Dr. Tenth
by Adam Hargreaves (BBC, 2018)
The Doctor’s adults-only wardrobe notwithstanding, Hargreaves captures the Tennant persona quite well (in looks, attitude and voice). The Humpty Dumpty Sontaran is also not the worst, though as usual Hargreaves drafts at least one gross infelicity into the story. Cue the Ogron…
Doctor Who: The Song of Megaptera
by Pat Mills (Big Finish, 2010)
A would-be television story scuppered during the tenures of three different Doctors (the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth). Resurrected now in audio form, Megaptera proves a perfectly serviceable adventure, benefiting from some strong guest performances… and not having to show the space whale!
Doctor Who: The Abandoned
by Nigel Fairs & Louise Jameson (Big Finish, 2014)
A superbly imaginative and dark concept, engendering a bottle episode that would have topped the TV ratings. The story, however, has too ambitious and disorientating a visual element for audio. The production lets the script down by not streamlining its cacophonous madness.
Doctor Who: The Bounty of Ceres
by Ian Potter (Big Finish, 2014)
Potter captures the feel and pace of a First Doctor adventure but affords companions Steven and Vicki some much-needed depth, elevating them from plot-driven stand-ins to genuine characters. Peter Purves is excellent as Steven (and channels William Hartnell also in well-pitched homage).
Dr. Eighth
by Adam Hargreaves BBC, 2017)
The Eighth Doctor offering very little by way of (televised) source material, this volume was a real chance for Hargreaves to exercise his imagination. Unfortunately this manifests largely in absentia. Readers need not persist beyond the cover illustration and the rainbow-cake planet.
Doctor Who: Wirrn Isle
by William Gallagher (Big Finish, 2012)
Bringing back the Wirrn was ambitious but Gallagher has recaptured at least some of the tension and body horror of The Ark in Space. The Sixth Doctor is well-written for a change and, notwithstanding some egregious character irrationality, the story works well.
Doctor Who: The Silver Turk
by Marc Platt (Big Finish, 2011)
Mary Shelley encounters badly damaged Cybermen; thus, Frankenstein. The idea would later find its way to television in The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020), but Mary also echoes Rose Tyler’s empathy from Dalek (2005), the resonances circling back through TV and literature.
Doctor Who: The Creed of the Kromon
by Philip Martin (Big Finish, 2004)
Philip Martin’s two serials were highpoints of Doctor Who during Colin Baker’s all-too-brief tenure. Creed of the Kromon features Paul McGann’s Doctor but carries a similar vibe, suffusing its SF setting with a depth and complexity rarely seen in weekly adventure serials.
Doctor Who: Animal
by Andrew Cartmel (Big Finish, 2011)
As Cartmel the script editor, so Cartmel the writer: an eye for the big picture; blithe on particulars. Funky musical transitions cannot enliven this ponderous, time-wasting run-around. Meantimes, Sylvester McCoy retreats into affability mode, presumably to medicate against banal and ham-fisted dialogue.
The Black Archive #34: Battlefield
by Philip Purser-Hallard (Obverse Books, 2019)
The sections on Arthurian legend outstrip the casual reader’s needs (Purser-Hallard is an authority). The remaining chapters delve astutely into Battlefield’s production-level evolution and aspirations, piecing together a cogent analysis of where this unheralded story succeeds and what it might have offered.