Jamie Revell

Well, here's a thing I didn't expect to see for a long time, if at all: Christopher Eccleston returning to the role of the Doctor, albeit in an audio. But, nonetheless, here it is and, if it's not the strongest outing ever, it's certainly good enough to bring back some nostalgia for an often-overlooked era of modern Doctor Who. The blurb claims that it's “three new adventures” - but it isn't, it's one 3-hour story broken into three episodes in much the same way that Aliens of London and World War Three are undeniably a single story.

It's also rather complicated, playing about with time in a way that's more reminiscent of the Moffat era than anything in Eccleston's single season. Indeed, the story isn't even linear, with the first episode starting in media res and making extensive use of flashback - something that continues to a lesser extent in the following two episodes. This, on top of the fact that events occur out of order even for the characters and that they visit multiple different time periods and worlds and that, yes, the plot is about yet another threat to the existence of the universe means that Briggs is, arguably, trying a bit too hard with this one.

On the other hand, if you can follow the plot, there are enough positives to make it work. The villain, for instance, is working for more complex motives than at first appears to be the case - even if her reason for not explaining what she's doing earlier on, and saving herself a lot of trouble, is a bit thin. The constant scene changes, although they're filler in the sense that the core plot doesn't absolutely need them, do give a sense of scale and drama that a shorter story might lack, and it never really drags. Which is a considerable plus, given the length.

The story is probably intended to be set before Rose, although one could just as well argue that it's set during the seemingly brief gap between the TARDIS disappearing and then reappearing at the end of that episode (if you assume Nine is newly regenerated at the start of it). Either way, Rose isn't in it, and we have a surrogate companion instead, in the form of an indentured cook working in the canteen of a big corporation. She's one of the stronger points of the story, a worthy companion but one who would rather just find somewhere nice to live than traipse across the galaxy.

But the real joy is hearing Eccleston again, effortlessly slipping back into the character and sounding as if he's never been away. This may be a good, fun, outing, although it isn't a flawless one - but I suspect there's better to come.

The premise here - a worldwide catastrophe that takes place so rapidly that only speedsters can deal with it - is a good one. It brings in essentially the entire Flash family, teaming up against a new foe that's almost as fast as they are, and has some defences against their abilities. Added to this, there is some decent character material, notably for Evey, although some of the developments early on are sufficiently line-changing that you know some sort of Reset button has to be hit before the end. There are some clever ideas in here, and the broad cast of characters helps. (This is particularly notable in the special issue, which deals with events elsewhere while the main story is going on as well as filling in the villains' backstory). Overall, it's a fun story that, appropriately enough, keeps up the pace all the way through.

It was surely inevitable that, once Big Finish had managed to entice Tom Baker into working for them, that his first season would have to include a Dalek story in it somewhere. So here we are.

There isn't an awful lot to this story, which manages to feel shorter than its 60-minute length. The Doctor and Leela arrive in 2020s London just as the Daleks are about to launch a plan to destroy the Earth, largely for the sake of it. For the fans, the story does have Robomen in it, and they form quite a key part of the story. There's also some political commentary on energy shortages and pensioners freezing in their homes over winter, but it's pretty basic stuff.

The details of the Daleks' plan, once it becomes apparent, is completely bonkers - although, in all fairness, no more so than many of the things they've tried to do in the TV series. But the fact that they're Daleks is largely incidental; it's easy to see this working just as well as a Cyberman story, for instance. It really is just Doctor Who by numbers, and it's probably meant to be, but as I said in my review for the first story in this series, nostalgia will only take you so far.

The third volume in this plot arc sees the protagonists no longer stranded, with the TARDIS able to travel to alien planets again – albeit with its full functionality yet to be restored. The previous volume, however, set up more than enough plot to keep this one going as the Doctor and companions seek to avert the dystopian (and ultimately apocalyptic) future timeline that two of the prior episodes were built around. It's relatively slow, and one of the stories is a little weak, but overall, it continues what's been another great 8th Doctor series.

Patience – The first story sees the Doctor and companions hiding out on three different, apparently abandoned, planets. Their pursuers do eventually turn up, but until then it's mostly a story of the interactions between the two pairs of companions, interspersed with the Doctor recounting a fairy tale. By the point that there is somebody else for them to talk to, however, it's already clear that all is not as it seems with the three threads of the story having more in common than initially seemed to be the case. The result is an odd mystery that has something of the feel of a ghost story without actually being one – and that eventually involves Judoon. While arguably nothing much happens for much for it, it's nonetheless an interesting story that also provides some character development that hints at upcoming changes. 4.5 stars.

Twisted Folklore – The theme of fairy tales and folklore continues in the second story. Here, the TARDIS has arrived on a world on the fringes of the Earth Empire where the human rulers are subjugating the indigenous inhabitants. It all ties in to the altered history created by events in the second volume and it becomes apparent early on that the Empire is, in part, using indoctrination through children's stories to achieve its aims. With the companions separated as they help out various parts of the resistance, and the whole thing beginning in media res for no particular reason, it's harder to get to grips with than the previous story, and is quite confusing in places. The details of the Empire's scheme and how the Doctor plans to stop don't make too much sense either, although, on the bright side, there are some strong moments for Liv and the alien voices are done better than is often the case - having a subtle but distinctive sibilance rather than using some electronic distort. 3 stars.

Snow – This is, in large part, a story about grief and abandonment. Sure, there's a mysterious phenomenon that acts as a metaphor for what some of the characters are feeling, but it's not the core of the tale. In addition to this, and almost feeling like a subplot, there are further revelations about how the alternate timeline came about, as we see the origins of the fascist state that was a setting for one of the stories in the previous volume. Unless you count the proto-fascists, however, there are no monsters in this one, which is focussed more on character and emotion albeit with a conclusion that's less maudlin than one might expect. 4.5 stars.

