This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Jubilee

A fantastic story, Jacqueline Rayner's last pure historical with Six and Evelyn was incredible so it makes sense this one would be aswell. The way this story is framed is absolutely my favourite part about it, I visualised it as a theatre performance and I think that fits really well.

I love the down-to-earth feel, after fighting all sorts of aliens, the Doctor and Evelyn return home and prevent one of Evelyn's students from killing themselves. While it's not directly stated, it's heavily implied and there's definitely a sense that something's wrong right from the start. I find the way this is handled at the end to be really touching, with brilliant performances from Colin Baker, Maggie Stables and Helen Goldwyn.

I couldn't write a review for this story without mentioning the music, it blends in perfectly with the very stereotypical and exaggerated pirate world. I was surprised at just how many songs there actually were and it was cool that the whole cast were involved. I think it makes for one of the most unique experiences I've had on audio to date. Another excellent story for Six and Evelyn.

Next Story: Project: Lazarus

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Previous Story: The Sandman

It's an incredible challenge to make a Dalek story truly great, particularly on audio, so much so that whenever I see one coming up I typically write it off. Needless to say, Robert Shearman has made a genuinely fantastic Dalek story, maybe the best Dalek story of all time. Finally, we have an adventure where the Daleks are actually explored as characters, rather than mindless robots that only exist to make loud explosions.

From listening to this and The Holy Terror, it seems Rob Shearman likes his bizarre and absurd societies. The idea of an English Empire in which contracting words is illegal is utterly ridiculous but it makes an incredibly entertaining backdrop for this story. The President was a very fun character, Martin Jarvis really sold his absolute lunacy. The President's wife was similarly insane, but very much a different brand of it. She was also excellently played by Rosalind Ayres.

The way the characters kept flip-flopping between good and evil was fantastically written and performed. I was kept on the edge of my seat trying to guess who was secretly evil and who secretly good. Maggie Stables as Evelyn had some great moments with the lone Dalek and I love how this story actually went through with the "good Dalek" idea and didn't cheap out by having it betray Evelyn at the end. Overall, a fantastic story that definitely lives up to the hype.

Next Story: Doctor Who and the Pirates

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Real Time

Can't say I'm a big fan of this one. It has some really interesting ideas that get lost in shoddy sound design and generally weird story beats. The Doctor has an interesting role in this story, essentially being the boogeyman to an entire species. It's an interesting way to explore the Doctor especially when he's forced to play into the role a little. Colin Baker is absolutely acting his socks off here and it's a shame we don't see him in more villain roles if I'm being honest.

Besides that I couldn't tell you what actually happened here, it's really dull and needlessly confusing. The voice modulation of most of the characters makes them difficult to understand and distinguish, to the point that Anneke Wills was somewhere in this story though I couldn't tell you where. It's all a bit disappointing honestly, I really think this story could have been a lot better.

Next Story: Jubilee

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Previous Story: The Holy Terror

This review is of the webcast version which I'm aware is ever so slightly different to the audio version but I doubt it would do anything to change my opinion of this story.

I'll start by talking about the story itself, it's not particularly impressive and it drags quite a bit. I like the attempt at trying something new with the Cybermen, having a character come from an alternate timeline in which they achieved dominance over the universe but it's all a bit too convoluted for me to fully appreciate. It's also left on a cliffhanger at the end so it's clear that they wanted this to be continued. The Doctor and Evelyn are great as always but I found most of the supporting cast quite annoying.

The "animation" is actually fairly good considering this is a 2000s webcast for a niche audio series featuring one of the least liked (at the time) Doctors. I like the artstyle, specifically the design of the Cybermen. It's cool because it doesn't have the limitations that live-action would so the Cyberman design doesn't have to be an actual costume that somebody can wear. The settings looked a bit bland, but that's more down to where the story is set than anything on the animator's end (I doubt they wanted to focus too much on the setting anyway)

Overall, as a story it's mediocre but it's an interesting piece of Who history that every hardcore fan should check out at some point.

Next Story: The Sandman

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Previous Story: The Maltese Penguin

I find it really surprising that this is one of only two audio stories to feature Frobisher in them. This story starts off quite funny, much like The Maltese Penguin it's very self-aware and I really love the idea of a civilisation that have such rigid traditions that they even perform assassination attempts ritually. It's quite an interesting commentary on religion in general. The first half does start to drag a bit with mostly the same jokes about how odd the society is, but it really picks up with the introduction of the evil baby God (one of the strangest sentences I've typed doing these reviews). The way all the characters begin to challenge their traditions towards the end was quite impactful. The twist that the castle was actually a self-made torture chamber that was endlessly looping was fantastic and quite dark. It reminded me a lot of Heaven Sent and I wouldn't be surprised if this is where some of the inspiration for that came from.

Next Story: Real Time

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Previous Story: Project: Twilight

This story is silly and absurd in all the right ways. It's fitting for one of the most absurd companions, a shapeshifting penguin private eye. He's a perfect parody of the cynical film noir detective and the brilliant narration by Robert Jezek really brings this homage to that era of detective fiction together. While the Doctor isn't present for a good chunk of this, Colin Baker very much is as Frobisher takes on the Doctor's form as a disguise in his investigation. As a brit, I can't speak too much on the quality of Colin Baker's accent, but it was very funny and I personally thought it was quite good. This story feels like it could be a precursor to the companion chronicles.

The plot was simple but enjoyable. It was very meta, with Frobisher mentioning the tropes of sci-fi and "private eye" stories. Even the MacGuffin of the story was meta with all the characters only referring to it as a "something". I really liked the character of Josiah W. Dogbolter, he was fun as a generic mob boss/gangster character and was performed quite well by Toby Longworth.

Overall, a fun little story. It's a shame this was the last appearance of Frobisher on audio.

Next Story: The Holy Terror

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Previous Story: Bloodtide

Wow, that was awful. This story is like if you melted down all the worst parts of season 22 and concentrated it into one painfully terrible adventure. It's so edgy and gratuitously violent for no real reason. I didn't need to hear a man explode and then all the blood and organs splatter on the walls and floor. And I definitely didn't need to hear it a SECOND time. I hate how badly characterised the Doctor is here, he's so stupid. He trusts the mysterious people running the shady casino who don't flinch when a man explodes in front of them for literally no reason and then gets shocked when they turn out to be evil. He puts Evelyn in needless danger and even gets tricked into making a super-virus for the vampires. This story likes to pull a lot of things out of nowhere, like the aforementioned super-virus or when a character gets attacked and then says "did I forget to mention my armour?" as a lazy way of explaining why nothing happened to him.

While I really like Maggie Stables so far as Evelyn, she was downright insufferable in this story. No fault of her performance, but rather the writing. Like the Doctor, she made a lot of out-of-character decisions like leaving Cassie with someone who was clearly going to torture her. That whole sequence was ridiculous because the Doctor told Evelyn to stay with Cassie only for Evelyn to believe a lie that the Doctor "needed her to fetch something". It was a pointless decision made just so the writers could shove in some torture scenes. This story manages to make the 2 hour long snoozefest that is The Apocalypse Element seem like a short trip, and this is half an hour shorter. It's a shame because I genuinely enjoyed the atmosphere at the start and the soundtrack was phenomenal.

Overall, this is an exceedingly dull and needlessly gory story. I understand that this is the start of a very important and expansive arc in the Main Range so if the rest of those stories are anything like this I'm going to have a hard time.

Next Story: The Maltese Penguin

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Previous Story: The Apocalypse Element

Charles Darwin and the Silurians, a pair so perfect for each other that they're doing it again in a book coming out this month. This story is actually really interesting in how it handles Darwin encountering the Silurians, at the start he's skeptical of God, but still believing in him and by the end he believes that religion is a lie. It's fascinating to hear this happen over the course of the story and Miles Richardson's excellent performance as Darwin really helps this story stand out. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables remain an extremely fun pair to listen to.

I was surprised to find out that this was one of few Classic Silurian stories on audio, they feel like such an iconic villain that you'd expect them to appear in more. I do really like how accurate this story is to the sound design of the Silurians. The voices are on point and this story even includes the infamous third eye laser noise responsible for so many ridiculous Classic Who cliffhangers. While the inclusion of Darwin definitely makes this story stand out, it still follows the typical format of a Silurian adventure. There's always one good Silurian and one bad one that argue a bunch. The Doctor tries to be the voice of reason. Somewhere along the way a virus gets released and it ends in explosion.

Overall, I like so many things about this story (the atmosphere, the way it uses Charles Darwin, the accuracy to the TV show no matter how silly) but I can't help feeling it's a bit derivative.

Next Story: Project: Twilight

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Previous Story: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor

Middle of the road Dalek slop. The only redeeming factor in this story is that it has the return of Lalla Ward as Romana II. Even then she doesn't reunite with the Doctor until a good deal into the story. Maggie Stables is doing fantastically as Evelyn and I found the bit where she did the Dalek impression funny. Colin Baker is trying his best to salvage this story and it says a lot about him that even in as boring a snooze-fest as this he's putting in a really strong performance.

Aside from the excellent lead cast, this story has nothing going for it. The Daleks are as simple and one-dimensional as ever. Their grating voices are not suited to the audio medium whatsoever and for some reason Stephen Cole thinks we need a 20 second action sequence that we can't even see that consists of nothing but Dalek lasers firing and exploding things. That kind of action simply doesn't work, especially without any dialogue throughout the entire thing to atleast tell you what's going on.

It's a shame 6 and Evelyn have had a dud only 3 stories into their run. I really hope this story ends up being an exception.

Next Story: Bloodtide

Really great little mini-series. I like how the Fugitive Doctor is characterised, she feels exactly like how I'd imagine an early version of the Doctor to act. The story was really interesting and I didn't expect the twist that the colonists were Time Lords. I did however expect the twist with Taslo. 4 issues just isn't long enough to really make you get to know the character, so the betrayal didn't hit hard at all. I liked the idea of a Weeping Angel companion, I wish we'd seen more of them. I also really enjoy how this story portrays Time Lord corruption, basically everyone but the Doctor has their own hidden agenda in this.

The artwork is really nice, it gets the likeness of Jo Martin down quite well and I love the strange Time Lord colonist designs. The worlds they visit are also very vibrant and interesting in a way only this medium can achieve. I love how this manages to feel like no other era, there really aren't any Doctor Who stories that feel similar. All this makes me really excited for the Fugitive Doctor audios coming out soon, if they nail the vibe of this then I'll be more than happy with them.

Pretty charming little story. The Fugitive Doctor is characterised quite well and I like that you can see her starting to like Earth by the end. I was not expecting the cameo at the end, but I like the implication that some of her memories survived after the wipe, enough to draw the Doctor back here subconsciously.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Marian Conspiracy

Our adventures with 6 and Evelyn continue in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. While not as fantastic as it's predecessor, it's still really great and marks the first appearance of the Brigadier in Big Finish. It's also his first and only meeting with the Sixth Doctor. Colin Baker and Nicholas Courtney immediately have great chemistry, you'd be forgiven for thinking they had met on TV. I love how the Brigadier immediately recognises the Doctor because he's met him enough times and who else would try to pull off a coat like that. Maggie Stables' Evelyn continues to be an excellent companion and a perfect foil to the Sixth Doctor.

The plot itself is alright, though nothing special. It's a fairly typical Doctor Who story set in a sleepy English town with some great alien mystery unfolding. It's got the obligatory betrayal twists and "character suddenly pulls out a gun to show they're evil" scenes that I see in just about every story. Sancreda is an interesting enough villain, with a very annoying voice. I do like that the Brigadier was the one to resolve the story, and the fact that he was willing to sacrifice his life to save the world only to then be very humble about it was a very Brigadier thing to do. It's a shame Nicholas Courtney doesn't appear in that many more stories alongside the Doctor because I really enjoy their dynamic.

Overall, a bit weaker than the last one but definitely a strong adventure that I'd be glad to relisten to.

Next Story: The Apocalypse Element

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Previous Story: The Hunting Ground

And with this, I've finally made it to the 6th Doctor and Evelyn. I've heard nothing but good things about this TARDIS team making this one of my most anticipated parts of my timeline watchthrough. While I've only listened to this first story, I can safely say that I understand the hype. For starters, Maggie Stables is fantastic as this new companion Dr Evelyn Smythe. She has excellent chemistry with Colin Baker from the moment they meet and she's the perfect counter to his obnoxious and arrogant Doctor. I love that we finally have a companion who's willing to call the Doctor out on what he does. Her being a history professor is also very unique, we haven't really had a companion knowledgable about history since Barbara.

As far as historicals go, this one is very reminiscent of the early ones in the 60s. It really takes time at the beginning to immerse you in the past, with lengthy scenes of the Doctor in the Queen's court and Evelyn at an old-fashioned English tavern. I really enjoy how modern things interact with the past in this story, Evelyn's painkillers being mistaken for poison or the historical characters being fascinated by a zip to name a few examples. It's stuff like this that really brings a story to life. I like the perspective this story has on historical figures like Queen Mary, it doesn't portray her in a black and white way like so many other historicals do when it comes to controversial figures. When you take a step back, the plot is actually quite simple. The things that really make this story so good are the character interactions and relationships. I really wish more stories were like this because it's honestly fantastic.

Let's just say I haven't been this eager to continue my timeline watchthrough since I broke out of the black and white era and began colour.

Next Story: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor

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Previous Story: Hour of the Cybermen

It's not often you get a story set in Iceland, that already makes this a unique experience. I really liked the vibes of this one, it was a lot smaller-stakes than some of the previous stories, focused entirely on a small-town mystery. Yrsa Kristjansdottir was a fun character, and she played off the Doctor particularly well.

The Doctor was extra silly in this story, my preferred way for the Doctor to be written. I found the idea of the Hunter really interesting, especially the taking of cherished memories as trophies. I really liked the themes of corruption and conspiracy here and the way it followed a typical police procedural format. I do like that the ending is open-ended, it would be nice to see a story or two more with Yrsa.

Next Story: The Marian Conspiracy

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Previous Story: Iron Bright

This is the third 6th Doctor audio that I've listened to where his companion turns out to be evil and betrays him. It worked this time around though, because unlike the other two stories, Daniel Hopkins actually appeared in a story before this, that way I actually cared when he betrayed the Doctor. The story itself was standard 80s Cyberman stuff, nothing to write home about. It's cool that this is the first story with David Banks returning as the Cyber-Leader, complete with his iconic "excellent"s. Colin Baker put in a great performance here, especially when he started to be suspicious of Daniel. I do kinda feel bad for him because of how much this has happened though. Overall, a fairly mediocre story made better by the excellent betrayal plotline.

Next Story: The Hunting Ground

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Previous Story: The Lure of the Nomad

A fun little historical with a unique sci-fi twist. It focuses on a historical figure that I've never heard of, which is a welcome surprise instead of another Shakespeare story or some other famous historical figure. I really liked the idea of an alternate reality watching us through one-way windows, observing us like a zoo of some kind. The worldbuilding of the alternate reality was quite good and the descriptions painted a vivid picture in my mind. I found the main villain really infuriating, she was just so incompetent and cruel. I'm unsure whether to count that as a positive. The story started off a bit slow but really picked up when it got to the other world. Overall, it's not an incredible adventure but it's quite inventive and doesn't feel like it's wasting my time.

Next Story: Hour of the Cybermen

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Previous Story: Peri and the Piscon Paradox

This is the second 6th Doctor audio I've listened to that features a random companion showing up only for them to turn out to be evil. Like that other story, which I won't name to avoid spoilers, it drops this companion straight into an adventure and pretends like they've been there for ages. Then it pulls the twist of [insert companion] was actually an evil alien tagging along with the Doctor this whole time as if we're supposed to care about some random that appeared about an hour ago.

It also doesn't help that the story is atrociously boring, it's really generic Doctor Who fare full of stupid alien names and meaningless technobabble. I sort of zoned out in the middle because of how dull it was and when I started paying attention again somehow we'd made it to universe ending stakes? Overall, not a story I care for at all. It could have been salvaged if we actually got to know this new companion but as it stands I've already forgotten their name and it's only been 10 minutes since I finished it.

