Should have been three episodes. That last episode in particular has too much tedious running around. It doesn't help that the villain is less interesting here then during their previous appearance.

Part of Doctor Who's charm is the dissonance of world ending events happening in the most banal of places. However, Amsterdam as a location just feels pointless in this episode, and I can't help wishing that the whole thing was set on Gallifrey.

On the upside, Colin Baker is great  as a Time Lord heavy.

Considering how much of this is similar to one of my favourite Doctor Who stories - Natural History of Fear - this could have been a home run. We have a totalitarian society where the characters we know don't seem to be themselves, asking questions is forbidden, stories of the Doctor's adventures being bastardised in order to placate the masses, and characters confessing on loved ones. What made it even more promising is that whilst it had similar aspects to that Eighth Doctor story it seemed to be asking some different questions and exploring fresh ground. What if the type of person who defends their trolling as simply 'asking questions' or 'critical thinking' had the power to change the world? Would they ironically make a world where its wrong to ask questions? What if those that ask us to cast doubt and encourage us to look critically at power are in fact themselves the ones in power and benefit from the uncertainty they create. All fantastic elements of an episode i would love to see to its logical conclusion.

Unfortunately in usual RTD style most of this goes out of the window in order to accommodate universe threatening nonsense. I don't mean nonsense in an overly negative way, usually I'll enjoy the rollercoaster of RTD's bombastic finales for what they are, i just wish he didn't sacrifice interesting setups for them (The Giggle was another I felt did this).

Going into this 4 hour epic was pretty intimidating, especially since I was only familiar with the Eighth Doctor stories and not the other lines that led into this. I’m glad to say this didn’t pose much of a problem at all. There wasn’t anything I noticed that required more context from other stories. As for the length it zipped by, managing to feel half the length of ‘Time of the Daleks’ despite being twice as long.

The biggest surprise for me was Colin Baker. Having not listened to any of his audio stories yet I was unfamiliar with his performance, but here he was delightfully nefarious, clearly enjoying himself in villainous mode, and give such a great performance I’m excited to check out his audios in the future (if I ever get through the Eighth back catalogue). McCoy is also extremely entertaining, and McGann gets a lot of meat to work with, really displaying his range. Unfortunately this means that Peter Davison gets lost in the wash as he’s left with possibly the most uninteresting and least fun of the characters to work with.

The story, whilst a bit all over the place is surprisingly easy to follow, at least until towards the end. There’s plenty of times in Doctor Who were I will lose the thread of a story or it will cease to make sense, and I’ll simply switch off, enjoy the ride, and trust that there is some kind of internal logic ongoing if I had the mental acuity to piece it all together. However whilst I managed to keep up with everything for the majority of the runtime, the denouement in the Foundry lost me. Maybe it was fatigue but I couldn’t really make sense of what was happening or how. Still this didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the overall story.

Overall a fun, chapter heightened by great performances, although Charley kissing Sylvester McCoy’s character whilst shouting “Uncle Winky!” like a little girl is something I don’t think I need to hear.

I've heard the Third Doctor referred to as the James Bond Doctor, but here we have the Second Doctor playing in that genre first.

A well paced story that makes you forget that the Doctor isn't actually involved all that much. The main focus is Troughton's second role as the villainous Salamander. He's fantastic and offers a great display of his range as an actor considering how Salamander is the opposite of the Doctor in almost every conceivable way. The supporting cast are equally strong with a personal favourite being the hilarious misanthropic cook Griffin, and highlights how giving supporting characters time to breathe is really one of the strengths of classic Who. The story also predicts both issues around climate change and rising authoritarian leadership fuelled by disinformation in 21st century Europe, making it a very relevant watch in 2024!

A more in depth look at the Time Lords and their relationship with the Doctor was one of the attractive selling points of Big Finish for me and so I was looking forward to this story, being the Eighth Doctor's first real cross over with them, and it didn't disappoint. We get the return of classic characters, a major development in Charley's arc which has been bubbling away for a while, and some satisfying Time Lord nastiness.

Time Lord stories, particularly involving Rassilon, can be a bit messy and convoluted regarding their plot points and McGuffins. Thankfully here things never get too complex, and I found Anti-time a surprisingly easy enough concept to follow (at least compared to what is to come), probably because similar things pop up in other sci-fi universes.

