Category Archives: Audio Drama/Radio Plays

Doctor Who: Ravagers. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Camilla Beeput, Clare Corbett, Ben Lee, Anjella MacKintosh, Jayne McKenna, Jamie Parker, Dan Starkey.

Space and Time, there is more than enough for all the incarnations of the Doctor from Gallifrey to inhabit, and for the most part they have with honour thanks to the B.B.C. reinstalling their faith in the series in 2005, and to the architects of audio drama, Big Finish as they made it their mission to continue providing for the fans the stories, the tales of suspense, of the Doctor, the companions, and enemies such as Daleks and foes such as The Master.

Doctor Who: Ravagers. Audio Drama Review. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Party’s Over. Radio Comedy Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Miles Jupp, Ingrid Oliver, Emma Sidi, Justin Edwards, Rosie Cavaliero, Adam Riches.

You may feel at times like a fish out of water, a nobody masquerading as a human being, attempting to be interesting, trying your best to get through life and not fouling up to the point where you become a social embarrassment, where everybody disowns you or finds ways to shout obscenities at you; even if you did your best to be liked, to be on the side of angels.

Party’s Over. Radio Comedy Review. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

War Of The Worlds. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Blake Ritson, Samuel James, John Dougall, Sanchia McCormack, Carl Prekopp, David Sterne, Maeve Bluebell Wells, Finlay Robertson, Nick Murchie, Sarah Ridgeway, Georgie Glen, John Bowler, David Sturzaker.

There can surely be no argument as to the importance of H. G. Wells’ contribution to British literature, amongst the finest of his generation, and continues to inspire, to stimulate the minds of readers and would be writers around the world, whether in Science Fiction of which he is the undoubted Godfather, and through his political convictions as a staunch socialist and the writer who set the ground work for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and being adopted by the fledging United Nations not long after his death, there cannot be many who have not felt his touch upon their own writing and thought as the man who bought the Martian invasion to England’s soil.

War Of The Worlds. Audio Drama Review. full post

(586 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

The War Master: Anti-Genesis. Series Four. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Derek Jacobi, Mark Gatiss, Sean Carlsen, Nicholas Briggs, Zaraah Abrahams, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Vokash Bhai, Daniel Brocklebank, Richard Clifford, Ben Crystal, Christopher Harper, Will Kirk, Jordan Renzo, Gavin Swift, Franchi Webb.

To defeat a Master, you have to find someone of equal stature and terrifyingly frenetic mind; after all, no matter how many times The Doctor seems to vanquish his old friend and best enemy, somehow, no matter the incarnation, they always seem to fall short of complete victory.

The War Master: Anti-Genesis. Series Four. Audio Drama Review. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

The War Master: The Rage Of The Time Lords. Series Three. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Derek Jacobi, Paul McGann, Mina Anwar, Taj Atwal, Paul Clayton, Lu Corfield, Su Douglas, Youssef Kerkour, James MacCallum, Shvorne Marks, Ricky Nixon, Katherine Pearce, Laura Riseborough, Aniela Lauren Smith, Liz Sutherland, Dominic Thorburn.

If you are always holding out for a hero, then there is more than a chance you will be disappointed, for heroes, should they exist, don’t work to a timetable, of scheduled appointments, they arrive only when the time is right, when space and chaos demands their presence.

The War Master: The Rage Of The Time Lords. Series Three. Audio Drama Review. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The War Master: The Master Of Callous. Series Two. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Derek Jacobi, Silas Carson, Pippa Haywood, Maeve Bluebell Wells, Samantha Beart, Angela Bruce, Richard Earl, Barnaby Edwards, Tom Forrister, Simon Ludders, David Menkin, Kai Owen, Wilf Scolding, Joe Shire.

It is a falsehood of our times that we are force-fed, almost as doctrine, as a mantra of deceitful moment of hope, that good people win in the end, that the lies of the social anarchist who pulls down walls whilst standing on the side-lines, acting in their own self-interest whilst orchestrating the ritual desecration of the soul of the good, will eventually be punished, subjected to an eternity of suffering for the wrongs that have been committed, is nothing more than a substantial, and cunning, lie.

The War Master: The Master Of Callous. Series Two. Audio Drama Review. full post

(559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

The War Master: Only The Good. Series One. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Derek Jacobi, Jonny Green, Nicholas Briggs, Rachel Atkins, Jonathan Bailey, Hannah Barker, Robert Daws, Jacob Dudman, Mark Elstob, Nerys Hughes, Jacqueline King, Deidre Mullins.

What is a hero without their counterpoint, after all they come from the same stock, the same blood runs through their veins, it is only reasonable to assume that without the supposed hero running through their lives, that they too have adventures in which are just as remarkable, just as defining as those we come to seek from the protagonist we hope will save the day, and perhaps our souls at the same time.

The War Master: Only The Good. Series One. Audio Drama Review. full post

(654 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

The Diary Of River Song: Series Seven. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Alex Kingston, Charles Armstrong, Annette Badland, Timothy Blore, Aurora Burghart, Annabelle Dowler, Daniel Easton, Jaye Griffiths, Clive Hayward, Paul Heath, Janet Henfrey, Glen McCready, Wanda Opalinska, David Rintoul, Issy Van Randwyck, Robert Whitelock.

A life without seeing the Doctor, it is a dream of many, to avoid the consultation rooms, to sidestep having to sit next to the person with the queasy cough from spluttering their germs over you, to steer clear of the condescending questions that ask everything except how you truly are; the truth though is that at some point we need the Doctor, we understand that a niggle today can be a serious condition tomorrow.

The Diary Of River Song: Series Seven. Audio Drama Review. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

The Diary Of River Song: Series Six. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Alex Kingston, Claudia Grant, Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell, Ralph Watson, Christopher Benjamin, Owen Aaronovitch, Guy Adams, Samuel Clemens, John Paul Connolly, Edward Dede, Kathryn Dysdale, Nicholas Goh, Lizzie Stables, Dan Starkey, Mandi Symonds, Milly Thomas, Clive Wood, Angus Wright, David Bradley.

The problem with time travel is you never quite know where you are going to land in someone else’s story. Land after the climatic event, or even during, and you can be of a help, you can even tell those around you who you are, but land a day or two before, appear out of thin air and you have to live a lie, do you let history play out, or do you save one person, save a village, from the disaster that is about to befall them.

The Diary Of River Song: Series Six. Audio Drama Review. full post

(608 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

The Diary Of River Song: Series Five. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Alex Kingston, Michelle Gomez, Geoffrey Beevers, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi, Delroy Atkinson, Sasha Behar, Orion Ben, Timothy Blore, Richenda Carey, Eleanor Crooks, Andrew Fettes, Fiona Hampton, Lucy Heath, Laurence Kennedy, Jaqueline King, Christopher Naylor, Himesh Patel, Tom Price, Vineeta Rishi, Emily Woodward.

The Diary Of River Song: Series Five. Audio Drama Review. full post

(486 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)