Next Story: Iron Bright

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Previous Story: The Acheron Pulse

I think this might just be my favourite companion chronicle of all time. It's funny, it's clever, it's self-aware and it's heartfelt and serious all at the same time. There are so many twists and turns that leave you absolutely reeling. There's some fantastic performances from Nicola Bryant, she really brings this narrated story to life in a way not many actors can do.

The first half of this story is the silliest. Without any context for what's going on, it's a bonkers story about fish aliens trying to kill themselves to reincarnate as humans, with a super-spy older Peri. Once it's all explained in the second part, it makes so much sense. I had thought it was just a heavy dose of Nev Fountain's brand of whimsy but it's all fantastically explained.

Sixie's role in this story is fantastic, the idea of the Doctor dressed up in a stuffy monster suit trying to trick his younger self. It's very self-aware. In fact, this whole story is extremely meta. The revelations towards the end of the second part, why older Peri had been concealing her backstory so much was jaw-dropping.

And the way it tied into Season 23 was something I very much appreciated, considering that was only a few stories ago for me. Overall, easily the best companion chronicle, maybe even one of the best audio stories in general.

Next Story: The Lure of the Nomad

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Previous Story: Vampire of the Mind

As someone who really liked The Burning Prince this is a really disappointing follow up. Admittedly, the story of the last one was fairly generic aswell, but it made up for it with very compelling characters and some fantastic performances. This doesn't really have any of that. It's generic in every way possible.

Having Prince Kylo return as the villain of this story wasn't a twist I expected, nor is it one I wanted. It reminds me a lot of what they did with Adric in The Boy That Time Forgot (though not nearly that bad thank goodness). This could have been a lot better if it was only an hour long, I think they could have easily condensed it down to that length. Overall, not impressed. It's not a bad story, just disappointing.

Next Story: Peri and the Piscon Paradox

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Previous Story: Urgent Calls

This story is pretty standard and fairly cliché but I can't help but enjoy it. This is mainly down to Alex Macqueen's fantastic portrayal of the Master. This is my first story with him and it's already sold him as a definitive incarnation of the Master. He plays off Colin Baker really well in this story aswell. It was a decently dark story, the scientists being turned into mindless zombies and the man walking into the sea at the end stand out as fairly horrifying moments, just in time for Halloween. Other than that it was fairly predictable and had a weird tendency to over-reference past TV stories that sort of took you out of the story for a bit. Overall, it's nothing revolutionary but it is a lot of fun.

Next Story: The Acheron Pulse

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Previous Story: I.D.

I find short one-part stories to be very hit or miss but they can be done brilliantly sometimes and this is an example of that. Taking the form of a series of phone calls between the Doctor and a telephone operator by the name of Lauren Hudson. The catch is that they were never intentionally calling each other, they just happened to dial wrong numbers each time. This is one of those great little slice-of-life adventures that show the impact the Doctor can have on someone's life even with just a few phone calls. I liked that it ended with writing a letter, that was quite sweet.

Next Story: Vampire of the Mind

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Previous Story: Her Final Flight

A decent story with some really good sci-fi. The way this story presented a society who could transfer information without needing to speak or interact with things was very interesting. It felt quite realistic to how something like that would work. Otherwise it's just standard Doctor Who fare. The actual plot felt well-paced but I think the story could have done with a bit longer to really flesh out the world because it's quite interesting and unique. Colin Baker is great as always but the lack of a proper companion for him means he has no one to really bounce off and this story ends up feeling a bit filler-y. Still quite entertaining though.

Next Story: Urgent Calls

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Previous Story: The Ratings War

This one is an odd one, if it weren't for the last 20 or so minutes it would be quite dull and forgettable. The return of Peri in this almost felt as clumsy as the way she was written out of the show in the first place. The twist reveal, that the Doctor was imagining all of this was definitely quite shocking and made up for the overall weird vibe of the story. Colin Baker's performance when the Doctor thought that Peri had just died on him again was fantastic but other than that I can't really forgive this story for wasting 40 minutes of my time no matter how good the last 20 were.

Next Story: I.D.

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Previous Story: The Wormery

A fun little short story featuring everyone's favourite psychotic cuddly-toy Beep the Meep! This isn't some sort of deep, thought-provoking story or anything. In fact it's exactly the opposite and that's why I think it's so great. It helps that the Meep's little song is so catchy though.

Next Story: Her Final Flight

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Previous Story: The Ultimate Foe

While I've heard of Iris before, this is my first proper story with her and wow, what an interesting character. For starters, she's played really well by Katy Manning, so much so that if she wasn't on the cover I wouldn't have recognised her. She's nothing at all like Jo Grant, in fact she's quite the opposite. Her chemistry with Colin Baker's Doctor is also really great, even though this is their first story together they really sell the idea that they have a long history.

This story is really interesting because for a good chunk of it there's no real antagonist or anything, it just feels like you're sitting there in Bianca's watching all this unfold. It's got some great vibes. The story picks up around halfway in, the idea that Bianca is Iris' Valeyard was a great twist. In hindsight it makes a lot of sense, Bianca is the polar opposite to Iris in the same way the Valeyard is to the Doctor. I also like how closely Iris parallels the Doctor, it's very meta. I do like the framing device of the story, it gives it a very different feel than most adventures and it gives us a little cameo from Seven. Overall, a really odd story but fun nonetheless.

Next Story: The Ratings War

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Previous Story: Terror of the Vervoids

Quite possibly my favourite Classic season finale. It's so ridiculous and thrilling that I can't help but enjoy it. It ties up the entire season perfectly. The first episode starts incredibly strong and the fact that the Master showing up was as cathartic as it was, is a testament to just how good of a villain Michael Jayston's Valeyard is. It really ups his credibility as a villain when even a villain as good as the Master hates him. The reveal that the Valeyard is actually a future version of the Doctor was a lot better than I expected it to be. I'd heard about it before and thought it was silly and pointlessly included but it doesn't feel like that at all after watching it. It certainly doesn't "break canon" in any way either.

The scenes inside the Matrix were very evocative of The Deadly Assassin, another story with a lot of themes of Time Lord corruption. In fact I'd say all the Time Lord stories since then have been building up to this story. You could argue that this starts all the way back in The War Games in fact. Sabalom Glitz's role in the story felt a bit out of place, but I'm not complaining because I think he's quite a fun character. It did start to feel a bit rushed by the end of the second part, especially with the Master sub-plot. I do wish he'd taken a smaller role or atleast for once not an entirely evil one. Overall, an incredibly epic finale to one of the most modern-feeling and enjoyable seasons in all of Classic Doctor Who.

Next Story: The Wormery

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Previous Story: Mindwarp

If it weren't for The Ultimate Foe, this would easily be my favourite Sixth Doctor story. This is where the trial scenes really start to have an impact, with the Doctor finally presenting his case for the defence. This is probably one of the cleverest uses of time-travel in the classic show so far and a great depiction of how I imagine Time Lord trials would work. Michael Jayston is fantastic as the Valeyard and quickly becomes one of the most intimidating villains in Doctor Who.

Bonnie Langford gets unceremoniously dropped into the show as a companion, it's a really jarring change from Peri's sudden death to Mel and the Doctor exercising. The plot itself is one of Baker's most solid so far, better than Vengeance on Varos in my opinion. There's some really great mystery here and it all gets satisfyingly explained. These stories have been excelling at shocking cliffhangers and this is no exception, especially at the end. Overall, it's already a great story on it's own but the thrilling trial scenes elevate it to a much higher level.

Next Story: The Ultimate Foe

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Previous Story: The Mysterious Planet

And after such a great start, we're back to Season 22 quality again. The courtroom framing device is still very effective here, and Michael Jayston only gets better as the Valeyard. This story was especially good as you begin to see how the narrative is being twisted and the Doctor is losing favour in the court. I really enjoy how helpless the Doctor is here, it greatly adds to the tension.

The actual plot here is very weak. This story seems to think that the reason Vengeance on Varos was so well-recieved was Sil. I despise Sil. Brian Blessed's King Yrcanos is the definition of hammy Classic Who acting, but atleast they're self aware about it. While I think he's a fun character, I don't like the romantic narrative being set up with Peri.

The idea of mind transfers was pretty interesting, but no matter how much they say it will affect the fate of the universe, I just can't see why the Time Lords care so much. It's also baffling to me why they make Colin Baker's Doctor evil for half this story, it's genuinely impossible to tell whether he's being influenced or if he's genuinely just had a change of heart, that's how erratic and unstable his Doctor is.

Getting rid of Peri like that was ridiculous and the only reason I tolerate it is because of Colin Baker's performance when the Doctor finds out. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now though as I haven't watched the rest of the season. Overall, a big step down though not particularly awful mostly thanks to the courtroom scenes.

Next Story: Terror of the Vervoids

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Previous Story: Plight of the Pimpernel

What a start to Season 23, like the nothing the show has seen before. It's probably been said many times, but that model shot is gorgeous and for a second I genuinely felt like I could have been watching something big-budget like Star Trek. The courtroom framing device is excellent, often more interesting than the story itself. The Valeyard is a great villain so far, performed wonderfully by Michael Jayston. He's the perfect foil to Colin Baker's eccentric and obnoxious Doctor (not hate on his Doctor I absolutely love him).

The actual plot to the story is nothing remarkable but it is surprisingly competent for this era of Doctor Who. I like all the various narratives going on, Sabalom Glitz and Dibber are a fun little duo. The reveal that the planet they were on is Earth could have been done a bit more impactfully in my opinion. Ironically, I think it's where Chris Chibnall lifted the "barren planet is Earth" reveal for Orphan 55.

The big robot is not the most compelling villain, but he does the job for the story. I'm not the biggest fan of the way this adventure ends, it feels quite rushed and like they suddenly remembered that there had to be a bit of action beyond getting captured and re-captured over and over. A promising start to the season though.

Next Story: Mindwarp

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Previous Story: Brightly Shone The Moon That Night

Really enjoyed this one, it has so many things going for it that it's hard not to. It starts off as a really fun pseudo-historical, I thought it was gonna stay like that for the entire story. I also thought it would be set in France more, something in the vein of Reign of Terror. None of these predictions were correct as it shifted to a very different story altogether.

I almost felt bad for Percy, until the twist happened. That was absolutely the highlight of the story, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant's sheer outrage at this, especially the former was some brilliant bits of acting. It tapped into that unpredictable and unstable side of 6 from TV where you never know if he's ready to go against his morals or not, without feeling out of character for the Doctor. Those final words from Peri to Percy hit hard, a very poignant end for the story, showing how much Peri cares for the Doctor. Overall a very fun, very dramatic story that I would recommend.

Next Story: The Mysterious Planet

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

A very bizarre way to end off this bizarre anthology. Werewolves already felt like a strange cliffhanger at the end of the last story, and they still feel out of place here. Joe finally gets a conclusion to his "character" if you could call it that. He actually does get some interesting material here and they way he switches from kind and caring to mean and threatening was a great bit of acting from Luke Allen-Gale. This entire anthology has definitely been more about Peri than the Doctor and this gives Nicola Bryant a lot of time to show off how good an actress she is. The actual plot is a bit disjointed and it's not exactly as satisfying a finale as I'd have liked it to be. The way it's connected all the various short stories throughout is massively impressive though. Overall though, this isn't a story I'll be revisiting at Christmas, or ever, for that matter.

Next Story: Plight of the Pimpernel

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Previous Story: The Baby Awakes

This is probably the most festive story out of the bunch, the first time I've been able to really picture Christmas throughout this anthology. Joe is also an actual character here, he finally has some semblance of depth. His arguement with Peri was especially good. Luke Allen-Gale and Nicola Bryant's performances here are fantastic. This story is a very interesting character-piece for Peri, though the main goal seems to be set up for the next and final one. The Doctor is very much the side character here, he's just solving a mystery completely unrelated to what's going on with Peri. Speaking of the mystery, I do like the idea of a never-ending Christmas party and it was quite a fun setting for the story. The cliffhanger ending was not how I expected this to go, werewolves on Christmas?

Next Story: Brightly Shone The Moon That Night

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Previous Story: Blood on Santa's Claw

Whatever little moments that made the last story Christmas-y are almost completely gone now. Apart from a few mentions of Christmas this story could really be set anytime. Joe is still pretty uninteresting, it's hard to care about him when we know so little of his character and all that we do know is just that he's a generic male companion who Peri is in love with.

Aside from all that, the story is decently interesting at the beginning, but really repetitive so it gets boring quite quickly. I like the concept of these artificial experiences but after we go through like 5 of them it gets a bit dull. At the very least, Nicola Bryant's performance is really great. Otherwise this story doesn't have much to offer in my opinion.

Next Story: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

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Previous Story: Emissary of the Daleks

A nice enough story, but not one I'll be revisiting at christmas. I find Nev Fountain's work to be really hit or miss and this leans towards miss for me. It's a bit too silly, even for me and it feels like it's trying to be funny, but ultimately falls flat. The ideas are fairly charming though, even if I don't like the execution. Colin Baker atleast seems to have fun as the Doctor pretending to be Santa.

This story is also the introduction to Joe Carnaby, it's not a very good introduction because if you're listening along to the Doctor and Peri's adventures then he sort of pops up out of nowhere. I'm sure that's intended and will be explained later but it doesn't help to make my opinions of this story any greater. He's also not present whatsoever in the story which means you end up forgetting about him quite quickly, only for the ending to remind you he exists.

Next Story: The Baby Awakes

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Previous Story: Memories of a Tyrant

I don't normally care for Dalek stories as most of them are rubbish. The Daleks being involved is a clear sign that the writer has ran out of ideas. That is not the case for this story surprisingly. It's by no means incredible or even that unique, but it manages to be really interesting and quite entertaining. It helps that Andrew Smith knows how to write Daleks interestingly, they aren't incredibly witty or anything but they have a certain snark to them in this story that I really like. They feel less like the caricatures they often are in other stories.

This story follows a traditional Dalek story format, with the Doctor showing up to a place enslaved by Daleks, teaming up with a resistance, getting captured a few times and then finding some critical weakness that the Daleks have never seemed to have before and using to it to blow however many there are into atoms. This adventure follows that to a tee but adds some interesting subplots and themes about reconciling with family and standing up against injustice. Honestly I don't know how to fully explain why I like this story. It's just good.

Next Story: Blood on Santa's Claw

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Previous Story: The Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time

Love a story with some good sci-fi and this delivers. Altering memories to convict someone falsely is one of those outlandish sci-fi ideas that parallel real-world events. 6 and Peri have been getting a ridiculous amount of murder mysteries and typically I'm quite tired of them but this one manages to be something fresh.

The Doctor believing himself to be an evil dictator was great and Colin Baker sounded like he had fun doing it. Nicola Bryant was pretty good here, having to carry the story on her own while the Doctor was indisposed. I'm a fan of how it all tied up neatly. Definitely one of the better outings for this team.

Next Story: Emissary of the Daleks

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Previous Story: An Eye for Murder

What a great little story. I quite liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and this is a charming homage to it. I like the implication that the Doctor (Six in particular) is autistic. I don't normally like Nev Fountain's work, it's a bit too whimsical and absurd for me, but this was great. It balanced the right amount of ridiculous and heartfelt making it a really fun story and a good one overall. A great way to cap off this anthology in my opinion.

Next Story: Memories of a Tyrant

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Previous Story: Of Chaos Time The

Didn't really care for this one, I just find the setting a bit dull and the murder mystery plot generic. Basically nothing in this story stands out to me, it's a real nothingburger and by far the weakest link in this anthology. I struggle to even write a review for this because there is so little to review, I almost feel bad submitting this.

Next Story: The Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time

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Previous Story: Breaking Bubbles

Much more interesting than the last. The time-jumping reminds me a lot of the companion chronicle, The Crumbling Magician. I'd say that story executed it a little better, but this is also fairly good. My only issue with this one is that I think it's a bit too short to convey the message it's trying to, as is the case with many of these short anthology stories. I appreaciate the clever use of time-travel but the rest of the story doesn't have enough substance for me to rate it any higher than a 6.