The other universe and its denizens created here are sufficiently unsettling, and leads to some reveals about how terrible Time Lords can be (as if we didn't already know). Character work is great and every one feels involved in a strand of the main story in some way, as opposed to fobbed off with a b-plot, which is for the best since there wouldn't be room for one. Adding to this great world building and a good ramping up the stakes makes Neverland a great episode despite its lore heavy nature.

Its such a shame that Time of the Daleks features an incredibly interesting idea for exploration but completely wastes it. There's a fantastic commentary on the power and subjectivity of art with the notion of Shakespeare, forgotten by most the world, having his works decontextualised and their powerful language utilised as political rhetoric and propaganda by a totalitarian leader. Unfortunately, the story as a whole is unengaging and it wastes its potential on Dalek shenanigans. The Daleks feel completely unthreatening, despite the fun novelty of them quoting Shakespeare. This would have been so much better if it either ejected the Daleks, or made their role simpler, so as to focus much more on the themes of art and language and their abuse by those in power.

Unfortunately, despite game performances, I also failed to feel invested in any of the supporting characters or their motivations, and their decisions didn't always make sense.

Whilst by no means terrible this is still an unengaging story made worse by having so much potential. As it is it's difficult to tease out much that I enjoyed. I'll also add that whilst I'm aware that this is part of a wider Dalek arc, I don't feel knowledge of the other stories would have improved my feelings towards this one.

Embrace the Darkness is the Eighth Doctors biggest foray into horror so far, and for a respectable chunk of the story manages to be both creepy and atmospheric. Unfortunately, despite an intriguing set up, the denouement falls a little flat, and the only thing worse then an exposition dump is an exposition dump delivered in a voice that's tediously grating. The supporting characters, along with the story as a whole, started to ware a bit thin by the end. Whilst I'm not there yet I'm aware that several years after this Big Finish changed their audio format to being shorter in length and less episodic. Whilst the previous outing, Seasons of Fear, perfectly used the monthly format, this one would have benefitted from the modern format which would have avoided the story feeling stretched beyond its limits.

Still, on the balance I found it enjoyable enough, particularly in its first half. Plus, its always fun hearing the Doctor negotiating with a robot. I'll also credit it for some of the best and most unsettling sound design thus far in the Eighth Doctors run.

Unlike the Eighth Doctor's previous story I went into this one knowing absolutely nothing about it and that is perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed it just as much. Its a completely different beast, as whilst Chimes of Midnight takes place entirely in one location, Seasons of Fear is a rollicking adventure yarn. Its also the first Monthly Series release I've listened to which uses it's individual parts in an interesting way by having large parts of each one set in a different time period.

The set up with the villain (Grayle) boasting, with traditional bad guy arrogance, that the Doctor has already been defeated sets up an enticing mystery for the rest of the episode, and interactions between him and the Doctor are some of the most entertaining back-and-forth's of McGann's tenure up until now. Grayle is a really fun villain and its interesting to see his change to over different points in his development.

We are also treated to the Tardis getting a good run out. It spends most adventures sat in whatever corner it happens to appear in the first ten seconds of the story, so it's nice that it gets utilised. Multi-period stories should be more of thing in my opinion (maybe they are, I've only listened to a fraction of Big Finish releases).

If I had one complaint it would be that I think the elements of the wider ark could have been incorporated slightly better into the story, but this is only a minor issue in what amounts to the second fantastic story in a row for the Eighth Doctor.

A story that comes with an almost intimidating reputation. I told a friend involved in script writing that I had just got around to listening to this and he told me how a whole bunch of writers and writing teachers he knew would gather together on Halloween every year and listen to this story. This leads one to wonder, if I don't like it am I the problem? Well I don't believe anything is objectively good or bad but, its an irrelevant question here anyway because this is really great, and I think it gets better the further I get away from it as it seeps into further into my bloodstream.

Full of tension, atmosphere and brilliantly written secondary characters, I find it hard to find much to write because Shearman handles the material so deftly he doesn't really leave much room to discuss anything, it's just all great. It's by far the best Fisher and McGann performance so far and the first time I've properly felt the Eighth Doctor's back against the wall. Added to this is an antagonist who by having a very simple motivation is actually made far more compelling then the number of villains with overly-convoluted plans.

