Reviewed by Martin Hudecek

Colin Baker, Nicholas Briggs (Interviewer)
Released August 2015, Big Finish Productions

The Sixth Doctor is perhaps the greatest 'what if' incarnation out of all the Doctors to grace the small-screen in the program's history. .Born out of the explosive events on the planet Androzani Minor, the very first moments of this direct and superior individual made the perfect end to an all-time classic serial. But trouble soon followed for both this new version of the Doctor and the program itself, and Colin Baker's wish to be the longest Doctor to date was cut abruptly short by the higher powers at the BBC

Of course, a horde of Big Finish productions expanded the universe of the past Doctors, and the characters they encountered. The Sixth Doctor has had many more chances to show just why he is every bit as worthy a pilot of the TARDIS as those that came before him and since.

My earliest impression of Colin Baker the person was at a 1990s convention in Birmingham where he had just returned from a tour to Blist Hills with The Mark of The Rani's cast and writers. Somehow I managed to grab a seat on the front row with a friend. One great story after another was shared, and during all that time I noticed just how friendly Colin was with the thoroughly engaged group of fans. A man who could look you full in the eye and smile, and for it to feel like you had met him before.

This type of friendly figure should have been the final stages of the butterfly Sixth Doctor, after sufficient build up and hints along the way. But it was not to be in the 1980s. I am at least confident it will happen in a not too dissimilar fashion with our present Doctor played by the wonderful Peter Capaldi.

This release is both similar and markedly different to Tom Baker at 80. Colin is younger than his predecessor but is very reflective and shows a 'come what may' attitude to the remainder of his career. Unlike Tom, Colin has always been a receptive and fairly open person for an interview. Such is Nicholas Briggs' determination, we actually do get the occasional more negative feelings and critical side to him, without it feeling forced from him.

Another notable difference, is that with Colin, Briggs has clearly much knowledge and appreciation for his work, but also knows that they had a healthy functional relationship.  Baker could get many more opportunities to show his capabilities as the Doctor and Briggs could write, direct, produce or act to some degree depending on the particular story in question.

And I personally enjoy this more assertive model of the same interviewer; one who can clarify and muster views on the past, the present and the future as they transpire for the interviewee.

The structure here is successful as a chronology with the occasional reflection and discussion of a big topic or theme. And it is very engaging to get a sense of how Baker as an acting persona grew and developed, drawing upon the various formative experiences he had, and later influences from people that he respected or revered. Colin rarely speaks for more than a minute or two without making some amusing anecdote, or some very insightful point about various important topics, i.e. society, education, effort in accomplishing something, opportunity, status, basic respect, and being a public figure - that last one of course being of paramount interest to listeners. He was put into a very troublesome place when it appeared he might be turned on and blamed for things faltering in a massive institution which Doctor Who was (and now is more than ever before).

To my mind this release is just as engrossing, and more dependable as a record of the person behind the actor. There will always be a sense that Tom Baker wants to play to the audience and be an entertainer the majority of the time, and will keep a certain amount of his most private thoughts to himself and a few trusted confidantes. Colin Baker is private in the sense that he will hint how his children and wife are the biggest thing in his life, but he will talk properly about virtually everything else and show no worries as to what others think. He even says that whether he is smart or not is for other to "decide", which is wonderfully self-aware and grounded.

But one common trait with the Fourth Doctor actor release, is that this interview tries to avoid retreading much previous material from bonus interviews that followed the Big Finish dramas. Furthermore there is very little about the majority of Baker's tenure as the doctor. So if like myself, you were frustrated by a lack of commentary from him on the DVD of Revelation of the Daleks, (and again for episode 13 of The Trial of a Time Lord) then this just is not the place to find his views.

Baker's formative years are arguably the very best component of the interview. We see a remarkably distinctive boy who unapologetically demonstrated the mind and attitude of a middle class thinker, and that caused problems for him in a school that was part of a very northern working class town. Further problems came from his posh voice, and his bookworm tendencies.

Yet instead of bogging the young Colin down, the ability to adapt and to gain trust and companionship was demonstrated, and would become a great asset of his. Later  he went on to be a promising young lawyer but opted ultimately for acting, despite its far less certain dividends and prospects.

He also would always stand up for the underdog and not be a pushover, but still use tact and patience when required.. And for those of us who revelled in his Doctor's finest moments, those were the precise qualities that made us cheer him on as he batted aside Mentors, Androgums, Borads and Vervoids.

Colin talks of his proud use of sarcasm, and how he gets on better usually with those that likewise opt for ironic and deadpan humour. And the jokes certainly come through many a time, enabling his release further replay value which was already sizeable given the remarkable life story.

However some bittersweet or melancholic moments are also there, even when a  quip has only just registered with the listener.  One of these is Baker talking about his dignified efforts to secure one last full season, and how he would not just return for the opener; eventually Time and the Rani. This was certainly more than reasonable and such issues had dogged Blake's 7 lead Gareth Thomas (Incidentally Colin was fantastically memorable as Bayban in a Series 3 episode that didn't feature Blake).

Yet apparently more galling was the regret over his inability to go to university as his father did not see the value in it. Although grants were available, the financial status of Colin's father meant that he was not eligible, and so had no further higher education opportunity in the Britain of the mid-20th Century.

This lack of choice in being able to go to university is something he freely admits to being a 'chip on his shoulder', but really was it such a problem when he ended up with a happy family life and a very solid acting career? Perhaps a bit of ambivalence lies at the heart of this interview, but that is by no means a failing; rather a fair reflection of a sophisticated and thoughtful individual.

With name dropping of great British actors like David Suchet and Bernard Hill, one appreciates how Colin was learning his craft alongside men with even more natural skill than he had, and that he was more than happy to benefit.

At the same time he is/was a very outgoing, genial and co-operative working actor, who certainly could not have tried harder during the very troubled mid-Eighties period for Doctor Who. And thankfully he ended up working in much more favourable conditions with both co-stars old and new on the audio dramas.

Nicholas Briggs will hopefully keep making these types of special audio releases, and involve other major players in Doctor Who history, be they producers, directors, script editors, as well as companions and notable guest stars. For my part I especially would enjoy one with Julian Glover, who now is producing wonderful cameos on Game Of Thrones.

A final reflection on this release then. We have a charismatic man who grew up in Manchester who is very grateful for the continuing adventures of one of the Doctor's more complex and unpredictable incarnations, and of course bold new projects like A Dozen Summers.

So whether the listener has heard any quantity of adventures belonging to the vast Big Finish catalogue, or not, they can really appreciate just why and how Colin Baker is consistently regarded as the best of a worthy group of Time Lords on audio. And of course Uncle Tom is in that mix as well.

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Reviewed by Thomas Buxton

Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor - The Last Adventure
Written by Simon Barnard, Paul Morris, Alan Barnes, Matt Fitton and Nicholas Briggs
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Starring: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Trevor Baxter (Litefoot), Christopher Benjamin (Jago), India Fisher (Charley), Lisa Greenwood (Flip), Michael Jayston (The Valeyard), Bonnie Langford (Mel) and Miranda Raison (Constance)
Released by Big Finish Productions - September 2015 ​

“It’s the end…but the moment has been prepared for.”

Regardless of its origin as the ominous yet somehow inertly reassuring final words uttered by Tom Baker prior to his Doctor’s regeneration in “Logopolis”, that fateful line of dialogue has rarely rung truer than with the wholly timely demise of the Sixth Doctor. Not only was Colin Baker’s divisive incarnation robbed of his own on-screen transformation thanks to behind-the-scenes disputes leading to Sylvester McCoy donning an unwieldy blonde wig in “Time and the Rani”, but as was revealed in last month’s edition of DWM (Issue 489, to be precise), Baker himself had until quite recently declined Big Finish’s various offers to send his most famed construct off in proper style. With all of that contextual background taken into account, the mere existence of The Sixth Doctor – The Last Adventure, a near unprecedented audio saga intended to rewrite continuity somewhat so as to give old ‘Sixie’ the denouement he deserves, represents a staggering development in the programme’s history worthy of applause in and of itself.

Of course, although the same could have been stated of the Eighth Doctor’s one and only televised serial, that the TV Movie managed to premiere both in the States and here in Britannia didn’t prevent the one-off, bumper-length special from receiving a far from congratulatory critical reception soon after its debut. Will the so-called Last Adventure (a title which admittedly seems more tenuous by the day given Big Finish’s ongoing plans for Baker’s most iconic persona) go down as another such tragic misfire, then, or as a near-unprecedented triumph on the scale of Russell T. Davies’ much-adored reboot-turned-faithful continuation “Rose”? To discover precisely this truth, let us plunge back into an age of technicoloured jackets, politically corrupt Gallifreyan trials and – most importantly – morally warped future Doctors, evaluating each of the four one-hour tales intended to chronicle the darkest – and by all accounts finest, though we’ll be the judge of that claim – hour of perhaps Theta Sigma’s most controversial regeneration to date.

The End of the Line:

Perhaps it’s this reviewer picking nits for the pure sake of doing so, but if any of the episodes featured on what is undoubtedly one of Big Finish’s more audacious compilations in their eventful history could have been released separately so as to reduce the hefty 420-minute running time awaiting listeners here, it’s this one. Try as they might to connect their largely gripping yarn – which sees ‘Sixie’ and his soon-to-be incumbent assistant Constance Clarke (Miranda Raison) investigate an increasingly mysterious railway train packed to the brim with temporal surprises (think “Mummy on the Orient Express”, albeit with far greater exploration of what lies beyond its primary setting) – to The Last Adventure’s central arc surrounding the Doctor’s inevitably self-destructive series of final confrontations with the ever-sinister, ever-vainglorious Valeyard, writers Simon Barnard and Paul Morris ultimately offer the sense that like 2014’s Trial of the Valeyard (a once-apparently pivotal storyline which receives scarcely even a passing reference here, we might add), The End of the Line could easily have been released as a standalone title, or even in the form of a Short Trips-esque prequel several weeks prior to this box-set’s launch. Indeed, save for a few choice moments which the scribes strategically reserve for End’s denouement as well as a well-guarded cameo from one of the 1980s Doctors’ most persistent adversaries, this largely self-contained opening instalment could easily have come off as unnecessary filler in light of its acting as a Greatest Hits showcase for ‘Sixie’ as opposed to a fitting opener for what had always been pitched as a tightly-woven quartet focusing exclusively on the manner in which the Seventh Doctor truly came to be.

