My Favourite Doctor Who Big Finish Stories

Written by The Wandering Fox

Freddy: Oh man it’s a shame we didn’t get in on the Chaotix Casefiles collab.

Teddy: I know but I’m fine with it, gave us a break from doing it.

Freddy: Fair enough. I hope Wandering Fox has watched himself over Easter, he needs to stay on the wagon.

Teddy: Hmmm, let’s see. He’s just eaten his last hot cross buns on Easter Sunday. He wants it out of the way so he can concentrate on his diet.

Freddy: Good! Gotta watch our weight!

That we do and on this Easter Sunday I had an idea to distract myself from the many chocolates and buns. You can guess by the title?

Freddy: Let’s see. Oh yes! Well this is nice! Audio stories for us!

Teddy: There we go, Freddy, we got to do an essay on some audios after all!

That you can! Hello everybody, welcome back, I’m the Wandering Fox and in order to stop myself going on an all you can eat boredom fest, I instead turned my mind to Doctor Who’s Big Finish audios. I thought that I could do a list of audios that I liked the most and so I threw myself back into the realm of Doctor Who and refresh my mind. I can tell you now, I got quite a few.

Firstly I just need to clarify that Big Finish was a audio company that started out in the 90s and continued the adventures of the Classic Doctors and had a big impact on the show’s modern era, some of which I covered on this blog. With the dire state Doctor Who is in now and it’s marring going as far back as Moffat, I’m kinda willing to cut things off after the Eighth Doctor, hence why it’s been fun revisiting an old story of his as well as the many other Doctors.

But what audios have I chosen as my favourites? Well, sit back and read on.

Freddy: If anybody’s interested.

Teddy: Yeah, his Doctor Who essays don’t get much focus.

Yes. I know. But I still want to chat about it.

These aren’t in any particular order but let’s start with a treasured story of Big Finish that is still celebrated to this day.

Jubilee

Written by Robert Sherman

Yes, you will be familiar with Jubilee. I’ve gone over it before in my older essay with how it stands as it’s own story and how Dalek was a far stronger adaptation of it than the television adaptation of The Star Beast comic.

I will keep it simple as having already covered it you don’t want to be bored with a repeat.

Written by Robert Sherman, the story sees the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe (voiced by Maggie Stables) trying to materialise the TARDIS in 2003 London but something goes wrong, the TARDIS materialised at the same time in 1903 which created an alternate timeline where the Daleks tried to take over the Earth in 1903. In this alternate timeline following humanity’s victory, the Daleks became mere jokes, the British Empire retook America, and the Doctor and Evelyn are immortalised as legends and heroes to the extreme. Daleks have been blended into society as toys, parodies of themselves, printed on children’s clothes. Misogyny is rampant. The rich treat technology as mere toys. But something is incredibly wrong for within the vaults there is one final Dalek left. It has been broken. But it and the Doctor have only started to unravel this timeline in more ways than you can think.

I detailed before that the story is clever in how it tackles the way the Daleks were perceived in real life by this point. Doctor Who was still not on TV, the Daleks were seen as flimsy and laughable, that they could be defeated by stairs (ignoring Remembrance of the Daleks, huh?), the Sixth Doctor was seen as the worst of the Doctors back then. Sherman took all that mockery and turned it into a story of how if we defeat the most evil of monsters and make mockeries of them, what takes that evil’s place? It’s those that defeated it. The humans in this timeline gave into their darkest desires, control, racial hatred, imperialism, misogyny, humiliation of those seen as inferior. They took their hero, the Doctor, they threw him away in the Tower of London where they cut his legs off, chained him up for a hundred years and replaced his very image as this muscular man in a uniform, decrying his colourful coat. They took his companion, who was his friend and an older woman, turned her into a femme fatal. It essentially had the Doctor and Evelyn coming into this semi mockery of Doctor Who as a whole and saw the darkness of it, and in this dark hatred they don’t see the dangers the old evil still has. And it all comes undone by the end when the Daleks return and show that they do not take well to being mocked.

