Jamie Revell

This is a set of three stories linked by a common plot arc that sees the Master up to one of his usual schemes. Taken as a whole, it's a more traditional story than the first two releases in the series and isn't quite as edgy - although it does have an impressively high body count.

The Survivor - The first story is the strongest in the set, not least because it isn't at all obvious at the outset what the Master is trying to achieve, with things turning first one way and then the other until all is revealed. The story is told primarily from the perspective of a volunteer in the Women's Land Army, the WWII organisation set up to counter the shortage of available men on the farms. Although there's clearly something alien going on even without the Master stirring things up, the War is a major theme, partly as a metaphor for the larger Time War raging somewhere in the background. There is a strong cast of characters, most of them women, and a likeable protagonist who finds herself deeper in trouble as the Master manipulates events towards his own ends. 5 stars.

The Coney Island Chameleon - Now that we know what the Master is doing, but not his reason for doing it, we get a second story on a similar theme that nonetheless manages to throw some new twists into things. As the title indicates, it's set in the US; the date isn't specified, but it seems to be around the 1890s. The Master is in this one less than the previous, acting as a more distant menace although, when he does show up he's not really hiding his true nature - something that's normally a key feature of this particular incarnation. Nonetheless, it's a good story playing up on his menace as he closes in on his goal. 4.5 stars.

The Missing Link/Darkness and Light - The final two episodes form a single story separated by a cliffhanger. It's here that the Eighth Doctor turns up, as indicated on the cover, and that we finally discover the Master's motives for his actions in the previous two stories. Which, unfortunately, turns out not to be terribly interesting. Now that it's all out in the open, we get even less of the ambiguity of the character that Jacobi does so well, leaving us with a routine story that could as well have been a regular Eighth Doctor one. Yes, Foley and Llewelyn are trying to make some sort of point about the Doctor and the Master being opposite sides of the same coin, but that's nowhere we haven't been before. And the Master getting the better of the match in the first half is offset by a predictable ending in the second. A disappointing conclusion to a promising start. 3 stars.

When Chris Boucher, the original producer of the Star Cops television series was asked what he would have done had a second season been commissioned, he replied that he would like to have taken the characters to Mars. That finally happens in this, the first half of a two-part, six-episode, audio series. All three surviving members of the original cast appear again, although the two new characters introduced in the previous audio series do not. Nonetheless, there are enough connections with the prior series that it makes sense to listen to the two in order.

The New World/The Shadow of This Red Rock – in a break from the format of the previous two volumes, the first two episodes of this collection are essentially a single story, separated by a cliffhanger, rather than two stories fitting within an arc. The first half, of course, is setting the scene, with the Star Cops having been sent on a six-month preparatory mission to try to establish a police force on Mars. The exposition about how Martian society is set up is well done avoiding the large info-dump approach, and we're soon off to Olympus Mons to investigate some thefts on the verge of turning violent. That leads to an effective police procedural whodunnit that plays on tensions amongst the colonists.

Following the cliffhanger, the style of the story switches to suspense and a struggle to survive as Nathan and Kenzie are placed in danger as a direct result of events in the first half. Devis, meanwhile, is somewhere else entirely, equally endangered but in a different way; this is clearly a sub-plot setting things up for later, since the events pose far more questions than they answer. Even in this half of the story, however, we have exploration of how different people have coped with living on Mars, with an interesting guest character as well as some nice references to remind us how different Mars is from the ‘high frontier' setting of the usual series. 5 stars.

Whatever Happened to Gary Rice? – The title is the contents of a mysterious message received by the main characters at the beginning of this story. It leads them to an investigation at a couple of bases where it's clear that somebody is hiding something, but not initially what or why that might be. Although this sounds like the basis of another procedural, that's not really what we get, with the story flipping between exposition and action sequences once the antagonists realise they have been discovered. It drags a little in places, despite some good lines that add a bit of humour, and isn't one of the stronger entries in the “season”. The larger plot arc hinted at in the previous two-parter returns at the end, creating a cliffhanger that leads into the second volume. 4 stars.

Written by the scriptwriter of the TV story Full Circle it's perhaps no surprise that this feels quite a lot like some of the later serials of the Tom Baker era. It's set in E-Space and, for once, this isn't simply in order to have this particular pairing of companions together, since it does form a key motivation for one of the characters. Funnily enough, though, the basic idea behind this story seems borrowed from that of a slightly earlier serial, The Pirate Planet, a similarity that gets only a passing reference.

It's not as good as that story, although arguably better than Full Circle, and does manage to ring a few changes on the setup, as well as the details of the main villain. Indeed, there are some pretty cool visuals in here, although sadly audio might not be the best format for presenting them. Neat setting aside, though, the story itself is fairly run-of-the-mill, but it is helped by having the villain be more rounded than is usual - megalomaniac, perhaps, but not a ranting loon, just ruthless in the pursuit of his objectives. One of the other characters, an astronomer with some shades of Binro in The Ribos Operation is also well-drawn, acting as a temporary additional companion and being at least as effective as Adric. (Indeed, Adric doesn't do a lot in this... he tries, but he's not very successful compared with the Doctor and Romana).

Coming where it does in relation to the rest of the TV series, it's emulation of that season means that there isn't much humour in this and the prolonged separation between the Doctor and Romana means a lack of entertaining banter, too. But that's the way the series was at this point, and this is better than many of the televised examples from the time; a decent story with some good characters and some great ideas presented on a massive scale that would have been difficult on pre-CGI television.

Trying to cover the history of India runs into significant problems. The first is that there's simply so much of it; not only does it stretch back a long way, but the subcontinent is huge and for most of its history was not even close to being unified in the way that, say, China often was. The second issue is that much of its early history is obscure and we have relatively few reliable sources from which to reconstruct it.

