The Holy Terror

❤️100% = Masterpiece! = Essential!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

THE ONE WITH THE TALKING PENGUIN!

Robert Shearman’s Big Finish debut immediately leaves a strong impression: this is an imaginative, bizarre, scary (and eventually heartbreaking) tale of religion, political intrigues, emotional turmoil, and the intricacies of human minds. By the end of the story, Shearman unveils the full extent of his clever plotting and the different layers of his narrative, revealing how Eugene, in an attempt to cope with his terrible crime of murdering his son, has trapped the castle and all its imagined inhabitants in a loop of repeated events.

Part 1 is very focused on the guest cast and the political and religious intrigues of this strange and eerie kingdom. Shearman brilliantly combines dark humour with a constant air of unease, and the mediaeval-style music helps to maintain the atmosphere while the actors go all in on their performances. At the end of Part 1, the Doctor and Frobisher arrive on the scene, and everyone believes Frobisher to be a god.

Part 2 continues to develop the political scheming, while the Doctor slowly begins to realise how certain things don’t make sense, which adds to the sense of foreboding. The story suddenly becomes more sinister and intense in Part 3, as we discover the disfigured child locked deep below the castle, destined to become a new messiah.

In the second half of this story, chaos reigns. The scary child teleports around the castle, murdering every single character, and its sheer presence turns this story into an unnerving horror tale before we learn the heartbreaking and emotionally devastating reason behind everything.

The child remains one of the scariest, saddest, and most effective villains Big Finish has ever created. Its voice is chillingly scary, and its cold, murderous ways are horrifying to follow, but the dark and depressing truths behind its existence make it a character you feel bad for.

Frobisher is a fun character. There’s something bizarre about him being a penguin (or a mesomorph), but he’s such a colourful and funny character that fits the Sixth Doctor perfectly. Robert Jezek goes a long way toward infusing him with a genuine personality.

There are many voices here, and the story surprisingly finds plenty of room for every character to stand out. Of particular note are Sam Kelly's court scribe, Stefan Atkinson’s gutless emperor Pepin, and the Peter Miles-soundalike Peter Soerbutts as the scheming high priest Clovis.

Despite the slow pace of the first half, Shearman writes his characters and dialogue in such a way that he maintains a good air of mystery to keep the listener engaged. What I love about The Holy Terror is that it steadily grows more tense, scary, and emotionally brutal.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

The talking penguin Frobisher, who joins Six on this adventure, was first introduced in a 1984 Doctor Who Magazine comic strip.

In a similar vein to The Shadow of the Scourge, this release is part of Big Finish’s Side Steps arc, which takes place in an alternative continuity developed elsewhere in Doctor Who's extended media.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Utterly atmospheric, creepy, and devastating, The Holy Terror remains one of the finest pieces of performed Doctor Who ever released.