Next Story: An Eye for Murder

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Previous Story: The Space Race

Not sure what to think about this story, it's a bit of a nothingburger really. That's unfortunately the case with quite a few short stories like this one. It's not bad by any means, a definite improvement over the quality of the last anthology with 6 and Peri. I liked the hologram shenanigans. Peri convincing the deposed queen not to go through with her escape to avoid any casualties was a nice moment. Beyond that there is nothing to say about this adventure.

Next Story: Of Chaos Time The

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Previous Story: Question Marks

I love a good spy thriller and this checks all the boxes of one while doing it in a way that only Doctor Who could pull off. For a start, if you'd told me that Laika the space dog would be the main villain of the story, I'd have called you insane. It's an idea that's so bizarre that it shouldn't work and yet it does. The plot here is fascinating and ridiculous, I don't want to end up summarising it so all I'll say is that the way it blends often serious spy-thriller tropes with the absurd sci-fi plots of Doctor Who is fantastic.

The performances are great, Baker and Bryant are great as always here and the supporting cast are all distinctly memorable. I will say, the accents were really inconsistent, some Russian characters would flip back and forth from attempted Russian accents and more standard English or American ones. I'd rather they stuck to one, but it's a minor nitpick honestly as it doesn't at all detract from the story.

I love the way real life events were woven into this story, JFK's assassination being a cliffhanger for example. It was a fun way to tie back into the fact that this is an anniversary story. Overall, I really liked this one. Not as much as Fanfare for the Common Men (the other story in this trilogy that I've listened to) but very close.

Next Story: Breaking Bubbles

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Previous Story: A Most Excellent Match

I'm glad that there was atleast one story to salvage an otherwise awful set. And what a story this is. It takes the same trope of "familiar characters in an unfamiliar location without their memories" from the last story and makes a fantastic story out of it (unlike the aforementioned last story). The fact that this commits to the mystery is what makes it so good, you spend the whole story genuinely wondering what's going on. You even start to get attached to the characters, only for the ending to absolutely crush you. It's one of the best "amnesia" stories in Doctor Who that I've listened to (and there are a lot). I won't spoil the ending, in case anyone wants to listen to it. Fantastic performances all-round, just a fantastic story in general.

Next Story: The Space Race

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Previous Story: Paradoxicide

Another mediocre story. It seemed somewhat interesting at first, with the Doctor and Peri seeming not to recognise each other, both in an unfamiliar location. Unfortunately this was quickly (and generically) explained as Peri being trapped in some sleazy businessman's "dream machine" or whatever it was called. The Doctor still remembered her and was in fact trying to rescue her from the machine. The plot devolves quickly and the story somehow manages to be some of the most padded 40 minutes I've ever listened to. The Doctor rescues Peri, only to get trapped himself. So now Peri has to go back and rescue him. Then they both escape and the machine explodes in a moment that seems like it was intended to be sad. If the final story doesn't save this set, this will manage to be the most consistently middling anthology I've ever listened to.

Next Story: Question Marks

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Previous Story: Recorded Time

This story is only slightly better than the last. Again, it's got really insufferable characters. Not in a compelling villain way but in a poorly-written villain way. This story uses the really annoying trope of "female villains who view all males as inferior" and that's the only element of their characters. It's something I've seen a lot in Doctor Who though particularly in Sixie's era with Mission to Magnus. This story is not quite as egregious as that but it's still pretty rough. The only reason this is even remotely better is because it does something decently interesting with time travel. That's unfortunately weighed down by the rest of the story being painfully dull and predictable.

Next Story: A Most Excellent Match

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Previous Story: The Reaping

Decent, but nothing spectacular. Henry VIII is really insufferable here, though I suppose he's meant to be. The first half of this story manages to drag, which is impressive considering it's only 37 minutes long. It gets slightly more interesting when the stuff with the Scrivener starts happening, but that's full of plotholes. Anne Boleyn is the only somewhat interesting character and even then she feels quite generic. Overall, a rough start to this collection of short stories.

Next Story: Paradoxicide

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Previous Story: Cryptobiosis

This is probably one of the realest feeling audios out there, along with The Gathering. To clarify, it presents life in the most unglamourised way possible. It has a very somber atmosphere, with Peri finding out about a family friend's death and rushing back to visit their funeral. Like The Gathering, it really explores the life without/after the Doctor. It strips back the fairy-tale like adventures of Doctor Who and takes us back to the real world.

I'm gonna say, I don't think this story would be nearly as effective without Nicola Bryant's FANTASTIC performance. Not only is she really having to pull her weight alongside actual American actors (a testament to how good her American accent is when it blends into the story seamlessly), she's putting in one of the best performances I've seen a companion actor do as Peri is put through the wringer in this story.

While the Doctor is a bit more of a side character here, that doesn't stop Colin Baker from putting in a similarly great performance. The scene where he comforts Peri at the end stood out to me specifically. As for the Cybermen in this story, I think they're very unique here. They're cunning and crafty in a way that regular Cybermen usually aren't and it's fun to listen to.

I think the only thing I disliked in this story was how abrupt and ridiculous Peri's mum's death was. I don't mind her death as a plot point, but blowing up because of a Cyberman gadget the Doctor left behind is a bit stupid. Otherwise, it's a fantastic audio and a really great story for Peri as a character in particular.

Next Story: Recorded Time

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Previous Story: ...ish

Don't have anything bad to say about this story, it's an otherwise serviceable adventure made up for by a rich soundscape and solid performances from the lead actors. It's very easy to immerse yourself in the decks of a stormy steamboat. There's a very entertaining mystery running throughout the first half that gets concluded in a fairly satisfying way. The other mermaid character comes out of nowhere a little bit, but that's a very minor issue. I liked the way the Doctor interacted with the other characters here, for a while you genuinely didn't know who to trust.

Nicola Bryant gives a really great performance when she confronts De Requin about his plot to sell the baby mermaid. Likewise, Baker's outburst at the Captain for letting the TARDIS get swallowed up by a breach in the hull was a fantastic moment. There's a great bit of worldbuilding here regarding mermaids, makes me wonder what other stories have featured them on Earth. Overall, a solid story. Not anything spectacular but it doesn't feel like a waste of time either.

Next Story: The Reaping

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Previous Story: Whispers of Terror

I wasn't really enjoying this story at the start, a bit disappointed that we had another murder mystery around what seemed to be a suicide that turned out to be manipulated by an abstract entity for Six and Peri (odd that there's two like this in a row). The first two parts were fairly slow and generally uninteresting. I found it all a bit pretentious honestly. I was very much wrong by the second half when it shifted to be extremely bizarre and surreal.

I applaud that the writer of this managed to make linguistics so thrilling and eldritch. It helps that they clearly have a very verbose vocabulary and that none other than Colin Baker is the Doctor here. There genuinely isn't anyone else who could be the Doctor in this story. Being paired up with Nicola Bryant's Peri is also a fitting choice for this story with her much simpler American dialect being a perfect foil to the high-level academic vocabulary present in this story.

This story delves into a fair bit of genuine horror and the climax is very high-stakes and intense. While I wouldn't say this is the greatest Big Finish ever it's incredibly unique and it takes a theme it wants to use and absolutely runs with it. The only thing I'm disappointed by is how similar in structure this is to Whispers of Terror but this blows that story out of the park. Overall, I'd strongly recommend this if you want to hear Colin Baker flawlessly deliver words that you never even knew existed.

Next Story: Cryptobiosis

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Previous Story: Slipback

This story is a perfect example of Big Finish being able utilise the audio format to make really unique stories. This isn't a particularly experimental story by today's standards, but it was definitely a sign of things to come. Being Nicola Bryant's first performance as Peri for Big Finish and Colin's second they slip back (pun intended) into their roles quite naturally. The setting of an audio museum is perfect and I like how it technically continues on from Slipback. The story has a really compelling mystery and the idea of a monster that takes the form of a soundwave is terrifyingly done here (unlike a certain other sound-based villain).

Unfortunately this is where my compliments end. This story could easily have been a part shorter, there's a fair bit of padding and at one point the story was practically resolved only for something to happen again. It's impressive how much this story drags at times considering it's on the shorter end of Main Range releases. The cast, while they're all alright, sound really similar. There's a lot of characters and with them sounding so alike I found it hard to tell who was who except the Doctor and Peri. It also doesn't help that they're just forgettable characters in general.

Overall, I gave this story a 7 because I was impressed at how experimental it was for the time but in retrospect it's more of a 6.

Next Story: ...ish

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Previous Story: The First Sontarans

This is quite an odd story if I'm being honest. It's really weird listening to what is essentially a lost TV episode, on audio, made during it's respective Doctor's tenure. It's actually surprisingly good, both the audio quality and story quality hold up in my opinion. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant adapt effortlessly to audio and I wonder if the experience of doing this might have made them more keen to do Big Finish. It's weird hearing their voices so young, while Bryant sounds mostly the same now, Baker has noticeably aged since (though he's aged well).

The plot itself is surprisingly competent, I was expecting it to be gratuitously violent and annoying like most of Season 22 but it ends up being quite fun and unique. It doesn't feel too dissimilar to something Big Finish might put out today. The characters are quite fun, albeit a tad silly. The plot of the captain's body incubating death-spores when he got angry was a bit ridiculous though. I like the character of the computer's voice, it ended up being quite charming and something only the 80s could pull off.

I've seen a few people say this story is drawn out, but it's so short and made up of snappy 10-minute episodes that I really can't see it getting boring. It's an easily digestible story that you can finish in one sitting. Overall I quite like it and it's a fun way to bridge the gap between Sixie on TV and Sixie on audio.

Next Story: Whispers of Terror

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Previous Story: Power Play

And finally, I'm done with the 6th Doctor Lost Stories. I've not been a fan of them but I'm glad that they end on a good note. This is a story full of action, betrayal, plot twists. It's intense, but not in an excessively violent way like most of Season 22. I'm actually quite surprised at how lore-heavy this is, I didn't expect to learn the origins of the Sontarans from an audio story adapted from an unmade script.

I really love how modern this story feels though, you can tell Big Finish have figured out how to make stories both authentic and enjoyable. It's refreshing to have a Sontaran story actually feature the Rutans aswell, they're usually only hinted at in Sontaran stories and vice versa in Rutan stories.

I don't have too much to say about the plot, it's not anything particularly special but it's made good by just how thrilling it is, especially in the last two parts. The performances here are great as usual, Dan Starkey is the definitive voice of the Sontarans for me. Overall, it's just a solid entry in The Lost Stories and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the Sontarans.

Next Story: Slipback

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Previous Story: The Guardians of Prophecy

I definitely wasn't expecting the return of Victoria Waterfield. I'm somewhat disappointed that it happened in a somewhat mediocre story though. It doesn't help that she's mind-controlled or hallucinating for half the story, at one point trying to kill the Doctor. It just screams of 80s Who, bringing back a character and putting them through the wringer. I'm also not a fan of the last part, it all gets quite messy as all the plot-threads converge and I don't like how it resolves what up until then was a very good mystery.

That mystery is the only thing really keeping this story as a 6/10 for me, I love seemingly low-stakes earthbound mysteries and this was a perfect example of that. I didn't really like the alien police sideplot but I did like how it tied into the main plot atleast. The music was distracting at times and didn't feel like something to come out of the particular era this story is emulating. Overall, a really interesting mystery story that gets muddled by trying to juggle a companion reunion, a corporate mystery, an environmental message and an alien police chase.

Next Story: The First Sontarans

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Previous Story: The Macros

A very solid entry in the Lost Stories range. It's still era authentic, but manages to feel like modern Big Finish (something the first series struggled with, prioritizing era authenticity to it's own detriment). I like that this is a sort-of sequel to The Keeper of Traken. It captures a lot of the same vibes and the planet Serenity would be easy to mistake for Traken.

There's a very strong cast of characters here, all very memorable and well performed. The master thief, Ebbko, was definitely a highlight for me. Malador was also a great villain, he strongly reminded me of Omega which is no coincidence considering he is voiced by none other than Stephen Thorne himself.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant get some great material here and both are very lively and entertaining to listen to, a contrast to their oddly characterised and often annoying personalities in the first series of lost stories. I hope the next few keep up this level of quality. It really is a shame that this never made it to TV as I would have loved to see it.

Next Story: Power Play

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Previous Story: The Iron Shore (Unreviewed)

A fittingly spooky story just in time for Halloween. The vibes here are incredible. Victorian manor house on an endlessly stormy planet far from any civilisation, inhabited by an odd couple and a creepy singing girl. I mean, what more could you want. Tim Treloar and Katy Manning arrive on the scene with their fantastic chemistry and uncover the mystery behind the house. Manning gets a lot of time with the little girl, Emmeline Pepperdine (played by Felicity Cant) and it's sweet to hear her adopt a grandmotherly role (literally at one point). Treloar on the other hand is busy interrogating the couple, he inhabits the Third Doctor so well. While it's obvious he's not Jon Pertwee, he brings 3 to life in his own unique way and as usual captures him perfectly here.

This is a refreshingly unconventional Mondasian Cyberman story, largely ignoring them in favour of deepening the relationship between the Doctor and Jo. If I'm being honest, I prefer it this way. I absolutely love this version of the Cybermen (their voice in particular is haunting, and it remains so in this story) but by not focusing on them too deeply it prevents them from becoming generic robot soldiers. I wouldn't say this story is quite on Spare Parts level, but if you enjoyed the body horror and tragedy of that story, then this one feels quite similar. It's similarly set towards the beginning of the Cybermen.

I enjoyed the ending, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this Jo Jones arc progresses. I think Jo Jones is 3's best companion on audio right now, so I hope they give her a proper ending rather than keeping her in Big Finish limbo. Overall, a great, spooky little adventure.

Next Story: (Unreleased)

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Previous Story: The Song of Megaptera

I'm surprised to see how spread out the ratings are for this one. I suppose it really depends on what you expect from it. After going through stories like Mission to Magnus my expectations were very low so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The start is full of mystery, really evocative of the first part of The Space Museum and while it doesn't keep up with this for too long it definitely doesn't fumble as hard as The Space Museum did.

I love that the main setting of this story is based on actual historical events and does the great Doctor Who trope of taking a historical mystery and explaining it in some alien way. After this is where it seems a lot of people stopped enjoying the story as much as I did, as we shift to some sort of alternate dimension/planet connected to the disappearance of the ship. I'll admit the side-plot here is fairly generic alien dictatorship stuff that was really prevalent in the particular era of Who this story is emulating, but it serves the story really well and I don't have any complaints about it.

This is probably the most modern-feeling story so far, it never feels like you're watching a Season 22 story with your eyes closed and always feels like something modern Big Finish could put out. With most adventures in the Lost Stories range this wouldn't really work but when it comes to an era like this I think it helps a lot. As always the performances are great, the soundtrack is alright. In general, it's just a solid story

Next Story: The Guardians of Prophecy

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Previous Story: Point of Entry

I think this might be my favourite 6th Doctor lost story so far. While it's still as era-accurate as the rest of them, it never feels like I'm watching a Season 22 story but with my eyes closed. It feels like something Big Finish could feasibly put out nowadays. It's a simple, but really fun story. The acting is on-point here and 6 and Peri are great fun to listen to. It's got memorable side characters and at times you're more interested in what's going on with them than what's going on with the Doctor and Peri.

I think the reason I like this story so much is that it doesn't fall into the trap of seperating the Doctor and Peri that Season 22 constantly fell into. They have a really fun dynamic and splitting them up really ruins that. As always an excellent score but also a really great soundscape aswell that helps to bring the space whales to life.

Overall, it's one that would have been very interesting to see on TV, although I think this is one of the few cases where I think it's better on audio than it would've been otherwise.