Enter Baker and Raison, both of whom excel at establishing a fresh dynamic of intellectual equality, genuine faith in the titular Time Lord’s ever-risky machinations, and most of all earned respect between Constance and her extra-terrestrial TARDIS crewmate in spite of Big Finish not yet having released the story in which these two great minds meet for the first time (though that’s due next month in the form of the Matt Fitton-penned Second World War thriller Criss-Cross). Without the promisingly assured performances of this enviably talented pair, we’d probably have been left with a primarily lacklustre audio drama, especially given that the turns provided by the likes of Anthony Howell and Maggie Service as the aforementioned track-bound vehicle’s band of waylaid passengers don’t exactly rank among the most memorable additions to Who’s ever-expanding audio ensemble (since, suffice to say, anyone expecting emotional depth from these secondary players on a par with those introduced in “Midnight” will come away severely underwhelmed), barring the moments where Barnard and Morris afford them significant chunks of dialogue so as to haphazardly further the compelling but easily condensable plot powering this intrigue-laden – albeit at times frustratingly inconsequential – initial outing.

The Red House:

Ironically enough, though, whereas it’s the leading pair of voice actors at The End of the Line’s helm who prove to be its handy saving grace rather than its supporting cast members, the opposite is in fact true of Alan Barnes’ The Red House, wherein Michael Jayston’s deliciously exaggerated take on his returning “The Trial of a Time Lord” antagonist the Valeyard – or the Doctor, as he claims he’ll one day become known by the wider cosmos – elevates an otherwise forgettable play centring on a frankly dull dystopian world of part-werewolf, part-humanoid beings; clichéd outsider communities who’ve been shunned by their former colonist allies and, worst of all, hopelessly predictable conflicts entailing reckless rebellions against a false empire. The latter’s presence in proceedings remains so minimal that the audience can’t help but struggle to give anything close to a damn about the war which Baker’s semi-iconic adversary appears absolutely intent on sparking (for reasons that mercifully become far clearer once the bell begins to toll on both versions of the Doctor’s respective character arcs), hence why the focus of all but the most avid fans of Hunger Games-inspired (or Brave New World-inspired; by all means take your pick) worlds without hope or compassion will soon inevitably shift to the aforementioned sub-plot in which Charley Pollard (brought to life with magnificent aplomb once more by India Fisher) faces off against the dark side of the man who she’s seen fit to travel with through time and space on not one but two occasions.

As anyone who persevered with “The Trial of a Time Lord” through to its high-octane denouement will surely attest, there was scarcely ever any reason to fear for the strength of Jayston’s third performance in perhaps his most infamous role, and indeed, despite being forced to dip into the realms of melodrama on occasion here just as he did in the original 1986 adventure, he doesn’t hold back when delivering the manipulative, psychologically assaulting and yet at times somehow subtly charismatic (proof if ever any was needed that the Valeyard hasn’t sacrificed everything in the name of peace and sanity at this point as was the case with John Hurt’s Time War-bound incarnation) dialogue afforded to him both over the course of House’s second half by Barnes as well as in The Last Adventure’s two remaining instalments. Nevertheless, with ‘Sixie’ curiously relegated from the bulk of proceedings despite the moments preceding his demise supposedly being intended to form the crux of this long-awaited set, it would seem that Barnes didn’t quite heed to the collection’s overarching criteria in this regard, something which would be that much more forgivable were it not for the disheartening lack of innovation present in his uninspired setting, a near-fatal flaw which only just fails to cripple The Red House entirely, with its redemption coming only fleetingly in the form of Jayston’s various prolonged (and oh-so-welcome) cameos.

Stage Fright:

For those beginning to question the need for their investment in this hefty £20 or £40 title having reached the halfway point of this review and having read of the considerable shortcomings sported by Red House – as well as to a far lesser extent End of the Line – now’s the time to breathe a hearty sigh of relief. Whilst this reviewer’s overall familiarity with Victorian quasi-detectives Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin) and Gordon Litefoot (Trevor Baxter) didn’t extend far beyond his initial viewing of “The Talons of Weng-Chiang” (an entertainingly fast-paced, if at times disbelief-testing, introductory tale first broadcast as part of the Fourth Doctor era in 1977, though this won’t exactly come as news to the characters’ ever-expanding fan-base) when the time came to consume “Stage Fright” in its delightful 60-minute entirety, this lack of knowledge regarding in particular the history of Big Finish’s aptly-named Who spin-off Jago & Litefoot didn’t prevent Last Adventure’s penultimate instalment from easily ranking as the most satisfying entry of the bunch by an immeasurable distance.

There’s a chance this sweeping evaluation might come as a shock to any readers expecting the Sixth Doctor’s swansong to peak in its concluding moments: surely “The Brink of Death” should take the crown as this incarnation’s finest set-piece given its valiant efforts to rewrite the character’s botched demise? Surprisingly, no. That’s not to say the aforementioned serial disappoints – by and large, it’s another winner, as we’ll discuss later, but even so, it’s not dripping with the same level of periodic atmosphere as “Fright” by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps director Nicholas Briggs (who has in fact seen fit not only to helm all four tales but also to try his hand at penning their finale in the form of “Brink”) and the cruelly underappreciated team behind this masterpiece’s soundtrack deserve the most credit, especially since it’s all too easy for us to forget the incredible work that goes on beyond the confines of the recording studio in order to elevate the studio’s projects higher than most. Even so, however, to deny the influence Benjamin and Baxter have as they reprise their hilarious roles, bringing with them all of the energetic gusto, occasional (but vital) pathos and undying comedic interplay which made both constructs such hits with ‘70s viewers and modern listeners alike, thereby owning both the metaphorical and literal stage in the process.

As if all of that weren’t enough, they’re presented with the chance to converse with Lisa Greenwood’s Flip as she confronts the inherently personal fear which lends this episode its name – a wholly welcome emotional development for a previously shallow character who’s rarely caught this reviewer’s attention until now – and Jayston’s Valeyard as the latter manipulator takes control of the two wannabe investigators’ New Regency Theatre in a bid to gain power through theatrical plays intended to mimic his arch-nemesis’ past lives (or rather deaths) prior to their coming battle. Admittedly the glorious return of these Not-So-Great Detectives can’t quite compensate fully for the predictable manner in which proceedings come to a close, with the necessity of the Valeyard’s survival to fight another day inevitably necessitating his fortunate escape from the City of London’s confines, yet in stark contrast to its immediate predecessor, “Stage Fright” effortlessly negates its minor weaknesses by offering up an atmospheric, perfectly paced hour of entertainment which’ll endure in its listeners’ minds for just as long as “Talons” has, if not longer still.

The Brink of Death:

Whether the same can be said of Briggs’ undeniably bold quest to rewrite what’s easily one of the most loathed moments in Doctor Who’s hardly clear-cut canon will naturally remain a matter of fierce discussion for some time to come, not least since Steven Moffat’s namechecking of Charley et al in “The Night of the Doctor” only further muddied the waters in terms of discussions surrounding whether Big Finish’s audio releases can be considered official chronicles of their inspiration’s (supposedly) previously untold escapades. As disheartening a realisation as this must have been for Briggs at the time of drafting his script for “The Brink of Death”, only one fact is absolutely certain – there could have been no pleasing everyone with this latest endeavour, although in all honesty, given this reviewer’s unashamed disdain for the mere sight of “Time and the Rani”, the chances of the esteemed Dalek voice actor coming anywhere close to producing an inferior effort were always all but second to none.

If the latter admission like a prelude to a largely cynical evaluation, however, then fret not; it’s by no means perfect (few Who serials are, if we’re being brutally truthful here), but “Brink” comes about as close to conceiving the triumphant denouement Baker and Big Finish’s execs must have been hoping for as any budding audio production could. Is the Valeyard’s prolonged arc of darkness and mystery brought to a comprehensive conclusion? Not quite – most will still likely find themselves somewhat bemused as to the character’s precise origins (or rather the true reasoning for them) come the credits, a disappointing turn of events given that we had been promised a transparent resolution in this regard during recent Last Adventure press releases. Does the fate with which ‘Sixie’ meets echo the selfless, stirring demises originally presented to all but Baker’s seemingly doomed-from-the-outset incarnation? Absolutely. In fact, as those fortunate enough to have placed a pre-order for this collection will have already learned, the completely poignant sequence in question still finds a way of keeping “Rani”’s ludicrous but nevertheless (somewhat tragically) canon opening scene intact, albeit while ensuring that the moments preceding the Doctor’s fall from an exercise bike and subsequent collision with the TARDIS’ apparently rock-solid floorboards can be seen as fitting in terms of both his tenure at the ship’s helm and indeed in terms of his oft-overlooked concern for his future selves’ uncertain moral compass, a trait which manifests itself beautifully with both his final line of dialogue and with the first uttered by McCoy here in a similarly touching cameo.

