Doctor Who: A Death in the Family
by Steven Hall (Big Finish, 2010)
Something of a masterpiece. Hall’s script is exceedingly clever in its own right and perfectly captures the essence of the Seventh Doctor. It earns its big emotional moments and features brilliant performances by McCoy, Aldred, Philip Olivier, Maggie Stables and Ian Reddington.
Doctor Who: Rat Trap
by Tony Lee (Big Finish, 2011)
Heavy-handed on the guest characterisation but a good story for the regulars (particularly the Doctor, Nyssa and Turlough). Although the ethics of animal experimentation provide a strong underpinning, this is rather destabilised by Big Finish’s penchant for rasping, borderline unintelligible monster voices.
Doctor Who: The Witch from the Well
by Rick Briggs (Big Finish, 2011)
As ever, Big Finish have gone beresk with their screeching creature effects. Notwithstanding such overindulgence, this pseudohistorical take on the seventeenth-century witch trials offers uncommon nuance and character depth. A particularly good story for Paul McGann and Julie Cox (as Mary Shelley).
Dr. Tenth
by Adam Hargreaves (BBC, 2018)
The Doctor’s adults-only wardrobe notwithstanding, Hargreaves captures the Tennant persona quite well (in looks, attitude and voice). The Humpty Dumpty Sontaran is also not the worst, though as usual Hargreaves drafts at least one gross infelicity into the story. Cue the Ogron…
Doctor Who: The Song of Megaptera
by Pat Mills (Big Finish, 2010)
A would-be television story scuppered during the tenures of three different Doctors (the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth). Resurrected now in audio form, Megaptera proves a perfectly serviceable adventure, benefiting from some strong guest performances… and not having to show the space whale!
Doctor Who: The Abandoned
by Nigel Fairs & Louise Jameson (Big Finish, 2014)
A superbly imaginative and dark concept, engendering a bottle episode that would have topped the TV ratings. The story, however, has too ambitious and disorientating a visual element for audio. The production lets the script down by not streamlining its cacophonous madness.
Doctor Who: The Bounty of Ceres
by Ian Potter (Big Finish, 2014)
Potter captures the feel and pace of a First Doctor adventure but affords companions Steven and Vicki some much-needed depth, elevating them from plot-driven stand-ins to genuine characters. Peter Purves is excellent as Steven (and channels William Hartnell also in well-pitched homage).
Dr. Eighth
by Adam Hargreaves BBC, 2017)
The Eighth Doctor offering very little by way of (televised) source material, this volume was a real chance for Hargreaves to exercise his imagination. Unfortunately this manifests largely in absentia. Readers need not persist beyond the cover illustration and the rainbow-cake planet.
Doctor Who: Wirrn Isle
by William Gallagher (Big Finish, 2012)
Bringing back the Wirrn was ambitious but Gallagher has recaptured at least some of the tension and body horror of The Ark in Space. The Sixth Doctor is well-written for a change and, notwithstanding some egregious character irrationality, the story works well.
Doctor Who: The Silver Turk
by Marc Platt (Big Finish, 2011)
Mary Shelley encounters badly damaged Cybermen; thus, Frankenstein. The idea would later find its way to television in The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020), but Mary also echoes Rose Tyler’s empathy from Dalek (2005), the resonances circling back through TV and literature.