Positives: Again proving to be one of the best Faction Paradox authors out there, Bidmead creates a masterpiece of intertwined storylines, with some really complex stuff that ties itself together pefectly within just 150 pages. The initial concept of the 'nostalgia bomb' was really cool, especially at the end when the Cousins are describing how unaware those affected cultures were of Faction Paradox's greater scheme. I loved seeing the fallout of the Cousins being essentially blasted through time, my absolute favourite section being the sort of parallel version of London. The characters were all well established and developed for the short time they got. Despite this book following an almost short story format with each of the side characters being introduced and left in roughly 40 pages they were all memorable, and each feeling relevant, which is really impressive for such a short book. It felt so satisfying to see everything link together at the end, with Rake saving Yousef and Prudence gaining a new body, and I liked the point they didn't mention the results of the experiment, as the main point of the story lay with the characters and what they went through.

Negatives: I don't really know if it's just a me problem but it took me far too long to realise what was going on. Up until Rake and Yousef appeared in the parallel London section I just hadn't made the connection that the Faction agents were dealing with the fallout of their experiment, so I spent the first half of the book really confused.

9/10

The Minister of Chance novel serves as an adaptation/retelling of the audio series, but it achieves a lot more in my opinion. The story flows better, the large chapter count helps to keep the pacing fast and doesn't disrupt the plot, and in general it just doesn't feel as messy, as the audios felt a little loud and chaotic.
I'm a big fan of Dan Freemans writing style, the exposition was mostly explicit and overall very straightforward, and while that may not be ideal for some it worked really well for me.
As for the story itself, I loved the little details provided in the novel compared to the audio series, the characters feel a lot more fleshed out, in particular Kitty and Professor Cantha. The implication at the end that Kitty could potentially be from Earth completely caught me off guard but added a nice little bit of world building. I do however wish the novel could've expanded on Durians character a bit more; he seems to be used as more of a plot device than an actual character here, making his death a lot less impactful.
As for the series as a whole, I really enjoyed listening/watching/reading it all, I'd love to see more from this world one day and while I don't think that's very likely, the story as a whole was wrapped up really well, so I'm content with leaving it as it is.

This story was absolutely fitting for the finale, it ties up the events of the series well, and although a little messy, everything felt properly concluded. I do think it could've done with being an extra twenty minutes long, or given another part as it did feel like they were really rushing to get the story done at times. The plot itself was fun, it felt to nice to see how far the Minister and Kitty's relationship had come and they felt like truly well developed characters by the end. Durians death was dealt with in a particularly interesting way, it would've made more sense to have him stick around a little longer, but seeing it told only through gossip from other people was really cool. The idea of the river Hex itself was also very fascinating, I enjoyed how vague they presented it's powers, and the whole 'it's sort of mythical just deal with it' thing made it seem a lot more exciting.

Possibly the best episode of the series so far. Paludin Fields pretty much attempts to combine everything we've seen from this franchise so far into one, longer, more coherent story. I was glad to see more action from Durian and Cantha, the political aspects were interesting if a little predictable. The audio quality again wasn't the best, however I can praise the score to no end. The choice of music and the way it was used was just beautiful, it made the more dramatic moments even more dramatic, and the more emotional ones ever more emotional. Kitty again stood out to me, making me wish she could've been a full time Doctor Who companion. Overall this was a fun story, building well on previous elements and making me more excited to finish the series.

I'll admit I found it a lot harder to keep my attention in this one, there were still some interesting ideas as with the last episode, but the sound quality made this a bit more difficult to enjoy. The Forest Shakes was better in some aspects however, the smaller cast worked so much better in the short runtime, and the focus on the Minister, Kitty and Sutu (there is no evidence online as to how this guys name is spelled) as a trio gave them all great time in the spotlight and development. I also appreciated the brief appearance of the other 'main' characters at the end, seeing Durian and Cantha added a sense of continuity outside the main story itself set the rest of the series up nicely. Overall there's not a lot to say about this story, the audio quality was quite poor which made it a little difficult to listen to at some points but other than that I enjoyed it a lot.

This would have been an absolutely fantastic story had it just been a bit longer. 35 minutes was an odd runtime but it still manages to achieve a lot, but an hour would've made a lot more sense, and given them proper time to develop characters and settings. Kitty was obviously a standout character for me, she was funny, displayed a lot of bravery and got involved in a lot of action, making her a well fleshed-out character right from the start. Her relationship with the Minister himself was also great, their argumentative conversations didn't get in the way or feel annoying at all which was nice, and it made me look forward to seeing how they would learn to trust each other in the future. Aside from these factors, the story was pretty decent, none of the other characters really stood out to me but I liked the development Durian received with his promotion.