Though it’s meta in a way it stops short of going to meta and remains a Doctor Who story full on. We still have the Doctor trying to uncover the mystery of what’s going on, we have Evelyn not only standing firm in her part in the story but also coming to stand up to the Doctor in the state of the Dalek, and we get the big conclusion to the story that is resolved in a bittersweet manner that reminds you of the Doctor’s universe being truly full of darkness but also whimsicalness. The story also has the Sixth Doctor at among his best moments as he sees the way humanity has crumbled into hubris and how he’s remembered.

The only issues I have with the story is that Nigel’s little breakdown with the Doctor was a bit melodramatic and hard to take in with the fact it’s an older man crying in the Doctor’s shoulder though whether Sherman did this on purpose as the Doctor is awkward in this I don’t know. You might feel a bit annoyed with how the story is resolved but I feel that it was worth it as the Doctor and Evelyn still walk out of this with the experience of the story.

Freddy: Don’t spoil everything.

I’ll try not to.

Teddy: Up next we have:

Blood of the Daleks

Written by Steve Lyons

Ooooooooh, yes oh yes! Those of you that want to jump in at any point with the Eighth Doctor, this will be your audio to start with. It’s the first audio story of the new Eighth Doctor Adventures, with little references to Charley or the Anti-Time saga, a new companion, you can easily just start with this.

Blood of the Daleks sees Lucie Miller (voiced by Sheridan Smith) appear in the TARDIS under mysterious circumstances and after the Doctor tries to return her home to 2006, the TARDIS is sent back from it and lands on the planet Red Rocket Rising, a human colony which has just experienced a drastic change in its atmosphere following an asteroid colliding with it and the remaining populace are not happy and are lashing out at their leader Eileen Klint (voiced by Anita Dobson). But that’s the least of their troubles as the mysterious Professor Martez is up to dastardly plans to enhance the humans of Red Rocket Rising and not only is Martez up against the Doctor but a whole saucer of Daleks that have been watching Red Rocket Rising for a while.

Just as I said at the start, this audio is the first in the Eighth Doctor Adventures and it really is a fresh jumping on point that gives you a great story to start with while also setting up the series’ mystery like how did Lucie get in the TARDIS, why can’t the Doctor materialise the TARDIS in 2006, and who is hunting Lucie? That doesn’t take away from the story itself thankfully as we see the Doctor and Lucie on a planet of very angry people and deceit is about, with body horror present that this feels like a sister audio to The Silver Turk. The story has Professor Martez basically be his own Davros, stopping at nothing to ensure his race’s survival, even if it means digging up the dead and turning the organic remains into Kaled mutants. The Daleks are at their best here, despite having been stuck in a losing battle, they dedicated time to ensuring the Dalek bloodline stays pure and used very cruel means to make sure of it, and they are a slippery bunch here as they manipulate others into helping them and then kill them.

The story excels well at action and character, the second part of the story leans much more on the action side and though it’s in audio form you can easily picture what’s going on whether it’s the Doctor and Lucie observing three Daleks each from both factions confronting each other to the saucer crashing and a huge fantastical human charge against the Daleks. The first audio is more character driven from the Doctor grumpily trying to sort things out with Lucie to Lucie trying to hold herself together on this planet, or Eileen trying her hardest to do right by her people to Martez and and obsession with his Daleks. The audio even has a few awesome quotes in here, like when the Daleks leave their saucer to crash into Martez’s lab, they leave a single Dalek behind to crash the ship.

Doctor: The rats have left their sinking ship, and poor old Fred has been left here to die with us! Tell me, how does that make you feel, Fred?

Dalek: TEN RELLS! NINE RELLS!

Doctor: I’ll take that as a no comment.

