One of the highlights of the Sixth Doctor’s televised era was the departure of Peri during the events of the season long Trial of a Time Lord, this is regarded with simultaneous love and hate from fans. Love due to how brilliant and heart-breaking the closing moments of the second story, Mindwarp, where Peri has her mind taken over by the villain and the Doctor, helpless in the trial room, is forced to watch her be killed, capped off by an intense performance from Colin Baker who beautifully conveys shock, grief, anger and determination. It is then followed by the intense hatred from fans as by the end of the season it is revealed that the events were fabricated, and that Peri survived and was rescued offscreen by King Brian Blessed whom she marries and lives as a warrior queen. All of which was told by the Master, who of course is such a trustworthy guy that the Doctor takes him at his word and never thinks to go check! Basically, think back to how heavily panned Clara’s return in Hell Bent was by the fanbase after a brilliant send-off in a previous episode, that’s pretty much what this was. It’s a retcon that even Nicola Bryant wasn’t pleased with.

This brings us to Peri and the Piscon Paradox, which may not seem like it at first, but it ends up being a perfect follow-up to Peri’s character and an incredible resolution to her story (sort of). Unlike most Companion Chronicles stories, this one’s told as a four-parter and is presented from two different perspectives in both halves. The first half focusing on a young Peri during her travels with the Fifth Doctor (just before The Caves of Androzani in fact), where they land in LA 2009 to apprehend the evil Zarl. As they work out how to defeat him, Peri makes a shocking discovery, an older version of herself is in the area as well, a Peri who came home and went on to become a secret agent fighting aliens. The second half of the story is the same event but told from the older Peri’s perspective and from there it gets heavily into spoiler territory that I honestly have no intention of ruining. The first half is admittedly a bit of a slow burner and throws out some utterly ridiculous ideas and scenes, still funny though (as only Nev Fountain knows how to pull off). But when we get to the second half and we see how the pieces come together from the other Peri’s perspective, it suddenly takes a funny but ludicrous story and turns it into a hilarious and genius masterpiece!

Of course, as the cover indicates we do get involvement from the Sixth Doctor with Colin Baker guest starring (a rare occasion for a Doctor actor in The Companion Chronicles), but his role in the story again is too good for me to ruin. But it does tie in beautifully in the end as we learn the nature of the older Peri’s existence given the ending of Mindwarp and in a lot of ways is the perfect ending for her character. Or at least it would be as Nev Fountain would later write a story for the Monthly Range called The Widow’s Assassin, where the Doctor went back to Krontep, rescued Peri and continued their travels together. But don’t take that blunt summary as a sign of a cheap retcon, The Widow’s Assassin is a great story and I’m looking forward to where this story arc might be heading in the future (assuming they haven't abandoned it given last year's Trials of a Time Lord), and this story in particular did leave the door open for these events, so it was likely intended by Nev Fountain all along.

If you’re a fan of Peri then this is a must listen, it’s a perfect love letter to her character, ironic as Nev Fountain and Nicola Bryant are in a relationship.

I liked Nev Fountain's first Big Finish effort (Omega) significantly more than this. The humour here didn't land primarily because he does not write women very well, a shame as the entire thing is from Peri's perspective. It turns out in life her only defining character trait is that she wants children.

There's also this odd, "edgy" humour peppered throughout. Peri commenting on "transsexuals on roller skates", the perkiness of her younger self's boobs, her aunt who imported "thousands of gollywoggs from the UK"... I don't get it. If any of these comments were tied into a satisfying or justified joke they could work but on their one they're just feel a bit off for Doctor Who.

Nev's prejudices shine throughout. The way Peri talks about the "gigantic lipped", "white trash" character Carburettor is typical of this. "Her parents wanted to give her an Italian name", she's full of so much silicone that "when she got on a plane she half exploded". It just goes on and on like this and puts you off Peri. She doesn't have a shred of respect for any other women in the story - including her younger self.

On the bright side I like that the two halves of the story fit together nicely. The plot is elegantly developed, reminding me of Flip Flop - a story you can listen to in any order.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Acheron Pulse

I think this might just be my favourite companion chronicle of all time. It's funny, it's clever, it's self-aware and it's heartfelt and serious all at the same time. There are so many twists and turns that leave you absolutely reeling. There's some fantastic performances from Nicola Bryant, she really brings this narrated story to life in a way not many actors can do.

The first half of this story is the silliest. Without any context for what's going on, it's a bonkers story about fish aliens trying to kill themselves to reincarnate as humans, with a super-spy older Peri. Once it's all explained in the second part, it makes so much sense. I had thought it was just a heavy dose of Nev Fountain's brand of whimsy but it's all fantastically explained.

Sixie's role in this story is fantastic, the idea of the Doctor dressed up in a stuffy monster suit trying to trick his younger self. It's very self-aware. In fact, this whole story is extremely meta. The revelations towards the end of the second part, why older Peri had been concealing her backstory so much was jaw-dropping.

And the way it tied into Season 23 was something I very much appreciated, considering that was only a few stories ago for me. Overall, easily the best companion chronicle, maybe even one of the best audio stories in general.

Next Story: The Lure of the Nomad