Happy 45th Birthday Doctor Who! 23rd November 1963 - 23rd November 2008

45 years and still as good as ever. Doctor Who is not a television programme, it’s a hobby, a job, an obsession, whatever you want to call it. It has taken over people’s lives, their childhoods, relationships, marriages and children. Who would have thought that in 1963, a science-fiction educational program, aired on the BBC was going to turn into the huge fandom monster it has created? These fans could be anyone, mainly nutters but there’s always someone who can appreciate the production values of ‘Sliver Nemesis’. Or is it just me?

These fans kept the flame alight during the barren years since 1989 and are now reaping the benefits in this golden age for Doctor Who. The children’s educational program from 1963 is now the UK’s best loved drama.

Each decade of the programme has had a special anniversary episode(s). We’ve had the ‘Three Doctors’ in 1973, ‘The Five Doctors’ in 1984 and the unforgettable (in many ways) ‘Dimensions In Time’ in 1993. However, perhaps the most celebrated anniversary was the 40th. Just a month beforehand the fans received the best news ever – Doctor Who would be returning!

It isn’t just the television episodes that are eagerly awaited though, audio dramas, books, magazines, toys, conventions and many other things are at the top of any fans list. But for this particular anniversary, it is Big Finish who are celebrating with the release of their special audio, made up of 4 one-part stories, the mind blowingly named - Forty Five!


This audio sees Sylvester McCoy taking on four separate stories, following the releases of Peter Davison’s ‘Circular Time’ and Colin Baker’s ‘100’ (which was to celebrate Big Finish’s 100th Doctor Who release). Each of the four stories, in this audio, are linked by Forty Five or its numerical version. It becomes apparent, whilst listen to this, that it’s another example of quality planning by Big Finish and thier writers.

The CD kicks off with ‘False Gods’ where we meet Howard Carter in Egypt, some years before his major discovery of Tutankhamun. The Doctor, Ace and Hex are forced to materialise there, after they hit a time distortion. The trio land and soon encounter Carter and his students. But they are soon spilt up and divided in different periods of time. It’s a nice story that ticks along nicely but the last 10 minutes in particular are excellent.

Part two of this audio is the story ‘Order of Simplicity’, which sees the trio land on a windswept island in the year 3380 after The Doctor receives a coded transmission. He learns that a professor based on the island, needs help to crack a code. But something sinister seems to be behind it, what is the code really for and why is The Doctor so keen to crack it? This story is designed to be very creepy and the apparent 19th century décor in the professor’s house, for the year it’s set in, does seems a little strange! It’s an interesting enough story but its one of those that you’ll have to listen to carefully – it has a sort of ‘Ghost Light’ feel to it!

Part three is ‘Casualties of War’ and is the best 20-odd minutes on the CD! It’s VE Day but The Doctor is busy tracking the signal of an alien device. It seems that a local thief has got his mucky hands on a large quantity of alien artefacts and is already using one to great affect. The Doctor needs to find him quickly, apart from the device being dangerous, some ‘old friends’ from a couple of past Big Finish audios are on his trail and are determined to get back the artefacts, at any cost. This story sees Ace given more back-story and it also seems that the Hex ‘arc’ is getting ready to unravel itself. All in all, it’s a wonderful story that will leave you wanting more!

The final story of the audio is also as well delivered as the previous three. Although, ‘The Word Lord’ is the most strangest story I’ve listened to for a while, its well worth it just for the David Tennant impression – you’ll know what I’ll mean if you’ve heard it! The story starts with the trio under arrest for materialising in a high-security bunker, just when a Russian politician is murdered. But thanks to a UNIT link, they end up helping the people there but they have only – 45 minutes to do it. You probably can see where this is going but quite surprisingly, it doesn’t get annoying!

We may or may not see certain characters again, something which could be interesting next year, as each Doctor will have a trilogy of audio releases in consecutive months! As always, the pairing of the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex remain one of my favourite’s and they pull each story off particularly well. I think we’ll be delving into Hex’s back-story soon but don’t hold me to it!

4/5

Next Time: It’s Christmas, so The Doctor and Charley are in – Manchester. Don’ worry, I’m sure the ‘Raincloud Man’ will be good!

Big Finish Doctor Who 112 - Kingdom of Silver

The Doctor arrives on Tasak in search of refreshment, armed with nothing more than a kettle. But this is a time of crisis for a civilisation about to enter an industrial age.

Mindful that a devastating war is only recently over, the wise and revered Magus Riga will do almost anything to save his people from the follies of the past. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And the planet Tasak is host to ancient powers buried deep and long forgotten. Can visitors from another world avert disaster or will their intervention drag this innocent world into the Orion War?

After the last solo 7th Doctor story, I was a little bit worried. ‘The Death Collectors’ was a little bit disappointing but I should not have feared, as this month’s release, ‘Kingdom of Silver’ was superb!

I think it’s fair to say that ‘The Death Collectors’ downfall was the fact that it had a small cast. ‘Kingdom of Sliver’ has many more characters that accompany The Doctor and that allows for much more character development, which helps the story to ‘tick along nicely’ and not drag on, as parts of ‘The Death Collectors’, unfortunately, did.