What Just Happened – 5 stars. Speaking of which, it ends (or rather, begins) on a cliffhanger. We know how it ends, but the mystery is in how we got there, which isn't fully revealed until the beginning as well as reflecting the story's wider themes about cause and effect. Some listeners may well find that (like this review) pretentious and confusing but, for me, it's cleverly written, with twists and turns that work in the opposite way to those in a regular story. But what's significant about it is that it's told in reverse, even to the extent of starting with the closing credits and ending with the opening theme music. The basis of it is straightforward, as the Doctor tracks down his nemesis and tries to prevent the destruction of the human race. As previously in this series, the best story is saved for last.

The low-key story of the Doctor being stranded on Earth continues in this collection. More pieces of the plot arc come together here, but the main distinguishing feature from Stranded 1 is that the TARDIS is once again capable of time travel – but not yet of travelling through space. Still stuck in London, this allows for a heavier emphasis on time travel as a plot device (rather than, say, alien planets), and makes good use of the cast of characters set up in the previous volume.

Dead Time – Starting directly where volume 1 left off, this soon sees the Doctor taking an unusually large number of travelling companions off in the TARDIS, only to arrive on an uninhabited Earth six million years in the future. It's clear that part of the purpose of this is to lay seeds for future episodes; we see the eventual outcome of some major event that has yet to happen. Aside from that, though, the story sees the travellers wandering about in an empty desert, giving them plenty of time to interact with one another and for the show to develop their characters – Tania, especially, being built up as potential companion material. Despite the eventual danger of the setting, it's almost a downtime episode, taking time to show how the different characters react to their predicament. 4 stars.

UNIT Dating – The cheeky title of this episode doesn't refer to what you might think it does (although there are nods to that, too). It sees the Doctor travelling back to the UNIT of his third incarnation's days and ending up causing a temporal anomaly that not only affects him and Andy in the past, but Liv and Helen in the present day. It's a good time travel story, further enlivened by being wound around a couple of UNIT soldiers starting a romantic relationship whose outcome is changed by the shifting events. Plus, of course, we have Jon Culshaw as the Brigadier getting some good scenes with Eight that address issues that the ‘70s show never did. 4.5 stars.

Baker Street Irregulars – With time travel available again, a story set in the past was inevitable, and it feels appropriate that this one is mostly a straight historical. That element of the plot sees the Doctor taking two of his tenants back to 1941 to learn more about their grandmother's work for the SOE. Naturally enough, that soon leads to adventure – albeit with Nazis less directly involved than one might expect – but it is accompanied by an SF side-plot concerning an unexploded bomb that turns out to be anything but. The historical elements, borrowing on a nickname for the SOE when it was, indeed, based on Baker Street, are loosely reminiscent of the real-world story of Noor Inayat Khan... one of those little bits of history that our white-male-dominated vision of WWII era Britain tends to overlook. 4 stars.

The Long Way Round – The concluding story alternates between scenes of the time travellers being interrogated by a mysterious woman holding them captive and The Curator having a friendly chat with a child on a park bench. It's the sort of thing that's ideally suited for audio, since it wouldn't have much in the way of visuals if it were made for TV. Instead, it relies on the personalities of the various characters as each is interviewed one by one and the story, and how it connects to the larger plot, slowly unfolds. I worked out the ‘surprise' reveals early on, but they aren't the beauty of the story, which come from the top-notch acting and dialogue. 5 stars.

Unusually, all of the episodes in this collection have the same setting: present-day London. (Technically, it's 2020, although having been written no later than 2019, there's obviously no reference to the pandemic). The result is something that feels more tightly plotted than usual, and has the opportunity to contrast the mundane with the fantastic, building up a substantial support cast of recurring characters along the way.

Lost Property – The first episode, naturally enough, is devoted largely to setting the scene, making it relatively sedate by the standards of most Doctor Who stories. The Doctor and companions are staying in an apartment block in central London with no apparent means of repairing the TARDIS, forcing Liv and Helen to try to live something approaching a normal life. Much is made of the resulting culture shock, with Helen sixty years in her future and Liv nine centuries in her past. We're also introduced to the other residents of the building although we don't get a run-down of them until close to the end; this might have been better placed earlier on, given the relatively large number of them.

Against this, there are two linked science fiction elements that bring us towards something more typical of the series, perhaps reminiscent of The Power of Three or The Lodger (although the latter is companion-lite, while this is anything but). The threat is somewhat nebulous, with it never being truly clear what it is but it's there really to show us something of the characters rather than being important in its own right. The second element, however, is the presence of The Curator, puttering about in the background and being mysterious. This is likely foreshadowing some future plot development but, for the time being, it's welcome just to hear Tom Baker again, adding an extra something to a story that otherwise might feel rather slow. 4 stars.

Wild Animals – If the first episode was heavy on the mundane aspects of life, this second one is even more so. It is, in fact, effectively a straight historical... just one that happens to be set in the present day. That is to say, there are no science fiction elements at all, beyond the presence of the time travellers, and it's solely about them trying to adapt to the regular world that we all inhabit. This may have been done before in some short story or comic somewhere that I haven't encountered but, to me, it certainly feels refreshingly different.

I suspect some listeners won't be keen on it for that reason; it's not all domesticity, but there's precious little action, either. While the companions were more to the fore in the first episode, here the focus is on the Doctor and on how he is coping – or, rather, not coping – with a life that gives him no evil plans to thwart or monsters to overcome. It's a great character piece, with some strong scenes for Helen and character development for Liv alongside the central thread about the Doctor. It's not the sort of thing you'd be able to repeat – or would want to – but as a one-off it's both brave and surprisingly engaging. 5 stars.