Next Story: The Macros

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Previous Story: Paradise 5

It's amazing how exceedingly dull this story is. I'm honestly shocked, because looking at the summary of this story it sounds like it should be one of the strangest, most exciting lost stories. It doesn't seem like something that could have been concieved in the 80s, let alone actually made. This story just goes on and on and on. If it weren't for the two-hour runtime I don't think this would have been nearly as bad.

There are a few redeeming qualities. For one, the villain of the story is really entertaining to listen to, reminds me of Salazar from Pirates of the Caribbean. Nicola Bryant gives a great performance here and gets to show off her accent skills by playing Peri pretending to be a posh English queen.

Besides all that though, I found this story a slog to get through, albeit one with fascinating ideas.

Next Story: The Song of Megaptera

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Previous Story: The Hollows of Time

Surprisingly, I quite liked this one. It feels the most "modern" to me out of this first set of lost stories. I think had this been made it would be one of the better-remembered stories of Colin Baker's tenure. I have fairly little to say about the story, it's not something we haven't seen before. A resort designed to kidnap and collect victims for it's own evil plans is pretty standard Who.

I do like how a good chunk of this story focuses on Peri, rather than the Doctor, with him appearing every now and then as he snoops around the space station. It gives us some nice insight into Peri who has up until now remained quite generic. I think Colin Baker gives a great performance here, his disgust at the actions of both the Elohim and the resort staff was a highlight of this story.

It's nice to see the Doctor genuinely affected by the things that happen on his travels, especially in an era where he would mostly shrug things off. Overall, I didn't expect to enjoy this one nearly as much as I did. I'm hoping that the rest of these stories maintain the same quality.

Next Story: Point of Entry

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Previous Story: Leviathan

I'm not sure what to think of this one if I'm being honest. For a so-called "lost story" it's surprisingly experimental in a way that I feel like Season 22 was not. It still feels like a Season 22 script but it plays with concepts that feel a lot more modern to me. It's definitely one of those stories that would have been fascinating to see on TV, especially since it's such a visual story. In general though I'm really mixed on this story, it has all the hallmarks of a mediocre 80s story but it has the vibe of early 2000s Big Finish.

In a twist nobody was expecting, this story is a sequel to Frontios. Now I love Frontios, I'm not entirely sure why, I just know that I really enjoy it. If I had to guess though I'd say that the Tractators are not what I enjoyed about Frontios because they're really dull and painfully generic here. They feel quite out of place and contribute very little to the actual plot. This story ends up feeling like an excuse for Bidmead to bring back a monster he made.

I'm glad that after using what seemed to be genuine child actors for Mission to Magnus, Big Finish have opted to have the young boy here played by an adult woman which means Simon ends up being a fairly likeable character. This story has a lot of references to Bletchley, somewhere not too far from me so it was really odd hearing the Doctor talk about it so much. I understand why, and the historical significance/relevance it has but it will never not be weird hearing the name of a small place you know so well in something like Doctor Who.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I can't say I liked it. At most I respect what it tries to do, especially considering when this would have been originally written.

Next Story: Paradise 5

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Previous Story: Mission to Magnus

This is a definite improvement over the last story and one I wouldn't have minded seeing on TV. It's nothing revolutionary but it plays with some interesting concepts and I would have enjoyed seeing the execution of this on TV. The Herne was a very interesting villain with some solid sound design.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are great here, they effortlessly slip into the versions of their characters from the 80s. It helps that the rest of this story, like the rest of this series is extremely accurate to the feel of Season 22. I've probably said this before but you can genuinely close your eyes and picture the TV story perfectly. I have to praise the soundtrack and sound design for helping with this immensely.

I'm really only disappointed by the fairly simple sci-fi explanation. While it was essentially what I was expecting, it felt quite anticlimactic after the really great mystery that was being built up. It was still executed really well and it's essentially the only thing keeping this story from being a favourite. All in all, as long as the rest of the stories are like this and not whatever Mission to Magnus was I'll be happy.

Next Story: The Hollows of Time

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Previous Story: The Ultimate Evil

To say that this story was a struggle to get through would be one of the biggest understatements of the decade. It (and other poorly timed events in my life) essentially caused me to burn out on Doctor Who. I don't want to put all of the blame on this story but it certainly didn't help anything. I'll start with the few praises I can give it, it's very era-accurate. For the most part that's not a good thing but it shines in things like the soundtrack and performances. Of course all the bad parts of this era are also here, the Doctor is wildly out of character, being too afraid to even speak to his childhood bully (yes, the often fearless Doctor has a childhood bully that he's deathly-afraid of).

There's a lot of really weird messages here and it's one of those gender-role reversals where women absolutely despise men and try to kill them at any chance. The ending was also really off-putting with some blatantly sexist jokes. Peri is obviously also awfully written here and I found her relationship with a young boy really odd, calling him an "alpha male" at one point. It's easy to forget the Ice Warriors were even here, they could be replaced by any generic alien.

Oh and I don't even want to bother talking about Sil, I hated him in Vengeance on Varos and I hate him here but if you like him as a villain he's exactly as he was on TV. The Lost Stories can be hidden gems sometimes but usually they were lost for a reason (and I can think of many for this one).

Next Story: Leviathan

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Nightmare Fair

While I'm mixed on the quality of the stories themselves, the Lost Stories range is one of the most consistently era-authentic ranges out there. This is a story that's plucked straight out of Season 22, from the score to the way the plot is structured. Even Sixie's personality is 100% accurate to how he was at the beginning (for better or for worse). Because of all that though, I have very little to say about this story as I had very little to say about most of Season 22.

It's got a really interesting concept; a ray that can cause anyone to feel immense hatred (even the Doctor). Unfortunately I don't think this was used as great as it could have been, it often felt like pointless padding to build artificial tension that was then quickly resolved by the ray being turned off. That's my main and only gripe with the story in all honesty. This would have definitely been interesting to see on TV. With how era authentic it is though, it's not difficult to imagine. Overall, the story itself doesn't interest me so much as the work that has gone into making it.

Next Story: Mission to Magnus

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Previous Story: Revelation of the Daleks

I've yet to find a Toymaker story that really captures that otherwordly and eerie vibe that I loved so much from The Celestial Toymaker. It doesn't help that David Bailie's performance doesn't hold a candle to Michael Gough's and just ends up feeling like it's reduced the Toymaker to a cackling common villain, It doesn't feel like his powers were properly demonstrated here.

This story also suffers from being a story that was originally written for TV, meaning it struggles with a lot of the annoying quirks that Season 22 had that I really disliked. The Doctor and Peri constantly getting split up, leading to the Doctor facing off the main villain alone by essentially just talking to them while Peri gets put through whatever torment the writers concocted that week.

Ultimately though, like most of Season 22, I had fun with it. The cast are great, the settings are interesting and overall it's just fun. It might not have been the best story had it been made, but I would've loved to see it if only for the return of Michael Gough as the Toymaker.

Next Story: The Ultimate Evil

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Previous Story: Trouble in Paradise

Easily the best Davros story since Genesis. I really like the different spin on Davros here. Instead of being revived by the Daleks while a group of plucky rebels attempt to stop him for the umpteenth time, he's in charge of a corporation and actually doing (somewhat) good for the universe. Of course he can never be truly good and this led to an excellent twist when it was revealed what the concentrated protein actually was. Season 22 in general has been trying a bit too hard to be overly edgy and dark and that very rarely works in Doctor Who but this story is one that I think succeeded.

The only bit that fell flat for me was the weird subplot with Jobel and Tasambeker. Terry Molloy has fully won me over as Davros by now, he is by far the definitive Davros (though Julian Bleach does a great job too). Colin Baker was really great here as the Doctor, aside from one moment when he was helping Peri get across the fence I can definitely feel him mellowing out a little. Nicola Bryant was also quite good, especially her interactions with the radio DJ. I didn't like how she was getting creeped on throughout story, that element of the story wasn't at all necessary.

Overall this is a great story, much better than the previous 80s Davros story because this time it didn't bore me to death. It really is a shame I've only got one more season with Colin.

Next Story: The Nightmare Fair

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Year of the Pig

I've been loving Destiny of the Doctor, if only for a glimpse at each companion actor's impression of their respective Doctors (and 11). This story is a fairly fun one, the main part that I really like is how it challenges a lot of things that are problematic with celebrity historicals. It especially challenges the Doctor's idolisation of these historical figures by having Peri outright call the Doctor out on his treatment of Christopher Columbus. Nev Fountain seems to be fairly accustomed to subverting expectations when it comes to historical figures (see The Kingmaker which turns Richard III into the "good" guy and Shakespeare into the bad one).

Nicola Bryant's performance of this story is excellent and it's especially noticeable just how much work she puts in when she's narrating this story as you can really hear the differences between her natural accent and her Doctor Who accent. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the resolution, I'm mixed on the idea of a time-traveller creating the myth of Satan by appearing throughout Earth's history when stories like The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit have a much cooler explanation for the imagery of the Devil appearing everywhere. Overall a great installment to a series that I'm intrigued to hear the end of.

Next Story: Revelation of the Daleks

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Previous Story: Timelash

This is a fairly nothing story, it's the kind of thing you put on for two hours to occupy your mind and nothing more. I left this story having felt nothing. It certainly tried, there were plenty of moments that seemed like they were supposed to make you feel something, but they all fell flat. The redeeming factors of this story are few and far between.

It's got a great cast full of familiar names (the one that stands out to me most is Maureen O'Brien). Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are on top form, though they don't get much interaction between each other here, being seperated for most of the story.

This story has also got a really nice vibe to it and it's incredibly immersive, mainly because they keep referencing things that I've never heard of which I imagine would be accurate if I time travelled back to the early 1900s. Besides all that there really is nothing to say about this story.

Next Story: Trouble in Paradise

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Previous Story: Davros

I was going into this expecting something awful and what I got was an OK story. Just OK, bit dull at points, bit fun too. Really generic story about weirdly-named aliens fighting other weirdly-named aliens while having some sort of a civil-war. It's really unremarkable but it's not as horrible as I've seen other people rate it.

At the very least, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are good here. Baker especially is incredibly entertaining to watch and manages to make stories like this worthwhile. I like this story's usage of a historical figure, H. G. Wells. He's played quite well by David Chandler and has a fun dynamic with the Doctor. The reveal of his identity at the end was quite charming.

Overall it's definitely not a great story but I don't see why this one is hated as much as stories like The Twin Dilemma.

Next Story: Year of the Pig

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Two Doctors

A really great insight into Davros' motivations and his character overall. I might consider listening to I, Davros if it's anything like this because I think he's an absolutely fascinating villain. I find it a bit odd how nobody really questioned hiring Davros to work for their big mega-corporation. It feels like the Doctor Who equivalent to if Amazon revived Hitler to hire him, and then hired his greatest rival to work alongside him.

Still, it makes for some really fun moments, of both the Doctor adjusting to this newfound job and also sabotaging Davros at every opportunity. Not only are there fun moments, but there are some really intense ones, especially when Davros is recounting his time in suspended animation. The way he described coming up with every possible thought and idea and practically going mad only for the first second to pass was a chilling reveal and really drove home his insanity. Terry Molloy acted this excellently and I really think he's one of the best versions of Davros out there.

Colin Baker took a much more secondary role here and I think that really suits this story in particular; giving the spotlight to Davros is a great move. It got a teeny bit muddled towards the end but that doesn't really bring down what is otherwise a fantastic character piece that brings so much depth to a character who's usually reduced to mindless screaming like his mutated creations. Very good, I'm keen to see how Master is after two excellent villain-focused stories.

Next Story: Timelash

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Previous Story: Operation: Hellfire

I'll start by saying this is easily the superior version of The Three Doctors. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed that one too, but this story manages to fulfill the promise of "three" Doctors. Obviously I understand why it couldn't have been done like this on TV, but that has always left me wanting a "true" meeting of these incarnations. I'm a big supporter of all these impressionists, I need to review some of their stories at some point to really give my thoughts about them but I'll keep it short; they're all excellent.

By far my favourite recast (for a Doctor atleast) is Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor. I might be a bit biased considering his were the stories that got me into audio and Three is one of my favourite Doctors in general but I think he has a magnificent way of capturing the essence of Jon Pertwee without perfectly imitating him. It's noticeably the Third Doctor but it's his own spin on it and that's what makes it work so well. I really like Stephen Noonan and Michael Troughton's takes on their respective Doctors aswell, but perhaps I'm not as used to them. In general I think all the impressionists really capture the banter between each other that made The Three Doctors so fun. Obviously you can't talk impressions without mentioning Jon Culshaw who plays the Brigadier and it is one of the very few impressions that are honestly flawless, up there with Jacob Dudman's Eleventh Doctor and Elliot Chapman's Ben Jackson.

Anyway, enough talk about impressions, let's talk plot. I think Omega is great, one of my favourite parts about the televised serial but come on! The literal embodiement of Death will always be a cooler character. I also love the way the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Seven Deadly Sins factor into this story, having to be outwitted or defeated by the Doctors. It makes for a much more engaging story than walking around a quarry for a while before defeating Omega with a recorder. Another thing I really like is that the Doctors are all paired up with a companion each; 3 with Jo, 2 with Jamie and 1 with... the Brig? I'll admit, it would have been cool to have someone like Steven (though I don't know the details of the original story this was adapted from) but I think 1 and the Brig is a surprisingly inspired pairing. They have some really fun comedic moments and just work quite well together overall.

The Time Lord involvement here is much more interesting and the way this story is framed as a chess match being played between two powerful beings is unfathomably cool. This is just such an entertaining story from start to finish, I struggle to find anything to complain about it. I think this is a great introduction to anyone interested in the recast Doctor adventures ranges as all of the cast are on top form here. Above all though, it's a testament to Big Finish's ability to recast that they've managed to create such a fantastic epic led almost entirely by recast actors.

Next Story: The Three Doctors

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Mark of the Rani

This would be such a good story if it weren't so horrifically flawed. There's an underlying theme of eugenics throughout this story that really put me off, since it primarily came from a Second Doctor (who I assume to be post-War Games) I was originally willing to excuse it as some heavy Time Lord conditioning. Of course this is a retcon and doesn't change the content of this episode in anyway. Add that onto the fact that the Sixth Doctor reiterates most of these ideas later on in the story and it means you can't justify it in anyway. Even though this is technically regarding aliens, it still feels really icky and wildly out of character for either Doctor (and the Doctor in general).

Considering Robert Holmes wrote stories with 2 you'd think he'd be able to get it right. At the very least he does get the dialogue for Jamie and the Doctor down to a tee and their (minimal) interactions with the Sixth Doctor and Peri are really fun. Honestly I was willing to let most of this go until the third part. Not only is it so boring and largely irrelevant to the plot, it also features a scene where the Doctor is being pursued, finds a jar of cyanide, has enough time to soak some cotton wool in it, waits for his pursuer to ambush them by putting a butterfly net around their head and choking them with cyanide until they die. And then quips about it. One of quite a few needlessly gruesome, offensive or idiotic moments that plague what could otherwise be a fun adventure featuring beloved returning characters.

Next Story: Davros

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Previous Story: Vengeance on Varos

Surprisingly, this might be one of the most consistent seasons of Doctor Who yet. This is another really solid story that introduces a new villain; the Rani. Kate O'Mara is great as the titular character, especially in her dynamic with Anthony Ainley's Master. It's also nice to see a Time Lord villain that isn't just a carbon copy of the Master and it gives us a great perspective on how other Time Lords view the rivalry between the Doctor and the Master. The story itself is nothing remarkable; it's a decently captivating adventure. It does feel like it lacks substance a little. There isn't much of a mystery after the identity of the Rani is revealed and that's fairly early on.

I think part of what makes me enjoy this story is how authentic it feels. It rarely feels like the Doctor actually time travels, especially in the early days. Normally the cramped studio sets and hammy acting give away the low-budget nature of the show. This story is an exception with excellent location filming, costumes and dialogue. Overall, this is a story that follows the historical formula to a tee and greatly benefits from it. Colin Baker is really starting to shine as the Doctor and I appreciate that this is a more grounded and less zany story.

