This was quite an entertaining audio. I like the idea of the premise - a virus that spreads through money, even when it is just the digital idea of money. Valerie has an excellent introduction and The Inheritance does a good job showcasing why this character gets so much praise and hype in the fandom. Not only does she make a great and entertaining companion, Valerie also has some incredible scenes with her mother - they manage to really sell the idea of online shopping being a matter of life and death in this context and I was really moved by those scenes - its heavy stuff! The Inheritance itself - this enormous amount of lottery money passing among a few characters, feels like a true threat, as does the larger corporate entities, villains, and structure that hangs over and threatens this world.

Yet it never goes too far. I think Alfie Shaw does a really good job at walking that line between a forceful critique of capitalism and the fantasy-heavy tones of the Moffat era. This audio felt silly yet not so much it wasn't serious, either. The politics of the story is clearly present here but not overplayed.

Hendricks as a villain felt a little obvious and a bit over-the-top for my tastes, and the pacing of The Inheritance feels slightly off - rushed in some parts while others feel like they take up an unnecessary amount of time.  Still, these are very minor points in an otherwise excellent adventure.  This is just a nicely balanced audio and an excellent start into a great series of adventures with Valerie, which I've enjoyed a few so far but have a lot more to look forward to enjoying.

A brilliant new companion introduction, and a great bunch of sci-fi ideas!

Valarie is immediately the standout of this story, and I love the insight we get into her home and world, the almost Russell era family dynamic is also just really nice to see (making it all the more sad when it's cut short). Plus a companion that's from the future (and a cyborg!) is great to have!

The worldbuilding here is also great, sci-fi tech that you can easily picture, and the explanations dont' feel forced or overdone, The Doctor doesn't know this tech but can easily understand it, and with a little imagination so can we

And then there's the villain, delightfully evil with a spectacular plan (I'm always a sucker for Capitalism Is Bad as a trope), and setting up a mystery to be explored later down the line. Plus the 'money monster' is a really interesting concept, and the way it's played around with here, using inheritance to pass on the 'curse' is genius.

Plus the ending, Eleven being gone for a few weeks instead of a few minutes, is very in keeping with him, and leads to a lovely interaction with him and his to-be-companion.

All in all, a very strong start to the series.

This is an excellent episode that starts the series proper. The plot is imaginative and well thought out. The introduction of Valarie works, while the banter back and forth feels like Eleventh Doctor and his companion. The voice acting is top-notch, with Jacob Dudman giving at great Eleven performance and Safiyya Ingar really stretching their acting as Valarie Lockwood. The overall sound design is what you would expect from Big Finish with a special mention to the music. This release really feels like it would fit in post The Snowman and before The Bells of Saint John.

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

Celebrating 20 years of New Who with the New Who Doctors - 11th Doctor

“THE INHERITANCE: A THRILLING INTRODUCTION TO A NEW ERA”

Big Finish kicks off a new chapter for the Eleventh Doctor with The Inheritance, a gripping and emotionally charged audio adventure that wastes no time throwing us into the action. With a mysterious virus, a corrupt corporation, a unique new companion, and a villain who refuses to go down easily, this story delivers a powerful blend of high-stakes thrills and rich character drama.

A DYNAMIC AND IMMEDIATE START

Right from the opening moments, The Inheritance sets itself apart with an energetic and gripping introduction. Instead of the usual slow build-up, the Eleventh Doctor quite literally lands on the doorstep of Valarie Lockwood with a bomb in hand—just as a deadly virus claims the life of her friend. It’s a chaotic, fast-paced start that immediately establishes the high stakes while also making Valarie’s first encounter with the Doctor feel deeply personal.

The narrative wastes no time in pulling the pair into a larger conspiracy, with Arabella Hendricks, the enigmatic and ruthless CEO of Fulcrum Corporation, enlisting them to find a cure for the outbreak before it spreads further. Of course, things are far from what they seem, and the story takes some fascinating turns as it explores not just the origins of the virus but the corporate greed driving it.

VALARIE LOCKWOOD – A COMPELLING NEW COMPANION

Valarie Lockwood is one of Big Finish’s most engaging original companions in years. A tech-savvy, part-cybernetic woman from a futuristic world where cybernetic enhancements are commonplace, she brings a fresh dynamic to the Doctor’s world. Unlike the Cybermen’s horrific vision of forced upgrades, Valarie’s enhancements are a natural part of her life, aiding her rather than defining her.