As easy as it would be to elaborate in greater detail about the convoluted nature of the Valeyard’s grandiose final machinations (which takes into account his actions in all of the first three plays, only to then surely leave the vast majority of listeners boggled as to why the scheme took quite so long to plan and thus why this plot required quite such an elaborate set-up), Briggs’ misuse (however intentional) of Bonnie Langford’s almost non-existent Mel or the aforementioned ambiguity continually engulfing the true nature of the Doctor’s alleged future malevolent persona, it’s simpler still to instead end with our much-needed confirmation that, these minor faults in its metaphorical stars aside, “Brink” flourishes where its justifiably despised 1987 TV counterpart fails, bestowing the downfall of Baker’s incarnation with a timely aura of victory over moral corruption, not to mention over the naysayers who constantly seek to ridicule this particular version of the Earth’s longstanding alien protector. It’s little wonder that Baker expressed his disillusionment last month with the fans who ranked him as their least favourite Doctor in the pages of DWM, but on the basis of the mostly haunting “The End of the Line”, the dramatically charged (if oft-convoluted) “The Brink of Death” and especially the marvellously authentic – not to mention downright hilarious – “Stage Fright” (if not the surprisingly dissatisfying “The Red House”, The Last Adventure’s weakest link by far), neither ‘Sixie’ nor the still remarkable thespian portraying him have much left to fear, barring perhaps an overdose of particularly zesty carrot juice.

Believe it or not, after decades of painstaking waiting, this time around Baker's revised exit truly has been prepared for and executed with a commendable degree of success - and based on this legendary actor's recent contemplation of his own incarnation's worth, it would seem this much-needed change has arrived not a moment too soon.

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Reviewed by Thomas Buxton

The Brood of Erys Released by Big Finish
Written by Andrew Smith
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Released: Feb 2014

Remember how after making promising progress in terms of their narrative trajectory, recent modern Doctor Who serials such as “Night Terrors” and “Into the Dalek” somehow managed to squander their potential come their respective final acts by making sudden forays into overly sappy territory (if this reviewer never has to endure the sight of the Doctor teaching ex-Kaleds the beauty of the stars again, it’ll be too soon)? Well, much as The Brood of Erys, the second outing in Big Finish’s January – March 2014 trilogy of Sixth Doctor and Flip storylines, does its utmost to maintain a consistently impressive benchmark of quality throughout its four contributory episodes, so too does the 183th chapter in the aforementioned studio’s never-ending range of Who-themed audio dramas lose its way at precisely the wrong moment, thereby threatening to ruin its audience’s perception of what might otherwise have been one of Colin Baker’s finest off-screen hours to date.

More on that momentarily, however – let’s first align our metaphorical TARDIS scanners towards Brood’s strengths, since in spite of its lacklustre denouement, the drama in question can’t possibly fail to hook its listeners during its opening three-quarters. Central to its resounding success in this respect is the pair of increasingly tight-knit travellers currently piloting their Type 42 machine through time and space; although one gets the sense nowadays that Baker’s incarnation – nor the man himself, if his recent revelatory interview with DWM was any indication – will never quite shed his reputation as the version of the Doctor who underwent one of the weakest overall runs in the show’s history, the 72-year old thespian responsible for bringing the character to life during the mid-1980s has rarely been on finer form than he is here. Channelling all of the compassion and bombast he can muster as old ‘Sixie’ and his faithful accomplice explore a sentient moon known as Erys whose emotional motivations become murkier by the second (a fascinating narrative concept which this reviewer couldn’t help but wish writer Andrew Smith had deployed before “The Doctor’s Wife” aired on BBC One in 2011, but there we are), he not only reminds Nathan Turner devotees of the merits of his era but also affords the ever-complacent yet ever-righteous hero an emotional gravity which this incarnation’s haters might have claimed was lacking during his original run.

At the same time, every accomplished – if in this case cruelly unappreciated – Doctor needs a similarly worthy assistant at his side, hence the above reference to not one but both members of the TARDIS crew. When this reviewer came to pass judgement on Antidote to Oblivion last July, Ms. Philippa Jackson (Lisa Greenwood) appeared to represent one of its only notable caveats due to the lack of much in the way of character development afforded to her by scribe Philip Martin, yet just as Matt Fitton recently showcased Flip’s potential by exploiting her fears of performing before an audience and her realisation of her ability to overcome those long-running self-doubts in “Stage Fright” – the penultimate of the four captivating tales contained within Big Finish’s newly-released boxset “The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure” – Smith achieves much the same feat here, adding additional layers to Jackson’s personality by having her demonstrate her raw recklessness in a valiant but nonetheless risk-laden effort to reunite herself with the Doctor come Brood’s action-packed (sometimes to the point of its own detriment, as we’ll discuss later) second half, not to mention during the numerous Hammer-riffing body horror sequences where the young adventurer finds herself forced to navigate the depths of the titular living planetoid, encountering an all manner of spectacularly-voiced secondary constructs along the way including the slimy – in every sense of the adjective – Terrill (Chris Overton), the wayward amnesiac Sarra Vanser (Nicola Sian) and best of all the hauntingly omniscient persona of Erys (Brian Shelley) himself.

Indeed, in a similar vein to how Greenwood’s ever-passionate work as Flip has been complemented (and thus strengthened) to no minor extent here by Smith’s beneficially character-led script, the latter trio of supporting cast members each thrive in their respective roles thanks to the layered dialogue that their individual constructs spout out over the course of their extensive airtime. In a weaker science-fiction audio yarn, for instance, Terrill and his band of shameless, ever-troublesome Drachee scavengers would have come off as mindless slaves created for the sole narrative purpose of serving as the frankly dull lackeys of a (mostly) physically formless antagonist, yet far from allowing this to be the case, Smith throws more than one curve-ball into the figurative mixture that ensures the Drachee have just as significant a function to fulfil in the grand scheme of events as the Doctor, Flip or their latest adversary. It’s a true thrill to be able to confirm that as a result, once Brood moves into its fourth and final 25-minute segment, all but the most apathetic of listeners are sure to empathise with every character who they’ve encountered so far, and as such to feel as if they are on tenterhooks with regards to how each construct’s arc will come to an end.

What a crying tragedy it is, then, that after three episodes’ worth of steadily rising tension and intriguingly unravelled mysteries surrounding Sarra’s curiously absent yet vital memories, Smith hurriedly injects a small armada of emotionally vapid – albeit purposefully so – enemies not unlike those described previously here as being the stuff of lacklustre sci-fi efforts so as to add in some physical dangers for his ensemble despite the fact that the psychological toils presented by Erys’ meddling with the minds of ‘Sixie’ et al were more than enough to carry Episode 4 on their own merits. Whereas the scarecrow-styled hordes introduced a little way into “Human Nature / The Family of Blood” back in 2007 at least acted as a decent metaphor for the ceaseless, meaningless slaughter committed over the course of the Great War as they were endlessly gunned down by the students unlucky enough to attend the school which was playing host to one John Smith, the so-called “mud soldiers” who elect to crop up in Brood’s closing quarter hold no such deeper moral implications, instead existing only as a rushed means through which to off one or two supporting characters so as for (Andrew, not John) Smith to rest safe in the knowledge that his serial didn’t conclude without containing a single demise of some kind. Worse still, in subsequently attempting to add some further emotional levity (perhaps realising too late his mistake in abruptly prioritising action at the last second) by lobbing in a hopelessly indulgent throwback to the First Doctor era which doesn’t receive any of the necessary moments of foreshadowing earlier on required to justify its inclusion, the playwright comes cripplingly close to offering the impression that he had little idea whatsoever as to how to call it a day.

Yet to end on such a defeatist assertion would represent an unfair manner in which to resolve this particular assessment, especially given the strength of the ground-work laid during the opening three instalments. Make no mistake, Smith at least structures proceedings in such a way that the thematic discussion of matters such as corporations attempting to lay claim to entire landscapes without any thought of the immediate (or even distant) repercussions, not to mention that of the infuriating global political bureaucracy which can often force individuals to take drastic action for their family and / or community in today’s society, scarcely ever fails to captivate, a rare accomplishment given that many dialogue-led audio pieces can often lose their way by using too much exposition to delve into such themes and not enough in the way of tangible plot developments. As was the case with “Night Terrors” and “Into the Dalek”, though, Brood will forever be remembered as coming within inches of fulfilling its commendably lofty aspirations of centralising psychological drama over action, only to lose its nerve at the last instant and in doing so rank amongst the most notable could-have-beens in Who’s history.

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Reviewed by Damian Christie

Written by Alan Barnes
Directed by Ken Bentley
Big Finish Productions, 2015
Stars: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury), Nicholas Briggs (The Cybermen/ Lanky), Lucy Liemann (Curatrix Zennox), Nicholas Farrell (Captain Frank), Kieran Hodgson (Findel)

“Jamie, I’m warning you – I am not the prancing pixie I used to be!”

The Sixth Doctor

Last of the Cybermen is the second instalment of the “locum Doctors” trilogy, which transplants some of the Doctor’s later regenerations into the respective eras of his first three incarnations. The trilogy, which forms part of Big Finish’s celebration of reaching 200 Doctor Who main range serials, is intended by BF showrunner Alan Barnes to showcase how later Doctors would work with their counterparts’ companions (eg the Seventh Doctor in the recent Defectors with Third Doctor sidekick Jo Grant and how their approach to problem solving also differs markedly from the corresponding incarnations they have replaced.

This middle chapter, which is also written by Barnes, sees the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) deposited into his second incarnation’s time stream – alongside Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury) in an “exciting adventure” with the Cybermen. The Cybermen were, of course, villainous mainstays of the Patrick Troughton era, so there is already a strong sense of ho­­mage in this serial. Further, if you’re a long-time listener of Big Finish’s Doctor Who output, you’ll know this Doctor/companion/villain combo isn’t so unique – some 60 releases back, the Sixth Doctor, Jamie and Zoe also teamed up to frustrate the silver giants in the similarly named Legend of the Cybermen. You could be forgiven for asking, therefore, if Last of the Cybermen really offers the listener the new or refreshing take that the “locum Doctors” trilogy promises.