Must-See TV – It's in this episode that the science fiction elements start to come to the fore as that element of the plot arc kicks in. Andy Davidson also makes his first appearance in the story here, bringing some revelations about one of the other characters living in the flats and aware that he has to keep the Doctor ignorant of the existence of Torchwood until he encounters them in his tenth incarnation. There are also other developments with the character elements of the story, with an LGBTQ romance being thrown into the mix (which, on past evidence from others' reviews, I can safely predict will delight some listeners and infuriate others).

The science fiction part of the story comes courtesy of televisions in the flats acting strangely just as a new tenant moves in. While we do discover what's going on, it's less clear at this point who's behind it or what their motive is. The result of this is that, even though they are written by different authors, this episode and the next one feel like a single story, with ongoing threads rather than neat resolutions. Indeed, this story ends abruptly, so that I almost wondered if I'd failed to download the last part of it... it's very much not standalone but that seems to be one of the strengths of this particular audio series. 4.5 stars.

Divine Intervention – We do get some answers in the final instalment of this volume as some aliens turn up and there's an element of action for the first time. Against that, we have some further character development for the other tenants, and the threads left dangling from the previous episode are followed up as the plot arc continues. Once again, however, there are more questions raised than answered and an entirely new element enters the mix in a scene that's clearly setting things up for later but whose connection to the rest of the story remains obscure for now.

It ends, if not on a cliffhanger, at a major turning point that hints things are about to turn in a new direction in the next volume. The long-term plotting of this volume left me eager to find out what's coming next, which is exactly what this episode should be doing, and feeling that the Eighth Doctor audios are truly back on form again after the somewhat lacklustre Ravenous arc. 5 stars.

Here, Big Finish takes the unusual step of jumping back into their own chronology to add additional stories between those already released. This is common enough for most Doctors, since the needs of internal chronology take a back seat to whichever companion is required for a given tale, but hasn't been for the Eighth Doctor. Here, though, are four new stories featuring Lucie Miller, set at some point during the original run of the Eighth Doctor Adventures line. Despite the title, they feature the Doctor as much, if not more, than Lucie and the first three are largely (although not entirely) standalone.

• The Dalek Trap – The first episode has the unusual device of having the Doctor be effectively incapacitated for almost the entire story. This, of course, places Lucie front-stage, leaving her as the primary character to try and deal with the situation they find themselves in – marooned on an isolated planetoid that is also home to a crashed Dalek spacecraft. The Daleks are also behaving oddly and its initially unclear to what extent they are responsible for what's happening or are just taking advantage of something else. Seeing Lucie so crucial to the plot is good, especially for the opening episode of a series with her name in the title although arguably she isn't really stretched, and the alien setting doesn't make much of her distinction from other companions. 3 stars.

• The Revolution Game – In many respects, despite the lack of returning monsters, this is a more traditional story, with the Doctor up against corporate greed on an arid colony world. There are a few twists along the way, largely concerning the native life on the planet, which there is rather more to than it first appears. Aside from helping to investigate the central mystery, Lucie's main role here is getting to take part in a local roller derby, something that's less effective on audio than it would be with visuals – a voice-over from a sports commentator would have helped here, although in fairness the details aren't a major part of the plot. 3.5 stars.

• The House on the Edge of Chaos – Unusually, there is no story set in Earth's past in this collection, but this is the closest it gets. It's set on a human colony world where things have been set up to mirror the social structure (and, apparently, the costumes and décor) of early 20th century England – a sort of Downton Abbey in space. Albeit one with a mysterious force preventing anyone from leaving the vast house, which now seems to be leaking inside and killing people. It's a well-done story, with some thought having gone into how such a society could function, with a good mix of investigative and action elements... although the resolution does, in the end, feel a little abrupt. That Lucie is instantly identified by the housekeeper as being upper-class material and treated as such from then on is also an amusing change for the character. 4.5 stars.

• Island of the Fendahl – This tale set in the present day is to my mind, a more successful sequel to TV story Image of the Fendahl than Big Finish's previous attempt to do so as part of their Torchwood series. It has a distinct feel of Folk Horror, the genre that the original TV story was emulating, creating an entirely new story that fits with the atmosphere of the original – of which some knowledge is required, since there are a number of connections. There several twists along the way, leading to an effective finale that ties some apparently disparate threads together. 4.5 stars.

This particular “season” of Eighth Doctor stories has not been the strongest, not least because the Ravenous are a rather dull enemy. In fairness, much of it has really been about the Eleven and that's something that continues here in a set of three stories the last one of which manages to redeem some of the weaknesses of the earlier collections.

Whisper – In an attempt to find treatment for the Eleven, the Doctor lands the TARDIS on a planet that contains a hospital and literally nothing else. Even before the theme music starts up it's already become clear that the facility is, as such remote bases are wont to be, under siege from an outside threat. The threat in question turns out to hunt solely by sound, hence the story's title. It's a reasonable idea in general, but not so great for audio, since it can sometimes be hard to tell who is whispering to whom. On the plus side, the scenes in which Liv is struggling as to how far she should go to stop the Eleven are strong, and there is some good interaction between her and Helen. The story has connections with the larger plot arc, but essentially, it's standalone and mainly consists of trying to escape from the monster as the guest cast are picked off. In that respect, it works, but it's not especially memorable. 3.5 stars.