The audio is almost perfect save for a moment where it’s implied Lucie is taking her top off to flash her boobs at the Daleks. That. Has no right to be in Doctor Who, no matter if it’s the TV series or Big Finish. And it kinda takes you out of the story a bit. Though since it is an audio I can instead visualise it as Lucie unbuttoning her shirt to reveal she’s got a sleeveless tank top underneath and is swinging her shirt and waving her arms out, that can explain away Tom Cardwell’s comment of “showing your skin” to the Daleks. The audio also ends with a subtle cliff-hanger for Red Rocket Rising as it’s hinted the Cybermen are coming to “help” the humans. This is never brought up again at any point in the audios, so we can only assume the Cybermen succeeded. You might find Lucie a bit annoying here but she does greatly improve as the series goes on.

I can just point this out as well: if anybody tries to say “The Eighth Doctor wouldn’t fight in the Time War and kill people or send people to their deaths!” Go and show them this audio. The Eighth Doctor does take the role of a commander and sends the humans of Red Rocket Rising to their deaths to fight the Daleks. He says this himself. So Steven Moffat. Care to explain why you did your crap to the Eighth Doctor, said he wouldn’t do what the War Doctor did (WHO DID BUGGER ALL!), but canonised the audio where the Eighth Doctor did do those things!? You’re not as clever as you think you are, Steven!

Freddy: It’s no wonder we cut Doctor Who off after the Eighth Doctor.

Teddy: Yeah, Moffat started a lot of the crap Doctor Who is in now.

Freddy: Yeah. Still, best we not get so cynical. Onto the next audio.

Out of Time

Written by Matt Fitton

Oh yes I think I covered this audio before on the blog. But hey, doesn’t hurt to revisit it.

Out of Time sees the Tenth Doctor visiting the Cathedral of Contemplation, a construct outside of time and space, wanting to have a rest from his adventures and avoid his meeting with the Ood. But he’s not the only Doctor here. The Fourth Doctor is here as well, wanting time out after the events of The Deadly Assassin, and has found a woman to befriend called Jora (voiced by Kathryn Drysdale) who had made it to the Cathedral to escape a point in time that was too much for her. Though the Cathedral is soon being taken over by a group of Daleks who want the Cathedral to win the Second Dalek War against Earth. This has the Fourth and Tenth Doctors team up to battle them.

It almost seems like fanfiction but if you listen to the story it manages to avoid particular tropes that you’d get with a fanfic. Yes, it’s the two most beloved Doctors teaming up to fight Daleks, that’s as fanfic as you can get, but Matt Fitton did such a superb job at managing to balance it out that it truly feels like a proper story that avoids the negatives of such a fanfic. The Doctors are portrayed very well, with the Fourth Doctor taking up a big presence despite his rather scruffy look and eccentric attitude with great wisdom, to the Tenth Doctor’s somewhat darker and dryer wit with his ego truly baffling the Fourth Doctor. The Daleks are good here, they come in and start killing and take advantage of what they got and manage to turn things against the Doctors. Jora’s story is easily held within this, she gets a beginning, a middle and an end that doesn’t need to be further worked on, with both Doctors having a good effect on her be it the Fourth Doctor’s more softer fatherly role in protecting her to the Tenth Doctor’s more energetic side on giving her a boost in confidence. We get a good moment between the Doctors throughout but there’s a pair of which that will really stand out, like how the Fourth Doctor chastises the Tenth Doctor’s vanity and fear of regeneration, to the Tenth Doctor lamenting to the Fourth Doctor of his loneliness.

The only issue with this audio is a big plot twist involving Jora’s father. It comes out of nowhere and it’s not further explored on. I won’t spoil it, you have to listen to it yourself.

But other than that, Out of Time is fun, really remains true to the Doctors, gives you this sense of excitement and has an ending that is more quiet and reflective on where the Doctors are on their lives. The Fourth Doctor is a simple traveller who is drifting through time and space. The Tenth Doctor is stubborn and bitter of where he is, having lost so much and now he’s nearing the end of his life.

You will love Out of Time.

Up next we got.

The Light at the End

Written by Nicholas Briggs

Oh yes, the superior 50th anniversary story!

The Light at the End was Big Finish’s 50th anniversary special for Doctor Who. This was a big story as this was not only in the anniversary that celebrated 50 years of Doctor Who, it was the first time Tom Baker took part in a multi Doctor story so they had to make it extra awesome with him being in it.