It is a credit to the main actors and also to Barnes’ writing that the story still comes across as engaging and intriguing, despite the earlier instalment in BF’s Doctor Who run. Like last year’s Sixth Doctor release Masters of Earth (which heavily paid tribute to the 1960s Dalek TV serials), Last of the Cybermen is also an unashamed love letter to the Troughton era Cybermen serials. It features plenty of concepts that were originally referenced in the classic Doctor Who TV series (some of which have been revived in the modern day series): Cyber planners, Cyber controllers, Cybermats, the Cyber world of Telos, the infamous Brotherhood of Logicians, logic gates and puzzles, and the Parapsychology Unit at Girdle House where Zoe herself trained. The serial also fleshes out the Cyber War which all but wiped out the Cyber Race (first alluded to in 1975’s Revenge of the Cybermen).

On top of that, Barnes also subtly makes citations to other Troughton serials (eg Zoe’s unabashed “I’m a genius!” mimics the Second Doctor’s legendary words in The Seeds of Death) whilst also portending the events of the era’s finale The War Games. Nevertheless, the barrage of continuity references is not intrusive – rather than detracting from the story, they reinforce the spirit of the era in which it is ostensibly set. The conviction of the performers and the stakes of the drama – escalated when the Sixth Doctor realises that he has been manoeuvred (in contrast to the wisdom of his earlier self) into triggering the whole serial’s sequence of events – keep the listener absorbed in the plot, not overwhelmed by pointless minutiae.

Colin Baker excels as the Sixth Doctor, maintaining much of the warmth and good humour that his character has developed over the last 16 years of Big Finish – but never losing his intensity in confrontations with the Cybermen or the serial’s other antagonists. Baker’s rapport with Hines (with whom he worked on 1985’s The Two Doctors) and Padbury (who at one time was his agent) is also indicative in his performance; when the Sixth Doctor expresses delight at his impromptu reunion with Jamie and Zoe, one can also detect Baker’s fondness for Hines and Padbury in his delivery. It vindicates BF’s decision to go with this trio for the story.

After Baker, Padbury gets the lion’s share of the adventure, as Zoe proves to be a vital tool for the Cybermen’s machinations (a theme continued from Legend of the Cybermen). Padbury is fantastic as the youthful, scientifically brilliant Zoe, her voice showing none of the years – over 45! - that have elapsed since her departure from Doctor Who. Further, while there were times in the original TV series when Zoe could be the archetypal screamer, the character in this tale shows no such foibles. She is hyper-intelligent, practical and courageous. Padbury is also convincing when she portrays Zoe under Cyber influence.

Hines, by comparison, is a bit shortchanged as Jamie. The Highlander in parts of this serial sometimes comes across as more obtuse than he is. There is an underlying rivalry to Jamie’s relationship with the “new” Doctor that was not evident in their initial meeting in The Two Doctors (which, if you subscribe to the much vaunted “Season 6B” theory, occurs after this tale). He is more suspicious and less receptive than Zoe to the newcomer’s explanation that he and his second incarnation have been “translocated” in time and space. As a result, there are some amusing exchanges between the Highlander and the Time Lord, the best of which is the “Madeleine” joke. Hines, nevertheless, puts in a solid performance, despite his character lacking in consistency.

Semi-regular Nicholas Briggs continues to provide the voices of the Cybermen. However, despite being in hiding for a good proportion of the story, the titular villains’ presence is still keenly felt throughout, thanks no less to a citadel they leave behind that resembles a giant Cyber helmet and boasts their technology and numerous traps for unwary explorers. While the Cyber voices are reminiscent of Earthshock and the later ‘80s Cybermen serials, as opposed to the tones Briggs has delivered for the modern TV series, he at least this time has resisted the temptation to experiment too much (as he has been guilty of doing in past Cyber audio serials).

However, even with the Cybermen being underused in the plot, Briggs’ voice can still be heard as one of the incidental characters – as Lanky, seemingly an over the top Cyberman with a Lancastrian accent! In fact, Briggs is unrecognisable as Lanky pre-conversion – the strong northern accent Briggs puts on is a testament to his acting, as this listener was easily duped into thinking it was a completely different actor.

Lanky is the other half of a duo comprising ace Cyber War veteran Captain Frank (Nicholas Farrell). The prospect of a spacefaring pilot, flanked by his loyal Cyber partner, has great potential (at least on paper). In his writer’s notes, Barnes acknowledges that he based Frank on Dan Dare but sadly, he is the complete antithesis of Dare (at least to me) – sounding too much like a hackneyed 19th century, crusty, stiff upper-lipped British officer and gentlemen to be credible. Perhaps Frank’s character is also meant to be a deliberate contrast on Barnes’ part to Tomb of the Cybermen’s Captain Hopper – but to my mind, the portrayal just doesn’t work and grates with the other incidental characters and the dialogue. This is not to say Farrell himself is utterly terrible but he should have been encouraged to deliver a more straightforward performance.

With the Cybermen relegated to the sidelines, Lucy Liemann (Moving Wallpaper, The Bourne Ultimatum) gets the chance to shine as the serial’s villain, the excellent Curatrix Zennox. In contrast to Frank’s caricatured interpretation, Liemann exhibits a calculating, composed presence throughout the story (though without being a femme fatale). Zennox is essentially the intellectual match of Zoe and almost the Doctor himself. While her motives for allying with the Cybermen are dubious (to say the least), Zennox at least doesn’t succumb to the megalomania of other Cyber allies from the same era, notably Eric Klieg (Tomb of the Cybermen) and Tobias Vaughan (The Invasion).

Much like the aforementioned Masters of Earth, part four of Last of the Cybermen takes us into completely different territory than the first three episodes – and there are a couple of twists to the storyline in the final instalment which seem a little too contrived on Barnes’ part. Nevertheless, the story is satisfactorily wound up before the Doctor and his companions are returned to their rightful times and places.

The serial features some good cliffhangers in the first three episodes. However, there is an unusual disconnect between episodes three and four. Episode three ends with the Doctor, Jamie and Frank surrounded by approaching Cybermen – yet when part four begins, it cuts straight to the Doctor and Zoe on a Cyber ship bound for Telos, with no immediate explanation about what happened to Jamie and Frank and indeed to Zoe herself. While explanations are supplied over the course of the final episode, a simple reprise from the previous episode would have been in order. Indeed, whether intended or otherwise, the cut from the Cyber threat to the Doctor and Zoe suddenly imprisoned on a Cyber vessel, is unintentionally reminiscent of Steven Moffat’s Red Nose farce Curse of the Fatal Death – just without any of the humour and plenty of confusion for the listener!

As usual, Big Finish’s production values are second to none, although I feel Nigel Fairs’ soundtrack (as excellent as it is) and some of his supporting sound effects are not necessarily evocative of the Troughton era. For example, some of the TARDIS sound effects (eg the interior doors opening) are reminiscent of those used in the 1980s TV serials rather than the Troughton era, which is rather odd considering the preceding Defectors utilised the TARDIS sound effects used in the Pertwee era quite faithfully and the next story The Secret History (at least based on a listening of part one) reprises some of the ship’s sound effects from the Hartnell era.

Last of the Cybermen is not a wholly original or inventive tale, being as it is a testimonial to the Troughton era, but it is an entertaining one nonetheless – and a good middle chapter to the “locum Doctors” trilogy. It is still unclear who or what is behind the Doctor’s “translocations” throughout his time stream – and the story deliberately leaves this mystery unanswered. It is now up to the Doctor’s fifth incarnation (Peter Davison) to uncover the mystery in the concluding story of the trilogy The Secret History.

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Reviewed by Damian Christie

Written by Alan Barnes & Mike Maddox
Directed by Barnaby Edwards
Big Finish Productions, 2013 (re-released 2014)

“Watch closely, Doctor! In witnessing my end, the seeds of my beginning are sown in you. That is all it takes for you too to be made corrupt! Farewell, Doctor, I die in the knowledge that my circle is complete! ”

The Valeyard, Trial of the Valeyard

 

The season-long storyline of 1986’s The Trial of a Time Lord is considered by most devotees of classic Doctor Who to be a narrative muddle, thanks largely to tensions behind the scenes (between producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward) and the untimely death of a beloved writer and former script editor (Robert Holmes) who was originally commissioned to write the climax. Not only was it unclear which elements of the first 12 (of 14) episodes were true – with a large quantity of the evidence mounted against the Doctor being revealed as fabrication – but fans were bewildered by the fate of Peri Brown and the Sixth Doctor’s departure at the end of the saga with Melanie Bush, a companion that he hadn’t even met yet!

On top of that, there was the bombshell revelation that the enigmatic Valeyard, the prosecutor appointed by the High Council of the Time Lords to discredit the Doctor, was actually a future version of the Doctor himself – an “amalgamation of the darker side” of the Doctor’s nature, “somewhere” between his “12th and final incarnation”. It was a jaw-dropping moment in the life of the TV series that would truly not be equalled again until the unveiling of the War Doctor in the closing moments of The Name of the Doctor in 2013 (indeed, in the same episode, according to the Great Intelligence, one of the Doctor’s mythical aliases at Trenzalore included “Valeyard”). Just when we thought we all “knew” the Doctor, the Valeyard emerged from left field and left us absolutely staggered.

However, much like Peri Brown’s destiny and Mel’s “first” meeting with the Doctor, the Valeyard’s background and fate have remained sketchy for nearly three decades. The character was never seen again in the classic TV series and it has been left up to both unofficial and licensed spin-off fiction in that time to speculate on who or what the Valeyard is/was. Big Finish has, of course, satisfactorily wrapped up Peri and Mel’s story arcs from the Trial season but it is only recently that it has turned its attention back to resolving that season’s greatest riddle. Who or what was the Valeyard? What was his agenda, aside from seeking the Doctor’s remaining regenerations? What happened to the Valeyard after The Trial of a Time Lord, when it appeared he had deposed the Keeper of the Matrix and seemingly had all the secrets of the Matrix within his grasp? Indeed, given the Doctor in the modern TV series is now into his 14th incarnation, does the Valeyard even still exist? Could the Doctor still become the Valeyard if he ever gives into the darker side of his nature?