Safiyaa Ingar immediately shines in the role, delivering a performance full of warmth, intelligence, and strength. She shares an instant and natural chemistry with Jacob Dudman’s Doctor, making their partnership feel organic from the very beginning. Valarie isn’t just another bystander swept up in the Doctor’s adventures—she’s already an active force in her own world, fighting for the safety of her mother and friends long before she even meets him.

What makes her introduction particularly effective is how the story integrates her everyday life with the unfolding sci-fi chaos. We get a genuine sense of her relationships, her motivations, and her world before everything falls apart, making her losses feel devastatingly real. The moment she loses her mother to the virus is a gut punch, and Ingar’s performance in that scene is utterly heart-wrenching.

A MONSTER WITH A MESSAGE

The creature at the heart of The Inheritance is one of the more unique and thought-provoking threats Doctor Who has tackled. A parasitic entity that thrives within money, it specifically targets the wealthy—killing those who hoard wealth while sparing those who actively spend it. This is a brilliantly sharp and satirical concept, turning economic systems into a literal life-or-death struggle.

Beyond its clever premise, the parasite also serves as a biting critique of capitalism and corporate exploitation. The story touches on inheritance scams, unethical medical testing, and the ways in which corporations create fear to manipulate people into parting with their money. Fulcrum Corporation’s scheme—exploiting a manufactured crisis to push their own products and increase their wealth—feels chillingly relevant in a world where real-life companies profit from people’s desperation.

This thematic depth makes The Inheritance more than just an action-packed adventure. It’s a story with something to say, using science fiction to explore real-world anxieties in a way that Doctor Who has always excelled at.

ARABELLA HENDRICKS – A FORMIDABLE ADVERSARY

Lara Lemon delivers a pitch-perfect performance as Arabella Hendricks, the calculating and deeply detestable CEO of Fulcrum Corporation. While on the surface she might seem like a fairly straightforward villain—manipulative, self-serving, and ruthlessly efficient—her true strength as an antagonist comes from her ability to push the Doctor to his limits.

Unlike some villains who are easily outwitted, Hendricks is always a step ahead. She doesn’t just rely on brute force or intimidation—she plays mind games, exploiting weaknesses and dangling information that she knows the Doctor desperately wants. In this case, it’s a piece of knowledge about Clara Oswald, something that nearly tempts the Doctor into making a terrible mistake.

This all leads to a tense and unsettling final confrontation. When Valarie’s life hangs in the balance and the Doctor is left to face Hendricks alone, we see a side of Eleven that isn’t often explored—one haunted by his past, filled with barely contained rage, and standing on the edge of doing something he’ll regret. The scene where he mentally tortures Hendricks into surrendering is a stark reminder of the darkness lurking beneath his manic exterior, making for an incredibly powerful moment.

And yet, Hendricks isn’t easily beaten. Even in defeat, she makes it clear that this isn’t the last the Doctor and Valarie will see of her. It’s a rare thing in Big Finish for an original villain to leave such a lasting impression, but Hendricks does just that, setting the stage for future encounters that promise to be just as compelling.

A STRONG START TO A NEW ERA

One of the best things about The Inheritance is how well it balances its responsibilities. It’s not just a gripping standalone adventure—it’s also an introduction to Valarie Lockwood, a setup for long-term themes, and a foundation for a fresh dynamic between the Doctor and his new companion. It handles all of these elements effortlessly, never feeling like an exposition dump or a box-ticking exercise.

It also sidesteps many of the usual tropes associated with companion introductions. There’s no drawn-out sequence of Valarie marvelling at the TARDIS or questioning every aspect of the Doctor’s world. Instead, the story trusts the audience to accept these elements naturally, allowing it to focus on developing Valarie as a character rather than getting bogged down in the usual “bigger on the inside” beats.

Likewise, the pacing is excellent. While the stakes are high from the very beginning, the story never feels rushed or overloaded. There’s room for quiet, character-driven moments amid the action, making the emotional beats hit even harder.

📝 VERDICT: 9/10

The Inheritance is a fantastic debut for Valarie Lockwood and a strong start to a new era of Eleventh Doctor audio adventures. It blends thrilling action, compelling character work, and sharp social commentary into a gripping, emotionally charged story.

