Doctor Who: The Dark Husband
by David Quantick (Big Finish, 2008)
Whereas humour in Doctor Who has always worked best in moderation, Quantick can’t seem to help himself: the jokes never relent, meaning that the Doctor, Ace and Hex are constantly, frivolously undercutting the drama. Thus a potentially intriguing SF tale is stillborn.
Warehouse 13, Season 3
(Syfy, 2011)
Re-watching season three of Warehouse 13, one could easily imagine this perfect blend of action, humour and pseudo-science running for a decade or more. With its wide family appeal and endless capacity for wonder, it could have been the next Doctor Who.
Doctor Who: The Sandman
by Simon A. Forward (Big Finish, 2002)
A nice SF concept, which affords plenty of scope for the Sixth Doctor’s almost bipolar swings between compassion and firewalled ‘otherness’. Colin Baker once again shows that he could have been great if given something to work with by JNT and company.
Doctor Who, Series 5
(BBC, 2010)
A whimsical, wizardly Doctor; coupled companions; a contrived plot-arc whose conjured finale proves that bigger and bombastic are not better: Steven Moffat overhauled the programme for both good and bad, with the best coming from one-off writers Simon Nye and Richard Curtis.
Adventures with the Wife in Space
by Neil Perryman (Faber & Faber, 2013)
Several Everyman’s autobiographies have been structured around Doctor Who, each perfectly readable if of limited appeal. The titular allusion of this one doesn’t actually work (as the author himself would have noted) but Sue Perryman’s affably caustic interruptions make the trip worthwhile.
Doctor Who, Series 4
(BBC, 2008)
The Doctor’s chummy relationship with Donna (aka proper Tegan) takes the role of companion to a new and thankfully less-worshipful level, the importance of which shines grimly in the yin-yang episodes Midnight and Turn Left where each is deprived of the other.
Doctor Who: The Dying Light
by Nick Wallace (Big Finish, 2013)
The ever-young Frazer Hines delights in narrating and playing both himself and the Doctor, but despite his best efforts this adventure feels abridged. The Dying Light exhibits a wondrous complexity better suited to a novel-length treatment, not merely a single audio cd.
Doctor Who, Series 3
(BBC, 2007)
David Tennant hits the ground running post- Rose Tyler, in a season characterised by overt explorations of racism (experienced by companion Martha Jones), the return of the Master (revitalised by John Simm), and the brilliant, almost Doctor-less episode ‘Blink’ (starring Carey Mulligan).
Doctor Who: Night of the Humans
by David Llewellyn (BBC, 2010)
Whatever the story’s merits (the Doctor and Amy encounter shipwrecked aliens and bestial humans on a rubbish gyre in space), the writing makes this impossible to persist with. Not even by order of Terrance Dicks should young adult books be so unsophisticated.
Doctor Who: The Stealers of Dreams
by Steve Lyons (BBC, 2005)
Fiction is outlawed. The premise certainly has scope (it’s a nice touch that the Doctor, Rose and Jack don’t cotton on to the necessity behind the totalitarianism); but despite what Camille Coduri brings to the audiobook, the story itself feels rather belaboured.