Next Story: The Two Doctors

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Previous Story: Attack of the Cybermen

Another really great story, aside from The Twin Dilemma I've been really enjoying Colin Baker's tenure as the Doctor. This is one is steeped in political commentary with interesting implications. Sil represents some interesting ideas and could make for a good villain but I think the design and over-the-top performance puts me off a little. I feel like RTD was heavily inspired by this story for certain elements of the revival, specifically in the commentary on the media landscape and the immobile villain who requires assistants to tend to them (Cassandra).

I really like that the 6th Doctor gets some more traditionally Doctor-y moments while toppling an evil government (a favourite pastime of the Doctor). This is a much more violent story than we've been used to and while I've seen a lot of complaints regarding that I actually think it's quite good here. It's darker but I wouldn't say it's child-unfriendly which is the main thing Doctor Who should strive never to be. Overall, another good story and I hope the rest of the season will follow this level of quality.

Next Story: The Mark of the Rani

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Previous Story: The Twin Dilemma

I am pleasantly surprised. I've heard a lot of bad regarding early Colin Baker and after The Twin Dilemma seemed to reinforce that I was half-expecting to go into this story just to point and laugh at how bad it is. What I got instead was a thrilling little action story and an excellent Cyberman story that successfully did what it's spiritual predecessor, Resurrection of the Daleks failed to do; entertain me. Because I'm not a fan of the aforementioned Dalek story, the return of Lytton didn't feel very important to me. In fact, I didn't even know who he was until they mentioned the events of Resurrection. In hindsight I appreciate his return, it makes the world of Classic Doctor Who feel more interconnected.

While I really liked Earthshock, it didn't feel that much like a Cyberman story so I'm glad that this story brings back the elements of body horror (in the best way that 80s Who can manage) that haven't been present since the early 60s. I also really like that this story addresses the events of The Tenth Planet happening in 1986. While having Colin Baker's introduction story in the previous season seemed like an odd choice, I think it helped the writers gauge audience opinions and let them tone down a lot of the things that were problematic with his last story.

I like the gags with the chameleon circuit and it feels fitting to have such a brash and arrogant Doctor think that he can fix it. If the Sixth Doctor remains this good then he'll easily be up there as one of my favourites without the need of any audio redemption. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this one and as long as this season maintains this level of quality I'll be happy with it.

Next Story: Vengeance on Varos

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Previous Story: The Caves of Androzani

I think it's a very bizarre choice to have this as the season finale to Season 21. I can't imagine having to wait however long it took for the next season to come out after this as your only taste of the Sixth Doctor. I'll start off by saying that regardless of the quality of the script, one thing that's certain is Colin Baker acts the hell out of it. He's given some of the worst dialogue in all of Who and manages to genuinely make it enjoyable and that alone is enough to confirm to me that he IS the Doctor.

And honestly, I'm willing to let all this go so long as he doesn't behave like this throughout the rest of his tenure, it's a post regeneration story after all (even if I disagree that fundamental traits of the Doctor shouldn't change in regeneration like being willing to let people die when he could easily save them or trying to strangle his companion).

Regarding the story itself, it's one of the better parts of this episode. Sure, it's cheesy Classic Who nonsense but it's nothing that hasn't been done before and it even has some nice moments if you can excuse the acting talents of the twins. Overall I think this story is deserving of it's reputation, it really botches the introduction of Colin Baker and is such a huge step down after Caves. At the very least though it isn't boring and I don't feel like I've wasted my time watching it.

“Whatever else happens, I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not.”

Next Story: Attack of the Cybermen 

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Set during: The Caves of Androzani: Part 4

After having finished 5 on TV, it only feels fitting to finish him on audio with this story. Of course there's still new content releasing and I've yet to listen to his multi-Doctor appearances, but I think this is a fitting end for the bulk of it. Obviously, I quite like this story, it certainly keeps up with the quality of the rest of Circular Time but suprisingly I don't like it as much as I'd expected to.

I think this story struggles from the lack of narration from Peter Davison, that was one of the things I loved about the previous parts of this anthology. I do like how you can almost put this alongside the episode and see what's going on in the Doctor's head but that does leave it feeling a bit derivative. In general I think the other parts were subtler and dealt with the themes of death and rebirth.

It's also weakened a bit by having Nyssa so prominent and nobody else. I understand why as it would be pointless to get the other cast members to appear for cameos (though they technically did that for Caves), but it would feel a lot grander if you had more than just Nyssa. That being said it's still a great story and like I said before, a fitting end to the Fifth Doctor on audio.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Urban Myths

Yes. It lives up to the hype, as long as you know what you're getting into. It has comedic elements, but it's not a comedy. This story is so unique in Doctor Who, a story so bleak that the only morally good characters in it are the Fifth Doctor and Peri and the only character that really survives is Peri. The Doctor and Peri stumble into a situation where there is no way to win, only to survive. The stakes are high and yet the story is small-scale, it's not a universe-ending threat.

A lot of people complain about bringing back beloved writers when the show isn't really working, or isn't hitting the heights that it used to. They say it's "lazy" and it shows you're "desperate". To some extent I agree but then again this is also probably Robert Holmes' best work next to The Deadly Assassin. This story is visually incredible aswell. Graeme Harper's directing makes this story so visually unique, from the wide shots at the beginning to the claustrophobic camera angles it makes this story look like no other.

This story, in my opinion, built on the idea of an epic swansong for the Doctor in Logopolis and set the tone for the epic finales of New Who. Peter Davison gives the best performance of his entire run on TV and fully cements 5 as one of my favourite Doctors. While I think the Fifth Doctor's run hasn't always been the strongest on TV one thing that has always remained a highlight is the Doctor himself and that hasn't changed now. Nicola Bryant is also exceptional here, especially her dynamic with Davison but also her reactions to Sharaz Jek and being slowly poisoned.

The rest of the cast of characters are all great, from the slimy Morgus, to the vengeful Sharaz Jek. Thanks to exceptionally witty dialogue by Robert Holmes it means this story doesn't get bogged down in over-the-top outdated performances. I'm going to leave this review here, so as not to ramble.

After this I truly think 5 is the most Doctor-y Doctor beaten only by maybe 12. His willingness to lay down his life and save a companion that (excluding Big Finish) he'd only just met while suffering from one of the deadliest poisons in the universe is one of the most noble things the Doctor has ever done and is one of the main reasons why this story has and will continue to go down as some of the greatest Doctor Who (atleast on TV).

"I owe it to my friend to try because I got her into this. So you see, I'm not going to let you stop me now!"

Next Story: The Twin Dilemma

Stories during: Circular Time: Winter

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Exotron

I love stories like this where we follow some other character's perspective rather than the Doctor. Here it's 3 CIA agents on a mission to kill the Doctor. Great premise for a short story like this. They're at a restaurant, waiting for the Doctor to show up and over the course of 3 meals recount 3 seperate accounts of the events that led them to believe the Doctor deserves to be executed. This story is honestly genius, the mystery is not that complex and you figure it out quite quickly but it's still enjoyable to listen to. Partly because of the banter between the CIA agents and partly due to the outlandish stories they come up with.

Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant get to play their characters slightly differently each time and it's a wonderful showcase of their range. The way it all ties together in the end with a weaker strain of the virus mentioned in the story causing the CIA agents to want the Doctor dead was a fantastic way to top off this little story. It's a shame it's bundled in with Exotron but I don't want the last thing I say about this story to be negative, it's great!

Next Story: The Caves of Androzani

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Previous Story: The People Made of Smoke

If I had to rate this based on how generic it is, I'd give it a 5. It's a fairly bland action story, it's got bland characters, a bland setting and a weirdly obtrusive soundtrack. The Doctor is written quite out of character, I understand that 5 does a lot of self-sacrifing but he usually only does it when there's no other way and atleast has some sort of a back up plan.

Here, he enters the suit and says his farewells to Peri while leaving the guy who is in control of all the suits completely unchecked. I'm fairly certain there were other ways around that situation so it left the Doctor looking a bit dumb. I honestly wish they'd stop doing these "there's only one way, all hope is lost" sacrifices in such boring stories because you know he'll be back in 5 minutes.

The fact that it's such a basic story makes it impossible to believe that the Doctor's life is at threat from a bunch of generic robots. Overall, this is a very skippable story, it's a shame that Peter Davison's talents are being wasted in stories set so close to the end of the Fifth Doctor.

Next Story: Urban Myths

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Moonrakers

A fairly mediocre ending to top off a mediocre arc. While I like Abby and Zara more than I did when i finished The Judgement of Isskar, they are still to me some of the most forgettable companions the Doctor has had. It's a real shame because on paper they should be really unique but end up really bland. I thought they would die at the end of the story, and that would have almost made me care for them but instead it led to a pretty anticlimactic resolution where everyone goes back to doing what they were doing before without any consequences.

The smoke people's voices are really hard to understand and I had to infer what they were saying half the time, they might aswell be voiceless because all they say is "feed" and it leaves them quite generic. The Doctor regenerates towards the end which feels like a cheap excuse to have Dan Starkey play him and a bit of shock value, of course it's reversed aswell so the Doctor's "sacrifice" barely had any consequences. I think the only thing I liked in this story was Leela and the Doctor's interactions, they finally have the chemistry they had in Time in Office again and it's a fun pairing that I'd like to see in more traditional stories.

I like Big Finish trying to be a bit experimental and shake things up but it leads to things falling flat and this whole arc in particular feels like a way to force their own boring spinoff characters into the main continuity.

Next Story: Exotron

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Garden of Storms

Possibly my favourite story involving these characters yet. It provides an intriguing take on the Sontarans while still keeping in line with their characters. Putting the Doctor with Zara is great, I think Peter Davison has a lot more chemistry with Laura Doddington and both characters have very clashing morals. It does leave the B-plot of this story with Abby and Leela feeling a bit dull. I think Dan Starkey is excellent as the Sontarans, especially here where he gets to portray them with a little more nuance than usual.

There were some really great twists like the Sontarans being peaceful or the Doctor playing the long game but my absolute favourite has to be the ending where it's revealed that they tricked the Doctor into changing time on his own. My only problem with this is that somehow Abby and Zara know more about this supposedly highly important event in Earth's history than the Doctor, but I can't complain as it serves the story well.

Next Story: The People Made of Smoke

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Chaos Pool

We continue the story of Abby and Zara in an... odd story, to say the least. It's too short to really be anything meaningful and ends on a massive cliffhanger so it's barely even self-contained. It's a difficult thing to write a review for but I'll have a go anyways. Firstly, the titular "Wicked Sisters" are much better here, specifically Abby who finally has some semblance of a character.

Also Leela is here! Peter Davison and Louise Jameson were great in Time in Office and I'm glad they've been put back together. Oddly though their chemistry is much weaker here though I think that's mainly down to Peter Davison not giving his best performance like he usually does. Still for once during this entire arc I'm actually looking forward to the next story.

Next Story: The Moonrakers

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Previous Story: The Destroyer of Delights

Finally we reach the end of the "Key 2 Time" trilogy with a decent story. Amy is still a wooden plank of a character, so I was glad that she was replaced by Zara for the majority of this story who is somewhat interesting. I especially enjoyed the slow realisation that they were turning human and how it factored into the story. The first part of this story really felt like it was stalling just to get to the cliffhanger. It was a good cliffhanger but because of how long it had took I'd already guessed the twist ages ago.

I like that this is a sequel to The Armageddon Factor and it really evokes the feel of that story, whether that's a good thing or not. Aside from that it was nice to hear Lalla Ward again, though I wish more of her time in this story was spent as Romana and not Princess Astra. All in all, not a bad story but it's the ending to an otherwise miserable trilogy so I'm not keen to revisit it any time soon.

Next Story: The Garden of Storms

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Previous Story: The Judgement of Isskar

This story is a bit better than the last, mostly because it's a historical, but still not very good. I think this is mostly down to the new "companion" who honestly couldn't be more boring. The setting could be interesting but thanks to bland sound design doesn't really manage it. This story in general is quite muddled, a lot of things are happening and it feels all over the place.

The only thing I liked, and the only reason this gets a decent score was the Black and White Guardians. They're both performed excellently, and have a great dynamic with both each other and the Doctor. They're just fun to listen to, especially in such a unique situation for them that it almost makes this story worthwhile until you see the near 2 hour runtime.

Next Story: The Chaos Pool

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Previous Story: Mission of the Viyrans

What a painfully dull story. I really couldn't care less for Amy or Zara, they're the most boring, flat characters I've ever had the misfortune of listening to. Peter Davison sounds bored out of his mind and I don't blame him. I think the only thing I actually enjoyed was the level of depth added to Ice Warrior culture. Unfortunately it was really hard to appreciate that depth with such annoying voices, specifically the insect species.

Add all that to two hours of my life that I will never get back and you get The Judgement of Isskar. I can't say I'm looking forward to the rest of this but I hope I'm pleasantly surprised.

Next Story: The Destroyer of Delights

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Previous Story: The Bride of Peladon

I'm genuinely not even sure what to rate this. Probably one of the strangest stories by Nick Briggs that I've ever heard. I understand it's part of a larger arc so I suppose more will be explained as I go on but on it's own this is one of the strangest half-hours I've ever spent listening to Doctor Who. Nicola Bryant's performance is great here, though she's basically the only one here. Very odd.

Next Story: The Judgement of Isskar

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Mind's Eye

This story is very reminiscent of a Classic Who companion exit. It just feels quite sudden and jarring, the only reason I'm not that upset is because it was decently set up in previous stories. The actual story itself is very fun, I'm a big fan of Peladon and this is feels like a fitting return to it.

The only thing I think is a bit of a shame is the lack of any relevant political commentary. One of the things I really enjoyed about the original Peladon stories was how they mirrorred real life events involving the EU (I think it was also a big missed opportunity not to have a third Peladon story about Brexit but that's another thing).

This story also serves as a decent sequel to Pyramids of Mars, it follows similar plot beats and it finally recognises that there are more Osirans than Sutekh. It also feels right to have a companion's final story link back to their first. All in all, it's a fun little Peladon story. It's fairly high stakes but not exactly an epic end to Erimem.

Next Story: Mission of the Viyrans

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Previous Story: Son of the Dragon

While I've had a lot of praise for the historicals of this run, the same can't be said for the sci-fi stories. Dreams are an interesting idea to explore but by now it's been done so often and so much better that it leaves this story feeling a bit generic. It doesn't really do anything that makes it stand out. If the dream-worlds had been more explored perhaps I would've liked this story more, maybe instead of revealing what was happening so early on this story could've kept up the mystery of these completely different scenarios all happening at once. The side characters were bland and I didn't really care for either Erimem or Peri's dreams in this story. At most this story sets up Erimem's departure but even then I think previous stories have done it better.

Next Story: The Bride of Peladon

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Gathering

Another excellent historical with 5, Peri, and Erimem. This might be the best, most consistent run I've listened to ever. This story in particular is fantastic, it's a very traditional pure historical in the vein of something like Marco Polo. It takes place over a large span of time and you really get to know the characters. James Purefoy as Prince Vlad/Dracula is absolutely the highlight of this adventure. I love this idea of taking historical figures deemed to be evil and showing a different side of them. This story presents Dracula as misunderstood but it never outright says he is a good person or condemns him as a bad one. It reminds me of the way The Kingmaker handled Richard III.

This is another excellent outing for Caroline Morris as Erimem. Her seeming to fall in love with Dracula was one of the most compelling parts of this story. I love how these stories are letting Erimem be more independent that the usual companion. Nicola Bryant is great here as Peri. Her desperation to save Erimem despite not necessarily wanting to be saved was a great example of their friendship. Peter Davison is on top-form, he's every bit the wise, unwavering hero here and every scene with him is a delight.

This is a great story and a deeply interesting take on a historical figure who's usually viewed in a very one-dimensional way, it's a genuinely touching piece at times and an excellent pure historical very much reminiscent of the historicals with the First Doctor.