The story sees the Classic Doctors all together as a mysterious light appears on the TARDIS console through their time streams, bringing all the Doctors to various points. The Fourth and Eighth Doctors team up to look into a strange pocket dimension that is home to a weapons factory, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are drawn to a house in 1963 where they find a man acting erratically, the Sixth Doctor and Peri are being flung to the Big Bang, and the Seventh Doctor and Ace are lost in a dimension of darkness. Who is behind all this? The Master (voiced by Geoffrey Beavers).

The Light at the End is great in balancing humour and intensity as after you get the fun romp with the Fourth and Eighth Doctors things turn darker as Charley and Leela start to disappear and the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa find out what the Master has done to Bob Dovey (voiced by John Dorney) and the peril the Sixth and Seventh Doctors are flung in aren’t played for laughs. But the story knows when to breathe and give us a bit of fun again with Ace being a great highlight as she gives a unique description of the other Doctors and has a funny interaction with the Sixth Doctor. The number of Doctors in this story is balanced out well thanks to this having two parts to the story and a good runtime that dedicates a lot to each Doctor, the first half focuses on the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Doctors, the second focuses on the Sixth and Seventh Doctors. But I will say the companions apart from Nyssa and Ace don’t really get much to do, they either run around, make observations, have a moan at the Master and are then erased from the story. The story does get a bit complex in its later half and you might find the resolution annoying though it does end on a humorous note.

Tom Baker and Paul McGann made a fine duo, the letter’s surprise at the former’s appearance in the story is truly magical as well as their banter, while the Sixth Doctor gets a great moment in which he gives a right scolding to the Time Lords for allowing this to occur and his own banter with the Seventh Doctor and Ace are truly worth the listen.

Despite some of its flaws I’ll take this over Day of the Doctor any day.

Freddy: I don’t think we’re done with multi Doctor stories yet.

Teddy: Nope! Up next we got.

Out of Time 3: Wink

Written by Lisa McMullin

The third and final story to the Out of Time saga, the audio sees the Tenth Doctor really desperately trying not to go to the Ood Sphere despite the TARDIS’s protests. While trying to travel around the Archelon Nebula, his TARDIS picks up on time distortions that causes it to materialise on the planet Lucidus Silvara, a planet surrounded by ice suns and is in a blinding white light that, once every year, darkness falls with an eclipse. Upon arriving though, the Tenth Doctor is met by the Sixth Doctor who was enjoying the eclipse under a waterfall 300 years in the future. He was sent back though by a Weeping Angel. Both Doctors find themselves at the very heart of a dark plan the Weeping Angels are up to. Can both Doctors stop them?

This story gave us a great pair with Colin and David, they have that charm to them that matched up well like Tom Baker and Paul McGann. Their Doctors have the ego to them that make them the right pair, with the Sixth Doctor’s annoyance with the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS to the Tenth Doctor calling him “curly” among the many that you get out of them meeting. Though they have their egos rubbing against each other they do form a mutual respect for the other with the Sixth Doctor urging the Tenth Doctor to try and stop and pause for breath as he can tell he’s nervous about something, while the Tenth Doctor suggests he start giving himself a blue coat to try out.

The Weeping Angels in this story prove to be a tough bunch for both Doctors to battle and it is revealed having more than the lone Doctor against them is not a good idea. The Weeping Angels feed off the temporal energy between both Doctors and start multiplying. Basically at a point in the story, both Doctors are touched by an Angel and are sent back, with the regenerations between both Doctors multiplying the Angels. To make things harder, being on a planet where you can’t see makes you easy prey for the Angels, though the Doctors find help in Estra and Padilla (voiced by Joanna Van Kampen and Aeysha Antoine) who are blind to overcome the Angels. This story is the closest you’re gonna get if Alastor from Hazbin Hotel were to be in Doctor Who as after the Weeping Angel kills Dax (voiced by Clive Hayward) they take his voice and communicate with the Doctors through the radio, laughing with a radio effect on his voice that has him sound like Alastor. The climax gives you a good idea to visualise but I won’t spoil it.

