Liverpool Soun and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Paul McGann, Hattie Moran, Nicola Walker, Mark Bonnar, Ewan Bailey, John Banks, Robert Bathurst, Gunnar Cauthery, Matthew Cottle, Esther Hall, Caroline Langrishi, Sylvester McCoy, Lizzie Mounter, Harry Myers, Ramon Tikaram, John Voce, Bethan Walker, John Woodvine, David Yelland.
There have been some tremendous villains and foils to have come from Gallifrey, and whilst the Master will be for the majority the number one on the hit list, on par in their travels ad adventures with The Doctor, there has always been hope that the creatives behind the scenes would fashion a criminal mind that would be not just a match for the mad man in the blue box, but could be potentially the finest example of the genetic Timelord experiment of regeneration and the madness that comes from having all the voices, all the fears, hates, and drive contained in one unique soul.
Villains, different perspectives, and maybe as the guardians of the audio drama experience for all things Doctor Who, Big Finish, have found with a deep sense of dramatic fortune one of the most exciting and fiercely drawn new characters to have graced the long running audio version of the show.
The Eleven comes to the front of the proverbial stage in the first of Paul McGann’s box set adventures Doom Coalition 1 and its four associated one-hour tales, and with a sense of the spectacular Mark Bonnar brings the evidence of regeneration psychosis to life with abundant style, wit, and with more than an element of madness; ad it is a glorious introduction for such a particular novel character.
Across the four stories, which sees the remarkable Hattie Moran join the Tardis team as the looked over and dejected museum curator Helen Sinclair, the urgency in recapturing the dangerous and criminally inclined Eleven is a thrill ride worthy of any serial created by Big Finish.
The tales, Matt Fitton’s wonderful introduction in The Eleven, John Dorney’s marvellous chilling tale The Red Lady, Marc Platt’s The Galileo Trap, and Edward Collier’s The Satanic Mill, combine to showcase the different personalities battling for supremacy, and it is with an adrenaline rush that Mark Bonar, no stranger to the world of Doctor Who, controls the narrative in such a way that Paul McGann raises his own always near perfect game to a new and sublime high, and with Nicola Walker returning as Med-Tech Liv Chenka, and Robert Bathurst excelling in the role of Cardinal Padrac, the Doom Coalition series gets off to an outstanding start.
To live long enough that your memories drive you insane is a fear of all humans, but to hear it played out by an actor of note is evidence of our ow natural undoing; that fear realised, The Eleven is arguably the greatest original character creation since River Song, and it only spells doom for the hero Timelord.
Ian D. Hall