This story is absolutely bonkers. One can only imagine that, in 1999, the listening experience was less 'wtf this is the story that the beloved company Big Finish began with???' and more 'yayyy Benny from My Novels is now on audio! Hooray!!'

We find Benny on a ship, about to be swallowed by a supernova, only to be suddenly thrust into Pantoland. As a Brit, the Panto is a pretty fundamental core memory to be, though I can't help but wonder how anyone from anywhere else feels about all the classic pantomime tropes. I feel like the more seriously you try to take this, the less fun you will have, and that's a shame because this is a lot of fun.

Lisa Bowerman is an absolutely wonderful actor and she sparkles in this. You can understand why, when listening to any Benny story, the character has been so enduring, and a large part of that is down to Bowerman's performance. She is so wonderful.