Planet of Dust – We're back to something closer to the main plot here, as the Eleven's plan begins to become apparent. Indeed, this episode ends on a cliffhanger so that it's really the first part of the following story. While the Ravenous remain uninteresting villains, they're not in the foreground of this very much, being outshone by the Eleven and – as is apparent from the cover – the Master. I'm less convinced by the nature of the McGuffin that the Master is hunting, although his motivations and methods for doing so seem in character. But still, it's a classic set-up with some good turns from the villains and moves along quite quickly. 4 stars.

Day of the Master – The two-hour finale to this “season” of stories ties the arc together and also resolves some mysteries from earlier episodes. The main characters are separated for over half of the entire story, although each of them manages to encounter the Master in the process. In addition to some timey-wimeyness (the appearances aren't entirely in chronological order) this has the benefit of introducing no less than three versions of the Master into one story. This pays off in a major way once the Doctor and companions reunite and the three Masters meet up – something that's greatly enlivened by one of them being Missy, who is brilliantly written here and constantly flippant about her former selves. It's a great wrap-up to a season that has often been below par. 4.5 stars.

The third set in this ‘season' of Eighth Doctor stories is tying in closely to the plot arc now, with the Ravenous moving close to centre stage. Fortunately, however, since they don't do much except slaver and chase after people, the story is more about escaping them than fighting them directly, and the Eleven has a key role that largely overshadows them. Plus, Liv is on cracking form throughout.

• Deeptime Frontier - The first episode carries on directly from where Ravenous 2 ended, taking us to a sort of mining operation in the Vortex. Once we get past the initial rescue sequence, it's a base-under-siege, with the Ravenous as the monsters. We do finally get a proper explanation for what they are, but it turns out to be the sort of thing we've heard many times before in other stories. And then there's a lot of running through corridors and getting split up and honestly not much else. It's not a badly done story, but there's nothing new to it, and it seems to exist mainly just to get the characters to where they need to be next – a necessary bridge, perhaps, and one providing some needed exposition, but unremarkable on its own merits. 3 stars.

• Companion Piece – What follows is fortunately much better. Here, Liv and Helen find themselves the prisoners of a madman who's trying to collect a full set of the Doctor's companions. The result is bonkers, with lots of great one-liners and more nods to the series' history than you can shake a stick at. River Song appears, but we also get (as is apparent from the cover image) Charlie and Bliss, with the latter getting a particularly good turn in a story that's more comedic than her usual fare. It's a great Doctor-lite story, full of fun and putting the companions centre stage. 5 stars.

• L.E.G.E.N.D. – Next, we're off to 19th century Germany for a meeting with the Brothers Grimm. The story, naturally enough, deals with folklore, with elements taken from the stories that the Brothers collected – although not in the cop-out “they were inspired by real events” way that's sometimes used. Instead, we have a story about the arrival of an alien folklorist which, after some initial comic moments, leads to unforeseen complications and a real monster stalking the woods The resolution, when it comes, is a little abrupt and there's perhaps not quite the sense of time and place that mark the best stories set in Earth's past, but it works better than it might have. 3.5 stars.

• The Odds Against – Initially, the concluding story seems like it's going to be another run-around in the style of the first one in the collection. Trying to track down the Ravenous, the Doctor arrives on an alien planet, stumbles across a dead body and is immediately arrested by a patrolling robot before becoming embroiled in trying to solve a mystery. All of which seems fairly routine, but it turns that that's rather the point, and the story soon heads off in an entirely different direction. The Ravenous themselves are, honestly, rather tedious but here, they are really an ancillary threat to recurring villain the Eleven. The latter is very well employed here; even if it at times it gets confusing trying to follow his self-interrupted monologues, it's well worth it. 4.5 stars.

The second volume in this collection of 8th Doctor stories follows on from the previous one but has no apparent connection to it until we reach the final episode. Taken as a whole, it's better than volume #1, but not yet up to the standards of the previous “season”.

• Escape from Kaldor – The first episode is essentially standalone. The Doctor takes his companions to Liv's homeworld of Kaldor, where, of course, we meet the robots from Robots of Death. The main story here isn't anything special; better ones have been done with the same ‘monsters' before, and there are no real twists as to why, on this occasion, problems start developing with the robots' control systems. The story is, however, pulled above the average by the elements dealing with Liv, and the reasons for her reluctance to return home. It turns out to be this, rather than the more intriguing set-up of The Sons of Kaldor, that leads into the separate Robots series, and any connection with the rest of the Ravenous storyline is not yet apparent. 3 stars.

• Better Watch Out/Fairytale of Salzburg – One might think that the modern show had run the theme of “Christmas special” dry, but this 2-hour story is another twist on that format... albeit one released in October. The TARDIS arrives shortly before Christmas in present-day Salzburg, giving the Doctor a chance to expound his love of the season. Naturally, it all goes wrong, in this case when an overly enthusiastic Krampus descends on the city. Which is doubly odd, because it ought to be mythical. An interesting feature of the story is that it's told in flashback by the Doctor and another narrator who is initially unidentified – as are the people they are telling the story to. The two narrations are independent, and not entirely chronological, so it's important to keep up as viewpoints shift. It's cleverly done, with many Christmas themes in it, beyond the Krampus itself, and a key role for Helen in particular. The only weakness is that it's never really explained what's behind it all. 4.5 stars.

• Seizure – The final story of the set is also the only one that ties in with the series arc (at least so far as one can tell at this point). It sees the Doctor answering a distress call from a dying TARDIS and ending up trapped inside its collapsing structure. One could argue that not very much happens in it, since it's mostly just a fight for survival, but it's full of atmosphere with a sense of despair and foreboding. It ends on a cliffhanger that leads into the next volume. 4 stars.

This is the conclusion to what's effectively been a 16-episode “season” of 8th Doctor stories that, by this point, has built up quite a complex storyline. Considering how much had to be resolved and tied together, it's a surprisingly good finale, although obviously far from self-contained. The 8th Doctor stories are really knocking it out of the park at the moment.