So even a chunky book like this has a lot to cover and will inevitably leave gaps - often because we simply don't know. Having said which, this seems about as comprehensive a history as one could fit in a single volume and it's an interesting story about which I'd have to say that I didn't know much before starting. (Which, of course, also means that I can't vouch for the accuracy; I have no reason to doubt it but wouldn't be able to spot an error or glaring omission if there was one). It covers the entire history of the subcontinent from the Harappans to the first decade of the 21st century and includes areas that now lie within Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The writing is mostly clear and accessible and shows a clear passion for the region. Some of the spellings used for Indian places and names are not those most commonly used in English, which can be confusing at times - the most frequent are ‘Panjab' for Punjab and ‘Ganga' for Ganges, which are perfectly legitimate transliterations but not ones one often sees. But, while I know that my taste in history books often fails to match those of other readers, I found this informative and well worth the time, a well-written account of a vast and sprawling story that's often overlooked in the West.

Three unconnected stories, all featuring the titular characters. Obviously, there's some suspension of disbelief required here; it's clear that River hadn't met the Tenth Doctor before Silence in the Library and hard to argue he met her again before The Time of Angels. But, if you can get over that, it's the only pairing of River and a modern Doctor we're likely to get on audio any time soon.

Expiry Dating – The first story deals with the issue of the ‘extra' meetings surprisingly well. It's clearly set not long after Silence in the Library and is structured in such a way that River is as much a mystery to the Doctor at the end of the story as she is beforehand. It's primarily (but not entirely) an epistolary story, following a series of letters exchanged between the two as she tries to get him to take part in a scheme that goes against his principles. There's lot of hopping about between different worlds, elements of humour and general weirdness, and a story that builds on the relationship that River has with the Doctor, but that he hasn't experienced yet. Plus, there's the occasional tie in to the classic series, although not in a way that should be confusing to those who have only seen the modern one. A little different than the usual, and quite fun. 4 stars.

Precious Annihilation – Here, however, the pair are working together as if that's already a normal thing for them. It's loosely based around an obscure, but real, historical event where a 17th-century jeweller's hoard was discovered in the basement of a demolished building in 1912. In this version, the hoard turns out to contain a deadly alien substance that leads the Doctor and River back to its origin in 1633. (Oddly, this keeps being described as “Tudor” and “Elizabethan” when it's a full three decades too late for either of those descriptors). It's a decent story, if stronger on the alien elements than on the historical background, but not much more than that. A weakness is that it doesn't really go anywhere with the Doctor/River relationship and that any regular companion would probably have fit the story just as well. 3.5 stars.

Ghosts – The Doctor meets River on a planet used only as a cemetery and that, perhaps unsurprisingly, has the reputation of being “the most haunted planet in the galaxy”. The Doctor doesn't believe in ghosts, but there's little question that things that certainly appear to be ghosts soon appear. It's a clever story, with apparent oddities in the early parts turning out to be deliberate hints in the later section. While it's probably not going to be any great surprise to anyone to discover what the ghosts are, what they're doing on the planet is less obvious to begin with, as is the nature of the monster that's stalking the living. But it all ties together with a neat twist and a touching conclusion. 5 stars.

Two more stories featuring the Third Doctor and Jo Grant, unconnected with each other and likely not in internal chronological order, should that sort of thing worry you.

Poison of the Daleks – While this is a UNIT story, in that it features the Brigadier and Benton alongside the Doctor and Jo, it is mainly set offworld, on a human colony overrun by the Daleks. This is hinted at from the opening moments and makes for a story that's obviously very different from any televised one featuring these particular characters (The Three Doctors arguably coming closest). It also means that the first 30 minutes, where everyone is still on Earth feels tacked on, with the guest characters we meet there not proving very important and falling into standard tropes of the era.

Once we get to the main story... things don't especially improve. It's a decent enough Dalek story but there's little that's special or different about it. The Daleks have conquered a planet, they have a scheme to conquer some more, they must be stopped; that's pretty much it. The most notable thing, which fans of the maniacal pepperpots will likely appreciate, is the extent to which the story brings in elements from Dalek stories from the First Doctor's era that haven't been seen on TV since. Robomen turn up in the first few minutes, and turn out to have a significant role in how the story plays out, but they are by no means the only such element.

There's also some fun with an alien scientist (played by Abigail McKern) whose prickliness and genius both match the Doctor's own, giving us some good scenes where they are playing off each other. But, beyond these bright points, it's all fairly routine and it doesn't help that the science doesn't make much sense or that the Daleks' motives don't extent beyond conquering for the sake of it. Yes, it largely works, but it doesn't stand out in any way or ring any significant changes on the formula. 3 stars.

Operation Hellfire – To begin with, this story seems very reminiscent of The Dæmons, especially as it opens with the villains summoning a demonic spirit. But it ends up going in quite a different direction, and certainly can't be described as the sort of folk horror that story emulated. Instead, the Doctor is sent on a mission for the Time Lords that involves him travelling back to 1943 to recover a vaguely described ancient artefact.

The artefact isn't entirely a McGuffin, since it does seem to be doing a few things along the way that affect events, but it's not the focus of the story. Instead, we get a mix of espionage and Nazi occultism in the style of some of Dennis Wheatley's novels – indeed, one of the main characters in the story is based on Wheatley and his service during the War. Ian McNeice also appears as Winston Churchill but, despite his prominent position on the cover, it's very much a cameo with only a few brief scenes, all but one of which take place away from the other characters.

Third Doctor stories set in the past are comparatively rare and, in some respects, this has more in common with some of the stories of the black-and-white era than Three's own, albeit with the addition of more action (there's rather a lot of Venusian aikido, for instance). Jo gets a key role in the story, although some of what she's doing is implausibly effective given her usual scatter-brained approach. The result is a decent story that goes somewhere the Third Doctor usually doesn't, but managed to keep some of the tropes of the era intact nonetheless, even if some might be disappointed that they're not getting a reprise of The Dæmons. 4 stars.