Sadly, Trial of the Valeyard doesn’t really answer any of these questions, certainly not in the way that The Widow’s Assassin wrapped up Peri’s story arc from the Trial season or The Wrong Doctors resolved the Mel paradox. Alan Barnes and Mike Maddox’s 60-minute script tantalisingly postulates about the Valeyard’s origins but leaves the listener to decide if there is any truth to the account or whether the antagonist is again resorting to the trickster role that he so deftly pulled off in his TV appearance.

Much like a Doctor Who Companion Chronicle, the serial successfully uses minimal characters with very few resources at its disposal while painting in the listener’s mind an expansive, galactic backdrop – a lavish courtroom aboard an oversized space station orbiting a gas giant designated as Eta Rho, the hints of a Time Lord Castellan and his squads of Chancellery Guards with their military TARDISes, and an obscure mudball planet hidden from plain sight which carries a dark secret. And all of this is carried by just three principal characters: the Doctor (the irrepressible Colin Baker), the Inquisitor and the Valeyard (effortlessly reprised by Lynda Bellingham and Michael Jayston).

If you are overly familiar with the courtroom setting of The Trial of a Time Lord (as well as some prior visits to Gallifrey in the classic series, including Arc of Infinity and The Five Doctors), then a good 90 per cent of your imagination is already well catered for. While some fans found many of the courtroom sequences in the original Trial lacklustre and tedious (especially in the opening 15 minutes of episode 13, when there was a lot of exposition), there is no doubt that this setting in Trial of the Valeyard is ideal for audio. The story feels as if it is happening in “real time”, as if you are one of the Time Lord jurors officiating over the proceedings and with a ringside seat to the squabbles, banter, pomp and ceremony of the three principal characters. Whatever the fans may have thought of the original courtroom sequences on TV, they were often convincing thanks to the earnest performances of Baker, Bellingham and Jayston – and this continues in Trial of the Valeyard. While the play may feel like an “episode 15” tacked onto the original TV serial, the three artists again carry the narrative in compelling fashion and still manage to pack the dialogue with moments of comedy, intrigue and malevolence.

Colin Baker, of course, continues to excel as the Sixth Doctor. In fact, the pre-credits track at the beginning of the story runs for over eight minutes – and nearly half of that time Baker is acting alone, as the Doctor petulantly rails against being brought back to the scene of his trial. Although there is a lot of wordy dialogue and some tongue-twisting vocabulary, he not only navigates through it skilfully but also injects a lot of humour into his performance as well. Indeed, Baker gets to demonstrate a range of emotions throughout the serial, from wit to sarcasm to outrage to revulsion, as the Doctor finds himself in the unenviable position of having to represent a defendant he loathes whilst also trying to ensure that the latter is treated as fairly as possible by the court. While the Sixth Doctor on television was often accused by fans of being heartless, Baker definitely shows the character’s compassion and innate sense of justice, especially when it becomes clear that the last thing the Time Lords have in mind is a fair trial.

Trial of the Valeyard is regrettably Lynda Bellingham’s Doctor Who swansong. She recorded this play only months before announcing a much publicised battle with cancer (she passed away last October). As a result, Bellingham’s performance in this serial is extra special because her Inquisitor once again plays an admirable mediator and paragon of patience to Baker’s Doctor and Jayston’s Valeyard. While the Inquisitor seemed “whiter than white” in the original Trial story arc, Bellingham relished the opportunity over the years to evolve the character into a more Machiavellian diva (the explicitly named Inquisitor Darkel) in Big Finish’s Gallifrey spin-off series. Barnes and Maddox do not ignore Gallifrey’s evolution of the character; not only is Bellingham’s Inquisitor and Darkel reinforced to be the one and the same in Trial of the Valeyard but there are strong hints that the Inquisitor isn’t as benevolent as she seems. As a result, Bellingham not only exudes authority as Darkel but at various times instils steel and underlying menace into her voice that makes you question her motives.

Michael Jayston naturally slides back into the robes of the Valeyard and again proves to be an excellent vocal foil for Baker’s Doctor. Like Baker, Jayston also has to contend with some very heavy dialogue, particularly in the second half of the play when the Valeyard’s origins are raised, and he passes the test with flying colours. While Jayston’s voice at times reveals his advanced years (he’s now 79), and will sound more weathered to listeners who (like this writer) grew up immersing themselves in the original Trial season, there is no doubt at all that we are listening to the persona “generally – but not exclusively – known as the Valeyard”. And while Bellingham has unfortunately bowed out long before her time, it is reassuring that Jayston has had another opportunity to reprise the Valeyard in The Last Adventure boxset that is slated for release in September.

Unsurprisingly, this play is, of course, steeped in Time Lord mythology, with much discussion about the secrets of regeneration (ironically Trial of the Valeyard was released in late 2013 when the modern TV series was poised to address the question of the Doctor’s survival post his 13th incarnation). However, what is even more interesting is the serial’s underlying theme of corruption. We are reminded that not only are characters like the Doctor and the Inquisitor capable of falling to the dark but also how deeply mired in the darkness the Time Lords themselves are. Whilst it came as a shock to many new series fans in David Tennant’s swansong The End of Time (2009-10) that the Time Lords in the Time War were as corrupt and villainous as the Daleks, fans well versed in the classic series had long known since 1976’s The Deadly Assassin (when the Doctor’s mentor Cardinal Borusa instigated a clever political cover-up) that the Time Lords were largely a corrupt society. Given Borusa later sought to become an immortal despot in The Five Doctors (1983) and that his successors on the High Council were later exposed for nearly destroying the planet “generally – but not exclusively – known as Ravalox” (aka Earth) in the original Trial, it comes as little surprise in this instalment that the Time Lords are again up to their high collars in corruption. Indeed, their tricks are so devious that the listener (much like the Doctor) has to concede that perhaps the defendant is a victim of their machinations and deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Trial of the Valeyard is a clever and engaging serial, and (even though it predates them by nearly 12 months) a marked improvement on the varied quality of recent Sixth Doctor audio adventures (eg The Widow’s Assassin, Masters of Earth, The Rani Elite). Much like the original Trial story arc, whose events hinted at truth amongst elaborate fabrication, so Barnes’ and Maddox’s script also drops enough hints about the Valeyard and the Time Lords to be plausible without being definitive. As a result, the antagonist doesn’t lose any of his mystique and listeners are left with even more questions about this enigma shrouded in paradox and in turn, about the virtue of the Time Lords.

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Reviewed by Damian Christie

Written by Justin Richards
Directed by Ken Bentley
Big Finish Productions, December 2014

Peri (confused): A Time Lord! But that means ... No, you can’t be!
The Rani (satisfied): So you do know me, after all! I knew you would. Spit it out, girl! I can see it’s on the tip of your tongue!
Peri (in horrified realisation): The Rani!
Peri and the Rani, The Rani Elite

It is a little ironic that the release of The Rani Elite occurred only a month after the broadcast of Dark Water/Death in Heaven, the two-part finale in Doctor Who’s most recent TV series. The revelation that Missy was a female incarnation of the Master invited vast debate in online forums by fans, with some decrying the Master’s gender swap and others praising it. Those who opposed it in particular bemoaned that it would have been more “logical” if Missy had been another former Time Lady nemesis the Rani, particularly as the uploading of dying minds into the Nethersphere was apparently more in tune with the Rani’s modus operandi.

Realistically, there was never any chance that Missy would have been the Rani. This is because the Master is the most well known foe after the Daleks and the Cybermen to audiences of the modern series. If Missy had been the Rani, the modern audience’s reaction would have been “Who?” or “Huh”? As much as long-term fans may dislike this answer, it’s really as simple as that. The Rani featured in two stories in the latter years of the classic TV series – not least in an era when the show was in decline and maligned by the BBC, the audience and some fans alike. She certainly didn’t leave such a lasting impression that she deserved to be Missy. (Yes, the Rani has been in plenty of other Doctor Who spin-off fiction over the years and even the 30th anniversary short Dimensions in Time but again that’s not enough of a CV to impress a modern viewing audience!) There are plenty of other Time Ladies, notably Romana and Susan, who could have also been just as entitled to be Missy if the Doctor Who production team hadn’t been bold enough to make her the Master’s latest incarnation.

Fans of the Rani will simply have to settle for The Rani Elite as a consolation prize. The one thing in this story’s favour is that Big Finish has finally revived the character for audio; indeed, after 15 years of holding the Doctor Who licence, it’s surprising Big Finish never brought the Rani back sooner. Siobhan Redmond, best known for television work such as The Bill, Between the Lines and Holby City, has succeeded the late Kate O’Mara in the part (she is only the second actor to play the Rani, albeit the third Scot to play a Time Lord/Lady in the last year, after Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and Michelle Gomez’s Mistress). It is also fitting that to herald the renegade Time Lady’s return to the Doctor Who universe, she is pitted against the original TARDIS team that she fought in 1985’s The Mark of the Rani: the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant).

In The Rani Elite, the Doctor and Peri answer an invitation to the CAGE – the College of Advanced Galactic Education – where the Doctor is to receive an honorary degree in moral philosophy that even he’s not certain about but he anticipates is “well deserved!” Deliberately arriving a day before the ceremony, it isn’t long before they discover that someone is conducting unethical medical experiments on some of the CAGE’s brightest students, in the process substantially altering their personalities. It soon becomes clear that the galaxy’s foremost authority in moral philosophy Professor Baxton isn’t whom she seems and her plans for the Doctor are not as benevolent as an honorary degree.