I will say that the ending with there being a temporal loop with the people the Weeping Angels preying upon was a lazy cop out in my opinion, though it doesn’t take away from the story. Colin at some moments doesn’t sound like he’s all there but I chalk that up to his age like when the Doctors see Estra and Padilla moving an Angel they shout “NOOOO!” David sounds more energetic while Colin sounds like he’s struggling to get his voice up, but again I assume his age is against him here. The ending also makes it very clear the Tenth Doctor is right near the end of his life with the Master’s drum effect being heard as he tries not to go to the Ood Sphere.

But it’s still a good story I recommend getting. We get a lot of fun in there with heart and darkness that I know you will like.

Teddy: I think we’re done with the multi Doctor stories.

Freddy: Yes I believe we are. Onto the next?

Spare Parts

Written by Marc Platt.

I will confess my memory on this is a bit hazy but I do have bits I remember. Spare Parts is basically the Genesis of the Daleks for the Cybermen, seeing the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa arriving on Mondas in its last days before the Cybermen came into being. It’s a great story and a beloved classic in Big Finish as we see the sheer tragedy of Mondas and how desperate the Mondasians were to survive the intense cold, from retreating underground to replacing their organic parts with cybernetics then bit by bit until their emotions are removed.

For those who don’t know, Mondas was the Earth’s twin but drifted away from it and being so far from Earth’s sun which made Mondas far more colder and thus resources like food became scarce and the Mondasians replaced their organic parts with cybernetics, thus the Cybermen were born. The story is really good at helping you imagine the visuals of Mondas with it being set in a dark underground city that is reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution with cybernetics and retro 1950s technology. But where the story is superb is the utter tragedy of the Mondasians as we meet a family of them who are trying to continue their tradition that is similar to Christmas, but hard times have come. There is a moment in which the daughter of the family, after being converted, has a breakdown as she staggers home and knocks over the Christmas Tree before dying in her dad’s arms, her Mondas Cyberman voice calling out for him. It’s such a sad scene that you have to listen to. The government has rationed electricity and the city must turn dark at a certain point to preserve power. The streets of Mondas are patrolled by cybernetic horses and Proto-Mondas Cyberman which gives a great gothic vibe. It truly is a horror themed story built on tragedy. It also ties back to Earthshock as Nyssa feels nothing but contempt for the Cybermen with all that occurred with Adric while the Doctor tries to be more empathetic in what’s going on, giving is a lovely lot of character development between both the Doctor and Nyssa.

There is an odd moment in which the Fifth Doctor rants how humanity is on the same path as the Mondasians and includes breast implants in his rant which just seemed a bit odd to mention. There’s also a big revelation here as it’s revealed the Doctor is the reason the Cybermen are created as his mind is scanned based on his knowledge and that’s how the Cybermen are made, but the hindrance to this is that because it was done in Big Finish they never mention it at all in the TV series which I get why, not everybody will listen to the audios, but such a big thing should at least be brought up.

But aside from that, Spare Parts is a really good story. Like really, go get it. You will enjoy it.

Up next is another Cyberman story written by Marc Platt.

The Silver Turk

The first in the Mary Shelly trilogy, this sees the Eighth Doctor take Mary (voiced by Julie Cox) to Vienna but accidentally took them to 1873. He was originally intending to go back to get his other companions Samson and Gemma in 1816 but being many decades away he and Mary choose to look around the place upon hearing of multiple murders with eyes gouged out. They become interested in the Silver Turk, the automaton that toured the western world but the Doctor realises this isn’t the same Turk thanks to it doing things the real Turk didn’t do. The Doctor is dead set on seeing what Alfred Staulbahm’s “creation” is and his suspicions are proven found upon finding it’s a damaged Mondas Cyberman. But it’s not as simple as he thinks.