Set during season 18's “E-Space trilogy”, this sees Adric's sulkiness trap the TARDIS crew on a habitable asteroid used as a penal colony. The result is something of a mixed bag.

The story itself isn't bad, and there are some inventive ideas to do with the bizarre ecology of the asteroid - something that's presumably only possible because E-space doesn't conform to the same laws of physics as our universe. This does, incidentally, appear to be deliberate; for instance, a link is drawn to what's happening here and the fact that the night sky in E-Space is green, not black. On the other hand, it does mean that a lot of the setup is left unexplained and this extends to the nature of the villain, which remains an enigma throughout. Similarly, we have no idea who has established the penal colony, or what any of the inmates are supposed to have done to get sent there (relatively little, so far as one can tell from the only hint given, but who knows?)

While Romana also gets plenty to do, aside from the Doctor, it's Adric and K9 who end up most notable here. The former alternates between arrogant and sulky which, in fairness, isn't a bad rendition of the way he was shown on TV and his resulting actions do at least help drive the plot. There's also an attempt to rehabilitate him, reminding us of what he went through in Full Circle and showing him start to bond with the other regulars in a way that was glossed over in the original TV series. K9, for his part, gets to flirt with another computer, insofar as such a thing is possible, which is a fun use of the character.

So, a decent use of all the characters, a plot that at least keeps moving and has some good ideas... but a lot will depend on whether you want any kind of explanation as to what's really going on. 3.5 stars.

[This is the first half of a two-part story. I am reviewing both parts here.]

While this is, in effect, an epic four-hour story told over the course of two separate releases, it's noteworthy that it's actually split into eight 30-minute “episodes”, each by a different writer. Each episode sees the Doctor arriving in a different place and time and, since they're relatively short, this sees the pace of the story zipping along - an effective way to deal with something that's, overall, quite lengthy.

Nonetheless, this is a single story, with each of the locations the Doctor arrives in being inhabited by seemingly the same four people (and in most of them, nobody else) - albeit with different names and backgrounds, depending on where they happen to be. Many of the resulting stories are particularly surreal, with reality warping around the characters in different ways, yet each has quite a distinct flavour. Perhaps the most innovative (although with echoes of the earlier Big Finish release Live 34) consists of a recording of the Doctor fronting a radio show, complete with the sorts of sounds you get when, say, a radio mic is jostled as somebody moves about.

Others include an encounter with Douglas Jardine; one suspects most people outside the UK and Australia haven't heard of him (he's the “bodyline” chap) but we're given enough context that even people who know nothing about cricket should get an idea of his legacy. There's a doomed spaceship flight that has some particularly dodgy science in it but otherwise works quite well as a sort of base-under-siege (one of two in the set), a time loop murder mystery, foreshadowing of the Time War, and a story set in Renaissance Florence.

Oh, yes, and Daleks. They're actually not in it much, only really turning up in the final episode as everything is explained, but the surreal nature and unfolding mystery of the story wouldn't suit them. As a nebulous threat in the background, however, they add to the mystery and atmosphere. Still, if you were expecting something along the lines of a typical Dalek TV episode you're going to be disappointed, as it's nothing like that. But it's an intriguing story with good use of the small cast forced on them by the pandemic - Kirwan and Mohindra in particular using an array of different accents to distinguish their various selves from each other.

This one-off story was released out of sequence, having been recorded way in advance and then brought out to fill a gap during the pandemic. This means that it doesn't fit with the 4th Doctor stories around it, featuring Leela and being back to the usual one-hour format after the two-hour E-Space releases. By and large, it works, although it's not without its problems.

It sees the TARDIS arriving on a luxury liner, where, as we learn from the opening teaser, things are about to go badly wrong for the passengers. After a fairly relaxed few opening scenes exploring the apparently empty liner (the sort of thing that would be more common in a First Doctor story) we do eventually meet the ship's occupants, leading to a race against time for everyone to escape apparent doom.

There are some parallels here to the 10th Doctor TV episode 42 but, despite the fact that there is a clock ticking and everyone is due to die, this has less of a sense of tension than that did. That may partly be the audio format not being able to convey what's presumably an increasingly uncomfortable atmosphere on board ship, but, especially for Doctor Who, there's also remarkably little running. Furthermore, there are some apparent inconsistencies in the plot, where events don't seem to make sense - perhaps some explanatory scenes were cut for timing reasons.

Some listeners might find the fact that almost all the guest characters are male to be a disappointment, and the motivations of many of them aren't explained beyond “he's mad”. On the other hand, people do do such daft things in the real world, and explaining why this happens is probably a bit deep and dark for a DW story. And the Doctor and Leela are both well-written, accompanied by a great turn from the unfailingly polite and slightly camp ship's computer. Nor is the plot itself bad, when you get down to it; it may not be the greatest or most original of tales but it's perfectly functional and fits well with the era.

And, hey, you've got to give them some credit for the entire thing being recorded during lockdown, from the actors' bedrooms and so forth instead of studio sound booths. Honestly, you'd never know; that's some quality sound work right there and nudges out any of the minor problems I mention above.

A four-episode story featuring Donna travelling in time and space and facing typical Doctor Who problems... but without the Doctor being present.

Out of This World – The first episode sees Donna trying to get over the traumatic events of Silence in the Library by spending time at home away from the Doctor. Sylvia's attempts to fix a problem she doesn't really understand coincidentally draw Donna's attention to an Earthbound mystery that seems to have alien involvement. And it's from there that we kick off the arc that forms the basis of this collection. Despite ending on a minor cliffhanger, it feels comparatively standalone, as if it were the pilot episode for something bigger, setting up a concept without necessarily being part of anything bigger. (Rather like Rose, perhaps).

The result is nonetheless a decent story, full of misunderstandings and seeing Donna placed in real peril towards the end. Sylvia is good in it, and there's some great chemistry and banter between Donna and her old schoolfriend Natalie, who becomes the other major character in this mini-series – the “companion” to Donna's “Doctor”. Donna's late father also gets a mention, adding depth to Sylvia in particular, which is a nice touch. It's not spectacular, but it's a good start and shows that Donna has the strength to take centre stage without the Doctor being present. 4.5 stars.