While the premise I’ve described is actually quite intriguing, it is dependent on the listener knowing as little as possible about the story for it to be effective. Unfortunately, it is all too predictable from the start because we know from the title that the story features the Rani; further, there was much publicity about the character’s revival and Redmond’s casting from Big Finish five months before the serial’s release. As a result, any opportunity for genuine surprise or twists is lost. Imagine how more effective the story would have been if it had a less revealing title and Redmond’s casting had been kept secret (she could have been credited simply as Professor Baxton on the CD sleeve) until the episode one cliffhanger. This would have been genuinely surprising for listeners and made the story far more engaging. The problem with knowing about the Rani in advance is that you’re then second-guessing exactly what her latest scheme is (and in this reviewer’s case, it didn’t take a lot of guesswork at all).

By comparison, Big Finish should have taken a leaf out of the book for one of its earliest Doctor Who releases over a decade back. The 2001 serial Dust Breeding marked the return of Geoffrey Beevers as the Master with little prior fanfare, making it a genuine, astonishing twist for long-term fans upon the first listening. To this day, it still remains one of Big Finish’s masterstrokes and brilliant cliffhangers. The only announcement at the time of that release which seemed significant was that Beevers was a guest in the story with his late wife Caroline John, presumably as a new character. To have revealed that Beevers would have been playing the Master would have ruined the tale – and the experience of not knowing who the villain was.

As a result, by revealing its trump card so early, The Rani Elite also lacks a major twist to the plot. In the two previous releases – The Widow’s Assassin and Masters of Earth – there were at least some unpredictable turning points to the tales that kept them ticking along and maintained the listener’s flagging interest. The Rani Elite is largely run of the mill from the moment the Rani reveals herself at the episode one cliffhanger, as the major characters get caught, escape, get recaptured and escape again.

U
Rather ironically for those fans that would have preferred Michelle Gomez had played the Rani on television, the Rani’s agenda (spoilers!) is eerily similar to Missy’s and certainly consistent with her grand plan in 1987’s Time and the Rani. It doesn’t matter that the Sixth Doctor is effectively encountering the regenerated Rani out of chronological order (for the Rani, these events occur post-Time and the Rani) because while we know the Doctor himself isn’t specifically threatened, Peri’s fate, occurring as it does after her muddled departure on television, is now much more open-ended. Indeed, for a while, you are left seriously wondering if Peri is still destined for a tragic end. After all, in this loose trilogy of Sixth Doctor adventures, Peri has been subjected to no small amount of repression by unconnected malevolent forces. In The Widow’s Assassin, we learnt she spent five years under the thrall of a mind parasite whilst Queen of the Krontep, and in Masters of Earth, upon her first trip back in the TARDIS, she was infected by a Varga plant and started to undergo a physical transformation into a Varga herself. In The Rani Elite, Peri finds herself again subjected to mind manipulation, a prospect that naturally terrifies her after the events of 1986’s The Trial of a Time Lord, and Nicola Bryant convincingly portrays that terror.

Once again, Big Finish’s sound effects and a strong cast help to paper over some of the cracks in Justin Richards’ script. Siobhan Redmond does Kate O’Mara’s memory justice in her portrayal of the Rani, faithfully continuing O’Mara’s original rendition of a highly intelligent, ruthless, amoral and calculating scientist with a superiority complex. In fact, were it not for the Scots lilt in Redmond’s voice, her portrayal would be almost indistinguishable from O’Mara’s performance.

Redmond’s interpretation is also a vastly different one to that of Gomez’s Missy – the Rani has none of the Master/Mistress’ megalomania and vindictiveness, she is simply cunning and matter-of-fact. She is a scientist that is dedicated to seeing the results of her experiments through to the end, whether by fair or foul means. She doesn’t necessarily enjoy killing or inflicting pain but she’s not squeamish about either, as she clearly demonstrates over the course of the story.

Colin Baker’s Doctor, of course, is the perfect sparring partner for Redmond’s Rani, someone that is at least her equal on an intellectual level (the Rani, of course, considers herself the Doctor’s superior, resorting to the insult of “Double Gamma” to make her point!). Baker, as ever, delivers a commanding performance but, as in Masters of Earth, injects plenty of humour into the dialogue too, eg:

The Doctor (to the Rani): And it’s a good job I did turn up early!
Peri: In time to thwart your plans!
The Rani: Thwart my plans? You must be a devotee of the cheapest forms of melodrama!
The Doctor: Forgive her, she’s American!

The younger members of the cast also deliver strong performances throughout the story. Becky Wright delivers a fearful, sympathetic turn in the first episode as Lizzo, one of the students at the heart of the Rani’s unethical medical experiments, while Charlie Morton (Reev) provides a slimy underling for the Rani and Mike Noble (Miklev) able back-up/moral support for the Doctor and Peri.

Ultimately, The Rani Elite, while full of promise, is a “by the numbers” Doctor Who tale. It is not only a weak serial in its own right but also the weakest link in a trilogy of Sixth Doctor stories in the last three months that have all been of mixed quality. All the serials have had some good ideas to recommend them but the stories have often been found wanting. This is a pity, as Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant have been fantastic in all of them but there hasn’t been enough character development between the Doctor and Peri that reflects their rekindled friendship after the traumatic events of The Trial of a Time Lord. The return of the Rani also under-delivers in its promise but there is certainly potential for the character to be reused and for Siobhan Redmond to stamp her authority on the part. Another round between the Rani and the Doctor and Peri, as well as encounters with other Doctors, ought not to be out of the question but Big Finish needs to conceive stories that will make the villain’s future appearances memorable and exciting for the listeners. In other words, more focus on the scripts, and less attention to the publicity.

 

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Reviewed by Damian Christie

The Widow’s Assassin
Written By: Nev Fountain
Directed By: Ken Bentley
Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tim Chipping (Constable Wolsey/Mandrake), John Banks (Baron Pteratrark/Guard Two), Andrew Dickens (Reverand Flitamus/Guard One), FIona Sheehan (Princess Dirani), Glynn Sweet (Harcross The Ever-Patient/Pheen-Tu/Flunkey)

Released October 2014

“The thing is, Peri, I always go back ... for my friends. In time, I always go back ...”
The Doctor, The Widow’s Assassin

The Widow’s Assassin seeks to definitively address a question that has gone largely unanswered for nearly 30 years: What really happened to the Sixth Doctor’s erstwhile young American companion Perpugilliam Brown after their visit to Thoros-Beta?

When we last saw Peri (Nicola Bryant) on television in part eight of 1986’s epic, season-long serial The Trial of a Time Lord, it appeared that she had died on Thoros-Beta. In what must have been an even more confusing situation for the young woman, Peri had beforehand been seemingly betrayed and abandoned by the Doctor (Colin Baker). However, in what many fans nearly three decades on still consider a dreadful copout, it was later revealed that Peri’s life had been spared and she had become the queen of the Krontep warrior King Yrcanos. Even comforted by the knowledge Peri was still alive, it seems the Doctor never went back for her on-screen – or at least never attempted to reconcile with her.

Indeed, it has been left up to lots of spin-off and fan fiction over the years to speculate about Peri’s ultimate fate, sometimes ranging from the tragic to the absurd. Baker himself even had a go in his 1994 Doctor Who Magazine graphic novel The Age of Chaos. Writer Nev Fountain, best known for TV’s Dead Ringers and various other Doctor Who audio contributions for Big Finish, offered his own heartbreaking take on Peri in the Doctor Who Companion Chronicle Peri and the Piscon Paradox (2011). However, the most absurd theory came from Philip Martin, the scriptwriter of parts five to eight of Trial, who suggested in the 1989 novelisation of his script that rather than becoming a queen, Peri was safely returned to Earth and became Yrcanos’ manager on the US pro-wrestling circuit!

Now Fountain, who is actually married to Nicola Bryant, has had a go at definitively resolving Peri’s story (presumably with Bryant’s input) with The Widow’s Assassin. After nearly 30 years, has it been worth the wait, you may ask? And is it any better than some of the speculation that we’ve been served up over the years?

Fountain answers these questions by putting to us another: Yes, we know the fair maiden was ultimately rescued and became a queen – but was it ever truly that simple? On one level, Fountain’s tale is plausible, and he draws on the apparent fairy tale aspects of Peri’s fate to illustrate that perhaps it wasn’t all sweetness and wine after all (the opening monologue to the story is especially memorable). On the other hand, there are some elements of the story that just aren’t executed as well as they ought to be and really place a lot of blind faith in the listener’s conviction.

The tale start offs as a relatively straightforward murder mystery in a pseudo-mediaeval setting on Krontep. The Doctor arrives on the day of Peri’s wedding to Yrcanos to beg her forgiveness and to try to understand why she never waited for him on Thoros-Beta after he was whisked away to his trial. However, Peri has him promptly arrested and thrown into prison. Yrcanos is poisoned at his own wedding and dies a week later (fans who still cringe at Brian Blessed’s shouting nearly three decades on can breathe a huge sigh of relief – Yrcanos is only mentioned in dialogue and their sensitive ears are spared Blessed’s booming tones!). Five years later, Queen Peri pardons the Doctor and enlists him on a diplomatic mission to the planet Hurn to observe the suitors for the nuptials of its ruler Princess Dirani (Fiona Sheehan), only for the Time Lord to again fall foul of the law and be accused of regicide ...