Next Story: The Mind's Eye

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Previous Story: The Helliax Rift

When I saw Tegan would be returning in this story, I expected a lighthearted adventure full of banter between the Doctor and Tegan. And then I was hit with the harshness of reality. It's not fun, it's not some fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after. Tegan has a tumour, she's dying, she has no real friends and she's stuck managing a stock feed company with employees who don't really care about her. It's so bleak and yet so oddly fitting, a reminder that not everybody gets to be Sarah Jane or Jo Grant when the Doctor leaves them.

Being the return of Tegan, this was also Janet Fielding's return to the role after 20 years and it's like she never left. I genuinely think this might be one of her best performances. Peter Davison similarly gives it his all, and that moment where he finds out about Tegan's condition was heartbreaking.

This is the first story where I noticed the death that the Doctor leaves in his wake. Don't get me wrong, it's something that's been spoken about plenty of times in Doctor Who, hell it's why Tegan left in the first place. But for some reason, in this story it just felt so real. Tegan had already lived her life and suddenly the Doctor appears and people start dying again, there's something about that that's a hundred times more impactful than usual.

Overall, this is a heartbreaking story and quite possibly Janet Fielding's best.

Next Story: Son of the Dragon

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Previous Story: The Kingmaker

I love a good U.N.I.T story and this certainly fits the bill. It's not anything that remarkable but it's got a really good mystery running throughout with a pretty satisfying resolution. I also enjoy seeing a competent U.N.I.T that doesn't get pushed around by random organisations. Blake Harrison was pretty good as Daniel Hopkins and has nice chemistry with Peter Davison, I'm keen to see more of him. The idea is also quite interesting, if a bit disturbing. I struggle to say much more about it beyond the fact that it was pretty good, it didn't bore me and it had some cool ideas.

Next Story: The Gathering

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Previous Story: The Council of Nicaea

I take back what I said about the last story, this one is the best historical in this run and maybe the best historical I've heard in general. This story really contrasts with the serious and dramatic Council of Nicaea by being one of the silliest, most whimsichal and meta stories out there. It's so ridiculous that I don't even know where to start with this review. William Shakespeare gets the Doctor durnk to time travel a hundred years into the past to make sure Richard III kills his nephews so that nobody accuses the Tudors of doing it instead, only for Richard and William to swap places.

It's wild and funny and every twist and cliffhanger leaves you reeling. By far my favourite character here is Richard III. He's used to explore a really interesting idea about the implications of time-travel, that being time-travellers going back to visit (in)famous historical figures and spoiling the events of their lives. It's interesting to see how jaded Richard is when people constantly appear to talk to him about how evil he is and how he's going to kill his nephews, before he even has any. Stephen Beckett performs this perfectly, he plays everything straight which really elevates the comedy throughout the story. It's a very unique take on a historical figure, one that knows of his own existence as a historical figure.

Honestly, there's no real way to get across just how good this story is without typing out the script word-by-word because it is just that good. There's so many fun details and all of them pay off in such clever and satisfying ways. This might be one of my favourite stories for a while and another phenomenal story for the Doctor, Peri, and Erimem.

Next Story: The Helliax Rift

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Previous Story: Three's A Crowd

While the stories of this run as a whole have been mixed, the historicals have not. Each historical so far has been excellent and this is no exception, in fact, it's probably the best. This kind of story has been done before, with a companion wanting to change history and the Doctor forbidding it but for some reason it feels different with Erimem. Perhaps it's because this history is in her future or perhaps it's down to Caroline Morris's incredible performance. Either way, it makes this story feel truly exceptional.

It's a gripping tale about politics intertwining with religion and a great character piece for Erimem. THIS is how you do character development, not throwing random traumatic experiences at a character until one sticks. The Doctor is very interestingly explored here with his tendency towards non-interference. Obviously this goes against Erimem's core beliefs and it sets up a very unique story where the companion is working against the Doctor and vice versa. Peter Davison is fantastic here.

Nicola Bryant as Peri is also really great, her friendship with Erimem is really tested and she's tricked into betraying her which leads to an equally outstanding performace. I have to praise David Bamber as the Emperor, his voice commands authority and he doesn't devolve into a caricature of an Emperor who always locks people up or executes them.

The actual plot itself is so simple and yet so magnificent, you're left on the edge of your seat the whole time as various conspiracies unfold and revolts begin. It's all tied up really satisfyingly aswell and I'm excited to see where the character of Erimem goes from now on.  Overall, it's probably my favourite pure historical since The Romans and a great outing for everyone involved.

Next Story: The Kingmaker

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Previous Story: The Roof of the World

This started off really well. The TARDIS scenes at the beginning were a highlight and I love how often the TARDIS is being explored in this run. There was a pretty nice moment between Peri and Erimem here and I like that it touches on some of the stuff that happened in the last story. I'll still maintain that I don't think anything in the last story has really changed her character but it's nice to see it being explored regardless.

The story remains really good even when we get to the actual plot, the idea of people so isolated physically that they are afraid of being in a room with another person is a interesting if unsublte commentary on things like the Internet and mobile phones allowing you to talk to people without needing to go and visit them.

We meet Deborah Watling as the leader of the colony, Auntie. She gives an incredible performance and it's hard to believe that she's the same actress who played Victoria Waterfield. I really enjoy Big Finish bringing back older companion actors to play different roles, it's a nice way to get them involved before the existence of companion chronicles or recast Doctors and it ends up being some of their best performances.

After such a terrific start though, this story devolves into generic running about. The betrayal of Auntie is a good moment but she quickly realises her mistake so it doesn't even really matter. I don't know how I'd do it differently but for me the alien felt really bland and uninspired. Overall though, I'd say it's not a bad listen if only for the excellent performances.

Next Story: The Council of Nicaea

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Previous Story: The Axis of Insanity

This story is an exploration of Erimem's character. While I like the idea of that, it proves to be fairly shallow. It doesn't really tackle anything unique to her royal background and serves mostly to put her through more trauma with the veil of "character development". Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good and worthwhile moments. There's an especially good exploration into her dynamic with Peri and the Doctor but it doesn't do anything I haven't really heard before.

The setting is quite nice and the way Erimem interacts with it is fairly unique. The soundtrack is also fantastic, it's not too noticeable to be distracting but it perfectly accentuates the emotions in every scene and generally captures the mystery and wonder of the mountains throughout.

The performances here are on top form, the highlight is absolutely Caroline Morris as Erimem who goes through such a range of emotions here but both of her co-stars are equally as fantastic. The scenes where Erimem believes her friends have turned on her in the afterlife is an especially great showing of both Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant. The way they switch from kind and trustworthy to almost vicious was exceptional and so was Erimem's reaction to it.

I think had I been exposed to this earlier I would have heralded it as some marvelous character-piece but when you take a step back and look at what actually happens, Erimem goes through a lot of trauma and remains mostly the same character by the end.

Next Story: Three's A Crowd

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Previous Story: Nekromanteia

Well it's not awful and just about anything is better than Nekromanteia but this story just doesn't do it for me. It's got really interesting vibes at the start. I pictured the Axis like various places out of time like we've seen before in stories like The Celestial Toymaker and The Mind Robber. Both Garrick Hagon and Liza Ross put in great performances as The Jester/Jarra To. They were a bit over-the-top but very fitting for the story.

I like that they're (rightfully) ignoring the last story and not acknowledging anything that happened there. Caroline Morris as Erimem is extremely entertaining here. Nicola Bryant doesn't particularly stand out other than her American accent here has grown much more convincing since her time on the show. Peter Davison gets to play a bit of a villain at one point which he excels at. Otherwise, this is the kind of story that gives me a headache but it's definitely an interesting one.

Next Story: The Roof of the World

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Previous Story: No Place Like Home

Thank God that's over. I've listened to some awful stories on my chronological watchthrough *cough* The Boy That Time Forgot *cough* but this one is by far the worst. I'm not going to bother with a long review but this is genuinely some of the worst Doctor Who or Doctor Who adjacent material I have ever had the misfortune of listening to. Obviously there are the notorious scenes and they're as bad as you'd think but it's the consistently awful dialogue that I also despise. None of the characters are written like they're supposed to be. The Doctor is written with such disregard for his companions, Peri is suddenly completely incompetent and poor Erimem is only two stories in and she's already gone through something awful and the worst part is neither Peri nor the Doctor even cared! I'll choose to picture this story as an awful collective nightmare that they all had until I forget about it's existence (hopefully soon).

Next Story: The Axis of Insanity

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Previous Story: The Church and the Crown

There's really not much to say about this one. It's just 30 minutes of Erimem and the Doctor messing about. It's a bit too silly in places and overall not much actually happens. At the very least, it shows just how great Caroline Morris and Peter Davison's chemistry is. View it as a full-cast short trip and you'll probably enjoy it.

Next Story: Nekromanteia

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Previous Story: The Eye of the Scorpion

It seems France is the home of doppelgangers. First, the Abbot of Amboise (who looks like the First Doctor) and now Queen Anne of France (who supposedly looks identical to Peri). The momentum of the last story continues in this one with another thrilling historical, albeit without the presence of aliens this time. Paris is not as exotic a setting as before but it remains a welcome change from the English country villages that plague Doctor Who stories.

This adventure was especially fun with all sorts of conspiracies and plots and general 17th century antics. Erimem is proving to be a very interesting character, taking up her royal title again. I've now realised that she is the second princess to travel with the Fifth Doctor, after Nyssa. Erimem seems to use her royal heritage more often and it was especially entertaining here. Caroline Morris gives a great performance, especially when she addressed all the guards and soldiers to convince them to stop fighting against each other and rally against the invading English.

Nicola Bryant is also very good here as she gets to play two characters at once. Maybe it's just the accent but her Queen Anne is so different to her Peri that you'd almost think they were played by two different people. Peter Davison doesn't stand out as much in these stories as he does others, he seems to be taking a much more passive role but he's not without his moments here aswell. Overall, it's another entertaining historical with a unique setting showing great promise for this TARDIS team.

Next Story: No Place Like Home

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Previous Story: Red Dawn

It's a crime that Egypt isn't visited more often in Doctor Who. It's such a unique location rich with culture and that makes this story truly distinct. This story is so atmospheric and it instantly transports you to another world with the excellent sound design and soundtrack.

This story is also remarkable for being the introduction to a new companion, Erimem. Such a fascinating character from the get-go, she's Egyptian royalty, which I can already see bringing a whole new dynamic to the TARDIS team. She's not only that however as she's not superstitious and has a keen interest in learning new things making her well-suited for travels with the Doctor. Thanks to a great performance by Caroline Morris, I'm definitely excited to see where the character of Erimem goes.

But even ignoring all that, this story is an electric action epic that spans a decent chunk of Egypt. It's got assassination attempts, full-scale battles, alien mysteries and climactic fights beneath the Sphinx. It's an all-round great story; quite unique and very fun.

Next Story: The Church and the Crown

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Previous Story: Planet of Fire

I'd be lying if I said this was an interesting story, but it does play with some interesting ideas. Most notably, the Ice Warriors here are not the villains. That's not an entirely unique idea, but it's done distinctly enough to make this story a bit of a breath of fresh air. Also, this features a fairly different portrayal of the Ice Warriors in that they aren't played by Nick Briggs. So while the actual adventure isn't outstanding, it was different enough to not make it a chore to listen to.

In fact, I quite liked how competent the Ice Warriors were. They could have easily added an extra part or two of the Doctor getting captured and re-captured while trying to convice everyone that they should all be friends but they didn't. The Ice Warriors trusted him fairly quickly and that gave a chance for another antagonist. Unfortunately he was fairly unremarkable, but I'd say he served his purpose well in the story.

The cast are not exceptional here, all giving average performances but it is an interesting note that Georgia Moffett (Peter Davison's daughter) plays a role here. But in the end, this story is pretty much standard fare for a Doctor Who story, but pretty unique for an Ice Warrior story.

Next Story: The Eye of the Scorpion

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Previous Story: The Blazing Hour

And this story begins Doctor Who's history of filming in the Canary Islands and hey! I've been there before! This unique filming location does a lot to set this story apart from others, atleast visually. It also serves as the place where we first meet Peri. Her eagerness to travel is shown immediately along with an American accent that managed to fool the country. It'll be interesting to see her character develop.

We also say farewell to Turlough, it's good to see the shady side of Turlough; hiding things from the Doctor but what surprised me more is how heroic he is here. There really are no companions like Turlough. Not only is he so unique but he also gets such a satisfying character arc, going from coward to hero. It's good to finally get all the mysteries surrounding him resolved aswell.

I seem to rarely praise him but Anthony Ainley as the Master is one of the best castings in the show, he veered a little too far on the side of camp here in my opinion but that's mainly down to being a tiny Master trapped in a box than any grievances I have with Ainley's portrayal.

Peter Davison was really good, especially his dynamic with Mark Strickson and their characters really feel like good friends. The plot is alright, it's a stereotypical "spaceship-crash-turned-primitive-civilisation" story (that's a surprisingly common thing) but it makes up for it in a solid supporting cast.

This is also Kamelion's last story, a rather anticlimactic end to a puzzling character but atleast he got a great run on audio. Overall, it's a solid story and a definite improvement on the last. It is a bit strange to consider that this is Peter Davison's penultimate story on TV, he's really grown on me.

Next Story: Red Dawn

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Previous Story: The Becoming

A fantastic way to finish off 5 and Turlough's solo adventures. A brilliant story full of action and tragedy. This story seems to take a lot of inspiration from the events of Chernobyl, especially the incompetent government in charge with little regard for human life. The bittersweet ending really hammers this home with both the Doctor and Turlough unable to truly save the planet.

Speaking of the Doctor, Peter Davison gives an all-time great performance here. Full of grief, disgust, anger and determination to do the right thing even if it could kill him. Mark Strickson was similarly great here. Turlough was forced to stop being a coward and start being a hero, and his upset that the award was handed to the wrong person was fantastic. This story was everything I could have wanted and an infuriatingly good allegory for politics taking precedence over saving lives.

Next Story: Planet of Fire

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Previous Story: Repeat Offender

This probably the most interesting of this anthology. The worldbuilding here is immaculate and in just 30 minutes this planet feels like it has a real civilisation with an actual culture and traditions. The lack of a genuine enemy here means it's just the Doctor and Turlough observing an alien ritual and that's a very unique angle for a story. The wintery setting also feels distinct thanks to the soundscape and soundtrack. It's all wrapped up neatly at the end with the reveal of how the Hungerers are made. Overall, I think this story has the strongest atmosphere and worldbuilding in this anthology and a decent way to end it off.

Next Story: The Blazing Hour

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Previous Story: The Last Fairy Tale

Another solid sci-fi concept with a decent bit of timey-wimeyness thrown in aswell. The villain here (the Shroud) isn't that unique but serves their purpose in this story. The real highlight is Police Inspector Jill Sveinsdóttir, played by Mandi Symonds. She has great chemistry with the Doctor constantly switching between trusting the Doctor and trying to get him arrested. Turlough has a decent role in this story aswell; being possessed by the Shroud at one point. The paradox element of this story is quite fun too. All in all, it's an OK story but too short to be anything meaningful.

Next Story: The Becoming

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Previous Story: The Memory Bank

Nothing remarkable here. I don't think historicals work that well in a shorter format. Turlough gets a fun role in this story. There were some funny moments and decent reveals but it's a very cliché story overall. I could see the "storyteller" twist coming from a mile away. The old woman was a fun character. Not much to say beyond that, it's difficult reviewing such short stories especially when they're as unremarkable as this.

Next Story: Repeat Offender

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Previous Story: Singularity

The thing I love about these shorter stories from anthologies is their ability to do some really cool sci-fi. This is definitely an example of that. Because of it's shorter length, it's not needlessly padded out and you get the full story in just 30 minutes. I really like the idea of this one; needing to be remembered to stay alive. Mark Strickson does a great job here as he is forced to recall some terrible memories. I found the ending a bit messy and I'm not a fan of the alien explanation behind it. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, I just hoped they'd give a more interesting explanation. Overall, great start to this anthology and I hope the rest of it keeps the same level of quality.

