Doctor Who: Wave of Destruction
by Justin Richards (Big Finish, 2016)
This swinging sixties invasion story starts out in full flippancy mode and just barely injects enough seriousness to keep its regulars from losing all credibility. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward do ultimately walk that fine line, producing a fun if throwaway two-parter.
Jago & Lightfoot & Strax: The Haunting
by Justin Richards (Big Finish, 2015)
A lightweight but very funny adventure. Just as they supported the Fourth Doctor in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, here Victorian pathologist Professor Lightfoot and theatre impresario Henry Gordon Jago afford Strax (the gung-ho, incomparably befuddled Moffat-era Sontaran) a lease on the limelight.
Doctor Who: Legends of Ashildr
by James Goss, David Llewellyn, Jenny T. Colgan & Justin Richards (BBC, 2015)
A shameless, mostly unreadable cash-in. Of the four stories in this collection, only Colgan’s could claim anything like independent worth. In the other tales, Ashildr is either unrecognisable (Goss), superfluous (Llewellyn), or bland (Richards). Uninspiring narratives that fritter away Ashildr’s unique potential.
Doctor Who: Let it Snow (Tales of Trenzalore #1)
by Justin Richards (Woodlands Books, 2014); audiobook read by David Troughton (Bolinda, 2015)
The first of several stories exploring the Eleventh Doctor’s centuries-long defence of Trenzalore (as per the 2013 Christmas Special). Justin Richards does a good job setting the scene, and the Ice Warriors are a fitting choice to bring stomping through the snow.