It is 1940 and this story involves Dorian Gray describing the terrible bombings of London in dispassionate yet vivid detail. The Blitz from the point of view of an immortal is an interesting angle. The description of ‘the houses in between’ is haunting and contrasts with the music hall song of the same name which features later in the tale as Dorian is transported back in time by supernatural beings to face the consequences of his actions.

Oddly, this story feels a bit like a season finale, although it is actually the second story released in the first series of The Confessions of Dorian Gray. Dorian is confronted by the Lost – faces he sees in the flames of bombed buildings and who purport to be something akin to the souls of people he has used to sate his desires across his long life. This feels like the culmination of a series of stories where we see the many ephemerals he has encountered return to accuse him when, in reality, this is a story which, in a way, is setting out the characterisation of Dorian as a man trying to ignore the lives he ruins whilst desperately trying to bring meaning and excitement to his immortal life. It is establishing the tone of a series which (if listened to ‘properly’) jumps around time and place and needs this early instalment to set out the main character’s unique ‘selling point’.

This is Alexander Vlahos’s story. Despite not being the sole member of the cast, this almost feels like a monologue. Unlike the two-hander of Murder on 81st Street, the guest characters here feel far more as if they are on the periphery of the story and merely intruding on Dorian’s thoughts. Vlahos is brilliant and although I have enjoyed the other stories, this was the first one where I really ‘got’ Gray as a character (which is also, in part, due to the script’s focus).

Beyond the Blitz itself, historical detail is thin on the ground – although this is partly because the story shifts back to 1911 with Dorian’s visions of his relationship with music hall singer Rosina Sawyer. Dorian does say he claims to be a fire warden so that ARP wardens and the like will leave him alone when he chooses to watch buildings burn and to allow him to be outside during the Blitz rather than in a shelter.

As an early release in one of Big Finish’s less well-known but consistently intriguing ranges, this is an effective introduction to the series.