Safiyaa Ingar and Jacob Dudman share an instant chemistry, setting up a partnership that promises great things ahead. Lara Lemon’s Arabella Hendricks is a formidable antagonist who leaves a lasting impact, and the story’s central concept—a money-based parasite that punishes greed—is both clever and thematically rich.

With high stakes, powerful performances, and a compelling new companion, The Inheritance isn’t just a great introduction—it’s a great story in its own right.

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #3.1 - "The Inheritance" by Alfie Shaw

There are a lot of Big Finish ranges that get a lot of love, but I don't think there is a series I have seen as much love for as Series 7V. With one story dipping below a ridiculously high rating, I decided that, with great excitement, I'd jump into Geronimo! as my first Big Finish boxset and boy am I excited for the next few. This story feels like I just fell back into 2011 and Matt Smith is still on screen, Moffat's still the show runner, and the show isn't a joke yet.

Plot:
Valarie's one of the top cybernetic engineers on Rig-6, good thing too, since a mysterious virus that's infecting people's cybernetics and killing them very, very painfully has taken over the world. One night, whilst trying to have dinner with her mother and friends, a stranger holding a bomb shows up at the door. His name's the Doctor, he's been asked to cure the world's deadliest virus and he's about to fight capitalism.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I was pretty blown away by how accurate this felt to the show. Alfie Shaw genuinely has just put another whole season of the Eleventh Doctor in the middle of Series Seven and managed to throw me right back to early Moffat Era Who. The first thing I need to talk about it the performances, which are easily the best I've heard so far in Big Finish. I've heard Paul McGann despair at the universe, and seen Maggie Stables break down at the revelation she couldn't save a woman's life, but Jacob Dudman and Safiyya Ingar manage to, in an hour, have me immediately won over to their portrayals of the characters. I think Dudman has the ability to steal people's voices, because it was hard for me not to imagine Matt Smith reading the lines, and Ingar manages to be likable, badass and heartbreaking in the space of one story. This is also because Shaw manages to create one of the best character introductions I have seen in Doctor Who; I already know Valarie's going to be one of my favourite companions ever considering she already has all the traits of my other favourites and the story synopsises further down the line seem to have the Doctor absolutely traumatising her, which always ends up with a great companion.

The story itself wasn't much to write home about but it did manage to have that manic, break neck tone of the Smith era that was oh so enjoyable there and is oh so enjoyable here. Unfortunately, this is both a blessing and a curse, as the story manages to move along way to fast, having the pacing be completely out of whack and having the story reveal things too quickly. I think Shaw tried to pull off a plot twist revealing Hendricks to be the villain but having the big, world-owning pharmaceutical company to not be the villain would be surprising to say the least. As an audio, I don't think the story managed to do a great job at visualising itself. A great audio script won't resort to just describing what the characters see but it'll also give you a clear image of what's happening, which I find The Inheritance fails at a ton.

I'm already in love with 11 and Valarie and the idea of a virus transmitted through money is absolutely genius but a plot that feels rushed and a script that doesn't always work out its kinks bring the story down a bit for me. However, it is impossible to state just how excited I am to experience the rest of the Series 7V.

8/10

Pros:
+ Dudman and Ingar deliver some of the best performances I've heard on audio
+ I am immediately in love with Valarie, who I can't see not being one of my favourite companions ever
+ Loved 11's characterisation in it, it really captured the angry demigod thing he has going on
+ The story drops you right smack bang in the middle of the Eleventh Doctor's era and its tone
+ The idea of a capitalism virus and how the story uses that is ingenious.
+ The scene where Valarie's mother is killed by the plague was not only the highlight of the story but one of the best showcases of sheer acting talent I've seen in Big Finish
+ Very excited for the series arc, some of the things set up in this episode are incredibly intriguing

Cons:
- Pacing feels rushed and a little all over the place
- Felt the central mystery to be resolved far too quickly
- The twist of Hendricks being the antagonist was both predictable and weak
- Hendricks herself isn't a very interesting antagonist until her last scene
- The script is very bad at visualising things

Series 7V | Ranked:
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1. The Inheritance by Alfie Shaw - 8/10

Overall - 8.0/10