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“SCAREDY CAT – ECHOES OF GHOSTS, GENES, AND MISSED POTENTIAL”

The Eighth Doctor faces dark science and haunting whispers in Big Finish’s shortest Main Range story—and one of its most undercooked

Originally intended as part of the Divergent Universe arc, Scaredy Cat was hastily repurposed after Big Finish chose to wrap that storyline sooner than planned. The result is a story that feels more like a fragmented echo of a larger idea than a satisfying standalone tale. At around 75 minutes, it’s the shortest Doctor Who Main Range release to date—and unfortunately, its brevity leaves many of its intriguing ideas half-baked and unresolved.

A PLANETARY PARADISE TURNED EXPERIMENTAL HELL

The TARDIS arrives in a two-planet system where Endarra, a once-protected world left untouched by its sister planet Caludaar, is now being violated by scientific experiments. Professor Arken, the lead scientist, is an unpleasantly ambitious figure whose morally repugnant goal is to isolate a genetic “evil gene” through grotesque experimentation on the native, monkey-like Endarrans. The ethical implications are horrific—and promising—but the story never explores them in much depth.

It’s classic Doctor Who material: warped science, colonial guilt, and an endangered species caught in the crossfire. Yet Scaredy Cat doesn’t dive far enough into these themes to give them weight. The set-up is efficient, but the story rushes through its concepts, leaving most of them thinly sketched.

GHOSTLY WHISPERS AND A GIGGLING GIRL

Atmosphere is one area where Scaredy Cat initially excels. The repeated appearances of a spectral girl and the ghostly refrain of “scaredy cat” are classic haunted-house flourishes that suggest something eerie and layered. There’s a genuine chill to these early sequences, suggesting a psychological horror in the vein of Chimes of Midnight. Sadly, the setup is far more effective than the payoff.

As the story unfolds, the giggling ghost-girl becomes less spooky and more of a distraction—one of several promising ideas that lose impact in the final act’s noisy chaos.

A VILLAIN WITH A VISCERAL EDGE

The most successful element of Scaredy Cat is Eunis Flood, a sinister prisoner whose moral ambiguity adds a welcome wrinkle to the narrative. Is he a mass-murdering maniac, or a political scapegoat? Charley’s brief dilemma about whether to trust him is compelling, though like much else, it’s abandoned too quickly. Once Flood reveals his true nature—twisting radiation into a weapon and mentally torturing his captors—he becomes a memorably vicious antagonist. His scenes in Part 4, filled with mental torment and gruesome violence, are viscerally effective, even if they descend into a lot of screaming and psychic shouting.

THE DOCTOR, C’RIZZ, AND A RUSHED MORAL DILEMMA

C’rizz is once again given something meaningful to do, showing initiative when he and the Doctor travel into Endarra’s past to investigate the girl’s origins. A potentially powerful moral dilemma arises: should they give a dying population a cure and risk altering history? The Doctor warns against interference, but C’rizz defies him, believing it’s worth the risk. It’s a fascinating moment—one that could have anchored the story thematically—but instead, it’s resolved in minutes and never properly revisited. A great concept, brushed aside for pacing.

CHARLEY AND THE FORGOTTEN SUBPLOTS

Charley Pollard, usually so central to the Eighth Doctor’s audio adventures, is criminally underused here. Beyond her brief scenes with Flood, she’s relegated to the sidelines with little impact. Similarly, several intriguing subplots fizzle out entirely—the madness among the Endarrans, the mysterious fate of the first colonists, and the ecological revenge of a dying world are all abandoned or resolved with disappointing simplicity.

📝VERDICT: 59/100

Scaredy Cat is a frustrating missed opportunity—an audio drama brimming with eerie setup, dark ideas, and twisted morality, but one that rushes through every concept it introduces. Eunis Flood is a striking villain, and the early haunted atmosphere holds promise, but the story’s short runtime, retooled structure, and weak second half leave most of its threads dangling. The result is a tale that feels less like a satisfying story and more like a half-remembered dream of one. Worth a listen for completists and fans of the Divergent Universe team—but don’t expect anything fully formed.