The mediaeval flavour of The Widow’s Assassin gives the listener a story that is (much like Fountain’s period drama The Kingmaker) more farce than drama – or more Blackadder than Game of Thrones! It features many colourful, exaggerated characters with ridiculous and snobbish accents such as Baron Pteratrark (John Banks), Reverend Flitamus (Andrew Dickens) and Prince Harcross the Ever Patient (Glynn Sweet), as well as the distinctly Welsh working class intonations of the simply named Guard One and Guard Two (Dickens and Banks again), who fulfil similar roles to the fools of many Shakespearean epics. Indeed, the only no-nonsense character, apart from the Doctor and Peri, is the Queen’s head of security Constable Wolsey (Tim Chipping) – and even he is a genetically modified human-sheep hybrid! Apparently having four stomachs gives Wolsey an extra “gut feeling” when solving crimes!

The story also parodies fairy stories, particularly of the beautiful princess bagging her wonderful prince at the end of the story – although in the case of The Widow’s Curse, we discover that not all royal personages necessarily live happily ever after, nor they know true love either!

In addition to straddling the fairy tale, pseudo-mediaeval and murder mystery genres, The Widow’s Assassin to boot throws in a “wibbly, wobby, timey-wimey” element. This was a strong feature of Fountain’s Peri and the Piscon Paradox and also of The Kingmaker but the “timey-wimey” component in The Widow’s Assassin is subtler and requires not only a lot of exposition but an open mind on the listener’s part to make it credible (something that the author should make work of his own accord, not anticipate the listener to accept). It does, however, explain why the Doctor is supposedly content to spend time in prison rather than investigate Yrcanos’ murder.

While The Widow’s Assassin is mostly satirical, the cliffhanger to part two of this four-part serial takes the story in a more sinister and abstract direction from what you’re expecting and it ceases to be your conventional murder mystery. In fact, the story has a twist within a twist, completely overturning the usual assumptions we have had about Peri’s fate after life in the TARDIS and really testing the story’s plausibility and again the listener’s ability to suspend disbelief. Unfortunately, the antagonist, which is revealed to have as much of a personal connection to the Doctor as Peri herself, is “too grotesque to be real” (as the Sixth Doctor once said of another of his foes) – that is, the adversary is even more two-dimensional and underwhelming than intended (a fact not helped by the over-synthesised voice!). Fountain tries to be a little too clever with his script when he doesn’t need to be.

Nevertheless, the production itself is delivered with all the energy and enthusiasm that we have come to expect from the cast and crew of a BF audio production and, apart from sections which require a lot of ponderous exposition, the story is well paced and well performed by the cast. It is a credit to the likes of Chipping, Banks, Dickens and Sweet that they can deceive the ear with differing voices and inflections and create the impression that there are more actors involved in the production than there actually are. Indeed, all the actors, including the regulars, should be congratulated for fantastic voice work. Baker and Bryant even swap roles in the climactic stages of the story (Bryant’s portrayal of the Doctor is brilliant and Baker’s impersonation of Peri’s American accent is riotously funny!). Baker even lends his voice to other roles; the reason why makes sense as the story progresses (despite again testing the listener’s credulity) but you do not realise it is Baker’s voice until you sit through repeated listenings.

For the most part, The Widow’s Assassin is an entertaining, farcical romp with plenty of black humour but as a definitive resolution to Peri’s fate in the Doctor Who universe, it really should have been a more earnest, darker story – much like the Thoros-Beta story arc of the Trial season which inspired it in the first place. Indeed, you expect the story to be much darker after the great cliffhanger to part two; Fountain sets up what seems to be an intelligent, logical follow-on from events on television but then attempts to be too clever and fancy with it and expects far too much of the listener to accept some of his plot points and join the dots. Nevertheless, if you’re a fan of Peri Brown (and Nicola Bryant) and were always disappointed at the uncertainty of her departure, you will now be pleased that the character has effectively been given a new lease of life (pun not necessarily intended!) and that she may yet have more satisfactory closure in BF’s ongoing Doctor Who audio range than she did on television.

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Reviewed by Tom Buxton

The Brood Of Erys
Written by Andrew Smith
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Released: Feb 2014 by Big Finish

The Brood of Erys packs a classic Doctor Who premise – arriving in a star system containing just a single planet and its accompanying moon, as well as an array of radio beacons lining its boundaries, the TARDIS intercepts a mysterious transmission informing its crew that their lives will be in jeopardy should they venture any further. Naturally, the Doctor and Flip (Lisa Greenwood) travel into the metaphorical heart of the danger zone, only to find themselves and their vessel latched onto by a family of “curious” extraterrestrial beings called the Drachee (think the Slitheen, but with subtler and less frequent expressions of gaseous exchange and, mercifully, far less slapstick humour).

There’s something charmingly innocent about the concept of a horde of alien toddlers exploring the deepest recesses of the TARDIS in order to simply learn more of the unknown (not least due to the high-pitched voice of their leader) – and something inherently hilarious about the characteristically melodramatic and agitated reaction offered by Colin Baker’s incarnation of the Doctor – yet as is virtually always the case in narratives taking place within the so-called Whoniverse, the situation turns sour in a matter of moments. Flip is taken hostage by those same individuals who claimed themselves to pose “no danger” whatsoever, while her self-appointed protector is forced to take refuge on a damaged space yacht – and, soon enough, the planet Asphya itself – with an amnesia-prone female humanoid who can’t remember her own name, let alone her dark history or the influence it’ll have on events to come.

In spite of the commendable sense of scale conveyed by these initial eventful set-pieces, Brood’s narrative comes to focus far more on psychological demons than it does physical antagonists, a rare attribute which previously worked to great effect in televised serials such as 42 and Midnight and which certainly doesn’t do the story any harm in terms of building the intrigue surrounding its constructs and the somehow-sentient moon of Erys. Central to writer Andrew Smith’s prolonged investigation of the inner workings of the mind is this notion of an intelligent planetoid and the ramifications its sudden (or gradual) metamorphosis could have for its inhabitants. Of course, as plot elements go, a sentient moon is by no means a completely original addition to the series’ lore (although one might argue that nearly fifty-one years on from November 23rd, 1963, it’s nigh-on impossible for today’s scribes to give birth to wholly unique antagonists) – The Doctor’s Wife’s House comes to mind as a recent example of how such a conceit can be implemented efficiently within the realms of modern science-fiction (and, indeed, modern Who) – so it’s a great relief to see Smith take such a contrasting approach to his predecessors, intertwining the arcs of the aforementioned amnesiac, the Drachee (who offer up an all manner of simultaneously humorous and quasi-philosophical insights into the current predicament facing Erys and the system as a whole) and the spherical landmass which gives this particular audio drama its name to such an extent that one can’t fail to be swept up by the mystery surrounding both of them.

That said, while Smith undoubtedly manages to subvert expectations of the traditional representation of adversaries who attack via the mind rather than through any physical manifestation, Brian Shelley’s voice work as the mental embodiment of Erys isn’t quite so successful in this regard. Sure, there’s genuine enthusiasm and vigour present in Shelley’s portrayal of one of the more abstract (and therefore challenging) forces conceived by the minds of Big Finish in recent years, but when it’s juxtaposed with Michael Sheen’s chilling vocal contribution to Neil Gaiman’s aforementioned 2011 TV story, it’s all but pointless to attempt to argue that the former performance is anywhere near as memorable or layered – instead, it comes off as rather derivative, as if Shelley has dedicated a considerable amount of his spare time to watching psychologically investigative serials like The Brain of Morbius in order to hone his contribution to the ever-expanding world of Doctor Who spin-offs (if such a term can even begin to do justice to the increasingly accomplished and ambitious work of Big Finish and its various writing teams) rather than focusing on putting his own engaging spin on the dialogue afforded to him in the notably generous script (that several scenes rely wholly on his ability to match and / or surpass Lisa Greenwood’s evident enduring passion and conviction doesn’t help matters either).

If Shelley is the play’s weakest link, then Baker and Greenwood are easily the two central components which (in tandem with the near-unparalleled intelligence of Smith’s delicately-structured and thematically subversive storyline) hold it all together. Both of these talented thespians have had more than enough time to develop their portrayals and to tailor them to cater for the preferences of Big Finish’s constantly expanding Doctor Who-orientated fandom and, unsurprisingly, they’ve done so with enviable ease, to the extent that they’re now seemingly able to transform even the most exposition-centric sequences into dramatically engaging exchanges that reward the attentive listener in unexpected ways regardless of whether or not they feed directly into the narrative’s denouement. The sixth Doctor in particular is taken completely and utterly out of his comfort zone as the situation at hand shifts out of his control and unseen forces manipulate proceedings in order to suit their own ends, instantly enabling Baker to flex his performing muscles as his character’s increasingly desperate attempts to rally against his newfound nemeses begin to seem more and more futile.

After months upon months of mediocrity, then, Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio dramas may well have found their footing once again with The Brood of Erys. Andrew Smith – unlike several of his esteemed predecessors - doesn’t rely on the series’ past tropes in order to strengthen the credibility of his tale, nor does he integrate needlessly contrived references to classic or modern serials in a similar vein to those scribes who fear that they’ll lose their listeners’ attention should they neglect to include such call-backs in the mix. There’s still room to improve in future sixth Doctor productions, of course – perhaps it’d be worth Smith becoming more involved with the casting process when it comes to selecting a truly accomplished voice actor to portray his next storyline’s central antagonist, since Brood’s brilliantly subversive script certainly more than warranted such talent – but to paraphrase John Hurt’s already-beloved War Doctor, for now, for this moment, this is the show we’ve come to know and love again.

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Reviewed by Thomas Buxton

Antidote to Oblivion
Released by Big Finish
Written by Philip Martin
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Released: Jan 2014

To say that the character of Sil (played then and now by Nabil Shaban) was one of the antagonists with which this reviewer didn’t particularly engage during his initial (and subsequent) viewings of various serials from the sixth Doctor's era would be a gross understatement. Much as the more open-minded fans amongst us might champion the various highlights of Colin Baker’s tenure on the TARDIS – indeed, Revelation of the Daleks and The Trial of a Time Lord are both stuffed to the brim with ambition – there were undoubtedly times between The Twin Dilemma and The Ultimate Foe where Doctor Who’s then-terminal status at the BBC was, for the most part, justified.

