.

As this is only the third release its too early to tell what future releases will be like. But future authors will need to look at what they need to do to avoid writing a lacklustre adventure. I hope that Justin Richards is allowed to write another story because I think that there were some elements in this story that have good points to it.

Red Dawn (2000)

Red Dawn is the second story to feature a monster from the classic series. The Ice Warriors were first used in their self titled story along with another appearance in 1969 before being devalued in comedical performances in The Curse of Peladon and Monster of Peladon. In Red Dawn they are restored to their former glory. It’s quite fitting that they are back on Mars because that is where they came from even though they never go there on TV. Justin Richards has written this story which sees the Fifth Doctor teams up with Peri for the first time since The Caves of Androzani. This relationship was never given much time because Peri joined the show at the beginning of the previous story (Planet of Fire) and so its stories like this that will show us what this pairing can do.

The Doctor and Peri are very good in this story. This story follows in the glorious tradition of Doctor Who by having the Doctor and Peri separated fairly early on. As the first episode unfolds the first thing that comes to mind was how mysterious it was. There was also the sense of waiting for the Ice Warriors to finally appear. This predictably comes at the end of the first episode and forms the best cliffhanger from this range so far. But once they are in then the action never slows down. The menace of their previous/earlier stories really shines in this story. The character of Zzaal is perfect as lord of the Ice Warriors. The best moment was when the Doctor and Lee Forbes are accused by Zzaal of keeping him occupied and gets angry and then sends some Ice Warriors to rescue Stast from Ares One. The Doctor/Forbes relationship worked well as I thought that Forbes was well acted by Robert Jezek. They have all the action in the building with the Ice Warriors whereas Peri and Tanya are lumbered with staying on Argosy. I have to say that it was a good combination. This was partly due to the good acting of Nicola Bryant and Gerogia Moffet. Moffet who incidentally is actually Peter Davison’s daughter. Now I don’t know whether Davison pulled any strings but to me that’s irrelevant because she is very good as Tanya Webster. But it is the character of Paul Webster that I found the most interesting. It is because of his actions that the story is unravelling. By Part 3 he has started to go a little bit crazy. As Peri and Tanya are letting Sstas loose Paul pulls out a gun. A brother pointing a gun at his sister is quite a shocking and dramatic moment. By the end of the third episode he was pointing a laser gun at the Doctor’s head so if that’s not a sign of instability then I don’t know what is.

The final episode is a nice one because it feels like a lot is going on. We have the big revelation also in this episode that Tanya is actually a clone. By the end we have a nice climax that humanity is safe and the Ice Warriors are remaining on Mars. It’s the two forces battling and then calling a truce, not quite best friends but are willing to stay out of each others way which I found as a satisfactory conclusion.

Justin Richards has written a very good story. Its starting to feel like Big Finish are developing a good way of storytelling. Richards has written good strong characters that only become stronger when we learn the truth about Tanya. Gary Russell has done a good job as director making all the action come to the fore front at just the right moment.