I remember when going into this when it first came out not sure what to expect. I never really thought they’d ever revisit the War Doctor after John Hurt’s passing and frankly his run of adventures was hardly the most exciting and it ended on a disappointing note. So, I wasn’t really that enthusiastic about relaunching the series as I felt we’d be in for more of the same issues. Today I look back on this and the other War Doctor releases that we’ve had since and I’d say I was both right and wrong, this series does still have its massive flaws with the War Doctor’s characterisation, but I have enjoyed this new run of adventure more than the previous iteration, and Light the Flame is where it starts.

The story picks up literally from where Night of the Doctor ended with the new Doctor getting used to his new form, working out who he is and preparing to march off into the Time War to do what none of his other selves would ever conceive of doing. And that’s it really, there’s some conflict thrown in about halfway but it’s very minimal, the focus is predominantly on the War Doctor preparing to go to war.

Jonathan Carley in his first outing hits the ground running as he won me over instantly with his voicework, we even get a great stand-in for Ohilla from Veronica Roberts who sounds indistinguishable from Clare Higgins. There is a bit of a casting mistake made though with two characters who get paired off with each other for a significant portion of the story, the issue is that the two actresses sound so similar that at times I couldn't tell which one was speaking. And I do mean it's a significant part of the story as their scenes reveal one of them to be the villain and the other is killed, but again, it's tricky to tell which one's which

As I said earlier The War Doctor Begins doesn’t really learn the mistakes with the War Doctor’s character from last time, we don’t see a more ruthless incarnation but they sure do tell us how much darker he is, which in a way is stupider in this story considering how he’s only been alive for an hour. We do get a hint of the War Doctor’s darker side where he threatens to destroy Karn to prevent it from falling into the Daleks hands (or suckers), but they make it very clear it was done to goad the Time Lords into taking a more peaceful solution. So yes, this story does fall into the same pitfalls as just about every other War Doctor story. Maybe I just need to accept that this is the War Doctor’s character and how it will always be portrayed and that I was wrong for hoping we would get a Doctor who truly goes against his moral principles, someone who’s more inclined to take the easy option because that’s what war turns good people into. I dunno, but like I said, this story is more focused on the War Doctor finding his feet and readying himself for the difficult road ahead and I really liked that, it’s a good reflection on how those who head off to war leave behind the person they were.

I first heard Jonathan Carley as the War Doctor in the Once and Future Coda. I didn’t realise it was the war Doctor at the time, but hearing him here it is quite a good voice likeness.

For me this was an odd decision, I wasn’t keen on the War Doctor audios. The War Doctor and the time war were not depicted as I had imagined so I always felt a little let down by them, but as it was on sale so why not?

I do tend to jump in to audios without doing any research and its not always the best idea. This continues almost directly on from the TV minisode, where the Eighth Doctor regenerates, so it very much helps to keep that in mind - I did go back and watch it in fact.

Its set on Karn and the war is getting nearer, the Timelords are pleased the Doctor has joined the cause and plan to upgrade the TARDIS but that’s not all they’re after.

It is very talkie, its almost half way through before anything really starts to happen. The war Doctor is whiny - a trade mark of his character it seems.

There’s the use of ‘flashlight’ and I find it jarring using American expressions in a British production.

The Doctor does get to a point where it seems as if he’s actually going to live up to the idea of making unpleasant decisions in order to shorten the war, and do something that goes completely against who the Doctor is, and give reason fo why he’s not 'The Doctor". However it doesn’t happen and its a little disappointing.

I said the war Doctor isn’t quite how I imagined. I’d of preferred more action, battles, rather than a lot of timelords arguing.