Live 34 is what Hex's first TARDIS adventure deserved to be. It's a unique style of storytelling, taking place over various news broadcasts with each of the trio separated from each other through most of the story, and each part of a different kind of faction. The novelty never wears thin, and is executed fantastically. Live 34 is a very experimental story, which can be hit or miss, and Live 34 is a critical hit in quality.

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“LIVE 34 – TERROR IN REAL TIME ON COLONY 34”

A daring, documentary-style drama that blurs the line between sci-fi, propaganda, and political realism with terrifying authenticity.

LIVE 34 is Doctor Who like you’ve never heard it before. From its audacious framing to its sobering themes, this story tears up the narrative rulebook and serves its tale entirely through the medium of live news broadcasts. No incidental music. No cliffhangers. Just rolling news coverage from Colony 34’s newest channel—LIVE 34—and it’s utterly compelling.

Writers James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown deliver a story that should not work by conventional audio drama standards, but instead becomes one of Big Finish’s boldest and most immersive experiments. From the moment the opening report crackles to life, the listener is swept into a world on the brink: a colony spiralling into chaos under the weight of civil unrest, state propaganda, and a populist government tightening its grip through fear and manufactured crisis.

A SOCIETY UNRAVELLING, ONE BULLETIN AT A TIME

The brilliance of LIVE 34 lies in how it lets the horror unfold through seemingly impartial news coverage. Explosions, riots, assassinations, and terror attacks all come to us filtered through anchors and roving reporters who are themselves caught up in the escalating madness. It’s unnervingly effective. The tension is thick, the atmosphere intense, and the horror builds not through spectacle, but suggestion—leaving the imagination to fill in the blanks.

The sound design here is masterful. Without a single music cue to lean on, the story leans into realism with immersive ambient sound, microphone distortion, studio static, and broadcast glitches. The result is a piece that feels less like a Doctor Who story and more like something you'd stumble across in a dystopian episode of Panorama.

DOCTOR WHO TAKES A BACKSEAT

What makes LIVE 34 especially brave is how it sidelines the Doctor himself. Sylvester McCoy pops up intermittently as a mysterious citizen reporter, questioning the regime and calling out the propaganda being peddled by the state-controlled media. He’s not a saviour charging in—he’s a subversive figure operating from within the system, using the government’s own channels to sow seeds of rebellion.

McCoy gives a subtle but powerful performance, slowly gaining presence until his electrifying confrontation with Premier Jaeger in the final act. His takedown of the authoritarian state is vintage Seventh Doctor—calm, cutting, and ruthless. It’s one of McCoy’s finest Big Finish moments.

THE REBEL QUEEN AND THE MEDIC IN THE FIELD

Ace and Hex are each given standout episodes, cleverly integrated into the story’s format. Ace only appears in Part 2, hiding in a bunker and speaking via a censored interview as the so-called “Rebel Queen”—a fugitive figurehead for a silenced resistance. It’s a brilliant use of character and format, making Ace feel genuinely dangerous to the regime just by having her words cut short.

Hex, meanwhile, dominates Part 3 as we follow his work as a paramedic amid the chaos. His perspective adds humanity to the escalating violence, and Philip Olivier shines in a grounded, emotionally resonant performance. These episodes allow both companions to act on their own terms—Ace fighting for justice, Hex saving lives—and it's refreshing to see them thrive outside of the Doctor’s shadow.

A SCATHING POLITICAL PARABLE

Much like The Fearmonger, LIVE 34 wears its political heart on its sleeve. But where that earlier story toyed with the ideas of media manipulation and populist politics, LIVE 34 takes things much further—into a terrifyingly realistic portrayal of authoritarian creep. It’s a story with clear parallels to the rise of real-world demagogues and media distortion, and it pulls no punches.

