Articles by:

Ian McArdell

The Infinite Today – Doctor Who Short Trips 10.1 audio review

The Infinite Today kicks off a new year of Short Trips, reuniting the redoubtable Jo Jones (née Grant) with the Eleventh Doctor. The tale begins with Jo en route to Mexico, but waking to find herself landing back at Gatwick Airport. Baffled and doubting, she boards another flight, full of worryingly familiar crew and passengers; … >

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Fourth Doctor Adventures S9 Vol 1 cover art

The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 9 Volume 1 audio review

The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 9 Volume 1 returns us to Tom Baker’s final season on-screen. Set during the “E-Space trilogy”, it reunites the Doctor with Romana II, Adric and K9 for the first time on audio. Notwithstanding some interesting stories, and our favourite version of Tom’s outfit, we find this era of Doctor Who hard work. … >

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Doctor Who Dark Universe cover artwork

Dark Universe – Doctor Who Monthly Adventures 260 audio review

Dark Universe heralds a fresh year of Doctor Who Monthly Adventures at Big Finish. It is a release which makes narrative connections in many directions, but the headline must its be choice of companion. Set some twenty years after they travelled together, the story sees the Seventh Doctor encounter Ace. The other notable familiar face … >

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Cover for The War Master: Anti-Genesis

The War Master: Anti-Genesis audio review

The War Master: Anti-Genesis is the latest boxset of audio dramas to chronicle the exploits of Derek Jacobi’s Master during the Time War; the temporal conflict between his own people and the Daleks. The problem with a concept so unfathomable, however, is that us mere mortals can really only handle a small slice. Luckily, this … >

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The Best-Laid Plans – Doctor Who Short Trips audio review

‘The Best-Laid Plans’ is the winner of 2019’s Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity. Released in memory of the much-missed Big Finish employee, it comes from a writer new to Big Finish. The story is one about ideas, with its central character, Dracksil Forg, being overburdened with them. So full, in fact, that he maintains … >

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Doctor Who - Peace in Our Time Cover art

Peace In Our Time – Doctor Who Short Trips 9.12 audio review

‘Peace in Our Time’, the latest Big Finish Short Trip, features futuristic space pilot Steven Taylor and the First Doctor. We find the pair on the trail of stolen government papers in the early twentieth century. However, events are related through the eyes of a household maid. Ruby Watkins, an astute observer, has soon noticed … >

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Doctor Who The Ultimate Evil cover

The Ultimate Evil – Doctor Who The Lost Stories 5.2 audio review

‘The Ultimate Evil’, originally written for Doctor Who’s Season 23, became a casualty of the show’s enforced hiatus. With the whole season replaced by ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, the story finally came to light as a late-eighties’ Target novelisation. When Big Finish started their run of The Lost Stories, they were not able … >

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Doctor Who Nightmare Country cover

Nightmare Country – Doctor Who The Lost Stories 5.1 audio review

‘Nightmare Country’ was a storyline pitched for Doctor Who‘s 21st season, but ultimately shelved. With a reality bending premise, the production team deemed it beyond the scope of a 1980s’ BBC budget. While Big Finish have adapted numerous other Lost Stories over the years, this one remained under the radar, languishing in writer Stephen Gallagher’s … >

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Warzone/Conversion cover artwork

Warzone / Conversion – Doctor Who Monthly Adventures 258 audio review

‘Warzone’ and ‘Conversion’, a double header of linked two-parters, close the current monthly adventures storyline. Travelling with Tegan, Nyssa and new companion Marc, the Fifth Doctor finds himself involved in first a deadly race and then seeking out an old foe. Warzone The TARDIS lands amid what they fear is a battle, before realising it … >

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