The audio really gives you a well balanced story that steadily grows as it goes along, being in four parts helps it greatly. What starts as a fun exploration of Vienna turns to a murder mystery, to a battle of wits as the Doctor not only has to try and prove to everybody the Cybermen are not to be taken lightly, but Mary’s own compassion could serve as a big wedge between her and the Doctor. The second half of the story does well at letting the Cybermen take up the story after the first half is dedicated to the characters and the setting, with that giving us a backdrop to the financial crash Vienna experienced that saw many taken advantage of by Alfred and the Cybermen, to Drossel’s macabre menace as he uses Cyber Tech to create his Marionettenburg by getting the Cyberman to gouge out the eyes of victims to be slit into the wooden constructs he’s creating. The audio does pay tribute to Frankenstein from Alfred and Drossel’s abusiveness to their “creations”, to the Cybermen themselves trying to retake their dominance after such abuse and hunting their “creators” while learning a bit of human religion. The Cybermen themselves have names, retaining some element of humanity. The Silver Turk is called Brem while the patchwork Cyberman is called Gram.

The Doctor is on top form here from his joyful love for travel to becoming rather cold and dry as he deals with the Cybermen. The way he just dismisses them and sees them as a lost cause just lands differently with McGann’s delivery. He just sees them as monsters, manipulators, whatever humanity they had left are gone and rely on pure logic. Logic of which he turns against Gram. But he still has his moments of humour like meeting his Cyber Puppet he’s rather annoyed at the hair it was given as well as it not capturing his romantic features.

Mary Shelley is good here, being this young woman who maybe eighteen but was a woman of her time, she talks differently to us but still has that fresh companion feel where she is charmed by what she sees but is overwhelmed by the darkness, her compassion for the Cybermen clashing with the Doctor’s coldness to her quick thinking helping save them all. She’s really good. Now, with this being the first in the Mary Shelley trilogy, you need to have at least listened to the audio “The Company of Friends”, the last of which had Mary merry two Eighth Doctors, since The Silver Turk makes reference to that.

The story isn’t perfect as I feel Alfred got away despite being a very hot tempered git and Mitsy going on with him without much care for her dead husband really annoyed me, that and I’m confused as to what exactly that was with Drossel, that he “made himself into a puppet”. What, did he get Gram to do this? Where is Drossel’s body? We don’t know.

The Silver Turk is still a strong story and worth the listen to if you can cope with all that. McGann just proves repeatedly he’s a great Doctor and can work magic no matter and the audio gave us this epic opening theme for these stories with Mary.

Big Finish - 8th Doctor Theme - Jamie Robertson Remix

Freddy: That was good!

Teddy: They know how to inject energy into these audios!

Indeed! Up next!

The Last Adventure Part 4: The Brink of Death

Written by Nicholas Briggs.

It was due and we finally got an ending for the Sixth Doctor. Those of you that don’t know, Colin Baker was done dirty by the BBC who had him sacked from the role simply out of spite for Doctor Who and personal reasons I won’t reveal on the blog. Cos of this, the Sixth Doctor regenerated in Time and the Rani with Sylvester McCoy playing both Doctors in the regeneration. In the years since, there was much arguments of how the Sixth Doctor regenerated with some saying he banged his head on the console to “The Seventh Doctor altered the past to have the Sixth Doctor killed”. Both of those were really disrespectful to Colin. So Big Finish chose to give Colin’s Doctor the ending he deserved: heroic, respectful and tying into Time and the Rani without much hassle.

I have covered the regeneration in another essay, but basically The Last Adventure boxset saw the Valeyard (voiced by Michael Jayston) scheming to steal the Doctor’s life and change all of Time Lord life. The Valeyard appears throughout each story with his most biggest plans being re-enacting the Doctor’s previous regenerations with actors to feed a alien race called the Nathemus to infiltrate the TARDIS Matrix with enough trickery that it swaps the Doctor out with the Valeyard who now takes the Doctor’s place. The Doctor is trapped in the Matrix and is to be deleted, but help comes in the Time Lady Genesta (voiced by Liz White). The Doctor has to find out how he’s ended up here and what can he do to stop the Valeyard.