Premier Jaeger, played with chilling charisma by William Hoyland, is a textbook populist strongman. He speaks with fire and conviction, wrapping his dangerous ideas in emotive rhetoric and promising safety while dismantling democracy. It's hauntingly prescient and completely believable. The story doesn't need to show spaceships or alien monsters—what’s scary here is how close this hits to home.

A SUDDEN END... AND SILENCE

Part 4 brings the slow-burn tension to a harrowing boil. As Jaeger claims victory and parades Ace in a moment of public humiliation, the Doctor seizes the moment—delivering a blistering speech that exposes the alien corruption at the heart of the regime. Hex provides the crucial evidence, and the illusion begins to unravel.

And then—chaos. New uprisings begin. The Doctor and his companions vanish. The broadcast spirals into static. There is no neat resolution. Just silence.

It’s a gut-punch of an ending. One that leaves the listener reeling and uncertain—mirroring the experience of watching a real coup unfold and not knowing what comes next.

📝BOTTOM LINE: 10/10

LIVE 34 is one of the most innovative and frighteningly relevant Doctor Who stories ever told. Its realism is unflinching, its format unique, and its message clear: authoritarianism doesn’t rise with a bang—it creeps in through fear, crisis, and controlled narratives. With unforgettable performances from McCoy, Hoyland, Sophie Aldred, and Philip Olivier, and a stellar central turn from Andrew Collins as the voice of the media, this is political sci-fi at its most effective.

The Monthly Adventures #74 - "LIVE 34" by James Parsons and Andrew Sterling-Brown

The worst thing about the second bracket of The Monthly Adventures is the seeming decision to stop so frequently using new and experimental formats the second half of #1-50 so often employed. Besides a couple towards the start, #51-100 has been distinctly more formulaic, even the supposedly innovative Divergent Saga actively avoiding experimentalism. This is probably why I found LIVE 34 such a refreshing story, because it does something I truly have never seen before and makes total use of its format in a way I am utterly floored was not attempted sometime before this.

LIVE 34: news every hour, broadcasting to all of Colony 34 live and accurate updates on the most recent events. Now we go to the latest updates on the election between Premier Jaeger and opposition leader: the Doctor.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

The first thing anybody will notice about LIVE 34 is the thing that lets it stand out amongst the crowd: it’s presented to you as a live news broadcast, in real time. Immediately, brilliant idea, I love Big Finish stuff that takes advantage of it being audio only and this excels. The fact nobody thought to do something like this in the experimental run of #1-50 is shocking to me frankly, but I’m happy with it here, especially since we get a writer who can actually pull it off. Two, actually; James Parsons and Andrew Sterling-Brown aren’t names familiar to me, which is a real shame since LIVE 34 is an utterly fantastic and intelligent script that makes full use of its concept, something a lot of other stories fail to do.

I also appreciate how it writes our main trio, as it splits them into three distinct subplots separated by parts and each leaves room to really develop them. Seven is peak Seven here, as a master manipulator using his abilities for good (can we get a Seven and Trickster story please) he absolutely rocks in the revolution story that always wanted him. The counterculture of the 80s is on full display and the Doctor taking up the role of politician and trying to arrange things from the inside is absolutely perfect material for McCoy to play with. As for our other characters, they also get a nice amount to do and are all fantastically characterised: Ace takes up the role as leader of a resistance within the impoverished districts of the the colony and Hex starts work as an ambulance driver; the character work isn’t exactly in your face but is subtly brilliant stuff.

The actual narrative though is incredible. The structure’s a little iffy - each part doesn’t feel particularly cohesive and the constant time gaps tend to really slow the story down - but the plot is a fantastic portrayal of the creep of facism, slowly working its way into people’s lives in the name of peace and sanity. It’s honestly terrifying to see this innocent colony slowly succumb to hate and terror, and see such obvious censorship take effect that excellently mirrors real world dictatorships. This is all spearheaded by the wonderfully awful Premier Jaeger, whose slimy, showmanship politics are an absolute tour de force and cement a lot of the commentary of this story in real world leaders and oppressors.

