Phantasmagoria is exactly the kind of story Big Finish needed early on—confident, atmospheric, and just the right amount of bonkers. Set in the spooky, candlelit world of 1702 London, it’s all ghostly whispers, vanishing gamblers, and mysterious gaming houses. Mark Gatiss leans hard into the gothic horror vibe and absolutely knows what he’s doing: this is a bold, campy romp that doesn’t pretend to be anything deeper than a good time, and it totally works.

David Ryall chews the scenery delightfully as Sir Nicholas Valentine, and Davison feels like he’s never been away. Turlough’s maybe a little more muted than on TV, but he’s given more to do than usual, and there’s a great little turn from a pre-fame David Walliams, who’s clearly having a ball. The plot does wander a bit in the middle, but just when you think it’s losing steam,that brilliant twist with Major Lovemore lands and it’s back in business.

What I loved most, though, is how unapologetically gothic it all is. Gatiss leans into the horror, the camp, and the historical setting, and it feels like a statement of intent for what Big Finish would become. It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be: it’s fun, it’s spooky, and it reminds you just how flexible and weirdly wonderful Doctor Who can be.

As compared to the Sirens of Time, this story is much more straight forward and contained. I quite enjoyed The Doctor working his way through this case. I feel like he's often just expected to know all the answers immediately so I really liked his more Sherlock approach. Maybe it was the setting but it also reminded me of my old Sherlock BBC radio show episodes.

A bit confused as to why Turlough spends most of the serial separated from The Doctor. Their chemistry in the beginning was good and I wished we got more of that.

Peter Davison sounds a bit older but his charm still radiates throughout. All in all, a good serial that kept things moving and even had some fun plot twists to boot.

It's a fun period piece, a little bit spooky and cozy content to listen to. Nothing mind-blowing, but I still really enjoyed it.

Besides the presence of Mark Gatiss as a voice actor, the tropes, style, and script are very reminiscent of his stories, and it is quite clear this is a script from him. And this already makes me curious going in - his stories are hit or miss with me - he has written some stories I love, and some which I don't care for.

Unfortunately, this falls into the side I didn't particularly care for. The side characters unfortunately blended into the side and the setting for me, and the setting itself, while usually I am a fan of the past, wasn't utilised well enough for me in this story. The setting was realised well, but not enough done with it to really care. The villain however, I was intrigued by, and the mystery worked well to draw me in initially, which has my interest piqued by its atmosphere and horror, however my interest waned as it progressed.

The choice to have the Fifth Doctor with Turlough solo though was interesting, and nice to develop this under utilised dynamic. Davison and Strickson's performance was a pleasure throughout at least.

Honestly, it’s the definitive “This story exists” for Big Finish so far. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, having the Five and Turlough Pairing makes it a bit more unique. But it’s pretty unremarkable.
I don’t think you can do anything wrong with listening to this, pretty solid start for the 5 solo run, but even out of the first 10, I rarely ever think about this Story. I think that tells you enough about how I feel about it.