Exclusively available from the Big Finish website until the end of April, Missy Series 1 delivers exactly what it says on the cover: Michelle Gomez as that most diabolical of Time Lords, Missy, in what must surely be the first set of many.

Across four CD-length stories, Missy is able to do her worst, unchallenged by anything except her own capricious sense of mischief. The four stories all show her talent for evil in comic yet divergent ways as well as giving Michelle Gomez plenty of scope to exercise her vocal talents.

Roy Gill puts Missy into Victorian London in A Spoonful Of Mayhem, the most tongue-in-cheek take on Missy as Mary Poppins desperate to escape from yet another would-be do-gooder but with only the resources of the time at hand. Fortunately, her knowledge of the possible – and the Great Western Railway – is deeper than might be expected and the set is off to a great start.

John Dorney turns the comedy up a notch (or two) as Missy is on the loose in Tudor England in Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated and very much mucking up the timeline of King Henry VIII and Catherine Parr. To add to the chaos, the Meddling Monk (Rufus Hound) is also around with his own plans, rapidly adapting them as he realises Missy has arrived. It’s pure madness and a great listen.

Nev Fountain takes the listener to an American TV show in The Broken Clock and DI Missy Masters of Scotland Yard is on hand to help solve a series of impossible murders in a surreal fourth-wall destroying study of just how callous Missy can be and just what you can do with just a hint of time travel. We also begin to spot the arc running oh-so-gently across the stories.

In the final tale, Jonathan Morris bring us to a darker place in Belly Of The Beast and shows us just how Missy gets her fun on a planet full of slaves who just don’t want to help Missy dominate the universe. How dare they! There’s deception, time travel, needless death and even rampaging monsters, all in a day’s work for Missy as she nears her goal.

Overall, it’s a great set of entertaining stories, though the listener might want to consider the ethical implications of enjoying unconstrained evil so much. Ken Bentley directs with his usual aplomb and Michelle Gomez scintillates throughout. Sound and music add to the enjoyment and it’s another hit.