I would give LIVE 34 a 10/10, I really would, but there’s one or two problems that really trip it up for me. Firstly, I commented on the structure before and as much as I love the concept and execution of this story, it becomes quite tiresome by the third part. The need to constantly put in unnecessary dialogue and fluff in order to keep the story moving is what really brings it down, pacing is not this script’s strong suit. It’s probably worse during Part Three, which really has very little meat to it but is inflated by the need to simulate an entire ambulance ride and so just fills it with menial conversation.

And then we get onto Part Four, which is really the thorn in this story’s side. I can get past the pacing issues, they’re pretty unobtrusive, but what’s really the kicker is how they wrap this whole thing up. So, all of our main characters are dead or captured, Jaeger’s basically rigged the election and Colony 34 is going to keep on living in their voted-in hell. How do our heroes save the day? Well, apparently it’s by just walking onto stage and monologuing for fifteen minutes straight. Yeah, the whole last part is just a massive exposition dump revealing all the things the Doctor had gotten up to in perhaps the most unsatisfying, inorganic way possible. Not to mention the kitschy dialogue switching between members of our TARDIS team as they express how Parsons and Sterling-Brown couldn’t work out how to wrap up their story.

Not to mention the absolute disparity in tone this final part presents. So, up until now, this has been a grim story that relied on its realism to work and I praised it for its mirror to actual fascism. And then it’s revealed that the Premier Jaeger we’ve been following and loathing is actually an imposter - an actor hired by the government to impersonate the real Premier, who’s been slowly dying of a degenerative illness. This cartoonish, utterly bizarre twist is an absolute tone breaker that significantly decreases the stage presence of our main villain and only works to further confuse and worsen the finale.

LIVE 34, whilst its conclusion is utter wank, is mostly one of the best Monthly Adventures in a while and a nice reminder of what this range is capable of. Great use of our main characters and a format pushed to its max, this is absolutely a stand out from this run and it’s disappointing the creative team behind it rarely got work again because this is a truly fantastic example of what Doctor Who can do when given the right talent.

9/10

Pros:

+ Brilliant concept and execution

+ Taps into Seven’s revolutionary leanings well

+ Uses each member of our TARDIS team effectively

+ Great depiction of the slow creep of fascism

+ Jaeger was a brilliantly despicable antagonist

Cons:

- The final part is literally just exposition

- Drags in a lot of places

- The actual reveal is weirdly cartoonish for such a grounded story

This audio is top tier. It is so immersive. Through a combination of interesting worldbuilding, increadible sound design and clever exposition, it is hard to avoid being enveloped by the setting and the plot. The entire plot is conveyed through radio broadcasts which is very creative and works very well. This audio is tense, exciting and full of mystery. My only gripe is that the ending is a little bit rushed.

This is also a good standalone audio. All you need to know is that the Seventh Doctor is travelling with companions Ace and Hex (Hex being original to the Big Finish audios).

We have LIVE 34 and one of the most ingenious stories Big Finish has ever come up with. A prime example of early Big Finish’s experimental nature as the entire story is presented as a news broadcast on an Earth colony world that has fallen into a benign dictatorship through corruption and faked terrorism. And over the course of the broadcast the Doctor and friends show up in the background from various stories and features as they try to organise a revolution in order to expose the government. It’s one of the most intense and confrontational Doctor Who stories I’ve ever come across that doesn’t sugarcoat its real-world parallels whilst tearing apart it’s news channel counterpart that it’s parodying. The only issue I and a lot of fans had a problem with is the ending does wrap itself up a bit too easily with what devolves into 25 minutes of heavy-handed exposition. The direction LIVE 34 was going in with it’s nasty and depressing depiction of a society under a corrupted dictatorship, I feel there was a much cleverer ending we could’ve got rather than resort to Doctor Who’s usual quick fix scenario. Aside from that though this is a highly recommended listen.