Next Story: The Last Fairy Tale

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Previous Story: Loups-Garoux

This is a weird one, I don't have any strong opinions about it, which makes it hard to write a review. The Russian setting is a fun one and it was utilised quite well. The accents are authentic, but the voices could be a bit grating at times (specifically Lena Korolev). There's some really cool concepts here, most notably the last remnants of humanity sending their minds back into the past to escape the heat death of the universe.

I don't think it was intentional that this planet ends up being the one featured in A Christmas Carol but that's an interesting tidbit regardless. Peter Davison and Mark Strickson are a great combo, they always put their all into every story and it shows. This story isn't anything above average for them, but it shows how high their average is.

I do feel a bit bad for Mark Strickson given how little content he appears in, it took him 5 years after this to feature in another story. All in all, it's not a remarkable story. It doesn't expand anything in particular and doesn't develop this companon dynamic. But would I say I wasted my time with it? No.

Next Story: The Memory Bank

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Previous Story: Phantasmagoria

This adventure isn't groundbreaking, but it is refreshingly unique. The South American setting really helps with that, especially in the first part. Something I think Marc Platt does really well is his worldbuilding, he makes the 2080s feel like a real potential future and not the "generic sci-fi future" that every writer defaults to full of laser guns and generically named organisations. The way the werewolves are explored here is also very interesting, it truly feels like they have a fully fleshed out culture and are themselves part of other mythologies and cultures. The supporting cast stood out to me. Nicky Henson's chilling performance as Stubbe was phenomenal. You also have Eleanor Bron as Ileana who had an interesting dynamic with the Doctor. Turlough gets a decently solid role here, even getting a little romance subplot with the tribeswoman Rosa. Overall it's a story that never once feels derivative. While it has some flaws, the exotic setting and stellar cast make this story a worthwhile listen.

Next Story: Singularity

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Previous Story: Resurrection of the Daleks

There's not really much to say here, this is a very traditional historical. I'd like to praise the soundscape here, I feel like early Big Finish is very atmospheric and the soundscape does wonders for that. You're fully immersed in the hustle-and-bustle of the Diabola Club.

The cast all do a good job, I find that recently made historicals have an issue of the actors often sounding too modern but it seems this is something that at the very least this story doesn't suffer from. I'm not always a fan of forcing alien plots into adventures that could be lovely as pure historicals but I find the alien aspect of this story to be very good. It leads to an absolutely fantastic cliffhanger that still stands the test of time.

Peter Davison and Mark Strickson are great from the get-go, both seamlessly entering their roles again after nearly 20 years. Overall, it's nothing experimental or remarkable but it's the story that proved Big Finish can emulate and elevate the Classic Who formula perfectly.

Next Story: Loups-Garoux

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Previous Story: The Auton Infinity

Well the good story streak had to end at some point didn't it? That was awful, I thought the days of needlessly padding out stories were over but apparently not. The plot could have been resolved in one 20-minute part not two 40-minute ones. Davros was the highlight here, but it hurts that he was wasted on a story like this.

After some great writing for Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in the first half of Season 21, we're back to the stiff, unnatural and boring dialogue. Davison really tries his best but there's nothing even the most charismatic of actors could do to save this script. The Doctor attempting to kill Davros was a pathetic attempt to bring an moral dilemma into this story, like Genesis of the Daleks. Only with Genesis of the Daleks, it was actually interesting. Here, the Doctor kills countless Daleks without remorse only to suddenly stop at Davros and leave him be for no apparent reason.

It's a shame because I was hooked on this story at the start, there was a solid mystery for a bit and the grimy London streets were very reminscent of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The only thing that I think was handled well here was Tegan's departure, a brilliant bit of acting from Janet Fielding but it's a shame that it had to cap off such a horrific story.

Next Story: Phantasmagoria

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Previous Story: Time in Office

I was very concerned about writing this review, mainly because I had a headache just trying to figure out how all this was supposed to play out. After some help from someone in the Doctor Who Discord server who kindly explained it though I'm ready to take on this review. I'll start this by saying I think this is one of timey-wimiest stories I've ever had the fortune to listen to. An absolutely stunning way to celebrate the Fifth Doctor's fortieth without stepping on the toes of Caves of Androzani or Circular Time.

I find it funny that Jon Culshaw plays 3 seperate roles in this, there are good chunks of this story that are just him talking to himself and it's marvellous. Speaking of Culshaw, his Brig is spot-on as always. This is the first time I've encountered his Tremas Master and while he gets the mannerisms down, his regular voice bleeds through quite a bit and especially putting him next to his other impressions makes it a lot more noticeable. Peter Davison and Janet Fielding both give stellar performances here. Davison, like Culshaw, talks to himself a fair bit here and man some of these scenes were incredible.

The fact that so much of this story hinges on Adric makes his performance so great. Janet Fielding is also really good and Tegan is showing signs of wanting to leave, a nice touch considering the placement. Mark Strickson is not forgotten in this story and his dynamic with the Brigadier was excellent. This is also a great celebration of the Master and I love how the Autons/Nestene Consciousness were used here. Overall, this is a top-5 audio story for me and I only wish there was a way to rate it higher. It's confusing, but once explained it's absolutely genius.

Next Story: Resurrection of the Daleks

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Previous Story: Frontios

A simple premise executed perfectly. There's been a lot of teasing throughout the show about the Doctor's technical presidency, ever since The Deadly Assassin. And now, it's finally gotten a follow up. I like how this follows on from Frontios by having the Doctor concerned that he's been recalled for them to put him on trial again, only for the Time Lords to force him into being president. Lots of hijinks ensue, the way this story is formatted is almost like a collection of short one-part stories rather than one cohesive narrative.

That's not to say it doesn't have one, just that each part is distinct and tells its own stories about different events. The first part is good fun, we get to meet up with Leela again. I've always liked Leela but felt she was a bit suffocated around 4 and there was a power dynamic there that I really didn't like. With 5 they're almost on equal standing and it's a joy to hear. Peter Davison and Louise Jameson have excellent chemistry right off the bat and prove to be a great pairing. As someone who really likes Turlough, his absence was disappointing but it makes up for it by bringing the spotlight to Tegan who becomes Earth ambassador for the Time Lords, a role she's surprisingly good at.

The second part deals with the consequences of one of the Doctor and Leela's previous adventures. I won't get into the details but it's a very fun addition to Time Lord history and gives Tegan an excellent moment to shine. The third part features a Time Lord stealing a TARDIS and escaping Gallifrey, much like the Doctor. He brings Tegan along with him who rather aptly calls him a "tribute act" of the Doctor. This was a really great moment that shows just how much the Doctor has progressed as a character since he left Gallifrey and a funny little reflection of the Doctor as a character.

The final part loses most of the surreal and silly Time Lord-yness that I really enjoyed throughout this story. But I can't have expected it to all be comedy, I just think by this point it loses it's steam. Overall it's an excellent story that you'll be glad to have spent two hours on.

Next Story: The Auton Infinity

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Previous Story: Nightmare Country

Season 21 is shaping up to be one of my favourite seasons of Doctor Who ever. This TARDIS team is really growing on me, their dynamic is great and it helps that the writing has really stepped up since Season 20. Peter Davison and Mark Strickson benefit from this the most, both getting to give fantastic performances.

The dialogue feels natural now, though it helps that our main cast have a phenomenal supporting cast to bounce off of. Plantagenet and Range stood out specifically. I love the worldbuilding here, this colony genuinely feels like the last remnants of human civilisation and not a bunch of BBC extras filming in a stuffy studio.

The set design is a highlight and the costume design evokes Star Wars. The only real misstep is the Tractators who, at times, look a bit silly but the rest of the story is so good that you barely give it notice. The mystery that is built up over these 4 parts is a very fun one to watch and it all comes to satisfying conclusion.

Honestly I think this story sums up the Doctor perfectly, he saves a colony from near-certain extinction and leaves saying "Don't mention it".

Next Story: Time in Office

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Previous Story: And You Will Obey Me

About halfway through this story, I was ready to rate it something like 2 stars, because that first half was mind numbingly boring. The trope of an amnesiac Doctor is way overdone, and it didn't even change anything about the Doctor here. He was fundamentally the same character. That would have been OK if it wasn't for the fact that it was fully explained what was happening to him about 10 minutes into the story.

All in all, the story just felt pointless and annoying. That was until the last half of the story, where it picked up immensely. Suddenly all the half-interesting concepts that had been toyed with over the last hour were fully utilised, the twists were great, the cast were great. The lack of the Doctor's presence in the A plot let Turlough take on a hero role. Excellent performance from Mark Strickson.

I was fully sold on this story by the time they sent the copy of Tegan into the Reality Engine, the implications of that were haunting and accompanied by a fantastic performance from Janet Fielding. The Vodyani, while not a remarkable villain, served their purpose really well in the story.

And that ending, what a way to top this story off and it will leave me thinking for a long time. It would have been interesting to see this story on TV, but I don't think it would've been handled with all the tact and elegance that Big Finish have brought to it.

Next Story: Frontios

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Previous Story: The Awakening

For a Master who only really showed up in one serial on TV, Geoffrey Beevers is phenomenal. Big Finish has easily turned him into one of my favourite Masters and stories like this are why. The focus here is very much on the Master and less so on the Doctor, so I don't have much to say about the Doctor here.

From the start you're hooked by the mystery of why the Master's TARDIS is up for auction and why so many people are interested in it. It's atmospheric and exciting and full of twists and turns all throughout that keep you engaged. I like the group of kids that bumped into the Master, they all feel like genuine people and their story is quite tragic.

It's satisfying to see it all come together at the end as it's revealed how all the characters fit into the puzzle. 5 is a bit boring here, but that's really the only bad thing I have to say about this story. This is a highlight of the Beevers' Master and if I'm being honest it's a highlight of the Master as a whole.

Next Story: Nightmare Country

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Previous Story: Meanwhile Turlough

Another great story, if Season 21 keeps this up it'll easily be 5's best. The two-parters of this era have been very mixed but luckily this is on the better side. I'm a bit disappointed how much it feels like a genuine historical despite being set in 1984 but that doesn't detract from it being a good story.

It's got a great mystery running through with the classic explanation of an alien spaceship crash. While that is fairly cliché, it makes up for it in the excellent design of said alien. The Malus is such a cool-looking villain that I can't be mad at how simple of an idea it is.

The cast really sell this story. We get more of the witty and sarcastic 5 and Peter Davison feels very comfortable in the role. I really didn't like the character who was all creepy about Tegan, and I feel like he shouldn't have gotten off so easy by the end. Overall though, it's a really good story, it's not Black Orchid level, but it shows promise for the rest of this season and I really hope that this season keeps the momentum and doesn't screw it up.

Next Story: And You WIll Obey Me

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Previous Story: Warriors of the Deep

Turlough might be one of the most interesting companions in all of Doctor Who. His dynamic with the rest of the TARDIS crew is so unique to that of any other companion. This interlude is a superb example of that, subverting the usual format of a Doctor Who story and having it all be focused on Turlough. It's a great way to play off the all too common trope of Turlough getting seperated from everyone else. This story essentially makes his usual B-plot the main focus and it's brilliant. Turlough gets to be scheming and slimy and the story as a whole serves as a great insight into his mind and behaviours.

There's also some great exploration of other characters too, Tegan specifically. Turlough coming to all sorts of realisations about her was a great moment, as was their entire conversation in the TARDIS. The Doctor is not given that much considering he's not there for a majority of the story but even then Jonathan Blum manages to explore the dynamic between him and Turlough, drawing parallels between them both and coming to the conclusion that Turlough reminds the Doctor of a younger version of himself.

Dan Starkey's reading of this is excellent. I've already spoken about his impression of the Fifth Doctor in a previous interlude and it's fairly decent, though a bit too jumpy and excited. His impression of Turlough though, at times it felt like it was Mark Strickson himself reading. He captures all the slyness and condescending perfectly. We get to see a more unexplored side of Turlough, having to face up to his own past. He's noticeably different knowing that he's talking to one of his own people and it's details like those that make this story, Blum's writing and Starkey's reading stand out. This is the definitive Turlough story in my opinion.

Next Story: The Awakening

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Previous Story: Ringpullworld

After the fairly dire Season 20, this is an excellent return to form. This story seems to have somewhat of a bad reputation, which I don't understand. It's a tightly-written and action-packed story. It's great to have a proper base-under-siege story again and to have it set in a submarine makes it all the more claustrophobic and intense. The set design for this story is really great, it looks significantly less flimsy than usual. While I'm disappointed that the Silurian mask is unable to talk, it looks phenomenal in this and a lot easier to picture as a real alien.

The main cast here are similarly great. Mark Strickson coldly reminds you that Turlough is not human throughout this story. It was great to witness him go all out to save the Doctor and Tegan however, really cementing him as a genuine companion. Janet Fielding is also really good, she bounces off Peter Davison really well and really grounds both him and Turlough. Speaking of Peter Davison, this might be his best TV performance yet (though I'm sure that will change). He's a lot more present here and is a really driving force in this story. His sarcastic wit is a great way to further differentiate himself as the Doctor, though it's a shame that's only coming towards the end of his run. Similar to Turlough he gets his own alien moment where he scolds the humans for wanting to commit genocide, absolutely selling his disappointment.

This is a terrific start to Davison's final season as the Doctor. For once the cast of companions feel fully fleshed out and are just really enjoyable to watch onscreen. The ending was fairly tragic, though I much prefer how it was handled here than say, Horror of Fang Rock which ends in a similar way. In a way I suppose it's a great way to highlight the differences between Davison and his immediate predecessor. Aside from a few stilted action sequences and a lacklustre cliffhanger to Episode 1, this adventure is fantastic from start to finish and I sincerely hope the rest of the stories in this season can live up to it.

Next Story: Meanwhile Turlough

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Previous Story: The Five Companions

I really like Paul Magrs' work, his stuff is quite campy and meta and this is no exception. The character of Huxley is absolutely genius for a story with the Companion Chronicle format and no one could pull this story off better than Turlough himself, Mark Strickson. I'll never get bored of hearing his impression of Tegan. The way it almost sounds like mockery is so in-character for Turlough.

Stories that lean towards the more experimental side are very enjoyable but I think this is a case where it might be a bit too experimental. There's so much focus on Turlough and Huxley narrating here that the actual plot becomes really difficult to follow. Once the dynamic between Huxley and Turlough is explained, it gets fairly boring pretty fast and it's just Turlough being constantly annoyed. It's funny, but you can only hear it so much.

Despite all that though, this is still a deeply interesting story that's left me with a lot to think about. It helps that Mark Strickson is a fabulous narrator and really comes into his own when he plays the shifty side of Turlough.

Next Story: Warriors of the Deep

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Previous Story: The Five Doctors

My review for this is going to be largely the same as my review for The Five Doctors. In essence, both stories are the same. In this case, it's all the companions and monsters who didn't get to feature in the the TV special. It's essentially a gathering of First Doctor companions. The plot is unremarkable, but the First Doctor's companions are some of my favourites so it's a joy to hear all the available companions meet up with 5.

I definitely noticed the absence of Daleks in any meaningful way and the Sontarans in The Five Doctors so it's great that this story remedies that. The two warlike races are fun to pit against each other and have some great interactions. Peter Davison shines here and he really sells that he IS the Doctor and that these are HIS friends. It's also fun to hear Nyssa again, though she feels a bit crammed into this story for no real reason.

Overall, it's just as much fanservice and brilliant reminiscence as The Five Doctors and the only reason I haven't rated it the same is purely because I thought The Five Doctors had more actual plot. Otherwise, if you want to hear One's companions interacting with each other and Five then I thoroughly recommend this as a fun, celebratory 1 hour adventure.

Next Story: Ringpullworld

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Previous Story: The Kamelion Empire

Maybe I'm just biased because of all the fanservice but I really like this story. It's just great to see all these returning faces in a fun little self-contained adventure. It all makes the world of Classic Doctor Who feel a lot grander and more interconnected. All the actors have aged surprisingly well, especially the two returning Doctors (No, I'm not counting Richard Hurndall). We also get the very first appearance of Rassilon, and as a fan of Doctor Who that started with the new series it's shocking how different he is as a character.