Though I feel that The Last Adventure could’ve been better as a whole, The Brink of Death at least saves it with a good ending to Colin’s Doctor. We have him truly fighting for his life and on the end of his rope as he tries to stop the Valeyard and many curveballs are thrown his way. We see as well how the Sixth Doctor has truly become a different man by the end of his life. He’s more selfless, less egotistical and focussed on doing what is right. He’s truly come to the end as a man who’s fought many monsters and faced challenges from his companions that made him a kinder soul. The audio itself does have a glaring problem with Mel not getting much to do other than following the Valeyard around when she could’ve played a bigger part in her first Doctor’s last story, but the fact the Doctor is desperate to save her from the Valeyard and make sure she’s safe at least helps you see how much the Doctor values her as a person and that she was worth giving his life up for.

It’s a lovely ending to Colin’s Doctor and undoes a lot of reputation his Doctor suffered.

Teddy: Let’s see. One more?

Freddy: Yeah, eight. Why not?

Yeah, I would’ve included Colditz and Dark Eyes but Colditz while good does tie into a far bigger story and Dark Eyes does lead into a way more complex story. So I’ll end it with eight.

The Triumph of Davros

Written by Matt Fitton

I know you might think this is a bit unfair as it is the finale to the entire Dalek Universe saga, but I think that it wraps itself up well with it tying nicely into Resurrection of the Daleks and Day of the Doctor. For a bit of a recap, the Tenth Doctor has been cut off from the TARDIS and sent back to the days before the Time War, travelling about with Anya Kingdom and Marc 7 in a universe where Daleks are rampant, battling Mechanoids, Movellans and River Song. After Marc was killed, the Doctor and Anya ended up on a ship that was transporting Davros to Earth following Destiny of the Daleks but after a encounter with a Dalek fleet, the Doctor and Davros have been captured by the First Movellan who wants them both to finally destroy the Daleks while Anya and Colonel Keelan are forced to work with the Daleks. The Doctor must get out of this and has to make sure Davros is back on ice in order for Resurrection of the Daleks to occur and must get back to the TARDIS.

The story is a true nostalgic finale to Classic Dalek lore, set on Kemble from The Dalek's Master Plan, Movellans forcing Davros to working for them, with the Supreme Dalek of Planet of the Daleks trying to destroy the Movellans, the Dalek time machines from The Chase, you can’t help but feel that as a Dalek fan you’re being rewarded. The story shines at its best with the Doctor and Davros forced into a lab to work together, giving Terry Molloy the chance to play a more quieter and sinister Davros unlike the ham he had in the eighties. The Doctor is taunted by Davros for incredibly twisted reasons with the Tenth Doctor revealing little chinks in the Doctor’s armour that gives Davros a hold over him, but ever being the Doctor he gets to have things turn out against Davros. The twist in the story is thankfully brought up to explain to the listeners that don’t feel too alienated and we get that feeling of sheer tragedy in the Tenth Doctor’s life near the end.

The only issues I’ve got with this is that we never get a straight answer of who had repaired the First Movellan or how the other Movellans were created, it’s like they were gonna do it but chickened out, which makes the twist with the First Movellan a waste other than to give us a emotional scene between him and the Doctor. That and the First Movellan was a bit of an idiot for falling for Davros’s trick, like it was so easy to see that you have to wonder how clever these Movellans are cos they sure didn’t see that bloody trick.

If you love nostalgia you will love this audio. It’s a true love letter to the Classic Daleks that leaves you gripped from start to finish.

Teddy: I guess that’s it?

Freddy: That’s it! Way better than current Doctor Who, that’s for certain!

Too right my mates. To all who read through this essay, thank you for taking your time to read it, it is much appreciated. If you want to find these audios, you can either download them from the Big Finish website or look for them on eBay or Amazon. Now then, with Easter out of the way I best find my salad bowl!

Teddy: He’s obsessed with his weight loss.

Freddy: Yeah but there’s nothing wrong with being healthy.

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