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 the plans of Drexel and the schemes of the Omega conspiracy. It’s also a chance for Morag (Natasha Gerson, daughter of series creator Jack Gerson) to come more to the fore.

First up is Roy Gill’s story Under Glass. It pivots on the ambitions of Adam’s new girlfriend, Lucy Goldie (Claire McTeal) who also gets drawn into an ancient supernatural story with more than a hint of Robert Louis Stevenson and an intriguing study of temptation. Adam’s new-found relationship is tested in the extreme, and Morag’s psychic warnings are more hindrance than help as Adam tries very hard to make a normal life with some very abnormal elements.

The second story, Let Us Play, deserves its own award for clever title, never mind being Natasha Gerson’s own debut as a Big Finish writer. Yes, her character Morag is somewhat centre stage, but it’s just as well with Adam caught up in a sinister game with perhaps too much of the supernatural at its heart. It’s a big, bold story with some emotional moments for Dr Reynolds as she meets up with an old colleague at Glasgow University, but really the story is a reminder to Adam of how high the stakes can be.

Third is Louise Jameson’s story Phantom Pregnancy, putting her and Adam at odds over the treatment of a refugee with outstanding psychic powers, possibly amplified by her condition. There’s plenty of dark backstory, and once again Morag is needed to provide assistance from her psychic retreat (her body still in the coma it has been in since before the first boxset).

Finally, more of the pieces are exposed to our heroes as the machinations of Drexel threaten the very fabric of Department 7 and Adam himself. Phi Mulryne’s Drawn To The Dark continues the threads of the second boxset and sets up another supernatural trap for Anne and Adam. It’s clichéd to say nothing will be the same, but with events causing Adam to reconsider his life and commitment to Department 7, he is clearly struggling to find a centre, and no longer content to be swept around by others.

This is core to the Big Finish Omega Factor project: Dr Reynolds has a job to do and a calling to the cause of Department 7, while Adam is just not fully committed to his existence in Edinburgh. Where he has been somewhat disengaged from driving events forward, it surely won’t be long before he has to confront the events surrounding his father’s time in Department 7, and even his destiny and decide to be more active in understanding his own powers and setting his sights on defeating Drexel and Omega.

EXTRAS: A disc of behind the scenes material