Something that is basically unavoidable to bring up if reviewing this story is the recast of the First Doctor as William Hartnell. Now played by Richard Hurndall, who is alright. He captures the mannerisms quite well, but the writing is not perfect. Unlike David Bradley I just can't picture him as the same First Doctor that we know and love. It was also funny to see that he was still written as sexist in the 80s and I have a suspicion now that this story may have inspired Moffat's characterisation of One in Twice Upon A Time.

Overall, as an anniversary special, this is probably the best in terms of fanservice and returning characters. The story might not be fantastic but it's elevated by all the returning cast and characters. Daleks, Cybermen, Rassilon, this story has it all and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next Story: The Five Companions

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Previous Story: Power Game

I really have to commend Big Finish for not only making a trilogy about Kamelion but making it good. They've given Kamelion more development here than most companions got on TV. This is a great finale to this trilogy and an excellent story as a whole. The cast here are great. Tegan gets to bond with Kamelion, Turlough gets to be slimy and deceptive and the Doctor gets to pull a few clever tricks at the last minute to save everyone.

I really enjoy the worldbuilding here, the Kamille are a really interesting race and Chaos makes for a great villain. Kamelion constantly battling him for control of his body made for some great tension as you never knew if it was Kamelion or Chaos speaking.

The ending is nice, it's funny that Big Finish created an explanation for why Kamelion gets sidelined on TV and it's honestly a pretty clever one. Jon Culshaw is once again fantastic as he plays both Kamelion and Chaos. Overall, this story rounds out a great trilogy revolving around Kamelion, a sentence I didn't think I'd ever be typing out.

Next Story: The Five Doctors

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Previous Story: Black Thursday

I'm getting into the groove of the "Kamelion gets lost somewhere and is either controlled by or becomes the villain" format. Kamelion is just a wildly interesting character and Jon Culshaw brings a surprising amount of depth to him beyond a generic C3P0-esque robot. That being said, I understand that the Doctor is welcoming of everyone but surely if Kamelion was such a problem he would have gotten rid of him by now. Not a complaint, it's actually something that adds to the character of the Doctor in my opinion.

The actual story itself is a fairly generic parody of an 80s gameshow, but the mystery surrounding it was very entertaining to hear unfold. Once again, I like the smaller scale here. Despite this being a two-part adventure there's a lot of downtime where the characters get to chat and have tea. Normally I'd be against that but it's really nice to have simpler stories where the cast aren't constantly flung into danger. The resolution was also really good but it felt a tad messy towards the end. Overall, good fun but otherwise a standard outing for everyone involved.

Next Story: The Kamelion Empire

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Previous Story: Devil in the Mist

I like this one a lot more. More focus on Kamelion and his powers and this time an excellent tale of grief. I like how relatively small-scale this is. There's no planet to rescue, the Doctor and Co arrive after a mine explosion and try to bring aid to the survivors and Kamelion gets lost along the way. That's it, such a simple plot and yet so refreshingly unique.

Jon Culshaw is really showing off as Kamelion and I think it's fitting that they've got the vocal chameleon himself to play Kamelion. The rest of the cast are alright, Turlough gets to be a bit of a hero, Tegan is upset that nobody expects her to be a medical professional and the Doctor is just sort of there.

Overall, it's a really solid script and a much more interesting exploration of Kamelion than the last story. I'm curious to see where this character goes as he is a strange one.

Next Story: Power Game

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Previous Story: The King's Demons

I like my Doctor Who campy and wacky but this might just be a bit much. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it but talking hippo-people (with really annoying voices) and whatever Kamelion is was a bit too silly. That's not to say there weren't parts I liked, Tegan learning to trust Kamelion and almost bonding with him was quite fun, mainly thanks to Janet Fielding.

It's a great showcase of 5 aswell, he breaks his spine and is forced to deal with the possibility that that incarnation will never walk again. Iit was quite interesting that the villain was made from Tegan's paranoia and a great way to showcase Kamelion's abilities. Mark Strickson's Turlough was great here and while he retains that sliminess him and Peter Davison's Doctor have so much chemistry that you forget Turlough was once conspiring against the Doctor.

Overall, it's one I'd probably like more with a re-evaluation. Quite frankly though I can't be bothered to do that so it remains a pointless story and a rough attempt at something comedic to me. Jon Culshaw as Kamelion was really great though.

Next Story: Black Thursday

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Previous Story: The Entropy Plague

I ponder why this story even exists as Enlightenment would have been a perfectly good finale, definitely better than whatever this is. It's not that this is boring, it's just that nothing really happens? It feels like a really pointless adventure and it's too short to say it drags on. Despite that it really is just a waste of time.

It's a bit of a shame because I liked all the set-up in the first part, and I feel like if they were forced to stretch it out into a four-parter they might have ended up doing something more interesting with the characters. Instead you get a few Doctor/Master interactions and the introduction of, uhh... Kamelion. I have no opinions of him as of yet and I find that unlikely to change.

All in all, I'm more baffled by this story's existence. I'm sure there's a behind-the-scenes reason for why this had to be made and why it was crammed at the end of Season 20 but I care so little for this story that I can't be bothered to look it up. Definitely recommend if you have around 50 minutes to spare and have exhausted literally every last possibility of what else you could do.

Next Story: Devil in the Mist

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Previous Story: Equilibrium

And with that we've finally reached the end of the 'Older Nyssa' arc. There's been some low lows but ridiculously high highs and this is one of them. In fact I might even say this is the best story of this entire arc. It caps off the E-Space trilogy which is an extremely fitting end for Nyssa. Her adventures with the Doctor began with the universe around her collapsing from entropy and end in much the same way. The performances here are some of the best from this TARDIS team.

This story has reminded me why I love 5 as a character. He gets put in impossible situations and keeps going. He doesn't hesitate to lay down his life to save his friends. This was something that was touched on in the last story but I'm glad to see it have a greater relevance here.

I'm gonna be honest, even though Nyssa's sacrifice was confirmed at the beginning of the story, it still hit really hard, mainly due to Sarah Sutton's heartbreaking performance. It's amazing how Big Finish can improve on something like the awful exit for Nyssa in Terminus so greatly.

The framing for this story, with each companion recounting the story of what happened to Nyssa's son, Adric is just superb. I'm rambling a bit but that's because this story is just so fantastic, I can't help it. For a fairly mixed run of stories they sure have ended it on a BANG and not a whimper.

Next Story: The King's Demons

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Previous Story: Mistfall

"Not my cup of tea", is how I would describe this story. It's got so much going for it; the the beautiful setting of Isenfel, the mystery of the black snow, great performances from the cast. All that and yet it ends up feeling so generic. Maybe it's partly due feeling like this 'Older Nyssa' stuff has dragged on. Maybe it is just dull but at the end of the day, it's not my cup of tea.

One thing I do appreciate in this story, is the dynamic between the characters. Especially between Nyssa and the Doctor here, she's tired of him always getting involved and trying to fix things for the better when that sometimes just isn't possible. It's a really nice moment and one I think is very fitting of the Fifth Doctor.

Overall, you've got a solid story that I'm sure other people will be able to find a lot of pleasure out of, just not me. And I have to say, I'm just excited for the 'Older Nyssa' arc to end.

Next Story: The Entropy Plague

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Previous Story: Prisoners of Fate

And now we're onto the final trilogy in the 'Older Nyssa' arc and it's not a great start. I'm gonna start this by saying I love Full Circle. I think everything from the soundtrack to the Alzarians to the incredible twist is great, it's probably one of my favourite stories from Season 18 so I wasn't necessarily concerned about a sequel like I was with Eldrad Must Die!. Unfortunately this one fails to capture the charm of the original and it's a real shame.

Before I start the complaints I'm going to say that I think the soundtrack here, while subtler than the original, still really manages to evoke the feeling of Full Circle. Also, I appreciate what this story is trying to do in terms of fleshing out the Alzarians and Alzarius as a whole. I especially like that it tried to humanise the Marshmen even if I don't think that idea really worked.

All that is basically all this story has going for it. The sound design is unpleasant and the story is derivative and I have very little more to say than that. Genuinely a disappointment considering Andrew Smith who wrote Full Circle has also written this. Though it gets a bonus for having Jemma Redgrave who I though was superb as Decider Merrion here even if it was tricky not imagining Kate Stewart in her place.

Next Story: Equilibrium

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Previous Story: The Lady of Mercia

I take back what I said about The Emerald Tiger, THIS is the best story in the 'Older Nyssa' arc. I think the Fifth Doctor is at his best when put in impossible situations and what could be a better example of that than this. It's not something I want to spoil because few situations in Doctor Who have felt as hopeless as this. I love the way it ties all the hints we've been getting of Nyssa's family together, although there is one plot thread opened up at the end that I imagine they'll use for the final trilogy.

I'm a sucker for timey-wimey stuff in Doctor Who, I find paradoxes incredibly fascinating and this story has it all. Couple that with deeply emotional themes and fantastic performances from Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison and you get a story that could contend for one of the best Fifth Doctor stories of all time. I'm hesitant to say it IS the best (though that says more about the quality of the Fifth Doctor) but it's certainly close. The funny thing is I personally thought this story started off quite weak so when someone told me that they thought it was the best 5 story released by Big Finish while I was halfway through I could hardly believe them.

It was definitely with the introduction of the sentient Type 50 TARDIS that hooked me and turned this story from generic to outstanding. TARDISes are shown to have so much power in the Doctor Who universe so that have one as the villain for a story makes for some incredible stakes. I also really like the touch that it was vengeful against the Doctor because he ran off with another TARDIS and that it only seeked him out because he was such an exceptional TARDIS pilot.

Naturally because Nyssa and the Doctor are the focuses of this story Tegan and Turlough get sidelined a little. But it speaks volumes about this story that even they manage to be entertaining and make an impact for me despite being way out of the spotlight. I also found Nyssa's son, Adric, to be a really interesting character. I think the whole cast of characters is great and I really have to commend Big Finish for turning Nyssa from the very two-dimensional character she was on TV to such an iconic companion.

Next Story: Mistfall

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Previous Story: Eldrad Must Die!

A fun spin on the traditional historical with a great historical character. Tegan gets a great role in this, even though I'm starting to feel bad for all the stuff she has to go through. Still, the idea of two characters "swapping" in time is a fun one (though it's technically three but who's counting?). Queen Æthelfrid is a really cool character and I like how she doesn't completely dismiss the idea of time-travel, making this story flow a lot smoother than if Tegan got locked up or something. Turlough was also pretty good in this getting into a fight with someone who dislikes him because he's posh.

It's not a remarkable story and there were some very strange elements (the Doctor doesn't question the fact that an 80s (I think) scientist just invented a time machine). I think it's such an intriguing part of history being explored here. I'm really struggling to write this review because it's such a simple story. A simple story executed perfectly.

Next Story: Prisoners of Fate

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Previous Story: The Butcher of Brisbane

I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised. I went into this story expecting it to be a bit of a slog. The 'Older Nyssa' arc has been dragging on a bit and when I saw that up next was a sequel to The Hand of Fear it didn't exactly spark any excitement within me. I mean, I really enjoyed The Hand of Fear, just not the parts with Eldrad so an entire 2 hours of what is essentially those parts should not have been this enjoyable.

Rather interestingly, Turlough is the focus of this story and that means Mark Strickson really brings his A game. This story takes on a bit of a trippy format, with Turlough imagining/hallucinating himself back on Trion or at his school while fulfilling his "mission". The way it was framed made it easy to follow luckily and it gave us some fascinating insight into Turlough. He also meets an old school-friend here which is the second time that he's encountered someone from his past only for them to betray him.

Eldrad is a surprisingly effective villain and the mystery surrounding them is built up really well at the beginning. It's also cool to see another Kastrian as I thought it was a bit ridiculous that they were all gone. Overall, I think it was an interesting to choice to write a sequel to The Hand of Fear of all stories but it's surprisingly well done and another example of the development Big Finish can give to one-off characters and civilisations.

Next Story: The Lady of Mercia

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Previous Story: The Jupiter Conjunction

I think Doctor Who is one of the only franchises that can pull off making a story that is both a sequel and a prequel to another story at the same time. The story that this adventure is both a sequel and a prequel to is The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Luckily this has none of the bad bits and all of the good bits. For starters, I love the exploration this audio brings to the events mentioned in Talons. In the original serial it was just throwaway references to things that supposedly happen in the future but this story has turned all that into a living, breathing world. I will say, even though most of this was established in Talons, it still feels weird having countries like Iceland be major powers.

The plot of this is just really fascinating, it helps that Magnus Greel is a criminally appealing villain. Angus Wright is great as the time-travelling warlord and I really love the depth that his character is given here. He's still definitely a villain but I do like how this story humanises him, something that is very rare for villains-of-the-week on Doctor Who. Nyssa plays a key role in this story, being married to Greel which is an absolutely bonkers concept that I think is similarly done exceptionally.

The rest of the cast are great, Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding specifically stand out. Besides that, I think this an adventure that really adds to the throwaway lines mentioned in Talons in a way that only Big Finish could do. It's a much better usage of the concepts from the 70s serial and as a major bonus, it's not steeped in racist ideals and imagery.

Next Story: Eldrad Must Die!

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Previous Story: The Emerald Tiger

And after the excellent The Emerald Tiger we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. This story managed to hook me at the start with the Doctor being put on trial and betrayed by Turlough. Turlough is probably the only companion where you can do a betrayal story that actually makes you question whether it's for real. Of course, it wasn't and he was just doing it as a scheme to help him and the Doctor escape. I knew it wouldn't be a real betrayal but I felt like it was something they could have expanded for longer.

After that, this story devolves into generic Doctor Who running-about-a-space-station action and I find it very difficult to care. The peace treaty stuff is essentially what we've already seen with the Draconians only with a different alien this time. None of the cast or characters particularly stand out. All the performances here are just ok. I'd rather this was an actually bad story because as it is it's all just... ok. It's very difficult to write a compelling review about something average.

Next Story: The Butcher of Brisbane

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Previous Story: Rat Trap

Well that's probably my favourite story in this 'Older Nyssa' arc so far and I find it difficult to see how it could be topped. This story starts off with so much energy. As soon as the TARDIS crew step foot in Calcutta, they rush to save a man with (presumably) rabies. In this situation they both lose the TARDIS (which had the medical supplies necessary to cure rabies) and get Nyssa bit. This forms the main tension of the story as due to Nyssa's Trakenite biology the virus is acting fast on her.

What follows is a story that honestly felt like a blockbuster movie more than a simple Doctor Who audio drama. Perhaps it helps that the setting is exotic (atleast compared to the quiet English villages that the Doctor and Co tend to frequent). There's also a great deal of action, with my favourite stunt being when the Doctor jumps out of a hot-air balloon and onto a moving train to stop it from going off a cliff.

This leads to a horrifying moment where Tegan "dies". You know Tegan isn't actually dead but Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton act their hearts out, possibly the best acting I've seen from them in these audios thus far (specifically from the latter). Tegan's fake-out death leads to a cliffhanger I knew was coming but I still couldn't help grinning as hard as I did.

I rarely speak on the sound-design and soundtrack of Big Finish stories. They're such a crucial element of every story but tend to sort of fade into the background and slip my mind. This is one story where the sound-design is impeccable. I wish I could comment specific areas where the sound-design was best but it was all genuinely phenomenal. There's a similar situation with the soundtrack which just brings this story up so much.

The supporting cast steal the show here, from the stoic tiger Dawon (played by Vineeta Rishi) to the frustratingly villainous Major Haggard (played by Neil Stacy). And who could forget the brother of the tigers Professor Narayan, later Ayyappan (played by Sam Dastor). There's a plethora of other characters that all make this story feel like the larger-than-life adventure that it is.

I can't praise this story enough. Everything is so great about it and it leaves us on an interesting moment, Nyssa has been de-aged.

Next Story: The Jupiter Conjunction