Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jonathon Carley, Troy Alexander, Adèle Anderson, Rose Basista, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Emma Campbell-Jones, Julian Forsyth, Sarah Moss, Hugh Ross, Homer Todiwala, David Warwick.

We look at war as either the outcome, or we pick and choose the moments that we believe are the key points of significance, of the importance of scale in determining the battlegrounds that held the key to victory, or to the bitterness of defeat.

Unless we have a vested interest in the war we have chosen to read up on, the minute detail of war is one that is arguably to the layperson, one that is seen the world over; a conflict in any decade, in any century often comes down to who was the aggressor, who was the defender, and what countries or armies did they by fair means or foul have support them – anything more than that becomes detail to which many cannot retain.

We think that we choose our Battlegrounds, whereas the truth is that often the frontlines and trenches are chosen for us, and we have no option but to take the bullets that are fired in our direction in the open fields and draw combat where we must, and whether we call ourselves a healer, whether we are a warrior, a mad man, the sanest person alive, or just someone out of Time, we roll with the punches and seek redress, maybe absolution, where we can.

The third set of stories entwinned within Big Finish’s The War Doctor Begins series, Battlegrounds, is another tantalising, and often heart-breaking examination of how a person can be taken from the path in which they can choose the battles they have, (whilst in the Doctor’s place  invariably the choice is one of settled confrontation against anything that destroys harmony), and the ones they are thrust into by design; and whilst the television viewer was only privy to one large appearance of The War Doctor, on audio the seeds of personal anguish, of resilient damnation, are to be found taking shape in ways that the television viewer, unless they embrace the mighty works of Big Finish, should be seething with jealousy that they never got to see on screen.

The three tales that make up Battlegrounds, The Keeper Of Light, Temmosus, and Rewind, written respectfully by Phil Mulryne, Rossa McPhillips, and Timothy X Atack, are ones that show with honour the loneliness of the decision made in front of the Sisterhood of Karn; a warrior may have been born in the moment between the Eighth’s and Ninth’s Doctors regeneration, but there is no time for companionship, just a job to do, just Time to kill.

With tremendous performances by Adèle Anderson, Ken Bones, and Jonathon Carley in the role that was originally taken by John Hurt before his sad passing, The War Doctor Begins: Battlegrounds, is the moment for the listener when they realise just how much the War Doctor was going to go through, not just in terms of adventures, but in the shadow of trenches that he had to walk alone.

A terrific three-part third series for The War Doctor, one that is generous in its story-telling, and passionate about providing empathy in a world constantly at war with itself.

Ian D. Hall