Almost immediately, listening to The Scapegoat was like a breath of fresh Doctor Who air. Paul McGann as the Doctor and Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller are easily one of Big Finish’s best Doctor/companion duo’s and the opening scenes of this story are an absolute delight as they bounce off each other on their way to the Moulin Rouge in 1899 (with Lucie hoping to meet Ewan MacGregor – despite him not actually being alive in 1899!) .

As it is, though, an alien device drags them down to Earth, narrowly avoiding a nasty crash, and they realise they are in Paris but not in 1899, but rather the occupied Paris of 1942.

I had forgotten this story was set in Paris, the same place and time – more or less – as the Torchwood audio story, The Dying Room. It involves some of the same elements but this story is very different in tone to that one – although just as gruesome. In places, it also reminded me of the TV Torchwood episode Immortal Sins.

This is a tale of Grand Guignol. Horrific, gory entertainment for the masses was hugely popular in Paris from the late 19th century through to the 1960s. A theatre actually called Du Theatre Grand-Guignol of Paris specialised in this type of show and the Theatre des Baroque is, essentially, the same place. The twist is, of course, that the troupe running the theatre and performing are actually goat-headed aliens.

The Scapegoat is most definitely a ‘horror-comedy’. Some of the visuals are stomach-churning but this is balanced by the hilarious scenes of Lucie ending up as one of the actors and ad-libbing her way through the scenes. Sheridan Smith’s performance of Lucie’s performance as a posh French aristocrat watching her love be guillotined is brilliant only brought into sharp, horrific relief when Lucie realises the actor, Max, has actually had his head severed from his body!

Meanwhile, the Doctor is giving the Nazis the runaround and this is a story which present the Nazis as a more comedic than a story such as The Dying Room does, despite being ostensibly based on similar premises. There are also elements of The Instruments of War with the Doctor effectively allying himself with the Germans against the aliens. It is less overt than in that comic strip but it draws an interesting parallel between both stories’ approach to the Doctor’s relationship and attitude towards Nazis.

The cast for this (and many of the 8th Doctor stories) is phenomenal. As the aliens we have Samantha (Mrs Wormwood) Bond and Christopher (Flatline) Fairbank. Both are clearly revelling in their hyperbolic roles and not so much nibbling the scenery as getting their nasty goat mouths around it and chewing it into oblivion. Paul Rhys – an unfamiliar name maybe but a face that has been all over British and US shows for a couple of decades rounds out the aliens as the unfortunate scapegoat himself, Max.

The concept of the scapegoat is a fascinating take on an alien society where all the society’s violent emotions are targetted at one individual rather than causing the culture to wipe itself out. Using alien technology they are able to, effectively, reverse time and bring Max back to life every time he dies (in a series of gruesome manners).

The Nazis are headed by Clifford (Warrior’s Gate) Rose. It’s a canny piece of casting with Rose being known for his portrayal of Gestapo officer, Kessler, in Secret Army. He brings a civilitude to the role and has some great interplay with McGann. Much like The Instruments of War, is sometimes feels slightly uncomfortable having a Nazi not be in the role of antagonist and clearly a lot less ‘bad’ than the violent, amoral goat aliens but I think, balance-wise, it manages it better than The Instruments of War – probably because we have a performance to back up the dialogue and Rose does it very well.

The Scapegoat is a wonderful story – it’s a great example of how well the 45-50 minute format can work to deliver a tight, funny, scary and exciting script. The cast are note perfect and it’s one of the 8th Doctor and Lucie’s best outings together.