Tag: Nicholas Briggs

Doctor Who: The Brink of Death

Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, Part 4: The Brink of Death

by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2015)

Audio drama cover: “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: Dalek

Doctor Who: Dalek

by Robert Shearman (Penguin, 2021); audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (BBC, 2021)

Book cover: “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: The Annihilators

Doctor Who: The Annihilators

by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2022)

CD cover: “Doctor Who: The Annihilators” by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2022)

Excellent voice performances by the actors recast to play classic Doctor Who characters. Conceptually, the story is fun and era-appropriate (albeit not much more than a rehash of Galaxy 4). The execution, however, is unnecessarily choppy, disavowing any hint of longer scenes.

Doctor Who: Spider’s Shadow

Doctor Who: Spider’s Shadow

by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2008)

Briggs_Spider's Shadow

An uncredited one-part coda to Stewart Sheargold’s ‘The Death Collectors’. The in-story repetition is clunky at first (to the point of sounding like a recording error) yet gradually refines itself into a clever little time-trap mystery. Sylvester McCoy rolls with the punches.

 

 

Doctor Who: The King’s Dragon

Doctor Who: The King’s Dragon

by Una McCormack (BBC, 2010); audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (AudioGO, 2011)

McCormack_King's Dragon

Somewhat drawn-out, like an old four-parter told over six episodes. Nonetheless, McCormack tells a steady tale amidst the obligatory befriendings, betrayals and plot-twisting volte-faces. The support cast has some depth and the Doctor, Rory and Amy are spot-on. Nick Briggs reads well.

 

 

Doctor Who: The Light at the End

Doctor Who: The Light at the End

by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2013)

Briggs_Light at the End

A 50th anniversary celebration featuring Doctors Four through Eight. The story is remarkably coherent and remains so despite incorporating a plethora of characters and cameos. The Doctors themselves take centre stage and all feel important. Definitely one of Big Finish’s better efforts.

 

 

Doctor Who: The Last Day at Work

Doctor Who: The Last Day at Work

by Harry Draper; audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2018)

Draper_Last Day at Work

Draper writes well for the Second Doctor and Jamie, crafting a short story with a neat premise and a mood very much in keeping with its valedictory nature. Narrator Nicholas Briggs joins in by giving a passable impersonation of the two leads.

 

 

Doctor Who: Forever Fallen

Doctor Who: Forever Fallen

by Joshua Wanisko; audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2016)

Wanisko_Forever Fallen

A nicely low-key story exploring one of Doctor Who’s great untapped questions: what would happen if the villain just stopped when given the chance to rethink his megalomaniacal scheme? Between them, Wanisko and Briggs capture some of the Seventh Doctor’s melancholic brooding.

 

 

Doctor Who: Dark Eyes

Doctor Who: Dark Eyes

by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2012)

Briggs_Dark Eyes

A nicely focussed runabout (if such can exist), the epic threads of which are held together by the strong dynamic between Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor and new companion Molly O’Sullivan. On a down note, the Doctor has little say in the outcome.