Having gone through periods of obsession with both Orson Welles and 40s noir and detective media, this story has a lot in it that should work for me. Unfortunately, this leads me to being more critical of it, perhaps unfairly. I also have a bit of a soft spot for Mark Gatiss having grown up with League of Gentleman and him being a genre nut like me, shown by the excellent horror documentary he made for the BBC about 15 years ago, and his breakdown of genres on the now defunct Film Program radio show. However, this is where we get into what disappoints me the most about Invaders from Mars: that in trying to incorporate so many genres into one story it ends up being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. We have gumshoe noir, 30s sci-fi, gangster flicks and espionage thriller, and while Gatiss knows his stuff he’s not as deft at bringing all these elements together.

It doesn’t help matters that most the story takes place in my least favourite of those afore mentioned genres, the gangster story (I’m much more a police procedural guy). I don’t find these types of people particularly engaging, which isn’t helped by Gatiss’ habit of making characters seem like caricatures or pastiches. This is fine for comedy but not as effective in drama, even light-hearted drama, and Who especially can live or die on the strength of its supporting characters.

The much mythologized ‘War of the World’ broadcast doesn’t play as much a part in the overall plot as I’d have liked as it is such a rich source for historical Doctor Who shenanigans, and feels, like everything else, yet another element thrown into a broth. As far as I’m aware this was the first Who story Gatiss wrote, so I understand the urge to throw all your ideas and things you love from the era into one story, and it does keep the pace up, but personally I prefer fewer ideas and elements and allowing them space to breathe.

This perhaps makes it sound like I think it’s a bad story, but I don’t. There’s fun to be had and its rarely boring. I would probably have given it a 6 if my interest in the playground it’s taking place in didn’t raise my expectations.

For me this is the first bad Eighth Doctor Big Finish story. I wouldn't call the performances outright bad, but it feels to me McGann and Fisher don't really know what to make of the material, and I can't say I blame them. It's also a shame to have the Brigadier's first meeting with the Eighth Doctor be one featuring dialogue and elements that feel like they were written by a horny teenager. The story also meanders quite a bit, and the Brigadiers occasional narrating of the messages he is typing saps whatever pacing there might have been. As for Brigham, he could have been a really memorable larger-than-live villain but ends up being pretty tedious.

One aspect I almost liked, despite amnesia being an overused trope, was the idea of the Doctor as an amnesiac in an asylum with a cellmate claiming to be the Doctor and having all his memories. This could have made a pretty good regeneration story, but here its stretched to breaking point in an already overlong story.

Diverting although unsatisfactory. The high point is the way in which the story conjures a futuristic yet timeless Venice. The sense of its decline, both physically and metaphorically, is well sketched and along with certain aquatic creatures evokes both Poe and Lovecraft, all with added class war which I admit I'm a sucker for. Sadly these elements don't all pull together for me, and the sci-fi conceit seemingly necessary to turn this into a Doctor Who story feels undercooked and tacked on.

Perhaps envisioned as a companion piece to Tomb of the Cybermen, but could also be seen as a remake. It seems to hit a lot of similar story beats anyway. Meanders a bit at the start but does eventually pick up momentum. Most of the twists aren't particularly surprising , but this doesn't detract form the drama too much, especially since we seem to be heavily in homage territory. Ends abruptly, and seemed to me that the fate of some of the admittedly thinly written characters were unresolved, unless I just missed something. There's fun to be had but not wholly engaging.

Really great introduction to the 8th Doctor’s adventures. A fun slice of historical Sci-fi with an alien race that provides some interesting commentary on free will and the things that drive us, although these aren't explored with too much depth. What we get instead is a bombastic adventure with grounded stakes and an engaging and well performed larger than life cast of characters. McGann is enthusiastic and satisfyingly deceitful whilst giving enough indication of his moral compass – strong but unsure in himself, pragmatic but easily waylaid. India Fisher's new companion, Charley Pollard, is a great ball of energy and bounces well off McGann's Doctor. A thoroughly enjoyable second pilot for the Eighth Doctor.