Stories Audio Drama Bernice Summerfield Bernice Summerfield Many Happy Returns 1 image Overview Characters Reviews 1 Statistics Quotes Overview Released Friday, November 30, 2012 Written by Miles Richardson, Rebecca Levene, Justin Richards, Jacqueline Rayner, Eddie Robson, Scott Handcock, Simon Guerrier, Xanna Eve Chown, Stephen Cole, Stephen Fewell, Dave Stone, Paul Cornell Runtime 102 minutes Story Type Anniversary Special, Charity Synopsis A special feature-length charity adventure celebrating twenty years of archaeologist and adventurer Bernice Summerfield! Written by Xanna Eve Chown, Stephen Cole, Paul Cornell, Stephen Fewell, Simon Guerrier, Scott Handcock, Rebecca Levene, Jacqueline Rayner, Justin Richards, Miles Richardson, Eddie Robson and Dave Stone. All involved gave their time for free, and all proceeds go to the charity Invest in ME. If you'd like to make a donation to the charity, visit www.investinme.org Listen Listened Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Characters Seventh Doctor Bernice Summerfield Joseph / J-Kibb Irving Braxiatel Bev Tarrant Adrian Wall Peter Summerfield Ruth Spring Heeled Jack Leonidas Iris Wildthyme Panda Show All Characters (12) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Newest First Oldest First Most Likes Highest Rating Lowest Rating Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 1 review 29 November 2024 · 391 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! This was a truly unique audio, even by Bernice Summerfield standards. The idea comes across as simple, at least in the world of science fiction. Benny is evaluating a museum of sorts that is so comprehensive it can pull any moment from your life. But instead of going through a bunch of memories and short stories featuring Benny and her various friends and associates from over the years, the memories are a lot more emotionally driven and specific. The museum has been infected with a virus and the memories are designed to break Benny down. It's an interesting premise that really won me over throughout Many Happy Returns' run time. Some of the memories work better than others - Benny coming home drunk to find two corpses in her home felt really pointless and kind of flat to me. Others like a brief clip where Jason and Benny are on a celebrity chef show, only to realize it's a chef that specializes in cooking celebrities were really funny to me. You can definitely chop this up to the fact that this audio was written by just about every major writer Benny has ever had. It's a bit of a mixed bag because something like that is going to feel a bit disjointed but the whole thing was made for charity, so it's hard to really complain. What ultimately sells me on the audio is that it winds up being a pretty sincere little character study of Benny and other important characters like Jason and Bev. This is an anniversary special and it does a really good job of living up to that idea, very much feeling like a celebration of all this character has done and been until now. There are a great deal many fun Bernice Summerfield references in Many Happy Returns but it all feels so organic thanks to the nature of the story and setting. Even the museum has a lot of character to it. It speaks through a holographic character, and while it makes for an effective and dangerous villain, it is also malfunctioning. Once it is repaired, it is completely benign and means well. I found it pretty cute and memorable as a plot line. I also like the brief cameos of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Stuff like that really makes the project feel special. Like Liked 0 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating27 members 4.3 / 5 The Time Scales AVG. Rating27 votes 4.30 / 5 Member Statistics Listened 30 Favourited 2 Reviewed 1 Saved 2 Skipped 0 Owned 5 Quotes Add Quote Submit a Quote