Category Archives: Audio Drama/Radio Plays

Doctor Who, Spaceport Fear. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 170.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Ronald Pickup, Isabel Fay, Gwilym Lee, Beth Chalmers, Adrian MacKinder, John Banks, Barnaby Edwards.

The close confinement and stark corridors are the magical ingredients that gleam through some of the best Doctor Who stories in its 50 years thrilling and scaring viewers and listeners alike. Add in a monster that’s unseen for the best part of the tale, mix in the unfamiliar sound of the alien chasing down the human population and a charismatic leader hell bent on trying to keep two sets people apart with him controlling them and you have the makings of a tantalising story by William Gallager called Spaceport Fear.

Doctor Who, Spaceport Fear. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 170. full post

(522 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Sands Of Life. Big Finish Audio Play 2.02.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Hayley Atwell, David Warner, Toby Hadoke, Jane Slavin, Duncan Wisbey, Nicholas Briggs, Beth Chalmers, John Dorney.

The Earth is in peril once more and The Doctor and Romana are again caught up between aliens and humanity in what could be the end of all sentient life on the planet. However, the aliens are doing what they need to do to survive, there is a bigger villain at large and it seems they control everything, except for time.

Doctor Who, The Sands Of Life. Big Finish Audio Play 2.02. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Dark Eyes. Big Finish Audio. Audio Release Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Ruth Bradley, Peter Egan, Toby Jones, Tim Treloar, Laura Molyneaux, Natalie Burt, Ian Cullen, Jonathan Forbes, Alex Mallinson, Beth Chalmers, John Banks, Nicholas Briggs.

The eighth incarnation of the Doctor is grieving, perhaps hurting more than he has ever done, or depending on what the makers of the television programme do over the next few months to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary, perhaps ever will. Paul McGann’s Doctor has stepped out the canon once more as the makers of the Doctor Who audios, Big Finish, give him another stand-alone series of four one hour productions entitled Dark Eyes.

Doctor Who, Dark Eyes. Big Finish Audio. Audio Release Review. full post

(612 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Tony Gardner, James Joyce, Patricia Leventon, Beth Chalmers, John Banks.

Although The Trail of a Timelord, shown on the B.B.C. in 1986 introduced the future companion Melanie Bush, portrayed by Bonnie Langford, to Colin Baker’s incarnation of the Doctor, there really has never been any reconciliation to answer how they first met. For viewers of the new series, which now strides confidently towards its 50th anniversary, it would be like trying to explain how Rose ended up travelling on the Tardis without ever showing the moment she stepped on board. It is a tricky and puzzling conundrum that has never been revealed…until now and the long sighted people at Big Finish and the new audiobook release of The Wrong Doctors.

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169 full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Julia McKenzie, Robert Portal, Lucy Griffiths, Alan Cox, Jane Slavin.

 

Even if it just for a collection of stories, the fact that the listeners of the Big Finish Doctor Who range get to hear the one of the most celebrated companions reprise her role again, a role that she played with a sense of elegance that really has never been matched in all the years following her departure, then the second series of Tom Baker’s tales and the appearance of Mary Tamm as Romana is something to be celebrated and enjoyed. However it is an enjoyment that is tempered by the knowledge that Mart Tamm sadly passed on in the last year.

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, 1001 Nights. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 168.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Alexander Siddig, Nadim Sawalha, Malcolm Tierney, Teddy Kemper, Kim Ismay, Debbie Leigh-Simmons, Christopher Luscombe, Oliver Coopersmith.

1001 nights, a little under three years, and in the realm of Doctor Who, a wonderful twist on an old story and the basis of may tales. The thing is with the Doctor, no matter the incarnation, there are a lot of tales to tell about the wandering detective, the man who makes things better. So many stories that can be woven into the fabric of the Big Finish stories that sometimes one writer is not enough, nor it seems is one tale per C.D. release.

Doctor Who, 1001 Nights. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 168. full post

(510 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Shadow Heart. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 167.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, James Wilby, Kirsty Besterman, Chase Masterton, Eve Karpf, Alex Mallinson, John Banks, Jaimi Barbakoff.

“God, I live a complicated life.” muses the seventh Doctor as the effect of time travel and his position within a story that has criss-crossed a hundred years and three of the classic doctors comes under the scrutiny of a 100 year vengance . The Shadow Heart sees the culmination of a story that started in The Burning Prince with Peter Davison, continued with the superb The Acheron Pulse with Colin Baker and now sees the weirdest but ultimately intriguing part with Sylvester McCoy.

Doctor Who, The Shadow Heart. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 167. full post

(599 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Acheron Pulse. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 166.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, James Wilby, Kirsty Besterman, Joseph Kloska, Jane Slavin, Chris Porter, John Banks, Chook Sibtain, Carol Noakes.

The Acheron Pulse is the second of the latest three part mini-series from Big Finish and it seems that the Doctor is fashionably late but as ever when there is trouble to be found he is there when you most need him most and even though he just doesn’t exactly get there with no severe consequences having had taken place.

Doctor Who, The Acheron Pulse. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 166. full post

(544 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Burning Prince. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 165

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating ****

Cast: Peter Davison, Caroline Langrishe, Clive Mantle, George Rainsford, Dominic Rowan, Derek Hutchinson, Caroline Keiff, Tim Treloar, Kirsty Besterman.

It is unusual to find the fifth Doctor’s incarnation adrift in time and space without any of his much loved companions keeping a watchful eye on him, to bounce their anxieties off him or even just to make sure he stays on the right side of compassion. This latest story from Big Finish, The Burning Prince, sees the fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, do exactly that and it is a surprisingly frightening prospect.

Doctor Who, The Burning Prince. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 165 full post

(506 words, 1 image, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Gods And Monsters. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 164.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating ****

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, Maggie O’Neill, Amy Pemberton, John Standing, Blake Ritson, Gus Brown, Tim Treloar, Elizabeth Bennett.

The final part of the latest Sylvester McCoy Doctor trilogy sees the real villain of the piece make his deadliest and fatal move in Gods and Monsters.

The latest three-part series by Big Finish sees Mike Maddox finish an extraordinary story line on a stunning high and with the supposed loss of a companion, something that the television version and the audio series don’t do that often but both of whom now have taken the bold step to give the faithful listeners and viewers something to ponder over.

Doctor Who, Gods And Monsters. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 164. full post

(579 words, 1 image, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)