• Ship in a Bottle – As implied by the title, this is effectively a “bottle show”, featuring just the Doctor and his companions trapped inside a time pod careering into oblivion with no apparent means of escape. This allows plenty of time for reflection, with the characters discussing their varying attitudes to the predicament. It's also an examination of why the Doctor needs companions, with Liv being particularly strong in this one. It's arguably a slow burn, although there are obviously moments of tension as the crew make various attempts to resolve the quandary, but it's well placed, given the need to wrap everything up in the remaining three episodes.

• Songs of Love – River Song faces off against the Sonomancer in a story that contrasts the nature of their respective romantic relationships. Indeed, this only features the Doctor in the closing moments and even the companions are side-lined, only briefly present and reacting to events rather than driving them. Instead, the story is set on Gallifrey, as we see the Coalition's plans moving towards fruition, and discover their true motives (which do turn out to be logical, even if their methodology is extreme). As befits a story that's largely based around River, there are a number of ties to the new series, and while there's relatively little action, there's enough scheming and manipulation to make things move along quickly.

• The Side of the Angels - The connections to the new series are at least as strong here, in a story that brings back the Weeping Angels, and, in particular, builds on ideas and references in both The Time of Angels and The Angels Take Manhattan. It's the historical story for this particular volume, being set in 1970s New York, although it might as well have been the present day. featuring a group of Time Lords - two of whom are recurring characters from elsewhere in the audios - trying to come up with their own alternative plan to beat the Doom Coalition. Unsurprisingly, it all goes wrong, and there's some really good use of the Angels in a story that's high on tension as things move towards the climax.

• Stop the Clock - That final confrontation comes here, in another story set on Gallifrey. It manages to pull a number of threads together, with the three main villains of the series arc apparently on the verge of their final victory. There's plenty of action as the story runs in what's apparently more or less real time and there's a particularly good scene with the Eleven tormenting one of his psychologically damaged victims. While the main plot arc is concluded at the end in a satisfying way, there's also a cliffhanger of sorts, leaving things open for the next set of adventures.

The third volume of this four-volume series is the strongest so far, which is saying something. At first, it appears to have little connection with the overall plot arc, but that gradually changes as it goes along. And it has River Song in it, for those who want that new-series touch.

* Absent Friends - The first story sees the Doctor and companions arriving in 1990s England to encounter a seemingly minor mystery about mobile phones. The mystery itself is well-crafted, with a number of red herrings, but that's not the strength of the episode. Rather, it's a story about family and loss, involving both Helen and Liv in different ways, the sort of bittersweet story that the new series occasionally does but that the original never did. Of course, some prefer it that way and may regret the almost complete lack of action, but there can be few of us who can't at least identify with what Liv's going through. 5 stars.

* The Eighth Piece/The Doomsday Chronometer - A single two-hour story which is more complex than most typical DW tales. At its heart, it's a MacGuffin hunt, with the central characters searching for parts of something in three different periods of Earth's history. The complexities of time travel feature heavily in this, as one might expect, and it's long enough to allow the mystery of what on Earth this has to do with the plot of the previous two volumes (a lot, as it happens) to unfold slowly. Thomas Cromwell is perhaps over-played as villainous, and Helen and Liv make a mistake near the end that's hard to swallow, but these are the only weaknesses. River Song also jumps into the narrative here, this time using a psychic wimple to disguise her appearance and allow her to properly interact with the Doctor for a change... I assume there will be more of this in later releases. 4 stars.

* The Crucible of Souls - Finally, we discover what this was all about, in a story tying together most of what's happened so far. There's an enormous universe-spanning threat, but that's not anything remarkable in DW and this one isn't notably different from all the others. What's more interesting is the villains' motivations, and how they've set everything up to lead to this outcome. While there's also a fair bit of exposition, there's plenty of action, and the story ends on a dramatic cliffhanger that leads into the final volume. 5 stars.

The second set of four episodes in this 16-episode series heads off on something of a tangent. This time around, the focus moves away from the Big Bad (or at least, the character who appeared to be the Big Bad in the first instalment) and on to another villain who is, perhaps, less interesting, if seemingly rather more deadly.

• Beachhead – The Doctor and companions arrive in present-day Somerset in what proves to be an entirely standalone story that's only tangentially connected to the rest of the arc. What we get here is a fairly standard alien invasion story, although connections to the Doctor's past do make it a little more interesting. As is clear from the cover, the villains here are the Voord, making their second appearance in a Big Finish release. That previous story expanded considerably on their culture and society, making them more interesting than they had been in their original TV outing, but here they're just back to being generic baddies. There's some nice background with the guest characters, but nothing to raise this rather rushed-feeling story above the mundane. 3 stars.

• Scenes from Her Life – A complex story, set on a decaying structure deep in the Vortex. This turns out to have a rather deeper connection to the story arc, since it includes a series of flashbacks from the point of view of a character who appeared in the first episode of Doom Coalition 1 which both explain her background, and how the situation in this episode came to be. It's a somewhat surreal story, and initially quite confusing, although it does make more sense as it progresses and what's really going on is uncovered by the Doctor and his companions. Liv comes across well here, but it's more an exploration of the weird setting and a missing piece slotting into the larger arc than it is about the regular characters. 4 stars.

• The Gift – The TARDIS arrives in San Francisco on the eve of the great earthquake of 1906 and is immediately assaulted by a psychic force that makes him act strangely. This puts some of the focus back on the companions, at least for the earlier parts of the story. In the latter parts, there's some sense of the devastation of the earthquake and the resulting fires, although the threat from the villain tends to overshadow it. Admittedly, the villain's plan is intimately connected with the quake (although, for what it's worth, that's a ‘fixed point in time' and not something they've directly created) but, even so, it does take something away from the scale of the real tragedy. Perhaps that would have been a little too dark for what's essentially an adventure story, though. 3 stars.