Now this story is very interesting as not only did it come out as a nine minute audio in 2011, we also got a full webcast adaptation in 2014. Having seen/listened to both I can confidantly say I really enjoyed this little prologue. It sets up events nicely, characters are established the best they can be in under ten minutes, and it was really interesting to see Paul McGann play someone who wasn't the Doctor for once. I did much prefer the webcast version of this, but I still had a good time with both.

I may just be biased towards anything from the Whittaker era but this was a fantastic origin story for the Lupari. 4 was obviously great and Leela was in her element especially around the more tribal and violent Lupari, but it was K9 who stood out. He had some wonderful comedic lines and probably the most dialogue and action I've ever seen from the little guy which I loved. The establishment of the relationship between the Lupari and humans was also great, I wish it had been a stronger theme throughout as I think too much focus was given to Kira and her ideas of honour but it was all nicely tied in with the soothsayer at the end.

A pretty good story with too many plot twists to shake a stick at, The Krillitane Feint really picks up the ideas that School Reunion just couldn't achieve with the limited budget and CGI restraints of 2006. I loved the idea of the humans being some of the main enemies, and I wish we could've seen more in terms of them being experimented on with the Krillitane ways of adaptation. Overall this was a great story, 2, Jamie and Zoe were the perfect TARDIS team for this and it was nice to see them all be useful to the plot, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series

The Torchwood monthly range yet again proves just how well a minimal cast and setting can work, and the more dialogue/exposition heavy stories suit the range really well. David-Lloyd was the star of the show as usual, he knows his character so well and the deadpan wit and humour he brings to every story makes him this perfect balance of silly and serious. Overall a really great story, I had no doubts as all of Ianto's stories are great, but this one really brings something new and different to the range and I hope the 2025 Torchwood releases can continue with this as the standard

Easily the most 'Doctor Who' like story and therefore the most basic one in the series, this episode thrives on its twists and turns, with almost constant reveals and surprises needed to keep the plot interesting. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and while I still don't think we needed the Doctor in this story, Troughton is as great as always and his presence definitely made the story more exciting, especially since this was set in between series 6 and 7 for him. Overall this was nothing revolutionary, but I appreciated having more action as well as a more Zygon focused plot, so I enjoyed this one quite a bit

TW: Domestic abuse/violence
A marked improvement from the previous episode and far more tense, the character development in this story is just as great if not better than before. The whole vibe is a lot more atmospheric and felt a lot scarier, and I found it really interesting that the villain was a human this time instead of the Zygons. It felt so good to see Freddie get what he deserved, and the plot twist at the end with his own father throwing him into the fire was just phenomenal. I was initially apprehensive to see such a sensitive subject tackled in a Doctor Who story as usually that kind of thing's for Torchwood, but it was handled well, and Mooney and Pringle always give these kinds of stories the respect and care they deserve, which is why they're some of my favourite Big Finish writers

Not a terrible story but really not what I was expecting. The plot took until the last ten minutes to really pick up in pace and was generally slow, and while I think that was a necessary decision it did just seem boring at times. The Zygons themselves, when they did actually appear were great however, and the characterisation of the other cast members was done well. Overall a little disappointing but not the worst thing I've ever heard

An interesting continuation of the previous episode with some genuinely interesting ideas, especially around Justine and the Grandfathers shadow, but there again seems to be a lack of plot progression with this story. I suppose linearity is an alien concept to Faction Paradox stories so it's sort of on brand, but I wish there was just some sort of flow of time from start to finish, as despite enjoying the story a lot, I couldn't really tell you what went on

Really not as bad as people say, it's only really the special effects that are a let down for me. I loved the emotional scenes with 13 and Yaz, Dan was great, the Sea Devils are more adorable than ever, and I'm a massive fan of pirates anyway so this was right up my alley.
I will happily defend this episode for as long as I live

A mostly great adaptation and respectful to the original, the colouring is fantastic and you wouldn't be able to tell this was originally made in black and white. The new score is beautiful and the story itself is obviously great, one of the best and arguable most important Classic Who stories out there. Troughtons regeneration, whilst obviously heavily edited, still did the man justice, and the little touches of showing the other Doctor's faces was hilarious. My only main issue was with the length, while the major plot elements remain in the story, a lot of minor dialogue and character developments were left out, leaving the story feeling quite rushed and some of the side characters feeling underdeveloped.

A nice little surprise to listen to before Reflect, you can tell this man hates the world and we all love him for it