I think it’s great that Big Finish continue to explore The Doctor’s life, just before the TV Movie, where he is travelling alone. It adds a whole new aspect to Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor and helps the character to move on from the ‘dark Doctor’ of 1989 and change into the lonely figure we saw in 1996. This and ‘Frozen Time’ do that well, whilst ‘The Death Collectors’ is interesting enough, it would probably work better with a companion or two!

The Doctor finds himself with company in the TARDIS, as Temeter (Neil Roberts) tracks a signal coming from the blue box. The Doctor is on the lookout for another signal, which he views as suspicious. He and Temeter work together to trace it but Temeter isn’t telling The Doctor what he’s really up to.

Meanwhile, the leader of the planet, Magus Riga (Terry Molloy) is preparing to throw a party for all the distinguished scientists on the planet and he even has a new statue to unveil - an artefact found at the planet’s ancient ruins – a silver statue…

The audio is beautifully paced and really grabs you, it just lacks that element of surprise as, thanks to the cover, you already know who the villains are and the plot is quite easy to figure out! It’s still an enjoyable listen and works well as a solo 7th Doctor story. It was also nice to hear Terry Molloy lending his voice to someone other than Davros!

The one-parter, included with this release, is ‘Keepsake’. It’s another compact but excellent little tale that contains some of the characters from ‘Kingdom of Sliver’. It’s a great listen and supplements the three-parter very well.

4.5/5

Next Time: Thomas Brewster joins The Doctor and Nyssa full-time as they hit a ‘Time Reef’!

Big Finish Doctor Who 109 - The Death Collectors

"There is only death"

A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.

When the Doctor arrives on a sky station above Antikon, a single accident has already set in motion a chain of events that will mean the death of every living thing.

And the only way he can stop it is to die. Again.

Despite a decent cast (Alastair Cording and The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson), I was a little bit disappointed with this month’s Big Finish release. Not that it was a terrible release by any means, I just couldn’t get into the story.

This was a solo 7th Doctor story, much like ‘Frozen Time’. But unlike Frozen Time, this story wasn’t as enjoyable. It seemed to be trying too hard to bring out the ‘darkness’ in Sylvester McCoy’s doctor, much like the final television series of his reign.

The story centres on a ship which is researching a planet. The professor onboard thinks he knows how to deify death. We are also introduced to creatures called ‘The Death Collectors’ who ‘collect’ death in trade for something else. It’s a plot which won’t keep you on the edge of your seat.

However there are some nice touches. The ‘Madam Butterfly’ opera song (the song that was playing when The Doctor ‘died’ in the TVM) was constantly used. That, his desperateness for a companion and references to his apparel, suggest that he his nearing the end of his regeneration. I would like to see his doctor with another companion, I’m really surprised that he hasn’t been given any new companions, in the Big Finish range, apart from Hex of course!

The saving grace of this release, is the one-part story ‘Spiders Shadow’. The story, which takes place on a distance planet on the eve of a war and deals with the jealously of a princess, isn’t necessarily told in the right order but I thought it worked really well. It was a very interesting concept that could only have worked in its 30 minutes, any more and it could have been a mess!

I really do like these three part and one part story releases. Although I think this is the weakest one to date, I think the concept has worked really well. ID & Urgent Calls, Exotron & Urban Myths and The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box, are just some of my favourites from that range. I would strongly suggest you check them out.

2.5/5

Next Time: The 5th Doctor and Nyssa try to find ‘The Boy Who Time Forgot’

Big Finish Doctor Who 106 - The Dark Husband

"This whole wedding is like making a nuclear bomb with half the instructions missing!"

A week-long respite from a prolonged and bloody war, the Festival of the Twin Moons of Tuin makes Glastonbury look like a church fete... or so the brochure says. The Doctor and Ace are looking for rest and recreation. Hex is looking for the beer tent. But eternal enemies the ginger-haired Ri and the coot-bald Ir are plotting to turn their Festival truce to their own advantage. Only the Dark Husband might stop the celebrations turning to horror... but who is the Dark Husband? And what terror awaits him on his wedding night? If anyone knows any just cause or impediment... speak now.

The lives of billions depend on it.

This is a very intriguing audio. The 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex travel to the leisure planet of Tuin, to sample the ‘Festival of The Twin Moons’. Ace is looking for a rest and a bit of pampering, Hex, like all young lads, is hoping to get drunk at the nearest beer tent. However when they get there, they find that the planet is at war and has been so for years. What is going on, who are the Dark Husband and The Shining Wife and why is The Doctor behaving so mysteriously?

This is David Quantick’s first Doctor Who story and he does an excellent job. More at home writing comedy for television and radio, Quantick really does keep the old magic of Doctor Who going, with the action moving from serious to comedic and visa-versa, quite easily.

Danny Webb (Mr Jefferson in ‘The Impossible Planet’ and ‘The Satan Pit’) supplies his vocal talents for this story and, as usual, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Philip Oliver are all on top form. Well, to be fair, I’m sure Oliver is used to going off and finding beer tents!

This is also a key story in regards of the relationships between our three heroes, as this story continues the excellent standard that is set which each release. So much so, I’m now going to rate audios out of five. I think this will give them a fairer rating, as a poorer BF story would only be 5/10, for me and I can’t keep writing about how great each audio is, can I?

4/5

Next in the monthly releases is the 5th Doctor in ‘The Haunting of Thomas Brewster’. Scary!