• The Sonomancer – The story climaxes on an alien planet beset by evil mining corporations and a partially dormant volcano. The Eleven does turn up in this episode, even if he's rather playing second fiddle, but there's no real further exploration of his complex character, and he's mainly just a crazy guy. The other villains are somewhat better, if not stunningly original, and the story is too strong on action that's difficult to follow on audio, so that at times I wasn't clear what was happening when I was obviously supposed to be. The main selling point of the episode, though, is probably that it has River Song in it, playing as large a role as the Doctor, but doomed never to meet him since their first encounter is still in his future. The result is a flawed, but still reasonably satisfying, conclusion to this section of the series, leaving things open for the next instalment without rushing headlong into it. 4 stars.

So, 3.5 stars on average, which is rather lower than the first instalment, but at least rounds up to a 4.

The beginning of a new arc of 8th Doctor stories, this continues with the companion from the previous arc, but otherwise kicks off the story from scratch – although it does make a number of indirect references to earlier stories from across the range.

• The Eleven – The first episode introduces us to the Big Bad for the new ‘season', the titular Eleven. The villain himself is an interesting one, a Time Lord suffering from a sort of multiple personality disorder in which the personae of his previous incarnations keep re-surfacing and conflicting with one another. At this early stage, only about four or five of them are readily identifiable (at least to me), but there's only so much one can do in a single hour-long story, and there's plenty of time to flesh out the others in the episodes to follow. On the other hand, the story itself isn't particularly remarkable, being set entirely on Gallifrey and not anything very interesting with the setting. Much is made of what the Eleven might be trying to achieve, but it turns out to be pretty much what you'll have expected all along. 4.5 stars.

• The Red Lady – This is effectively a standalone story, which doesn't really need to belong to the larger arc at all, beyond the fact that it introduces new companion Helen Sinclair. It's also set (again) in 1963, which feels redundant by this point. It is, however, a very good story, a horror piece about something deadly in an archaeological collection. Helen immediately seems to have potential as a companion, with her Earthly background perhaps making her easier to identify with than existing companion Liv. The story has a strong build-up, with the entity remaining mysterious throughout, even as the Doctor and Liv try to piece together its background. It may have nothing much to do with anything else, but it's the strongest story in the collection. 5 stars.

• The Galileo Trap – The Doctor visits Galileo towards the end of his life, while he was under house arrest near Florence. Both of the companions are used well here, contrasting Liv's experience at time travel with its novelty for Helen, as well as emphasising Liv's medical background. The historical parts of the story are well written, creating a nice atmosphere, and at least some insight into Galileo as a character. The focus, however, is more on the alien interlopers, who have some nice touches but are mainly just a generic threat. 4 stars.

• The Satanic Mill – The climax is, unfortunately, not as strong as the stories that precede it. The idea of the setting – a space station built like a Victorian workhouse – is nice enough, but it's often not terribly clear what's going on. It's clear enough what the villain is trying to do, but less so why he thinks this is a particularly good way of going about it, and at times it's also hard to follow the action. The Eleven is back again, of course, but while his motives are clearer, there's little further development of his character(s), which is a bit of a pity, given his potential. Since there are three further releases in the series, the ending is obviously left open, but it's not a clear-cut cliffhanger. 3.5 stars.

The final part of the Dark Eyes quartet is fully up to the standard set by the prior parts. Once again, although packaged as four stories (with two writers alternating between them) it's really a single one, jumping about in time and space. The task for the writers here was to tie up all the plots and loose ends of the first three instalments, bringing back the Master, the Daleks, the Eminence, and more to bring everything full circle. As will be apparent from the cover, there are Sontarans in it, too, here playing a somewhat different role than they normally do.

While the Daleks are the main threat - as they were in the original instalment - it's really Alex MacQueen's Master who shines, dominating his portion of the story and getting some fantastic lines. Nicola Walker is also impressive as companion Liv Chenka, making her character likeable and sympathetic, while remaining distinct from prior TV companions.

Time travel and its repercussions are integral to the plot, something that's to be expected after the earlier offerings in the series. In this respect, the first segment is particularly interesting, taking a common sci-fi plot device and examining it from an entirely different perspective. There are also some fun ideas in here (particularly what one of the villains has done with the Moulin Rouge), and a good mix of different tones from the somewhat leisurely beginning to the dramatic and emotional conclusion, which is much stronger on the action.

This entire series has been consistently good, with perhaps its only real flaw being the sidelining of Molly after the first couple of releases. One suspects that might have had something to do with the availability of Ruth Bradley, and the need to set up Liv as a longer-term replacement once it became clear that Dark Eyes was going to be more than a one-off, but her introduction was so good that her reduction to background plot device is inevitably disappointing.

That aside, this finale brings together all the elements that made the earlier parts successful and provides a fitting conclusion to a plot arc and series that's longer than most of the TV show's seasons.

The second instalment in this series was somewhat weakened by having the four episodes written by different authors, but here, we return to the original format - still four hour-long ‘episodes', but all written as a single story with a single writer.

This starts a little after the cliffhanger ending of the previous volume, and it's worth noting that, while it leaves things open for the fourth and final instalment, it does not itself finish with a true cliffhanger. The focus this time is on the machinations of the Master, and his attempts to manipulate the Eminence - the main villain of the previous volume - for his own ends. This it does very ably.