Spinvasion – Unfortunately, I didn't feel that the same could be said for this second episode. It's a comedy, and these are often hit-and-miss in Doctor Who. A lot probably depends on your sense of humour and I can't say that this suited mine. The cliffhanger from the previous episode is dealt with perfunctorily and then we're off to an alien planet where everyone is astoundingly stupid. Yes, it's supposed to be a satire on PR, but it's clumsily done, with cartoon characters and no real sense of peril – despite the fact that there's clearly intended to be.

One of the strengths of Donna (and Tate) on TV was her ability to be both mouthy and emotionally vulnerable, caring about the terrible things she was sometimes seeing, and drawing the audience in with her and making the fantastic seem real. There's no sign of that here, just broad comedy based around people being thick, and Donna shrugging off the massive death toll that the story eventually includes (although largely off-screen). Natalie also seems to be taking to the strangeness far too easily and the whole thing just doesn't feel at all believable. Which, at least for me, made the comedy fall flat. 2 stars.

The Sorcerer of Albion – It's something of a convention in Big Finish collections like this one that one of the four stories has to be set in the past. This time around, that's medieval England as Donna is mistaken for Merlin (per the classic episode Battlefield this is apparently the Doctor, which is why nobody is surprised ‘Merlin' has seemingly regenerated into a woman). It's a considerable improvement over the previous episode, avoiding most of its pitfalls. For a start, it's a good deal funnier, despite not obviously being a comedy – instead it has plenty of great one-liners, many of them at Donna's expense.

It also does a better job with Natalie. Indeed, she's really the main character in this one, with Donna being side-lined for a chunk of it, forcing her reluctant companion to struggle on her own. This makes use of what was established about her in the first episode and shows a more plausible reaction to being unexpectedly thrown through time and space. There are some quite inventive ideas in here too, albeit largely in what would be the visuals were this a different medium. 4 stars.

The Chiswick Cuckoos – The final episode returns to the present day to wrap up the loose threads from the first one. The focus is naturally back on Donna, although there are some good scenes with Natalie, showing her as the sort of character that would make a good companion but would never voluntarily chose such a life. Sylvia is back again, too, if not quite so prominently as in the first episode, and there are a couple of guest appearances from other recurring characters.

Here, it's up to Donna to save the Doctor, with the latter out of the picture and the result is a good piece of action-oriented fun. As in the previous episode, Donna is very much on form and there is some reflection on her relationship with her mother in between the action on alien spaceships and so on. Of all the episodes in this collection, this is also the most female-led, with the only male characters either unimportant or in the background for most of the story. (Which not only feels right, but goes to show that you can have an all-female “Doctor”/companion pairing without everyone assuming there's a lesbian romance going on.) 4 stars.

Once again, this second volume of the mini-series feels more like two stories than one, with it being the second one that's a two-parter this time. However, with the background arc of the first volume having moved to the forefront since the cliffhanger ending, it could equally well be regarded as a single story, and one with plenty of links to events in the first half.

Bodies of Evidence – The first episode is essentially an hour-long flashback, revealing what Priya and Paul were doing during the events of the first half of this “season”. As a result, a fair part of this takes place on the Moon, rather than on Mars, although the connections are apparent from the outset. Once we do get to Mars, the mystery deepens, bringing the background arc of the previous three episodes into focus, and intercutting with events from two of them, now seen from another perspective. Priya and Paul are the main characters here, but the other three regulars also appear, along with the US commander of Barack Obama Base, introduced at the beginning of the “season”. It's an engaging story, cleverly written, and putting a lot of what has happened so far into context as well as opening up new mysteries. 5 stars.

Human Kind/The Highest Ground – The concluding two-parter brings events to a head as the villain goes all-out to protect his secret. The revelation of that secret – of what's really going on at his secret base on the Red Planet – is what forms the cliffhanger that separates the two episodes. Although anyone familiar with science fiction themes should have worked it out long before then, given the clues we're provided with in the previous episodes. The second half is more of an action piece than we normally get in this series, although it does put elements of the setting to good use as well as building on plot threads from the first volume. It's also notable that, unlike the previous episodes, all five of the main stars get their moment in the spotlight. The science isn't perfect, since the relative proximity of the Martian horizon would affect a few points here and there, but, on the whole, and allowing for the early stages of terraforming having affected the atmosphere, it's a good enough piece of hard SF that builds to a generally satisfying conclusion. 4.5 stars.

This is, I believe the last of the Big Finish audios to feature John Barrowman as Captain Jack. It contains three separate stories about his life, each with a different tone and style but exploring, in different ways, his relationships with other characters. (Indeed, arguably, each of the stories is as much about them as it is about him). Although it wasn't planned that way, the exploration it makes of Jack is a worthy send-off for the character, assuming you're able to look past his actors' past behaviour.

Crush - A sort of sequel to the story ‘Wednesdays for Beginners' in volume one, this sees Jack taking Jackie Tyler on a space cruise, partly as a date and partly to show her some of what Rose is experiencing during her travels. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong, in this case because they end up on what's effectively a replacement bus service instead of a cruise. It's initially a comedy, but becomes more serious as the passengers are placed in increasing peril. In the end, it's more about Jackie than it is about the nominal star, exploring some of the regrets in her life and how she feels about Rose being away, with him serving mainly as the vehicle to get here there. As a result, while it's certainly no failure, it's perhaps the weakest story in the collection, a nice bit of filler with some good jokes at the beginning, but nothing more. 3.5 stars.

Mighty and Despair - This time we jump way into the future, seeing a Jack who is already elderly, some time between his last meeting the Doctor and becoming the Face of Boe. The story is told primarily from the perspective of two survivors of a crash that arrive on the planet he has gone into isolation on, but it ends up being a character study of all three. In fact, there is very little action, with the story mostly being about adapting to change and the nature of mortality. This makes it slow, but engaging, showing an older, much more reflective Jack than we normally see as well as examining the odd relationship between the two guest characters. 4 stars.

