I had a fun time with the Shadow of the Scourge. I do love this line of early main range audios that feature literary Doctor Who characters.

This is a really fun edition of that. I love the setting featuring a couple of conference rooms at a hotel, the Doctor trying to manipulate the situation to save the Earth, and how seamlessly it felt to have him working with Ace and Benny. I also really liked Ace's bonkers (and extremely harmful) plan to deafen herself. It's the kind of thing that pushes against realism but the fun of the scene and the dialogue, coupled with Benny's reaction, really sold me on the moment. The monsters were decent too, as there was a good sense of struggle in the Doctor going up against these beings.

What is weaker about Shadow of the Scourge is how much time our protagonists spend apart. This is mitigated by the strength of writer Paul Cornell's side characters, who are all pretty memorable, but it still is a shame when audio stories with Benny and the Doctor are comparatively rare. They are fun together and it does leave me wanting to check out some of the novels where she is a companion.