In fact, the first segment is largely a Master story, with the Doctor reduced to a passive bystander watching his longtime foe setting up his plans for the rest of the narrative. The joy here is largely trying to work out what he's really up to, followed, of course, by the Doctor and new assistant Liv Chenka trying to track him down and foil his scheme. We also learn rather more about the Eminence, although its true origins are seemingly being left open for the final volume.

Prior Dark Eyes companion Molly O'Sullivan, while crucial to the plot, is more of a maguffin here than previously - the Doctor is trying to save her, but she's not present for most of the story. On the other hand, we do have the appearance of Coordinator Narvin, one of the main characters in the Gallifrey series, who meets the Doctor for the first time here, and is understandably met with some initial suspicion.

But the real strength is in the overall story, and the performance of Alex MacQueen as the Master. Perhaps the best sequence is one in which he and the Doctor are trapped on a doomed starship with no means of escape, forcing them to interact with one another and explore their differing motivations and morals. A number of the minor characters also add weight and humanity to the story, putting the galactic conflict into context, while Sally Armstrong, as the Master's companion, also has quite a bit of agency of her own.

But there's plenty of action too, from a Magnificent Seven style defence of an isolated colony to a race of subjugated aliens turning on their former masters. It's consistently well paced, and interesting throughout, and a particularly good evocation of the Master and the kind of schemes he comes up with.

While this is, like its predecessor, a single, 4-hour story, it doesn't initially feel much like one, with each of the first three 60 minute “episodes” within it seeming to be distinct. This may be partly because each 60-minute segment has a different main writer, but there's also the fact that they aren't told in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective, so that the connection between the first two isn't apparent until the end of the final one.

It should be noted, though, that the story does take place in chronological order from the perspective of the companions, and that it isn't at all difficult to follow in that respect. Effectively, we start with a flash-forward, and then we (and the companions) spend the rest of the story trying to figure out how we got there, and why the Doctor was doing what he was doing. It's a more sophisticated and plot-justified version of those TV episodes that start with something dramatic and inexplicable happening and then suddenly state “24 hours previously...“

We start on a planet under Dalek occupation, where we are re-introduced to Liv Chenka, a medical technician who previously appeared in the 7th Doctor audio-play Robophobia, and is played by Olivier Award-winning actress Nicola Walker. By itself, it's a fairly straightforward Dalek story, with the only apparent connection to Dark Eyes being the use of the same Dalek commander. In the context of the next three episodes, however, it's both more connected and more significant than it first appears.

Each of the remaining “episodes” brings back a different preexisting villain from the Big Finish canon, most notably (because he's on the cover) the Alex MacQueen version of the Master. There's a different setting for each, too, and we're well over half-way through before the disparate parts begin to come together, and the big picture becomes clearer. In this respect, I felt that the last episode worked best, as we finally move towards the point where we came in - meeting a particularly scary optometrist along the way.

While the story improves as it goes along, and the nature of the over-arcing threat becomes apparent, it doesn't work quite as well as the original Dark Eyes story. Even though there are more connections than there at first seem to be, it isn't as cohesive as the original, and, perhaps because she's no longer the sole companion, Molly doesn't quite have the same chance to shine (although, when she does, she's still very good).

The original was, of course, self-contained, so this sequel has to squeeze in a reason as to why it now has another three “seasons” (counting this one). That works well enough, and, this time round, any such problem is avoided for the future by ending the final part on a cliffhanger. You can listen to Dark Eyes on its own, but you can't do the same with this one.

This four-hour story kicks off a new plot arc for the Eighth Doctor. As such, it's a good stepping-in point, not absolutely requiring knowledge of previous stories - although, since it is somewhat influenced by the events at the end of the previous arc (ending with To The Death) if you are going to listen to both, you'll probably want to do so in order.

The story concerns a demoralised Doctor being hired by the Time Lords to protect a woman who, of course, goes on to become the new companion. Although he doesn't work it out until the end of the first ‘episode', there are Daleks on the cover, so no prize for guessing who the main villains are. Fortunately, given the limitations of Daleks for doing much beyond exterminating people, they are assisted by a mysterious, but apparently human, character, who is very ably played by Toby Jones.

One of the delights of the story is companion Molly O'Sullivan, played by Ruth Bradley (of Humans and Primeval, among other things). Her forceful personality comes to the fore right from the off, and she makes an immediate impact as a companion who doesn't entirely trust the Doctor and who has a scathing tone somewhat reminiscent of Donna from the TV series.

The story begins in the trenches of World War One, where Molly works as a volunteer nurse, and this is probably the strongest of the four parts, atmospheric and with a great soundscape. The second part, while still well-made, is largely just running away from Daleks, but things pick up again once we begin to unravel the mystery of Molly's past, meet some rather strange Daleks, and head towards the final confrontation. Exactly what's going on is a little complicated, and does involve time paradoxes, but isn't quite up to the level of some of Moffat's more convoluted TV stories.

There are a number of hints in here linking to the modern TV series, and it's easy to see this as the start of the road that leads to Night of the Doctor, although, for licensing reasons, the connections are never explicit. At it's best, though, it's a story about the Doctor and his companion, and how she helps him recover from a low point in his life. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

This is the second part of a two-part story, so I have reviewed both parts together at the entry for Lucie Miller.

This is the second part of a two-part story, so I have reviewed both parts together at the entry for Lucie Miller.

This is the first of a two-part story, concluded in To the Death. I have reviewed both parts here.

This is the two-part finale to Big Finish's Eighth Doctor Adventures, wrapping out the fourth, and final, “season”. Not coincidentally, it is also the last story to feature the eponymous Lucie Miller, who has been the companion for most of the series' run.

