we have one of the more recent Eighth Doctor releases with the Connections box set. Once the Stranded storyline was wrapped up in 2022 the decision was made to move away from the long-running sagas and return the Eighth Doctor to more standalone stories. Definitely a refreshing move as it’s allowed writers more freedom with their stories without feeling the need to tie them altogether. So, in late 2022 we got two box sets comprised of five stories, continuing the adventures between the Doctor, Liv and Helen. Personally, I feel this TARDIS team had run its course by the end of Stranded. To go from The Red Lady in 2015 to this makes this team going on for a near decade now, and it’s still going today. Unlike other Doctors and their companion storylines, the Eighth Doctor’s is told chronologically (with the occasional break to jump ahead to the Time War). So almost 10 years with the same TARDIS team is gonna wear out its welcome after a while. That and the fact that it was screamingly obvious Liv’s ending was to stay with her partner Tania at the end of Stranded. So much so that that’s exactly what they did, except they did so in an epilogue where Liv comes back after some undisclosed time had passed for her. Which frankly was a bit of a cheap move on Big Finish’s part, acknowledging Liv should’ve left at the end of Stranded but also wanting to keep doing stories with her when they should’ve chosen one or the other.

Despite this however, 2022’s run of Eighth Doctor stories with Liv and Helen produced some excellent outings and it finishes up with this incredible and beautifully emotional tale.

The Doctor, Liv and Helen investigate a time anomaly in 21^st century Soho, while the Doctor and Liv split off to investigate, Helen’s investigation at a music shop results in her being sent back in time by a Weeping Angel that seems to be controlled by the shopkeeper. Sent back to the 1960s, Helen is met by her long-lost brother Albie.

This story touches on a previous story in Stranded where Helen opens up to Liv about her estranged brother and how he was disowned by the family for his homosexuality. In Albie’s Angels we get to see Helen reunite with the brother she hardly knew after so many years apart and learn how he struggles to live in the 1960s at a time where he was in danger of being imprisoned. This is hands down the best material Helen’s had since Absent Friends and Hattie Morahan is absolutely stunning in this with what is easily her best performance as, in typical time travel style, she looks at this as a chance to be together with her brother again and save him from his supposed fate. All whilst leaving breadcrumbs throughout time for the Doctor and Liv to follow as they are chased by the Weeping Angels.

In regard to the Weeping Angels, you’re probably wondering how that’s even supposed to work given their silent nature and the fact that they’re a purely visual monster. Big Finish have already done a number of Weeping Angel audios with the Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Fourth Doctors and they surprisingly work very effectively in audio. Though of course they do end up having to resort to jumpscare sounds to indicate when the Angels move and have our characters practically spell out to the audience what the Angels are doing

“That statue over there with the wings appears to be covering its eyes….and now I’ve looked away and look back it’s moved closer and is stretching it’s arm out towards me!”

Ok that’s not an actual line of dialogue, but there are plenty of lines like that which can be very ridiculous but in fairness practically every Big Finish audio has lines like that where they have the characters say out loud what we the audience can’t see. The Weeping Angel ones just seem to stick out more. There’s also the fact that in my personal opinion, the Weeping Angels should never have been made a recurring monster! I will never forget that first time watching (or half watching from behind a pillow) Blink and how fascinating and terrifying these creatures were, they felt like something out of a nightmare, and there was so little explained about them that gave them this air of mystique. Which of course has since diminished the more they’ve reappeared, and the more rules keep being introduced to the point where they’ve practically lost that sting of “that’s f**king terrifying!”

So, while I understand why the Weeping Angels keep being used as they are practically the only successful Modern Who monsters, I feel making them recurring villains was a huge mistake. That being said though, this was probably their best outing since Blink as they’re just as sinister and threatening as ever but with a slight hint that there’s more going on than what it seems and that perhaps the Angels aren’t the true monsters this time. There’s a very clever usage of a timey wimey deal with the main villain of the story and what he’s using the Angels for with some great undertones of the timelessness of music. But the Angels still maintain their own menacing presence, there’s one line in particular where one Angel is described as having an expression of laughing which, anyway I picture that would look absolutely terrifying onscreen!

But the focus of the story is kept on the emotional side between Helen and Albie and how their story ends and how it incorporates the Weeping Angels was genuinely heart-breaking to listen to and without going into spoilers, the story touches on the inspiration Roy Gill had for Albie’s character. Which was a story told by the actor who played Professor Litefoot from The Talons of Weng-Chiang (the late Trevor Baxter) about how he had befriended and looked after a man who had been imprisoned for ten years after he’d been caught writing a love letter to another man. There’s a brilliant way it makes reference to Roy Gill’s inspiration at the very end. Albies Angels is an outstanding story, one of Big Finish’s strongest in recent years.