Missy: The Broken Clock
by Nev Fountain (Big Finish, 2019)
Nev Fountain certainly isn’t afraid to try something different. Here we’re given a faux- cheesy American reconstruction of an impossible historical murder spree laced with metatextual fourth-wall breakings (themselves explained in-story). Though it’s clever and fun, fake fakeness still sounds risibly fake.
Doctor Who—Flux, Chapter 2: War of the Sontarans
by Chris Chibnall (2021)
Flux evinces lessons learnt from the Key to Time season arc, embedding the big picture more cohesively within its component parts. Chapter 2 sees Dan go from strength to strength, and rehabilitates the Sontarans somewhat (though still playing them mainly for laughs).
Doctor Who: The Halloween Apocalypse (Flux #1)
by Chris Chibnall (2021)
Swarm shapes as an adversary worth spending a series on—not merely taunting the Doctor (as Missy might do) but actually setting in motion a most horrifying end of days. John Bishop balances the high stakes as down-to-earth new companion Dan Lewis.
Doctor Who: Nekromanteia
by Austen Atkinson (Big Finish, 2003)
A potentially mind-blowing SF concept that’s skirted around for too long and rushed through at the end. Atkinson manages some adept characterisation on a micro level, but this is undercut by cackling stereotypes and dolloped tropes of corporate greed, betrayal and comeuppance.
Missy: Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated
by John Dorney (Big Finish, 2019)
John Dorney’s first contribution to the range is an exuberant run-around that pits Missy against the Meddling Monk (a most welcome addition, played superbly by Rufus Hound). An overabundance of repartee makes for great fun yet leaves little room for dramatic substance.
Missy: A Spoonful of Mayhem
by Roy Gill (Big Finish, 2019)
A well-considered introduction to the series, stripping Missy of her ability to kill and thereby transforming her from Machiavellian villain to insouciant anti-hero. She’s even given two temporary companions who are held in thrall to her mystique (much like the Doctor’s are).
Doctor Who: The Moonbase
by Kit Pedler; dir. Morris Barry (BBC, 1967/2014)
An effective story for the first two episodes, which are spent building the tension and establishing the (vital but ludicrously understaffed and without built-in redundancy) moonbase. Then the Cybermen bust out their dance moves and some very, very daft plans. Logic, schmogic.
Doctor Who: The Demon Rises
by John Dorney (Big Finish, 2018)
Continuing on from ‘The Mind Runners’, Dorney twists the plot from SF noir to (Doctor Who stylised) horror. The underlying concept is quite ghastly but the big confrontational dialogue again tends more towards exposition than drama. A slightly flat Ark in Space.
Doctor Who: The Mind Runners
by John Dorney (Big Finish, 2018)
Dorney engages in capable SF noir world-building while scripting lovely dialogue for Tom Baker and Louise Jameson (both of whom are in fine form). The story, however, is not self-contained, and its antagonists are in the usual advanced stages of expository megalomania.
The Black Archive #40: The Underwater Menace
by James Cooray Smith (Obverse Books, 2020)
An intelligent and impeccably researched reappraisal of the somewhat maligned Patrick Troughton story. Cooray Smith not only considers the production on its merits but also takes into account the historical circumstances behind its coming to lodge unfavourably in Doctor Who fan consciousness.