At heart, this episode tells a straightforward story—about mourning, and an alien using that for its own gain—but it takes full advantage of that simplicity, allowing the narrative to unfold with many character-focused aspects without ever feeling cluttered.
I very much liked the slow build-up throughout.

A clear standout is the story thread surrounding Vivian Oparah’s character, Tanya. Very well written and brilliantly played, Vivian is clearly this episode’s lead and proves herself more than capable of carrying a story.

The rest of the main cast also deliver strong performances—with one exception.
I very much enjoyed Miss Quill’s part of the story, which gives us a little more about her background, as well as a stellar performance by Katherine Kelly.
Charlie and Matteusz’s mini-arc is just nice and moving to watch, and is competently performed by Greg Austin and Jordan Renzo.
Ram, played by Fady Elsayed, is more in the background this time, serving mainly as a connector between story threads.

That leaves Sophie Hopkins as April MacLean—I still feel no connection to her character, and the episode did her no favors either, giving her a story arc that felt a bit staged and didn’t quite fit.

Still, I enjoyed the episode as a whole. 4 / 5

Review based on the version included in "Audio Adventures in Time & Space, Collection One."

For the longest time, this audio drama is simply a solid sci-fi story, very competently executed. There aren’t any big negatives—even though, very rarely, I got the vibe of a high-end fan production. And sometimes (again, very rarely), I thought, “This could have had even more potential if it leaned into the horror vibe a bit more.”

Towards the end, though, there was a stretch where it got really good, and I found myself thinking, “This Doctor stand-in could definitely be the next regeneration after the Eighth Doctor. Bravo!” Unfortunately, that highlight didn’t last all that long.

As for grading: most of the audio drama felt like a 3 out of 5. Sometimes, maybe more like a 2.5. And for a short while, it reached a solid 4. I’m definitely curious to hear more from this Doctor variant.

All in all: 3/5.

What a strong episode. While a few minor issues keep me from giving "The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo" a perfect score, it’s hard to deny just how good it is.

The standout element is Ram’s struggle with his trauma from the previous episode, and the horror that unfolds in this one. Fady Elsayed delivers an excellent performance, capturing Ram’s pain and confusion perfectly. The writing and direction support this thread well, with some real strong scene compositions. Another highlight is Tanya, played by Vivian Oparah, who becomes a crucial link to the rest of the group. The way Tanya supports Ram, drawing on her own experience of loss, feels genuine and moving.

This storyline leans into Torchwood territory, with its darker, more mature tone. In contrast, the thread centered on Charlie and April has more of a Buffy "Scooby Gang" vibe. Surprisingly, these different tones mostly fit together, even though the episode sometimes seems to want to be two things at once—combining Torchwood’s maturity with the Buffy Season 1 vibes. For the most part, it works.

A big reason for this is Greg Austin’s consistent and thoughtful portrayal of Charlie. On the other hand, Sophie Hopkins as April hasn’t quite clicked with me yet, though her final scene in the episode did catch my interest. I’m curious to see where her character goes from here.

And then there’s the third storyline: Miss Quill dealing with an Ofsted inspector. Katherine Kelly brings a sharp, dry wit to the role, and these scenes were a real pleasure to watch.

Overall, the acting across the board is impressive, even in the smaller roles. There’s a lot of subtlety in the performances, which adds depth to the whole episode.

One of the central themes in the story is (toxic) masculinity. The episode does a good job showing that true strength isn’t just about toughness, but also about acknowledging fear and learning to deal with it. I imagine reactions to this will vary, but I appreciated the indirect approach. It offers viewers space to reflect and maybe reconsider, without feeling lectured—a contrast to the more direct approach seen e.g. in Season 2 of the Fifteenth Doctor.

There’s a lot packed into this episode. Not everything landed for me, but the parts that worked were so strong that the weaker moments barely registered. My immersion was only broken twice, which is a testament to Ed Bazalgette’s direction. He really did a fantastic job here.

Review based on the version included in "Audio Adventures in Time & Space, Collection One."

Republica offers a solid "What if" story.
Mark Gatiss delivers a script that’s both clever and tightly constructed. The pacing is just right, keeping you invested from start to finish.

The cast delivers strong, believable performances.
Even though it’s a story about the Professor and Ace—with no ties to Doctor Who ;) —it holds its own alongside any Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred Doctor Who story by Big Finish.

The resolution is nicely done. For a seasoned connoisseur of time travel stories, it may feel like standard fare in some ways, but it comes with a moral twist that would fit just as well for the Seventh Doctor as it does for the Professor.

Overall, this is a very well-made audio drama. Definitely recommended.

The cold open is sharp and engaging, immediately sparking curiosity and setting an intriguing tone. Within the first few scenes, I found myself asking, “What’s going on here?”—but in a good way.

The episode carries a subtle horror vibe, which helps set it apart from other young adult dramas and gives the story a slightly edgier feel. The main characters are introduced efficiently, and it’s easy to get a sense of who they are and what might motivate them as the series progresses.

A major reveal about halfway through shifts the episode into more familiar young adult high school drama territory. This transition is handled with a bit of self-awareness—the show plays things straight enough to be effective, but there’s a definite wink to the audience that keeps things from feeling too cliché.

However, after this point, the episode’s pacing and structure start to feel a bit uneven. It seems like the writers wanted to include several high school drama elements, but didn’t quite have enough time to let them develop naturally. The merging of Charlie, Miss Quill, and April's storyline with Ram and Tanya's feels abrupt and somewhat forced, making the narrative feel a bit disjointed

There are also a few weaker scenes that don’t quite land, and these moments pulled my initial impression of the episode down from a strong 4.5 out of 5 to more of a 3.5, or even a 3. Still, the episode manages to pull things together for a solid finish, leaving me interested in seeing where the story goes next. So yeah, it's a generous 4 out of 5 from me.

