Category Archives: Audio Drama/Radio Plays

Lucy Worsley: Lady Killers. Series Three. Radio Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We can discuss crime in its most violent form, that of the act of murder, all day, the subject matter is of a constant interest to many, the chance to play detective with no formal training, offering a conclusion via an opinion, and yet we will only offer measured or emotional thought when it comes to men accused and found guilty of the heinous offence; when it comes to discussing women who fall from grace we often gloss over it with platitudes or the observance that the act itself was one of subversion of gender.

Lucy Worsley: Lady Killers. Series Three. Radio Series Review. full post

(467 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War 5 – Cass. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Emma Campbell-Jones, Sonny McGann, Nadia Albina, Gareth Armstrong, Nicholas Boulton, Nicholas Briggs, Michael Chance, Ian Cunningham, Indigo Griffiths, Jaye Griffiths, Grieg Johnson, Simon Shepherd, Homer Todiwala.

In all of space and time in which the Great British public have been entertained and engaged by the mysterious and enigmatic being from Gallifrey, there are a number of shocks reveals that assure the series, whether on television or in audio format, retains its loyal fanbase that one moment we all wish for, the surprise that keeps the tale blowing us away and allows that little shriek of former childhood to be heard as we revel in the moment and just what it could mean.

Doctor Who: Time War 5 – Cass. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(574 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Red Moon. Audio Drama Review. (Wireless Theatre Company).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Georgina Periam, Greg Pope, Joe Riley, Philip Bulcock, Richard Reed, Sarah Whitehouse, William Hope, Yasmin Honess-Dove, Stephen Critchlow.

Alternative history is a cornerstone of debate, the perpetual what if? of our time that allows us to consider a certain event or time in history and suggest a way in which it could have proceeded to a very different outcome for humankind. It is often quite a fun way in which to challenge your own knowledge of key moments and the rippling effect of Time as it creates and carves out a new future for humanity.

Red Moon. Audio Drama Review. (Wireless Theatre Company). full post

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

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Terry Malloy, Adèle Anderson, Isla Blair, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Chris Jarman, Julia McKenzie, Suzanne Proctor, Jemima Rooper.

The Daleks may well be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to think of an enemy that is relentless, unfeeling, without emotion, and whilst you know that they will never understand compassion or empathy, they are but dust when the fan comes to think of their creator, when Davros enters the narrative, for in just one being you have a fictional character that can be seen in the most evil of men that have ever walked the Earth; that this creature who first locked intellect with the Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks, is in every way the master of genocide, of propaganda and lies, and to whom the viewer associates completely with the malevolent wickedness of Fascism.

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(659 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Briggs, Adèle Anderson, Wendy Craig, Andrew Fettes, Raj Ghatak, Natalie Gumede, Anjli Mohindra, Jamie Newall, Jude Owusu, John Scougall, Venice Van Someren, Nina Wadia, Tracey Wiles.

If ever there was an arc of stories that deserved to be told for television within the Doctor Who universe, then The Time War would surely be the set that the fandom would overwhelmingly clamour, would petition in their droves to have given precedence over all others.

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(692 words, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War 2. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Jaqueline Pearce, Nicholas Briggs, Guy Adams, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Anya Ayola, Jon Culshaw, Victor McGuire, Julia McKenzie, Tania Rodrigues, Amanda Root, Simon Slater.

The Time War rages on, and The Doctor, free of being pressed into Galactic Service as a recruit, still finds his freedom to help where he can, the reluctant warrior in a senseless never-ending war, curtailed by the machinations of the evil on both sides; be it the Daleks or the Timelords, the war between them is bringing destruction to a wider scope of existence…and at the very basis of life they both show how little they care for the innocent casualty, for the races that scream in horror as they are erased or slaughtered in the name of victory.

Doctor Who: Time War 2. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(643 words, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)

The War Doctor Begins: Enemy Mine. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jonathan Carley, Ajjaz Awad, Paul McGann, Adèle Anderson, Nicholas Briggs, Tiegan Byrne, Beth Chamers, Louise Faulkner, Davi Monteith, Becky Wright.

Every beginning must lead to an end; a story after all, unlike a legend, must have the courage to understand that what lays ahead after the initial introductions must be resolute to revealing the finish, the culmination in what the hero or the villain has been leading to before they take the next step on in the universes’ great adventure.

The War Doctor Begins: Enemy Mine. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(660 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

The Lovecraft Investigations: The Haunter Of The Dark. Audio Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jana Carpenter, Barnaby Kay, Nicola Walker, Kate Isitt, Ben Crowe, Laura Gibson, Michael Maloney, Abigail Thaw, Rufus Wright, Catherine Kanter, Ferdinand Kingsley.

The period dominated by pandemic was without doubt a trial fuelled by exhaustion and fear, of the great unknown in terms of human life. In one corner conspiracy reigned, and in the other ignorance and apathy were kings of the internet, driven by horrific stories on both sides that would sit and dwell in the minds of the populace as if some terrifically upsetting and devious horror was about to unleash itself upon the cinema screen and all who watched would eventually succumb to nightmares.

The Lovecraft Investigations: The Haunter Of The Dark. Audio Drama Series Review. full post

(573 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

The Lovecraft Investigations: The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Barnaby Kay, Jana Carpenter, Kyle Soller, Steven Mackintosh, Mark Bazeley, Samuel Barnett, Nicola Walker, Karla Crome, Jennifer Armour, Ferdinand Kingsley, David Calder, Walles Hamonde, Michael Maloney, Phoebe Fox.

One of the most interesting and intense dramas to have found its way to the listener’s appreciation of late is the adaption of H.P. Lovecraft’s dark and frequently disturbing tales that were set in and around his native New England. Julian Simpson’s superb reading and amendments to bring it to a more British viewpoint and understanding of how such a sense of enormity and mystery could begin and take hold in the country.

The Lovecraft Investigations: The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Audio Drama Review. full post

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

The Whisperer in Darkness. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jana Carpenter, Barnaby Kay, Nicola Walker, Mark Bazeley, David Calder, Ben Crowe, Gabrielle Glaister, Ferdinand Kingsley, Nicola Stephenson, Edie Simpson, Robert Glenister, Ben Crowe, Stephen Mackintosh, Karl Johnson, Phoebe Fox, Phoebe Francis Brown.

The enigma that is H.P. Lovecraft is perhaps lost on modern readers, for in is writing it is possible to see just how far ahead of his time he was, and whilst the notion of his own personal beliefs arguably kept his name from being investigated by readers long after his untimely passing, only the adventurous reader seems to dare go deep into the world created by the writer.

The Whisperer in Darkness. Audio Drama Review. full post

(508 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)