R & J - The last story is likely the one most people will have been waiting for after seeing the cover: Jack Harkness meets River Song. What we get is a series of vignettes as the two bump into one another at various points during their lives. The sequence that these are told in is thematic, rather than chronological and, of course, the fact that they are both time travellers means that wouldn't be in the same chronological order for both of them even if it were... all of which may, of course, take some following. It's not timey-wimey in the sense of having paradoxes, but we do often see effects before causes. There are also plenty of references to specific events in the TV series in here, with River butting in in imagined “cut scenes” in the middle of episodes. As with the previous story, the result is a great examination of the two characters and their relationship with the advantage being that we already know River and can fill in plenty of the blanks along the way. Some great one-liners, too! 5 stars.

Two one-hour stories that share a similar theme of apparently ghostly goings-on where the explanation isn't quite as it first appears. This seems to exist mainly to fill a gap in the release schedules and isn't even loosely connected to anything else, as well as having the oddity of being set earlier in BF's own 7th Doctor continuity, in that it still features Hex.

The Flying Dutchman - The first story is set on an 18th-century sailing ship in an unspecified location far out at sea, and features the appearance of the eponymous ghost ship. Which, since this is as fictional in this setting as it is in reality is a bit of a puzzle. (The myth doesn't appear in print until sometime after this story is set, but presumably wasn't new then, so it's plausible enough that the sailors would be familiar with it).

This seems a decent premise, but the story that results is let down by not really making much sense. It's hard to see how the villain could have carried out some parts of his plan without anyone noticing, and the guest characters don't act consistently - something that's particularly noticeable after the resolution of the halfway cliffhanger. There's also confusion on Arrowsmith's part between phosphorus and phosphor although that's perhaps easier to forgive. The acting and the sound effects are as well done as ever, making it really sound as if we're on a ship at sea... but it's hard to take the story seriously. 3 stars.

Displaced - The second story is the better of the two, being set in what appears to be a haunted modern-day house, with Alexa/Siri (obviously called something else here) as the closest thing to an inhabitant. Hard-to-understand ghostly voices keep intruding, although these are probably not something the characters are supposed to be hearing, since they don't really react to them... but at times, this isn't always clear.

It's a decent mystery, if not one of the greats, and, unlike the previous story, it does all make sense in the end. Plus, there's some good interaction between Hex and Ace, in a story where the difference in their respective personalities is a key element shaping what happens. Indeed, all three characters are well-written, and the fact that they're largely on their own gives Armitage room to explore them a little more than an author normally might in a story of this length. 4 stars.

For those unfamiliar with the character, Bernice Summerfield was the long-running companion of the Seventh Doctor in the licensed novels of the early ‘90s. She briefly appeared in a number of solo books after that, and it was the adaptation of some of those books to audio format that got Big Finish their start in the business, and led to them getting the Doctor Who license themselves. In the twenty or so years since then, she has appeared in a number of audio plays, but here returns to her roots in a four-part story that also features the Doctor.

Having said which, it's important to note that this series does what it says on the tin: McCoy may have lead billing in the credits, and it's his theme tune that's used in the play, but this is Benny's story. In fact, the Doctor is a fairly minor character, and absent for long stretches. Which is at is should be, given the title, but might not be what a listener might expect from the packaging.

The Revolution – The first episode is a comedy by the usually reliable Nev Fountain. Benny and the Doctor find themselves on a planet with a fanatical devotion to science (absent any ethical considerations, so far as one can tell). The Doctor is behaving erratically and far from his usual self, while Benny is pursued by the police for a crime against scientific orthodoxy. It comes across as trying to be Pythonesque, with exaggerated characters and mad situations, but unfortunately mainly succeeds at just being silly. It does all make sense in the end, and there are certainly some laughs along the way, but it doesn't work as a whole. 3 stars.

Good Night, Sweet Ladies – Following up on the clues provided by the Doctor in the previous story, Benny tries to reach an archaeological ruin on a now-uninhabited moon. I found much of the story confusing, as Benny encounters a castaway and a mysterious stranger and tries to explore the ruin. I'm really not sure what was supposed to be going on here (and the bits I did follow would be spoilers) although Benny is well-written and adds some levity to the proceedings with her customary snark. What saves the episode is the closing segment, which, while it may not necessarily make any more sense, is a touching counterpoint to the comedy of the first episode, and an affecting use of Benny's backstory. 3.5 stars.

Random Ghosts – Benny finds herself on an all-but abandoned planet trapped in a time loop. The set up is thus that of Groundhog Day, although with deadly ‘ghosts' and, of course, a rather different resolution. However, unlike that film or (say) the Star Trek episode ‘Cause & Effect', the story is not told sequentially, but as a series of ‘found footage' clips edited together thematically by a computer. So, for example, scenes that elucidate the relationship between two characters will be played together, regardless of where they occur within the loop. This works rather better than one might think, although it's certainly something you'd want to pay close attention to. 4 stars.

The Lights of Skaro - The last episode is the strongest of the four, as the action moves to Skaro, in a story that brings in elements of various past Dalek stories from the TV series. What really raises it above most other stories of its type is the examination of Dalek history and how they have changed over the years (both out-of-world and in-world). In particular, we get some explanation of how things look from their perspective, and some reflections on what passes for their culture and psychology. There's also some great characterisation of Ace, and overall, something that feels very much like a tribute to the New Adventures novels that first introduced Benny. 5 stars.

It's a good thing that this run had the extra six issues tagged onto the end that this volume contains, because this is the strongest part of the series - it took time to get going and, perhaps, to decide what it wanted to do, but the payoff works. Indeed, it's noteworthy that it feels like a proper conclusion, and not something tacked on when they realised they had extra space to fill. Here we have a new Parliament arising, challenging the Green (and, by implication, the others we've seen down the years) for dominion over the Earth. It's a good expansion to the Swamp Thing mythology and deals with themes that the series often did in the past.