The story follows on from both Relative Dimensions and The Resurrection of Mars, with references to some other Big Finish stories as well. It features Lucie and Susan becoming embroiled in a second dalek invasion of Earth, that shows many odd similarities with the first (in the TV series). As such, it's hardly a standalone episode, although that's not really unexpected in a series finale!

Unusually, the Doctor doesn't turn up until almost the 30 minute mark, which gives us a particularly effective look at the invasion, showing just how bad this sort of thing is when the Doctor isn't around. In doing so, it actually makes the daleks menacing again, something that the TV series (and, for that matter, Big Finish itself) has often lost its way with. Were it not for the fact that we know the Doctor will turn up eventually, this would actually be quite bleak, and is one of the strengths of the episode. Even when he does turn up, there are still some significant character deaths, leaving a deep impact on those that survive.

If there is a flaw, it's that the daleks' plan makes barely more sense than it did the first time round - there's more of an attempt at an explanation than in the related TV story, but it's still hard to see how it would actually work. But the strength of the story is in the relationships between the various characters, with strong performances from most of those concerned. It doesn't wrap absolutely everything up in a nice, neat, bundle, but it's a fitting end to the series, and a poignant final departure for Lucie.

This is, in many respects, quite a high-concept story, in that some of the basic ideas behind the setting are very impressive, and the sort of thing that might work well in, say, a novel that could really explore their implications. Unfortunately, here, they're just a rather cool backdrop to a merely average story.

But the background does, indeed, have some brilliant ideas, with the entire tale set on a space station built within the blazing interior of a star, and operated by beings of liquid mercury. Furthermore, there's the Doctor's robotic companion, designed to replace Lucie (and voiced by the same actress). This makes for an interesting dynamic, but all we really get is some running around on the space station as unexpected visitors turn up, and then just about everyone lies to everyone else about what's really going on.

With no particular connection to the season's arc (apart from the cliffhanger at the end), this feels like treading water, rather than being a particularly effective episode in its own right. It's not a bad story, by any means, but nothing makes it stand out, either - it just fills what would otherwise be an odd-feeling gap between Relative Dimensions and the 2-part season finale.

Due to its unusual release schedule, this is the second “Christmas Special” of the fourth season of 8th Doctor adventures. The Doctor attempts to have a Christmas uninterrupted by alien invasions and the like by the not unreasonable expedient of spending it entirely on board the TARDIS. Which, obviously, doesn't work.

The adventure elements of the story are fairly basic, with something nasty stalking the TARDIS corridors, but they're really only there as an excuse for bonding between the main characters, and to have a story that at least feels somewhat like a regular episode. The rather more significant focus is on the reunion between the Doctor and Susan, and on his strained relationship with Lucie and with Susan's teenage son (previously introduced in the free-to-subscribers bonus story An Earthly Child).

On this front, we go through the usual tropes of family arguments that one might expect in this sort of tale, as a result of which this is unlikely to appeal to those who just want action and sci-fi in their Doctor Who stories. Certainly, it's quite low key and small scale, with just the four actors, and no galaxy-spanning threat, but it's well done and believably written, allowing a glimpse into a different side of the Doctor than usual.

This is the first part of a two-part story. As usual, I have reviewed both parts together here.

Set on the titular moon of Mars, as its cover makes clear this is an Ice Warrior story. The Martians here are rather more ruthless than they have been in most other stories since the 2nd Doctor era, showing their general versatility. But the story is much more an examination of the 8th Doctor himself, pushing his philosophy to the fore and forcing him to face up to some of the less palatable consequences of his decisions.

Tamsin also finally starts to come into her own here, providing a clear counterpoint to the Doctor's views, and it's handled well enough that one can reasonably debate which of them is really in the right. Certainly, one can see why she's tempted when one of the villains tries to turn her against the Doctor - something that simply wasn't so well done in the recent 7th Doctor story Project: Destiny.

In addition to this, we have a high quality cast portraying a broad array of characters, all caught up in the unexpected return of the Ice Warriors. The two-part format benefits things here, and it doesn't feel overly extended as some other similarly long 8th Doctor stories have done. For example, I liked the holidaying couple, who brought a dash of humanity to the proceedings despite not being central to many of the events.

And, of course, there's a major twist in the ongoing season story arc, leading us into the next episode and fitting a lot of what has happened so far together.

On the downside, the science is a bit ropey, with the gizmo that the Ice Warriors are after being implausibly effective. But that's never really been Doctor Who's strong point, and it does sort of make sense in the context of The Seeds of Death, to which this is obviously linked. It's really 4.5 stars rather than the full 5, but I'll round up.

The Doctor and new companion Tamsin visit 11th century Ireland in a story that's rather strong on the slapstick humour. As such, it works well as a break between the more serious preceding and following stories, as it's doubtless intended to, but may be less successful when listened to out of that wider context.

Nonetheless, it is a fun romp, with the broader comedy elements offset by a plot that's full of twists which are often genuinely surprising. It's a good cast, too, with Graeme Garden particularly notable as the Abbot of Kells. As for Tamsin, she once again proves herself quite likeable here, but still has little to make her stand out from a number of other companions down the years, lacking the spark of Lucie (or Charley, going back further).

There are, perhaps, a few holes in the plot. One has to wonder, for instance, what on Earth Tamsin is wearing that nobody in the 11th century remarks on it (to be fair, some of the characters have good reason not to... but not all of them). There is no monster, if that's a key element of Doctor Who for you, but, again, this provides a welcome break from the larger scale and more traditional sci-fi of the stories on either side.

It's not a great story, particularly when taken out of its arc, but it's more than enough fun to make up for that. And the post-closing theme cliffhanger ending at last provides a clear indication that this season does have an overall plot arc...