This latest Torchwood One audio boxset offers a trilogy of tales shaped by different reflections on a common theme: the challenges that come from the ageing process, as the clichés of the “mid-life crisis” are gradually displaced by the personal upsets that can follow the end of a working life, the onset of illness and … >
‘The Second Oldest Question’ is posed this month by the Doctor Who Short Trips range, hot on the heels of September’s Capaldi era tale ‘Dead Media’. Narrated by Sarah Sutton, this is a story for Nyssa during her solo travels with the Fifth Doctor. The story takes place in a medieval village, in the wake … >
Thrown together through the luck-of-the-draw of the Torchwood recruitment process, this pair of newbie investigators could hardly be more ill-matched. Toshiko Sato is diligent, attentive, meticulous and aims to excel in everything she’s asked to do. Her fellow recruit Sebastian Vaughan is something else entirely. Born into a family of wealth and privilege, Sebastian is … >
‘Dead Media’, the latest Big Finish Short Trip, features the character of the Twelfth Doctor. While it is not the first, that honour belongs to ‘The Astrea Conspiracy’, this release is special as it is the first performed in the Doctor’s voice, in this case by actor Jacob Dudman. Presented as a podcast, the Doctor … >
September’s second monthly adventure, ‘Tartarus’, provides a good, old fashioned crossover, as Fifth Doctor meets his hero Marcus Tullius Cicero. Reprising the role from his own series, Cicero is again played by Samuel Barnett (Dirk Gently, Torchwood). Set in 63BC, Cicero is Consul of Rome and taking a judicious break from his duties. Inviting themselves … >
As we know from multiple name-drops through the years, Harry Houdini is a friend of the Doctor. However, he never appeared onscreen and his rumoured status as a spy during WWI makes an excellent starting point for this story. The tale begins in the middle of Houdini’s famous illusion, “The Water Torture Cell”, with the … >
The latest 1970s genre property to receive the Big Finish audio makeover treatment is the hugely fondly remembered interstellar epic Space: 1999 – the opening episode of which is retold here infused with a strong contemporary ethos and tone that remains respectful but not reverential to the original source material. The second live action series … >