Really liked this one. Easily my favorite of the whole Boxset. While the Story maybe goes a bit overboard with its romantic Aspect (really they could have it a little), it gives us a very different kind of 8 closer to the TV Movie than we had for a while, I’d argue (no surprise considering who wrote this one). It’s a fairly simple Story, but this where its success for me the most. Especially the Opening is quite lovely and of course the ending as well is very nice. Our Tardis Trio is used really well here, and I just had a good Time with it. Madame Butterfly is just a great Character for this kind of Story!

I wasn't sure that I'd like this one at first, but I ended up quite enjoying this. It feels profound and poignant in a way that Doctor Who rarely is. I really hope this leads to more from Matthew Jacobs.

A+.

It has to be said, Matthew Jacobs really knows how to write the 8th Doctor. He steps back into the Whoniverse effortlessly and gives us an amazing story of transformation and music! I really enjoyed this story from start to finish. The premise we're given before the opening titles had me incredibly excited, with someone being transformed into a tree, which filled me with intrigue for the story to come! I was not disappointed by the remainder of the story, as the Doctor and Puccini's chemistry was brilliant, and Audacity and Charley felt like real assets to the story! I felt that Jacobs really understood the character of Audacity really well and helped realise her as well as, or maybe even better than, the previous year's Audacity releases. It's a great story through and through and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone! Also, loved the TV Movie reference ;)

Operatical

Prerequisites: None needed, although I'd recommend seeing the TV Movie beforehand to catch some references.

Puccini and the Doctor is... fine. Admittedly, it's pretty neat that Matthew Jacobs came back to Doctor Who all these decades later, but I'm reminded that the TV Movie was not a particularly well-written piece of film. Now, this audio is a definite step up, but I wouldn't call it great by any stretch. For starters, I'm just not interested in any of the background characters here. Puccini himself is boring enough that I wouldn't even have remembered his name if it weren't for the title, and Tura didn't really have much time to develop either, since her identity was only revealed in the third act. Still, there is a rather nice through-line of love that connects the characters thematically, and I do like the idea of an alien desperately trying to understand human creativity. This isn't a bad story, but it's quite forgettable.

Matthew Jacobs is back! And returns with a beautiful story about what it means to love and create. I know nothing about opera but I still adored this, and how character focused it was. Fab concepts and performances all round!