The Colour of Terror may get overshadowed by the brilliance that is Red Darkness, but not only is it kind of an important foundation for that story anyways, I found this audio to be pretty brilliant, too.

The big thing here for me is characters. We get a small cast running around dealing with everything red turning evil in a thrift shop and neighbouring cafe, and each one of them feel quite realized and brought to life by this stellar cast. I got a sense about what each was about, and what their strengths and weaknesses were. The monsters were pretty fun, even if they don't feel totally original outside of their colour gimmick, but I did find the corrupted shopkeeper a little over the top.

Still, I had a fun time and would absolutely recommend this one, even if it isn't quite at Red Darkness levels. It's still a great feature of this audio set. I think the Ninth Doctor does well with these sorts of monster stories. He really helped carry this thing and Eccleston brings that extra bit of prestige I think a story like this needs to not come across as silly.

The Ninth Doctor #31

'Shades of Fear: The Colour of Terror' (2023) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 2.

Despite being a little bit goofy in a kind of Auton-like setting, the villain here is quite compelling, with how it takes over anything that is the colour red, and the way this influences the really brilliant little set of characters is a lot of fun. Kind of reminds me of a Fam dynamic, with Frank Skinner actually killing it. Could easily see him in a Graham-type position. The ending with the woman talking to her deceased fiancé through the red dress is honestly haunting. Love to see more instances of The Doctor not being able to save everybody.

loved everything about this bar the shopkeeper, too much overacting imo. the characters though were great, a lovely plot, felt very flatline coded.