Stories Audio Drama The Fourth Doctor Adventures The Crooked Man 1 image Overview Characters How to Listen Reviews 4 Statistics Quotes 1 Overview Released Friday, March 14, 2014 Written by John Dorney Cover Art by Anthony Lamb Publisher Big Finish Productions Directed by Nicholas Briggs Runtime 64 minutes Time Travel Present, Alternate Reality Location (Potential Spoilers!) Eastwold, Earth, England, The Land of Fiction Synopsis Winter at the seaside. The wind blows. The waves crash. People are dying and a strange spindly figure stalks the cold, deserted streets. A typical holiday for the Doctor and Leela in other words. When they stumble across a grotesque series of murders at the coast, the TARDIS travellers realise the local constabulary is out of its depth. Something supernatural has come to town, something evil. And it all seems to be tied in to a particular young family. Monsters lurk behind strange doors. Tragic secrets wait to be uncovered. And somewhere, deep within, the Crooked Man sits. He is waiting for you. Listen Listened Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Fourth Doctor Tom Baker Leela Louise Jameson The Crooked Man [Land of Fiction] Show All Characters (3) How to listen to The Crooked Man: Big Finish Audio The Crooked Man Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 4 reviews 3 June 2025 · 264 words Review by Ryebean Spoilers This review contains spoilers! An interesting concept, but a fairly lame story. The Doctor was way ahead of the game at every turn, and it was rather annoying, especially when there didn’t seem to be an explanation for how he knew and he would give us brand new info. Leela was alright. She didn’t have anything special today, which is a shame, considering how great Louise Jameson has been. God, the Crooked Man is creepy. First showing up in the shadows, then kidnapping a baby, and its voice! It was an interesting idea to have the creature be from the Land of Fiction - something I haven’t heard for a long time and still haven’t finished. The idea for the Land of Fiction to be even bigger than we once thought was genius, but it’s disappointing that we didn’t see that. There’s a truly heartbreaking side plot throughout the story, but it unfortunately doesn’t work as well as it could. In the first half of the story, Laura and Simon’s story is nowhere near as captivating as what’s going on with the Doctor and Leela. When they both come together at last in the Land of Fiction, I hated how strong Simon was to get to his child. I'm kind of glad that he turned out not to be real, but it's still far too much of a copout. And I disliked how Laura just kind of moved on so quickly at the end. This story had some interesting development leading to its payoff, and the atmosphere was eerie. One of my favourites of this season for sure! Ryebean View profile Like Liked 0 27 March 2025 · 16 words Review by Rock_Angel Another fun one and i completely forgot the twist which made the twist once again perfect Rock_Angel View profile Like Liked 0 19 February 2025 · 140 words Review by BSCTDrayden 4 This might just be my favourite 4 audio, or at the very least a contender. Tonally this feels more like a NuWho episode than a Classic, and even structurally it uses the part 1 cliffhanger that way and I love that. Baker and Jameson put in amazing performances as always, but this is honestly maybe the best I've heard Baker on audio. The first part is tense and unsettling, but after the big twist in part 1 everything changes in such a cool way. I absolutely adore the premise of this, and didn't see it coming though it was well foreshadowed and it clicked immediately. The villain is fantastic and great fun, and again a great concept. And oh my god that ending! So tragic and beautiful. As always, Dorney continues to be one of my favourite writers in any Doctor Who medium. BSCTDrayden View profile Like Liked 4 16 January 2025 · 264 words Review by KnuppMello Spoilers 3 This review contains spoilers! Original (Brazilian Portuguese) Translation (English) Ao pousarem na terra o Doutor e a Leela ficam diante de vários assassinatos misteriosos envolvendo uma biblioteca e livros de ficção – Logo é revelado que o causador disso tudo é o Crooked Man, um monstro com um visual, uma estética bem “torta” (percebesse na capa) que pertence a uma dimensão fictícia, ele tem como objetivo transportar o mundo fictício para o mundo real. Essa ideia de ficção se tornando realidade ou vice-versa, é um conceito já conhecido pelos fãs de Doctor Who, utilizado várias vezes (The Mind Robber, por exemplo) mais uma vez temos ele sendo bem aplicado. O vilão Crocked Man é tão bom e memorável que seria muito interessante vê-lo no formato de Série de TV, sério...de verdade, eu gostaria. Além disso a história possui excelentes personagens secundários, portais interdimensionais, um final com uma reviravolta bem triste e emotiva e vários momentos bem engraçados muitos proporcionados pela Leela. . Leela: “Olá minha senhora, vimos a luz acessa, então decidimos bater na porta, caso contrário teríamos arrombado sua porta” . Leela: “Doutor, esses insetos que ela disse, que formam enxames, os “Paparazzos“...você os conhecer?” KKKKKKKKKKKK . Mesmo que seu enredo esteja mais para um episódio do New Who do que para um Arco da Série Clássica nos moldes da era do 4° Doutor (não que isso seja algo ruim, é que me parece ter mais o estilo do New Who). Sem dúvidas, esse é um dos melhores áudios dessa linha "Fourth Doctor Adventures" briga fácil fácil pelo titulo de melhor, ele possui um andamento impecável que te prende do primeiro ao último minuto. Upon landing on Earth, the Doctor and Leela face several mysterious murders involving a library and fiction books - It is soon revealed that the cause of all this is the Crooked Man, a monster with a very "twisted" look (as you can see on the cover) who belongs to a fictional dimension, his aim is to transport the fictional world to the real world. This idea of fiction becoming reality or vice versa is a concept well known to fans of Doctor Who, having been used several times (The Mind Robber, for example) and again it is well applied here. The villain Crooked Man is so good and memorable that it would be very interesting to see him in a TV Series format, seriously...really, I would like that. Moreover, the story has excellent secondary characters, interdimensional portals, an ending with a very sad and emotional twist, and many funny moments, many provided by Leela. Leela: “Hello madam, we saw the light on, so we decided to knock on your door, otherwise we would have broken down your door.” Leela: “Doctor, these insects she mentioned, which form swarms, the 'Paparazzos'... do you know them?" LOL Even though its plot leans more towards an episode of New Who than a storyline from the Classic Series in the style of the 4th Doctor era (not that this is a bad thing, it just seems to have more of the style of New Who). No doubt, this is one of the best audios from the “Fourth Doctor Adventures” line and easily competes for the title of the best; it has a flawless pace that grabs you from the first to the last minute. (Translation generated by AI, so mistakes are possible). KnuppMello View profile Like Liked 3 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating77 members 3.97 / 5 Member Statistics Listened 137 Favourited 15 Reviewed 4 Saved 3 Skipped 0 Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite Tags: Funny DOCTOR: You know, I love it when people try to kill me. It means I’m on the right track. — Fourth Doctor, The Crooked Man