Stories Audio Drama The War Doctor Begins Episode: 1 2 3 The Horror 1 image Overview Characters How to Listen Reviews 1 Statistics Quotes 1 Overview Released Tuesday, December 13, 2022 Written by Robert Valentine Runtime 60 minutes Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Time War Location (Potential Spoilers!) Shoreditch, Earth, England, London Synopsis The Doctor is missing in action. As Gallifrey and Skaro face total destruction, Time Lord and Dalek forces converge on the realm of the Barber-Surgeon. From his junkyard fortress in a lost dimension, the renegade warmonger is about to create his ultimate weapon...Who or what can possibly stop him? 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 War Doctor The General Daleks The Barber-Surgeon Show All Characters (4) How to listen to The Horror: Big Finish Audio The War Doctor Begins: He Who Fights With Monsters 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 1 review 23 April 2025 · 413 words Review by DanDunn Spoilers This review contains spoilers! I'll be honest, it's a little difficult to write these reviews separately for He Who Fights with Monsters because it really is suited to being judged as a single story. Collectively it's one of my favourite War Doctor stories and at the time of release (shortly before announcing further box sets), it really did seem like this was it for the War Doctor in Big Finish, this story had an air of finality to it and it would've made for quite the epic conclusion. The third and final chapter sees the Doctor imprisoned and tortured before going through his final tests that will lead him to a final confrontation with the Barber Surgeon, all while the Daleks and Time Lords amass their fleets for a sure to be massacre all to gain control of the Barber Surgeon's stronghold. The best part of this story is easily Nicholas Le Prevost as the Barber Surgeon, he's such a captivating character that keeps hinting that he's more than what he appears, the story builds him up as this all powerful villain only to reveal that he's just as mortal as the Doctor and only did what he did to test the Doctor's resolve and know if he's ready to bring about the end of the war. The behind the scenes interviews talked about how this story is meant to be set later in the War Doctor's life and even towards the end of the war. Now I don't need to point to the obvious title of the series and the younger War Doctor to tell you that's a pretty dumb statement, but it does lend itself to that air of finality the story has. It is a story that feels worthy of John Hurt which Jonathan Carley excels at. Carley's performance in this and the set in general is probably his best work as the War Doctor, he really sells this being the end of a long and exhausting odyssey. The climax may be a bit disappointing for some people, if you were expecting an epic battle between the Doctor and the Barber Surgeon, trust me this story doesn't even attempt anything of the sort! And some of the more meta lines were a bit on the nose, I kept thinking if this were onscreen the Barber Surgeon would wink at the camera every few lines like Mrs Flood from the new series. But it's a great ending carried by two powerful performances from our leads. DanDunn View profile Like Liked 0 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating58 members 4.16 / 5 Member Statistics Listened 100 Favourited 17 Reviewed 1 Saved 2 Skipped 0 Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite Tags: Funny The Doctor: Jelly babies... The Barber-Surgeon: What? The Doctor: I said, jelly babies. — The Horror