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“JUST WAR: TIME TRAVEL, TORTURE, AND THE TRAGEDY OF JASON KANE”

The Time Ring Trilogy draws to a close with Just War, and it does so in the most harrowing and emotionally charged way imaginable. Adapted by Jacqueline Rayner from Lance Parkin’s Virgin New Adventures novel, this tale plunges us into an alternate 1941 in which the Nazis have successfully occupied Britain. It’s a premise that instantly establishes a world thick with dread and discomfort, and the audio wastes no time immersing the listener in its bleak setting. There are no monsters, no explosions, and no technobabble resolutions—this is pure character drama amidst one of the darkest periods in human history.

Jason Kane takes the place of the original novel’s Seventh Doctor, Chris, and Roz, becoming Benny’s only real anchor across a two-part story where the pair are separated once more, forced to survive under false identities in a world that wants them dead. Both are working from within the Nazi war machine—Benny as the fake daughter of a Cornish matriarch, Jason disguised as a Nazi officer—all in a desperate effort to track and sabotage the development of an experimental stealth weapon that could rewrite history itself.

BERNICE IN HELL: A TOUR-DE-FORCE PERFORMANCE

Lisa Bowerman is astonishing here, giving us perhaps her most vulnerable performance as Bernice to date. This isn’t the wisecracking, quip-hurling archaeologist we know and love. Trapped in a Nazi-controlled Britain, Benny is terrified—truly terrified—in a way no Dalek or alien warlord ever made her. She’s already killed to protect herself and clings desperately to the maternal kindness of Ma Doras, a woman who knows Benny’s identity is fake but plays along anyway out of quiet, determined decency.

Maggie Stables makes her Big Finish debut as Ma Doras, and she is a revelation. She brings the same warm, steadying presence she’d later embody as Evelyn Smythe, grounding Benny emotionally and offering her a lifeline amid the horror. The moments between Ma and Benny are among the most honest and affecting of the entire trilogy.

Benny's journey through this story is one of torment and tenacity—she is arrested, imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured, all while trying not to give away her identity or lose her mind. And Bowerman walks us through this emotional gauntlet with grace, rage, and heartbreak. It’s a stunning performance that anchors the entire audio.

VILLAINS IN THE SHADOWS

Mark Gatiss voices the ice-cold Standardtenführer Wolff, and he’s bone-chilling—polite, calm, utterly remorseless. It’s a performance built on restraint, and that makes him all the more terrifying. Michael Wade's Oberst Steinmann, meanwhile, oozes menace in quieter ways. His refusal to acknowledge the possibility of a future without the Nazi regime, simply because he can't imagine a world where they don't win, is perhaps the story’s most disturbing idea. It’s chillingly plausible.

The interrogation scenes—particularly the ones where the Nazis try to break Benny psychologically—are superbly crafted. The idea that they believe she cannot be a time traveller from a future without Nazis because no other worldview is imaginable to them is a deeply unsettling conceit. And Benny, forced to pretend she is someone else while being punished for being herself, makes for a bleak but compelling arc.

JASON’S REDEMPTION

While Benny goes through physical and psychological hell, Jason Kane’s story unfolds at a slower pace. But Stephen Fewell brings a quiet tragedy to the role that blossoms beautifully in the story’s final stretch. His reunion with Benny is cathartic, and the moment he murders Wolff in cold blood—not out of revenge, but to protect Benny—is gut-wrenching and deeply human. There’s no glory in it, just raw desperation and love he can’t express any other way. Benny doesn’t know how to respond. And that ambiguity is perfect.

It’s perhaps Fewell’s best work in the role—subtle, broken, and ultimately noble.

A QUIETLY POWERFUL CONCLUSION

While Just War starts slowly and contains little traditional action, it is layered with tension and suffused with an oppressive atmosphere that never lets up. Its themes—about fascism, identity, survival, and the fragility of history—are handled with mature restraint. There are no bombastic twists or alien invasions. The sci-fi elements (the stealth bomber, the time ring) are almost incidental, with the true heart of the story lying in how these characters survive the worst of human evil.

As a finale to the Time Ring Trilogy, it lacks the grandeur or sweeping scope of Walking to Babylon, but it offers something deeper: emotional catharsis. It’s grim and unrelenting, but powerful in its honesty. Rayner proves here that she’s just as comfortable crafting raw, character-driven drama as she is penning joyful comedy.

📝VERDICT: 9/10

Just War is a stark, emotionally mature piece of storytelling that proves Big Finish can do far more than space opera. Lisa Bowerman gives her most raw and human performance yet as Benny, and the supporting cast is uniformly excellent. It’s not a thrill-a-minute adventure but a haunting exploration of identity, trauma, and the dangers of ideology. If you’ve followed the Time Ring Trilogy thus far, this is a must-listen—and it might just be the best of the three.