Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor
by Steven Moffat; dir. Jamie Payne (BBC, 2013)
Ending Matt Smith’s tenure with a Christmas special was a brave choice, but one that pays off. The story is chaotic and full of holes, yet Smith himself is quite brilliant as the ancient but ever-young-at-heart friend of children. A fitting farewell.
Doctor Who: The Destroyer of Delights
[The Key 2 Time, Part 2]
by Jonathan Clements (Big Finish, 2009)
![Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: The Destroyer of Delights” [The Key 2 Time, Part 2] by Jonathan Clements (Big Finish, 2009)](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Clements_Destroyer-of-Delights.jpg)
The Arabic setting makes for a diverting sea change and offers plenty of scope for culturally specific plot points and humour. Unfortunately, the Black and White Guardians are played for laughs, lending an already lighthearted production too much of an Iznogoud vibe.
Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, Part 4: The Brink of Death
by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2015)
Colin Baker’s regeneration story. The Sixth Doctor is given the send-off he was denied in the 1980s. Indeed, he is compensated somewhat by being scripted a dual death—once knowing the underlying reasons, once not. Unsurprisingly, Baker puts in a character-defining performance.
Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, Part 3: Stage Fright
by Matt Fitton (Big Finish, 2015)
Fitton brings some intrigue to the Last Adventure. At the end of the day, however, the Valeyard’s evil scheme doesn’t make much sense. The Sixth Doctor’s modus operandi is once again to march up to the threat and demand its immediate cessation.
Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, Part 2: The Red House
by Alan Barnes (Big Finish, 2015)
Not much of a standalone. The Doctor is uncharacteristically dismissive of the pseudo-werewolves, based purely on pro-human prejudice and the writer’s need to muddy the waters. Charley and the Valeyard act in ways that are explicable only within a bigger picture (presumably).
Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, Part 1: The End of the Line
by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris (Big Finish, 2015)
Decent enough drama, up to the point where the Master comes in with a pointless and impractical evil plan, and the Doctor thwarts him by talking a rulebound functionary into acknowledging said Master’s manifest breaking of rules. Colin Baker impresses, as always.
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: Quantum of Axos (Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions)
by Roy Gill (Big Finish, 2022)
The story isn’t particularly gripping but there’s a good dose of ‘new nostalgia’ in hearing the Tenth Doctor meet up with Ace (in modern times Dorothy McShane). Ace remains one of the best-developed Doctor Who companions and Sophie Aldred plays her beautifully.
Doctor Who: The Stuntman
(Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions)
by Lizie Hopley (Big Finish, 2022)
A fast-paced mess with running about galore and great dollops of exposition. The pairing of David Tennant and Sarah Sutton will warm fans’ hearts, but Dr Gommen is a bog-standard evil scientist (and mostly absent). John Leeson enjoys a rare non-K9 outing.
Doctor Who: The Vanity Trap
by Stuart Manning; dir Scott Handcock (Big Finish, 2020)
![Audio CD cover: "The Sixth Doctor and Peri, Volume One" (Big Finish, 2020) [review of “Doctor Who: The Vanity Trap” by Stuart Manning; dir Scott Handcock]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Sixth-Doctor-and-Peri-Volume-One-2020.jpeg)
A decent concept that foregrounds character and plays out in longer scenes than is usual for Big Finish. That said, the story still manages to rush and muddle itself at the conclusion. The disharmony between Peri and the Doctor feels rather tacked-on.