There are some tie-ins to other parts of the DCU, with appearances by Green Lantern and by a major character from previous Swamp Thing comics. However, this is far from your typical superheroic story (and with the horror present, but relatively subdued, too) focusing more on philosophical reflection as Levi completes his journey to becoming a successful avatar and comes to understand both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Parliament of Trees. New character Trinity is a nice concept, too, fitting with this new vision even if she doesn't have any great depth as a person. Given that the fights are all pretty much tangential to the plot, and often largely off-screen, it's pretty epic, too. A good wrap-up that feels like it should always have belonged in the series.

The Doctor Who spinoff media has done H.P. Lovecraft before. Back in the early '90s, some of the tie-in novels used his Mythos quite extensively and there's the obvious pastiche Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge from Big Finish themselves. Here, however, they are taking aim directly, not just at Lovecraft's writings, but at the man himself. The result, I think it's fair to say, is somewhat mixed.

The premise is that the Doctor is in pursuit of a mind parasite that can infect a person and bring their darkest imaginings to life to wreak havoc. Which, when it picks on Lovecraft in 1937 Providence, has the potential to create a lot of havoc indeed. The resulting story is full of references to his work, with several of his creations and characters making an appearance. It's implied early on that Flip is going to be the one delivering the exposition - she supposedly has a better knowledge of the Mythos than the Doctor - but it doesn't turn out that way with the Doctor remembering far more detail of the stories than she does.

Against this, we also have the examination of Lovecraft's life. Some of this is good, linking things in, for example, to his parents' tragedy. However, the elephant in the room is Lovecraft's racism. It's not an issue that can be ignored, but the repeated hammering on the point is overdone to the point of being intrusive. Honestly, he gets a worse time of it than Krasko did in Rosa and he was a mass murderer. (Lovecraft does use a racial slur at one point and rightly gets called on it, but that's the extent of what we see him do or say, making the extreme criticism come across as over-the-top).

Sure, perhaps it's deserved, but, in this sort of story, I don't think we need quite so many speeches as it gives us. Indeed, if Valentine felt he had to paint him as quite so awful, he probably shouldn't have picked him as a semi-protagonist. If you're coming into this as a Lovecraft fan, you're probably not going to enjoy it - not least because his fans also come in for an implicit bashing when we're told you should never separate an artist from their work and his should therefore be unreadable.

Yes, some of this needed to be said, but not quite so heavy-handedly as it is. A pity; if they'd got the balance better on this one issue, this would have been a good story that I'm sure I would really have enjoyed.

Set entirely inside the Wales Millennium Centre (the frontage of which tended to feature quite heavily in Torchwood TV stories), this sees Tosh hoping for a night out at the opera, before being informed by Ianto in the opening teaser that the place is infested with aliens. The plot, it has to be said, is fairly thin and is only there as a vehicle to hang the character moments on. There are some pretty gruesome moments in it, too, justifying the usual adult rating of this audio series, along with overuse of the word “cock” as an expletive. Another negative is that Mori isn't very good at acting drunk (compared with, say, Eve Myles in Smashed) although fortunately this only applies for a short segment of the story.

The plus side is that the character moments this is built around are good. It fits neatly into a slot in the TV series where some of the character relationships were still developing, exploring those and reflecting on the power of music in between the alien shenanigans. Discovering the musical preferences of Ianto and Tosh as teenagers is quite amusing, for instance. The slight plot meant that it still didn't quite work for me, but there's enough positive in it to give 3.5 stars.

While this is, like its predecessor, a single, 4-hour story, it doesn't initially feel much like one, with each of the first three 60 minute “episodes” within it seeming to be distinct. This may be partly because each 60-minute segment has a different main writer, but there's also the fact that they aren't told in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective, so that the connection between the first two isn't apparent until the end of the final one.

It should be noted, though, that the story does take place in chronological order from the perspective of the companions, and that it isn't at all difficult to follow in that respect. Effectively, we start with a flash-forward, and then we (and the companions) spend the rest of the story trying to figure out how we got there, and why the Doctor was doing what he was doing. It's a more sophisticated and plot-justified version of those TV episodes that start with something dramatic and inexplicable happening and then suddenly state “24 hours previously...“

We start on a planet under Dalek occupation, where we are re-introduced to Liv Chenka, a medical technician who previously appeared in the 7th Doctor audio-play Robophobia, and is played by Olivier Award-winning actress Nicola Walker. By itself, it's a fairly straightforward Dalek story, with the only apparent connection to Dark Eyes being the use of the same Dalek commander. In the context of the next three episodes, however, it's both more connected and more significant than it first appears.

Each of the remaining “episodes” brings back a different preexisting villain from the Big Finish canon, most notably (because he's on the cover) the Alex MacQueen version of the Master. There's a different setting for each, too, and we're well over half-way through before the disparate parts begin to come together, and the big picture becomes clearer. In this respect, I felt that the last episode worked best, as we finally move towards the point where we came in - meeting a particularly scary optometrist along the way.

While the story improves as it goes along, and the nature of the over-arcing threat becomes apparent, it doesn't work quite as well as the original Dark Eyes story. Even though there are more connections than there at first seem to be, it isn't as cohesive as the original, and, perhaps because she's no longer the sole companion, Molly doesn't quite have the same chance to shine (although, when she does, she's still very good).

The original was, of course, self-contained, so this sequel has to squeeze in a reason as to why it now has another three “seasons” (counting this one). That works well enough, and, this time round, any such problem is avoided for the future by ending the final part on a cliffhanger. You can listen to Dark Eyes on its own, but you can't do the same with this one.

