Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Chronicles

Chris Eccleston's well-known reluctance to reprise his role as the Ninth Doctor means that we won't be getting any stories featuring the original actor for a long time – if ever. In the meantime, this is as close as you're going to get (outside of a written medium, obviously). It uses Big Finish's “Chronicle” format, meaning that it's essentially an audiobook with added background sound effects and a second actor providing one or more voices in addition to the narrator.

In this case, the latter is Briggs, mostly doing third-person narration in his own voice, but also doing most of the other parts. Mostly, this works quite well, and his impression of Eccleston, while obviously not flawless, is pretty good in places. Unfortunately, his impression of Rose is, understandably, much less effective and is a significant drawback in the stories in which she appears. It's a weakness, perhaps, of the hybrid format, neither a regular audiobook nor a full-cast audio play and suffering by falling between the fences.

The collection consists of four hour-long stories.

• The Bleeding Heart – Considering that all of Nine's TV stories take place on (or at least in orbit around) Earth, it's surprising that the collection begins with a story on a distant alien planet at some point in the future - probably during the time of the Earth Empire, from a few hints in the dialogue. This takes away from the resemblance to the relevant TV era as, arguably, does the absence of a companion, but otherwise there are plenty of themes connecting it. The story is about an alien peace conference where things suddenly start turning bloody, which allows for some reflection on the Doctor's own recent past in the Time War. Both the nature of the threat and its ultimate resolution fit in perfectly with the era, too, although they do require some prior knowledge of this particular incarnation. 3 stars.

• The Window on the Moor – Out on the wily, windy moor, Emily Brontë opens a window to another universe. Which is less left-field than it might sound, since she wrote what might loosely be described as fantasy fiction for her own amusement as a child. Unfortunately, while a story with Brontë does sound interesting, she's not really in it all that much. Once again, we're off Earth for most of the story, in this case in the alternate reality (or whatever it is; it's not very clear) on the other side of the window. The resulting setting all feels rather generic and the plot isn't strong enough to hold up things on its own. Yes, there's some fun with a glass prison but even some of that just feels like padding. 2 stars.

• The Other Side – Things improve a little with the third story, although it still suffers from all the female parts being played by Briggs (something that would, at least to me, feel less out-of-place in a straight audiobook reading than in a more supposedly immersive production like this one). This time, we're focussing on temporary companion Adam, in a story set between TV episodes Dalek and The Long Game. The story, which features a temporal distortion in an abandoned cinema, shares many themes with Nine's TV run but isn't able to build too much on Adam himself - played by original actor Bruno Langley. Nor does it particularly foreshadow The Long Game, presumably to make him more sympathetic, although, in fairness it's not inconsistent with that, either. It's a good enough tale, but I'm not convinced we needed another story with a character specifically set up as a ‘failed companion' that we shouldn't be rooting for. 3.5 stars.

• Retail Therapy – Finally, we reach the best story of the four, bringing back Camile Coduri as Jackie Tyler. Set primarily on the Powell Estate, this has the obvious advantage of a setting familiar from the TV series, while still bringing in a new foe - albeit one that also reflects others seen on the show down the years. But the real strength is Jackie, who gets some great character moments, including a heartfelt conversation with the Doctor about their respective relationships with Rose. For once, she gets to be the hero in a story about the struggle of everyday working people against corporate greed and glamorous celebrity. 4 stars.