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“LIVE 34 – TERROR IN REAL TIME ON COLONY 34”

A daring, documentary-style drama that blurs the line between sci-fi, propaganda, and political realism with terrifying authenticity.

LIVE 34 is Doctor Who like you’ve never heard it before. From its audacious framing to its sobering themes, this story tears up the narrative rulebook and serves its tale entirely through the medium of live news broadcasts. No incidental music. No cliffhangers. Just rolling news coverage from Colony 34’s newest channel—LIVE 34—and it’s utterly compelling.

Writers James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown deliver a story that should not work by conventional audio drama standards, but instead becomes one of Big Finish’s boldest and most immersive experiments. From the moment the opening report crackles to life, the listener is swept into a world on the brink: a colony spiralling into chaos under the weight of civil unrest, state propaganda, and a populist government tightening its grip through fear and manufactured crisis.

A SOCIETY UNRAVELLING, ONE BULLETIN AT A TIME

The brilliance of LIVE 34 lies in how it lets the horror unfold through seemingly impartial news coverage. Explosions, riots, assassinations, and terror attacks all come to us filtered through anchors and roving reporters who are themselves caught up in the escalating madness. It’s unnervingly effective. The tension is thick, the atmosphere intense, and the horror builds not through spectacle, but suggestion—leaving the imagination to fill in the blanks.

The sound design here is masterful. Without a single music cue to lean on, the story leans into realism with immersive ambient sound, microphone distortion, studio static, and broadcast glitches. The result is a piece that feels less like a Doctor Who story and more like something you'd stumble across in a dystopian episode of Panorama.

DOCTOR WHO TAKES A BACKSEAT

What makes LIVE 34 especially brave is how it sidelines the Doctor himself. Sylvester McCoy pops up intermittently as a mysterious citizen reporter, questioning the regime and calling out the propaganda being peddled by the state-controlled media. He’s not a saviour charging in—he’s a subversive figure operating from within the system, using the government’s own channels to sow seeds of rebellion.

McCoy gives a subtle but powerful performance, slowly gaining presence until his electrifying confrontation with Premier Jaeger in the final act. His takedown of the authoritarian state is vintage Seventh Doctor—calm, cutting, and ruthless. It’s one of McCoy’s finest Big Finish moments.

THE REBEL QUEEN AND THE MEDIC IN THE FIELD

Ace and Hex are each given standout episodes, cleverly integrated into the story’s format. Ace only appears in Part 2, hiding in a bunker and speaking via a censored interview as the so-called “Rebel Queen”—a fugitive figurehead for a silenced resistance. It’s a brilliant use of character and format, making Ace feel genuinely dangerous to the regime just by having her words cut short.

Hex, meanwhile, dominates Part 3 as we follow his work as a paramedic amid the chaos. His perspective adds humanity to the escalating violence, and Philip Olivier shines in a grounded, emotionally resonant performance. These episodes allow both companions to act on their own terms—Ace fighting for justice, Hex saving lives—and it's refreshing to see them thrive outside of the Doctor’s shadow.

A SCATHING POLITICAL PARABLE

Much like The Fearmonger, LIVE 34 wears its political heart on its sleeve. But where that earlier story toyed with the ideas of media manipulation and populist politics, LIVE 34 takes things much further—into a terrifyingly realistic portrayal of authoritarian creep. It’s a story with clear parallels to the rise of real-world demagogues and media distortion, and it pulls no punches.

Premier Jaeger, played with chilling charisma by William Hoyland, is a textbook populist strongman. He speaks with fire and conviction, wrapping his dangerous ideas in emotive rhetoric and promising safety while dismantling democracy. It's hauntingly prescient and completely believable. The story doesn't need to show spaceships or alien monsters—what’s scary here is how close this hits to home.

A SUDDEN END... AND SILENCE

Part 4 brings the slow-burn tension to a harrowing boil. As Jaeger claims victory and parades Ace in a moment of public humiliation, the Doctor seizes the moment—delivering a blistering speech that exposes the alien corruption at the heart of the regime. Hex provides the crucial evidence, and the illusion begins to unravel.

And then—chaos. New uprisings begin. The Doctor and his companions vanish. The broadcast spirals into static. There is no neat resolution. Just silence.

It’s a gut-punch of an ending. One that leaves the listener reeling and uncertain—mirroring the experience of watching a real coup unfold and not knowing what comes next.

📝VERDICT: 100/100

LIVE 34 is one of the most innovative and frighteningly relevant Doctor Who stories ever told. Its realism is unflinching, its format unique, and its message clear: authoritarianism doesn’t rise with a bang—it creeps in through fear, crisis, and controlled narratives. With unforgettable performances from McCoy, Hoyland, Sophie Aldred, and Philip Olivier, and a stellar central turn from Andrew Collins as the voice of the media, this is political sci-fi at its most effective.