The time-travelling twins Abby and Zara were introduced in a Fifth Doctor audio back in 2009, and subsequently got their own spin-off audio series. While I enjoyed the grittier, more adult tone of that series, it doesn't seem to have done very well in terms of sales, and was soon scrapped. This release brings the sisters back to their roots to wrap up their storyline.

In point of fact, it's not necessary to have listened to any of the Graceless series to follow this, which makes only the vaguest of references to its events. On the other hand, it certainly helps to know who the sisters are, so the 2009 Fifth Doctor audios that introduced them are much more useful (although, apart from the first one, they're not really that strong compared with Graceless). If you have followed them all the way through, though, this is a good conclusion to their arc, and brings in many themes from their own series, albeit lacking in the “adult” edge that often characterised them.

Here, the Doctor teams up with Leela (apparently middle-aged by this point, despite what the cover shows) to try and stop the sisters from unwittingly damaging the space-time continuum. The story takes place over three episodes, each with a different setting, but it's very much a single story - perhaps too long to listen to in a single sitting, but not something you'd want to leave too much of a gap between, either. Sontarans are involved at one point, showing a clearer connection with the rest of the DW universe than Graceless typically did. These are serious Sontarans, if behaving in what initially appears a strange manner, and there are call-backs to the classic episode The Sontaran Experiment - which was very much not in the comical mode modern viewers may associate with Strax.

The other two stories feature a homage to Logan's Run and a finale that's more intimately tied to the sisters specifically. The way that these, and the Sontaran story, are tied together to make a whole is cleverly done and the result is a strong wrap-up for these characters, with some unexpected twists and at least one shocking moment. If you don't care about Abby and Zara you can probably skip this release - it doesn't tie into anything else - but if you've been following them, it's a good send-off.

A set of three stories that, following on from the end of volume 2, see the Meddling Monk reluctantly forced to travel around with Missy, participating in schemes that are deadlier than his preferred form of chaos.

Body and Soulless - The first story starts in media res on an alien planet being invaded by incorporeal aliens that possess the bodies of the dead. This makes it sound like a zombie story, but that's not really accurate, partly because the aliens are more intelligent than the typical zombie, but also because much of the conflict takes place off-screen, with the battle seen more from a tactical/strategic point of view. A lot depends on how far you can suspend your disbelief while listening to this - the plot is completely bonkers and much of what happens (especially to the Monk) doesn't make a lot of sense. Fortunately, it's carried along by a frenetic pace and Gomez's performance which is, if anything, even crazier than usual here. Any flaws rapidly disappear behind the sheer madness of it all and the plethora of one-liners. 4.5 stars.

War Seed - Next, we're off to contemporary New York, which of course, means English actors doing American accents with varying degrees of success. It's a more straightforward story than the previous one, involving a company that has mysteriously gained access to what appears to be Time Lord regeneration technology. Missy is primarily the driving force behind this one; despite early indications that he might get a bigger role, the Monk is largely reduced to watching from the sidelines. What's going on is revealed at an early stage, with the story mainly being more about how Missy reacts to it than about any implications it might have of itself. Nonetheless, it's another fun piece, the writing of which might well stand out in any other collection. 4 stars.

Two Monks, One Mistress - The final story is the historical one of the set, and both the strongest and the one that's most clearly a comedy. It's set in 16th-century Italy, with Missy trying to deal with one of the Borgias and double-crossing as many people as she can in the process. There are misunderstandings, women doing a bad job of pretending to be men, and characters self-consciously delivering pointless soliloquies (riffing off Shakespeare here), not to mention fun with psychic paper and a very heavy piece of valuable loot. As both title and cover art intimate, we are also introduced to a future incarnation of the Monk and both versions get plenty to do alongside the main title character. Yes, it's another daft plot, but that's rather the point, and the banter between the leads is once again gloriously fun. 5 stars.

I have not really been a fan of these Victorian-era releases, but I have to say that this one is better than the others I have listened to so far. Admittedly, it has a similar flaw in that it's hard to see Queen Victoria travelling to a remote location with only a single bodyguard and no other retinue - even if her motive for coming at all is plausible this time around. But, if you can ignore that, it's a good story.

The set-up is that the Queen is visiting Flat Holm, the Welsh island from which the world's first over-sea radio transmissions were made in 1897. There are some minor differences from real history to accommodate the plot, but the radio experiments were real, and form the basis of the story here when they begin to pick up an apparently alien signal. With the Queen and four other people trapped on the island overnight, each tries to deal differently with the signal's message of apparent doom.

Those who like neat resolutions and answers are going to be disappointed, with much of the story shrouded in mystery. (For what it's worth, I found the Torchwood agent's explanation for events the most plausible, and there's little to contradict it... but nothing much to confirm it, either). It's clear from early on how things are going to unfold, if not necessarily how they'll conclude, but the story manages keep up the suspense as to how we're going to get there. The portrayal of Victoria is stronger than in the previous releases, making her more imperious but still sympathetic. With relatively little action, this is instead a psychological horror story exploring differing attitudes to the building sense of paranoia among the characters.

This is set on Earth-11, the gender-swap alternate reality of the DC universe, featuring their version of the Teen Titans. Fortunately, there's more to the world than merely switching the genders of the main characters and much of the fun comes from spotting the various other things that differ. Indeed, the lineup of the Titans (newly-formed in this reality) differs significantly from the usual one, including, for example, Jessie Quick rather than Kid Flash - presumably so that the roster doesn't feel female-dominated. The identity of the villains also plays on a non-gender-based difference between the parallels and there are other changes that keep things fresh.

On the other hand, while the art is good and the dialogue is well-written, there isn't much depth to the characters. There is some bickering between Aquagirl and Klarienne, and a gay romance subplot for two characters that are not lesbian in Earth-0, but otherwise, we don't get to know too much about them. And, the twist of the villains aside, it's a fairly typical plot that works perfectly well and allows for a mildly amusing pun (Green Lantern power is people!), but isn't otherwise especially memorable. I do think there's potential here, but, in terms of introducing new characters with new ideas, Teen Titans Academy did it better.

