Posts by: Tony Jones

Doctor Who: Ravenous 1 review

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) is back, and all you need to know is the action continues from the finale of the previous set of four boxsets, Doom Coalition. At the end of that series, the Doctor and companion Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) were about to set out on a quest for missing (possibly dead)...

The Omega Factor series 3 review

In this third set of four stories for the Omega Factor range, Big Finish continues the menace from the second set, while allowing the central characters Dr Anne Reynolds (Louise Jameson) and Adam Dean (John Dorney) time to take their own stories forward. The listener is in the position of knowing a lot more about...

Doctor Who: Serpent in the Silver Mask review

Despite reaching its 236th release, the Big Finish Doctor Who main range is as vibrant as ever. In this latest release, David Llewellyn’s Serpent in the Silver Mask, elements of comedy are effortlessly blended with the sinister and a detective mystery, one which the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and companions must solve, and quickly, before...

Vienna: Retribution – Doctor Who spin-off review

In her fifth Big Finish boxset since first appearing in Doctor Who spin-off Vienna: The Memory Box in 2013 (and with the seventh Doctor before that), Chase Masterson’s impossibly glamorous bounty hunter, ex-assassins, investigator Vienna Salvatori is back for Vienna: Retribution. This time the three-story boxset is penned by a single writer, the prolific Guy Adams,...

Doctor Who: The Churchill Years Volume 2 review

A huge two years since we first heard Ian McNeice reprise Sir Winston Churchill for Big Finish, we get The Churchill Years Volume 2. Again, it’s four stories scattered across Winston’s life in four full-cast adventures. The first story, the Paul Morris tale Young Winston could be seen as a template for any number of future...

The Martian Invasion Of Earth review

After a slight delay (it was originally planned for last autumn), Big Finish has released its final HG Wells title, The Martian Invasion of Earth. Adapted and directed by Nick Briggs, it stars Richard Armitage as the narrator, now firmly established as Herbert Wells (the novel avoids names for most characters). Herbert’s wife, Amy, is...

Blake’s 7: Crossfire Part 2 review

Set during the third TV season of Blake’s 7, Crossfire Part 2 continues the story of the Liberator crew’s involvement in the Federation’s civil war, with Servalan (Jacqueline Pearce) usurping the previous President (Hugh Fraser). Across four stories, Avon (Paul Darrow), Vila (Michael Keating), Cally (Jan Chappell), Tarrant (Steve Pacey), Dayna (Yasmin Bannerman) and of...

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures Volume 1 review

Big Finish has a first-class reputation as a purveyor of high-quality audio drama, recreating classic shows and in the case of Doctor Who finding new opportunities for actors to return to roles fans love. The need to match the feel and sound of the originals has meant very little recasting over the years, and only...

Blake’s 7: The Way Ahead (40th Anniversary Special) review

Blake’s 7 survived major changes of crew, the destruction of the Liberator and now, forty years later, it marks its anniversary with a touching story penned by Mark Wright. Fans will know Blake himself (Gareth Thomas) passed away in 2016 and this release stands as a tribute not only to the show, but to Gareth...

New Counter Measures: series 2 review of the Doctor Who spin-off

Counter-Measures has long since escaped the 1960s and their roots as a Doctor Who spin-off (from Revelation of the Daleks) and carved a path that in this set of stories sees them plough further into the 1970s and then curve right back towards their roots. The first story is The Splintered Man by Roland Moore,...