Posts by: Tony Jones

Bernice Summerfield: The Story So Far Volume 1 review

Bernice Summerfield (Benny to her friends), the original time travelling archaeologist, as played by Lisa Bowerman, has now clocked up a sensational twenty years at Big Finish. To mark the occasion, there are two three-disc boxsets available, allowing fans to dip into various stages in Benny’s life. It’s a fan-pleaser, though new arrivals need only...

Doctor Who: The Dalek Occupation Of Winter review

The latest set of Big Finish Early Adventures starts with the superb Dalek Occupation Of Winter by David K Barnes. It’s David’s first piece for Big Finish and a triumph on many levels. It’s two discs of classic first Doctor with Peter Purves as Stephen Taylor and the Doctor and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki. Both...

Doctor Who: The Dispossessed review

September 2018’s Big Finish Doctor Who main range release is The Dispossessed. Written by Mark Morris, it’s a gripping seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) tale, with both Mel (Bonnie Langford) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) as companions. What makes this particularly enjoyable are both the setting and the characters, all of which feel well-conceived and innovative. It...

Class: The Audio Adventures Volume 2 review

Released the same time as Volume 1, Class Volume 2 is another set of three stories centred on the comings and goings at Coal Hill Academy. The good news is this set of stories is (at least) as good as the first! The bad news is Big Finish has yet to announce any more stories....

Doctor Who: Lady Christina review

The latest “new-Who” release from Big Finish is Lady Christina, the continued adventures of Lady Christina da Souza as played by Michelle Ryan in the TV episode Planet Of The Dead alongside David Tennant’s tenth Doctor. Lady C has already appeared in a Big Finish release, the story Last Chance in the Tenth Doctor Chronicles; in...

Doctor Who: Red Planets review

Kicking off a larger than normal tranche of Sylvester McCoy seventh Doctor stories is the main range two-disc release, Una McCormack’s Red Planets. With the Doctor are companions Ace (Sophie Aldred) trapped in 1961 Berlin, and Mel (Bonnie Langford). Mel is with the Doctor in 2017, but something is wrong: welcome to the Kingdom of...

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures Volume 2 review

Back as the first Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian are David Bradley (now also the first Doctor on TV, courtesy of last year’s Christmas special Twice Upon A Time), Claudia Grant, Jemma Powell and Jamie Glover. Now on their second boxset, they no longer sound strange to the ear, and the set overall feels more polished...

Doctor Who: Short Trips – The Darkened Earth review

The July download only Doctor Who: Short Trips story is The Darkened Earth by John Pritchard. Narrated by Miranda Raison, it’s a sixth Doctor story told by his Big Finish companion Mrs Constance Clarke. It’s a simple-seeming story set on Earth and makes Constance challenge her world view – she joined the Doctor from World...

Torchwood: Instant Karma review

The latest single disc Torchwood release from Big Finish is the darkly provocative tale Instant Karma. It’s a Toshiko Sato tale, and Naoko Mori is in fine form as she explores the nature of power and tests the adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely. The setup is simple, Toshiko is investigating some strange deaths and...

Doctor Who: Hour Of The Cybermen review

In the sixth Doctor story Hour Of The Cybermen, writer Andrew Smith is almost prescient in setting this adventure in a Britain suffering under a drought, though in this case there is no accompanying hot weather, instead water is rationed, lakes are empty, and things are not as they should be when the TARDIS lands...