The Doctor and Leela arrive at an underground research base on a distant planet shortly after it is captured by a Sontaran general. The plot is fairly straightforward, concerning an attempt by the general to conquer the universe with a new and greatly enhanced clone line. (Incidentally, the scientific explanation of how this happened makes no sense, but it's irrelevant to the story).

While the Doctor and Leela are separated early on, and the story deals with their different approaches to what is essentially the same problem, most of it unfolds pretty much as you'd expect. It's good to see the Sontarans used seriously for a change - the general is voiced by Dan Starkey, who plays Strax in the TV series, but it's an entirely different performance. There's also a nice touch with some bonding between Leela and a Sontaran who has found himself opposing the general, but that's about it.

The real strength of the story, though, only comes through in the last ten minutes or so, as the central characters disagree on the best way of solving the longer term problem of the threatened invasion. This section is a great character piece, and something that probably wouldn't work so well with any companion other than Leela, posing a central moral question about who is right - and leaving the answer open.

It remains to be seen how much this will be followed up in further episodes of the season, but it does appear to be setting up a character-based plot arc, and that's something that has potential.

Following a successful pilot episode, the glamorous interstellar bounty hunter receives a mini-series of 3 hour-long episodes.

* Dead Drop - The first story sees Vienna's latest assassination mission taking her to a huge military starship conducting an operation against telepathic alien foes. The bulk of the story concerns her attempts to get off the ship again after it becomes crippled in battle. It's a sort of disaster movie in space, with the clock ticking down to the ship's destruction, as well as themes of alien mind-control. Unfortunately, it doesn't work terribly well, and it's never really as tense as it would like. The admiral commanding the fleet feels rather flat, and it's difficult to care about any of the characters other than Vienna herself. There also seem to be a number of inconsistencies in the pl0t, particularly concerning how effective the telepathy is supposed to be. Something of a disappointment after the strength of the pilot episode. 3 stars.

* Bad Faith - The grim tone of the first story is replaced by a much more light-hearted one in the second. This is a satire on religion, poking particular fun on those modern sects that seem more interested in money than genuine spirituality. Vienna becomes embroiled in such a cult, and its schism with its founding church, as well as a plan by crustacean aliens to siphon off the faith of humans and sell it to the wealthy disenchanted. There's a murder mystery, too, although there's never much doubt about the identity of the killer. The story moves along at a good clip, and, as in the pilot episode, this time there are some decent twists as the memories and perception of some of the key characters come into question. 5 stars.

* Deathworld - In some respects, this doesn't start very promisingly, with Vienna apparently returning to her homeworld to take part in a to-the-death contest against other trained assassins. But all is very much not as it seems, as we discover in a series of flashbacks following up on the events of the previous episode. Even more so than its predecessor, this is an unreliable narrator story, making good use of the memory-altering technology introduced in the pilot episode. Significantly, we also discover Vienna's own backstory, and how and why she became a hired killer. As a result, it's much stronger than its premise initially suggests, while leaving questions unanswered, and ending on a cliffhanger that presumably leads into the second season. 5 stars.

This averages out to 4.33 stars, let down by the relative weakness of the first episode, but otherwise well worth a listen if you like twisty plots that question the perception of reality.

Two more stories, one in space, and one featuring UNIT. They feature different companions but both manage to evoke the era, with the ‘70s style incidental music, as usual, adding to the ambience.

Conspiracy in Space – The first story features Jo Grant and is a sequel of sorts to Frontier in Space, being set on Draconia a few years before the latter story. An interesting aspect of this is that almost all of the guest characters in the story are themselves Draconian – something that would be unlikely to work on live-action TV. But it does give quite an opportunity to explore Draconian culture from the inside and do an alien-based story that ties into wider Doctor Who lore without being The Web Planet.

As the title suggests, the story is about court intrigue and a conspiracy within some of the highest echelons of Draconian society. The result is rather “James Bond with space-samurai”, riffing off another trope of the show in this era, as well as providing links to both Frontier and Colony in Space. Part of the Bond feel comes from the frequent use of space-parachutes, as well as a villainous threat to use a doomsday weapon. At times, some of the physical nature of this doesn't entirely make sense and if Barnes grasps the true scale and nature of interstellar space, he certainly isn't letting it get in the way of the story. (For a key element to work, Earth and Draconia would have to be in the same solar system, which clearly, they aren't).

If you don't let that get in the way, though, it's a fun romp with double-crossing villains, honourable and dishonourable aliens and a good use, and expansion, of the general setting. A notable feature is how many of the senior Draconians are female, which gives a better variety than we would expect from Frontier in Space – an apparent contradiction addressed in the closing coda, but a definite plus in this story. 4 stars.

The Devil's Hoofprints – While the second story starts out in the UNIT era, as is common with these collections, most of it takes place in 1855, where the Doctor runs into the eponymous footprints – an actual piece of local folklore that is here given a science fiction explanation. This time, he is accompanied by Sarah Jane; the Brigadier also features but has relatively little interaction with the other leads after the first 30 minutes.

Sarah Jane is perhaps less associated with the UNIT era than Jo or Liz, but she still belongs and fits right in here, at least in those segments set in the present day. Otherwise, she's strong and independent, as she was in this era. That's slightly offset by her being held hostage by the villains at one point, Jo Grant style, but even then she is given more agency than her predecessor often was on the TV show.

My problem with this story is that it's often difficult to work out what's going on, with plenty of action scenes, some involving the Doctor and Venusian aikido, but a larger number with the Brigadier. Since the latter is on his own, aside from the villain, we don't have the usual stand-in of somebody explaining what's just happened out loud and, honestly, I just have no idea in places. Otherwise, it's a decent story, using some of the tropes of the era, even if the historical setting was only rarely used during it (although, obviously, that includes The Time Warrior, so Sarah Jane is an obvious fit). 3 stars.