Doctor Who: Dalek
by Robert Shearman (Penguin, 2021); audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (BBC, 2021)
Lawks, what a slog. Shearman takes his own outstanding script and plumps it up into the most middling of novelisations, diluting the action with a stultifying deluge of minor character backstories. Audiobook bonus: Briggs’s Christopher Eccleston voice sounds like a comedy impersonation.
Doctor Who: Jubilee
by Robert Shearman (Big Finish, 2003)
A rare Dalek story with something to say beyond ‘Exterminate!’. Shearman perhaps tries for too much—his subsequent TV adaptation ‘Dalek’ is cleaner—but the result, though imperfect, remains head and shoulders above the usual dross. Authoritative and at times deeply uncomfortable.
Doctor Who: Scherzo
by Robert Shearman (Big Finish, 2003)
An experimental, at times very disturbing two-hander played with considerable finesse by Paul McGann and India Fisher. The premise is to be lauded but lacks execution (at both script and production level). Though not incongruous, the unceasing background mosquito whine was ill-advised.
Doctor Who: The Chimes of Midnight
by Robert Shearman (Big Finish, 2002)
A dark yet sometimes funny, perfectly paced bottle-episode audio adventure that starts in total darkness and slowly reveals its grim premise, dropping clues that are best appreciated in retrospect. Paul McGann takes total ownership. What a TV story this would have made!