Overall, “For Tonight We Might Die” is a strange but likable introduction to Class. Vibe-wise, maybe a bit like a mix between Buffy and—just a small touch of—Torchwood. Despite some wonky story decisions and uneven pacing, it’s an interesting start with enough personality to make me want to keep watching.

A great audio drama with one or two minor flaws.

The excellent story is a very serious one about a corporation, in their greed, destroying the environment, a village, and its people in the process. It's a story that made me feel helplessly outraged while listening more than once. So, it's no fun story, but in succeeding to engage me emotionally, it is a truly excellent story.

Shaheen Khan, Anant Varman, and Tom Hanson as the supporting cast did a superb job giving their characters life. And Sophie Aldred and Paul Clayton as Ace and Mr. Colchester were just brilliant.

The characterization of Dorothy 'Ace' McShane in this story is superb. What kind of person would Ace be a few decades after we saw her traveling with the Doctor? After building the charity "A Charitable Earth" and taking on responsibility as its founder and CEO? I would argue exactly what we get shown in this audio drama. Yeah, at her core, she still is the person that we knew. But she also is more. One of the best scenes in this regard - and without giving spoilers about the story - is when she takes care of the vaccination of some children. The character has grown quite a bit as a person over the decades, in a quite realistic way.

Mr. Colchester, on the other hand, shows some of his more nasty character traits. Very well done. And at the same time, one of my few complaints - at the end, his story thread is not consistently enough "not sympathetic person accomplishing something good." The end is not bad, but I feel it could have been so much better if there wasn't a half-baked excuse for his behavior at the end. It would have been better to just have him be Machiavellian through and through.

Another weak point of this excuse at the end was that it only works with him knowing something since the beginning of the story, but we saw him uncover it throughout the story. After a second listening, I'd say, yeah, it's possible that he knew all the time and still did what he did. But it would have been smoother to not go this route.

That's to some extent just nitpicking, and I am sure for some listeners the end just worked as well as the rest of the story. Your mileage may vary. For me, it knocked off half a point, and together with an obvious exposition dump by one of the characters in the middle of the story, it leads to a very good 4 out of 5 rating.

'Death in Venice' is the second appearance of Dorothy 'Ace' McShane (played by Sophie Aldred) in the Torchwood Monthly Range. Just like last time ('The Red List'), we've got a very small cast. Paul Clayton plays Mr. Colchester from Torchwood. At times, Jack Forsyth-Noble and Safiyya Ingar act in supporting roles. But the story is mainly told through the dialogue between Aldred and Clayton.

Just as in 'The Red List,' it is brilliant to listen to both flexing their voice acting muscles. While 'The Red List' had a slightly stronger emphasis on Colchester's view of the situation, this time it is the other way around. This gives Aldred, as Ace, the opportunity to brilliantly convey how Ace has changed over time, what has stayed the same, and why her charity 'A Charitable Earth' is so important to her (and the world). Loved it.

This time around, the two main protagonists are not confined to two hotel rooms. Instead, they actually travel quite a lot with some exciting action sequences. While I wouldn't want to miss the more somber storytelling of 'The Red List,' for the second installment of Ace meeting Mr. Colchester, it was a very good choice, making the audio drama much more dynamic than it would have been otherwise.

The different parts and tempos of the story fit very well together. Kudos to author James Goss and the rest of the production crew.

A top-notch standalone story that at the same time makes one want to hear more.

'The Red List' is a brilliant chamber play, brought to life by the superb acting of both Sophie Aldred and Paul Clayton, with strong support from Manuel Pacific. The entire production thrives on the dialogue between Aldred (playing Dorothy 'Ace' McShane) and Clayton (playing St John Colchester). Both are just brilliant voice actors, and it is a pure delight hearing them converse, discuss, banter, argue, and try to figure out what's going on.

A few times, and at the end, the story leaves the confines of the chamber play unfolding in two neighboring hotel rooms. But these 'breaks' with the format fit absolutely organically into the whole of the story and just further heighten the quality. Great work from the writer James Goss and the rest of the production crew.

Are there also weaknesses? I think not as such. Sure, the story leaves many questions open, but it is the kind of story where getting all the answers is not the point. So I do not see that as a weakness. But your mileage may vary.

All in all, definitely a story I will listen to a few more times. :)

The Story

Again, only a prelude, but in this case with an interesting mini-character study of the relationship between the Seventh Doctor and Ace. I did like it.
(These panels also have a little bit of the vibe of one of the audition scenes McCoy had to take for getting the role of the Seventh Doctor. Nicely done.)

The Art

The first panel sees the TARDIS flying through the time vortex, using the “howl-around” effect from the first intro sequence to visualize the vortex. Wicked!

It’s the same artists as in the prelude before, but this time I really like what they did.
Maybe drawing the interior of the TARDIS played more to their strengths. Perhaps their way of drawing emotions into faces just works better with the right backdrop.

The Story

As a prelude for an upcoming story, there’s not much to say. In film terms, it’s not even a trailer but more akin to a teaser trailer. It does its purpose.

The Characters

We get a first glance (one panel) at - probably - the big bad of the upcoming story. The “task” of the protagonist is to convey rising fear of darkness and death on his part. If there wasn't an exposition-dump panel where he says out loud what should be shown, this would actually be successfully conveyed. But well, there is this one panel too much.

The Art

Solid but does not quite click with me.