Ever masters of the art of subverting expectations, however, Big Finish deserve considerable credit for refusing to be intimidated by using some of the more controversial adversaries in the show’s extensive backlog. Shaban’s hyperactive, sickeningly corrupt ‘businessman’ (if such a term can be attributed without causing offense to those real-life individuals whose job title reads identically) is back in full force in Antidote to Oblivion, “whether you like it or not” (to paraphrase a similarly loathed line of dialogue from The Twin Dilemma), constantly conspiring to manipulate the residents of a far-future incarnation of the UK on behalf of his equally-seedy superiors at the Universal Monetary Fund. Regardless of whether one adores or bemoans the construct in question, the relish with which Shaban portrays him is completely evident throughout and if nothing else warrants more than a little admiration.

On the other hand, writer Philip Martin’s insistence on mirroring the aforementioned guest star’s fidelity towards his past work cannot be excused so easily. Try as it might to differentiate from what’s come before by emphasising the somewhat refreshing character dynamic between the Doctor (Baker) and his incumbent companion Flip Jackson (Lisa Greenwood) as well as placing Sil in a far more vulnerable position than we’ve arguably seen him so far, Antidote could very well go by the alternative name Best of Sil and, if anything, would probably have received further plaudits for paying homage to the character’s previous appearances so accurately. That’s clearly not Martin’s intention, though, as by including a semi-indoctrinated community of underground dwellers in the narrative, he seems to attempt a form of dystopian satire aimed at our race’s present overreliance on financial gain and related paperwork, only for the all-too-familiar structure, cliff-hangers and underdeveloped characters presented within it to rob the drama of any opportunity to be credibly scrutinized and interpreted on an academic basis.

For every thorn, of course, there remains a hidden-yet-certainly-present rose (yes, that’s a slightly altered idiom, but what’s the use of a good quote if you can’t change it?), and in this instance, despite the other Baker’s rendition of Gallifrey’s one-time lone survivor not always being held in the same lofty esteem as Tom’s or the rest, the penultimate regular classic incarnation earns himself plenty of justice. Gone is the hilariously self-ridiculing take on the character which Colin offered in last year’s monumentally successful 50th Anniversary mockumentary The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, replaced by a far more passionate and consistent portrayal made possible by Martin’s accomplished distribution of worthy dialogue. Flip, meanwhile, mightn’t exactly rank up with Sarah-Jane Smith and Amy Pond as one of Doctor Who’s more beloved companions (though that’s through no fault of Greenwood’s own – quite to the contrary, it’s scriptwriters such as Martin who cruelly neglect to give the oft-forgettable character meaningful arcs), yet Greenwood’s actual performance is every bit as layered and engaging as her co-star’s work.

It’s ultimately the lack of ambition present in Antidote to Oblivion which overtly distinguishes it from superior Big Finish dramas such as (to name but a few recent examples) Starlight Robbery, U.N.I.T. Dominion and the exemplary Destiny of the Doctor range, an infuriatingly persistent shortcoming of late in the studio’s Doctor Who range which needs fixing as quickly as the twelfth Doctor needs to determine whether or not he can truly call himself a good man when the show returns to our screens next month. Whilst we’re all but guaranteed a resolution of some kind for the latter dilemma in Series Eight, that this flaw has restrained a number of storylines in the 2014 Who audio range offers us less cause for immediate confidence in the former department. Chances are that the studio are saving their piece de resistance for their impending multi-serial collection The Worlds of Doctor Who in October, yet given that their own 50th Anniversary Special – The Light at the End – was hardly flawless, not to mention that 2013 brought with it a commendable number of accomplished Big Finish dramas even before Light, the notion of remaining unperturbed by the increasingly diminishing returns-esque nature of their recent output is becoming ever more challenging as the months progress.

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Reviewed by Lani Smith

The Light at The End
Produced by Big Finish
Written and Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Released: November 2013

The Light at The End was built up for quite some time as the true Doctor Who fan's 50th. Where many seemed fit to ignore the majority of the show's time, Big Finish, as per usual, decided to do quite the opposite and revel in the past. They wanted to do a proper 8 Doctor story, shattering the previous televised records (which was essentially held by The Five Doctors, which, despite its name, had about 3 and a half Doctors).

However, this sort of thing had been attempted by Big Finish before with Zagreus. Zagreus, for those who are unaware, has something of a rather unfortunate reputation about it. The common narrative surrounding why Zagreus flopped so immensely was that it simply had too many Doctors and returning cast members. Indeed, for the long-term Doctor Who fan who defends the upcoming rather New-Who-Centric televised 50th, Zagreus was always a go-to example for the age-old proverb of "Too many chefs spoil the broth."

Challenging this narrative, however, is The Light at The End which, thus far, has received a warmer and much more enthusiastic response. The question here is why? Why did this succeed where Zagreus failed?

Put simply, The Light at The End understood what it was. It was a celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who. Where Zagreus tried to expand upon the universe, in often very interesting ways, it was bogged down by narrative, rather than filled with celebration. When Zagreus was properly celebrating Doctor Who, as-in the rather brilliant recasting decisions, it shined. When it went on about exposition and nothing happened, it failed.

The Light at The End fixes this problem. Before we go into this, I should describe what a beat is. In directing and scriptwriting a beat change is a moment when the perspective of a character, or the audience, shifts in relation to a scene. For an example of one of the most famous beat changes in film history, look to Star Wars Episode V and the infamous "Luke, I am your father" line. Both Luke and the audience, in this moment, had their perception of events change entirely. Beat changes are directly related to the pacing of a piece and are vital to understanding why Zagreus failed where The Light at The End succeeded.

In essence, it saw that the core problem with the previous anniversary celebration was that it relied on glacial, or nonsensical, beat shifts. In Zagreus, the beat shifts never came quickly enough, often relying on people talking and the situation remaining static for huge swaths of time. Likewise, following the intense and emotional beat at the end of Neverland, the story made a nonsensical shift towards the humdrum as the protagonists trapsed about the TARDIS calmly for an hour. It was jarring and made little sense in context of the previous beat.

The Light at The End has no such problems. The beats come quickly, they land well, and they keep the two hours flying by. It felt dynamic, exciting, and fun. The script is also cleverly edited and every single scene, except one short scene with The Master gloating to himself, has a clear intention and purpose. The script does not waste your time as a listener, which is vital.

But, I'm sure you are all wondering, how the script holds up with so many cast members? Well, this is rather brilliant actually. The various Doctors and companions are split up into teams, much like The Five Doctors, and each has their own largely separate stories (that come together well at the end). We see about three or four groups form, which by definition makes the vast cast more manageable. However, due to the nature of The Master's plan, the various companions eventually flicker out of existence, delivering a much more manageable cast as time goes on. But, of course, not before delivering some amazing character interaction with some great combinations. Who knew that Charley and Four could get along so well? It's certainly a combination I would never have imagined working. Or what about Ace and Peri? Or, most tragically, Seven and Peri. As the script goes on, the groups form and the companions drop off, so that the cast actually becomes quite manageable with each group having their own basic section that is laden with Doctor-interaction dialogue. Four and Eight were the highlight for me (and a combination I hope to see much more of someday!), but there was plenty here to like. The “too many chefs” argument falls absolutely apart when the chefs are being overseen properly by both an experienced scriptwriter and, more importantly, an experienced editor and director.

It should also be said that there were some other moments of brilliance with the handling of The Doctors and the large cast. Firstly, and most impressively, the first three Doctors actually have rather a large role – with tons of lines! I was incredibly impressed with this, only expecting Big Finish to give them lipservice and some reused lines from their televised time. However, they got a spot-on impersonator for Three, returned Frazer Hines's Two, and possibly used the wonderful William Russell as One. The interaction between One, Two, and Three is a joy to see and it's wonderful to see how they interact with some of the later incarnations that they have never really gotten a chance to meet in the past. Secondly, it was nice to use the script to allow some “time bleeding” and enable the other companions that were not featured prominently to have some one-liners. We hear Tegan, Susan, Zoe, Jamie, and plenty of others. Even if it wasn't for long, it was still nice for a celebration to bring them all back for that.

One thing you'll notice in this script is that the script compliments the complications inherent in the casting. Mainly that the script and the story allows for the script to simultaneously expand the cast without allowing it to become unwieldy (the one-liner ghostly visions), while also allowing the cast to shrink and become more manageable as the plot goes on.

That said, the script is also necessarily quite simple in nature. The purpose of the script was not to tell a good story, or even a remotely compelling one, but to celebrate the years and the characters that have made the show what it is. One will not come away from this script thoroughly impressed with the plot as in something like Jubilee or Farewell, Great Macedon. The plot is secondary to the celebration here and, in reality, that is precisely what is needed for a good 50th celebration. If one puts too much focus on the plot, as in Zagreus or likely the upcoming televised 50th, the focus comes away from what made the show great in the first place and the characters that helped craft it. This is the one time of the decade when it is fully appropriate, and even ideal, to look back fondly instead of looking forward. And that's where the script shines. It delivers exactly what is needed – tons of character interaction and lovely combinations of Doctors that we would never get to see any other time of the year. This includes the first time we really get to see Four interact with any other Doctor or companion (Tom Baker is an absolute joy here, by the way). It's got enough references and returning characters that any long-term fan will be positively thrilled, but it's a simple enough plot that anyone with a basic understanding of who The Doctors are and what their personalities are like will enjoy it as well. For the casual fan and the dedicated one, there's plenty here to enjoy.

Oh, and get the Limited Edition. Trust me – you'll want to hear it all. There's so much content there.

(You can check out more of Lani's Big Finish and Doctor Who reviews at http://who-reviews.com/dwnews)

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