Doctor Who: The Mahogany Murderers

In a break from the standard format of The Companion Chronicles, this features two narrators and a Doctor-less story. The narrators in question are fan favourite supporting characters Jago and Litefoot from The Talons of Weng-Chiang, although this story is a steampunk affair with no real link to the TV story.

The story itself has quite an interesting set-up, although, the initial macabre chills out of the way, it soon becomes a fairly straightforward adventure. The why, and indeed, much of the how, of the chief villain's plot is not explained, and the story was quite clearly written with a sequel in mind. Having said that, what we get here is quite self-contained and reaches a satisfying conclusion.

What really makes this stand out from the crowd, though, is not the story, but the performances by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter. Aided by some great writing, we have two narrators interrupting and trying to one-up each other with the drama of their respective parts of the tale. It could be confusing or even irritating, but instead it all comes together as a seamless whole, enlivened by some great character acting. It's a delight to listen to, which one can't often say of The Companion Chronicles, and one can see why a dedicated spin-off series followed in its wake.