A Review of Big Finish's 2024 Doctor Who Audio Adventures including our Top 5 List

0:03 we have accepted your plea that there are arguments in social media that must be fought and that you still have a part to play in that battle what you mean that you're going to let me post on X not entirely we have noted your particular interest in the platform Blue Sky the frequency of your visits must have given you special knowledge of that application and its posts yes I suppose that's true blue sky seems less vulnerable than others yes for that reason you will be sent back to that platform oh good in Exile in Exile you will be limited to Blue Sky in the second quarter of the 21st century and will remain there for

0:52 as long as we deem proper and for that period The Secret of other social media platforms will be taken from you but you can't condemn me to Exile on one single social media Network in one century in time besides I'm not well known on Blue Sky it might be very awkward for me your handle has changed before it will change again that is part of the sentence you can't just change my handle without consulting me you will have an opportunity to choose your handle oh well that's not so bad but I warn you I'm very particular here is your first choice oh that's too long well that's too short isn't it no that's too sinister that one's too young

1:40 oh no that won't do at all it's ridiculous you're wasting time Twain it's not my fault is it is this the best you can do I've never seen such an incredible Bunch since you refuse to take the decision the decision will be taken for you no I never said that but I maintain I have the right to decide what my social media handle is it could be very important on Blue Sky people on Blue Sky attach a very great deal of [Music] importance what's happening the time has come for you to create your blue sky handle Dwayne and begin your [Music] Exile is this some sort of joke no I

2:27 refuse to be treated in what are you doing no stop you're making me kiddy no you can't do this to me no no no no no no no [Music] [Applause] [Music]

3:25 get a audio files this is the Sens of audio the show that explores the universe of to who and other cult TV in the audio medium I'm Dwayne and I'm Phillip good day Dwayne good day audio files good day Phillip uh once again this is our best of big finish for the previous year which is 2024 and to help us do that as usual we have our good friend podcaster and editor of big finish Vortex magazine Kenny Smith welcome yeah great to see you as always and to you in your lovely season season 18 console room it looks like there yes it is indeed so um it's very comfortable so it's great to have you back it feels like we're only just chatting with you recently what were we chatting with you about I can't even remember it was 25

4:13 years of big finish ah of course of course excellent so we couldn't uh not have you uh for our best of the previous year so thanks very much for for joining us for that now this also is a milestone when this drops uh this is dropping uh well tomorrow in Australia if you're listening and watching from Australia tomorrow will be the fth anniversary of the first episode of the S of audio it was February the 9th 2020 so congratulations to us and and thank you very much Philip for sticking around for so long well thank you happy congratulations Dwayne for staying up and thank you to all our listeners who are ke enough to tune in regularly hopefully weekly and um yeah thank you everyone for supporting us for 5 years

4:59 it's pretty impressive but well done Dwayne we've hardly aged today no not at all no I look exactly like I did back then um Kenny thank you too for all your encouragement and your support um I remember once you reached out for some some you were doing a I think a Vortex issue on different audio based podcasts or podcasts that focused on audio and um and you printed some of our comments on that so ever since you've been very encouraging so thank you no thank you it's always a delight you know it is great listening to the show every week and tuning in and sometimes I'll leave it three or four weeks and then do a catch up depending on how busy I've been but it's great you know to be part of a an a reg I suppose a semi-regular guest

5:45 on a podcast that I listen to in love and it's always an honor and I will always make time for you guys whenever you want me I will always be there so thank you and thank you for everything you've done amazing interviews and lo may it continue yeah thank you thank you very much all right today is as I said a big one we're going to go through pretty much all the releases um I'm not going to read out every single release that big finish put out through the year but Doctor Who related and some spin-offs um that are going to be of interest to us and our listeners so um we're going to do go month by month so I'm going to pull up the uh releases for each month read them out and then we're going to wax lyrical on uh anything that jumped out at us uh for that particular month so I guess the best thing to do would be

6:30 to start in January so the first one that came out was uh a story by Colin break who actually recently Philip we did an episode on the Mind's Eye which was also written by Colin bre and his story was an audio book called the chaos Cascade which uh featured the 12th doctor Tanya and Missy so there were three readers in that one too so uh that that made it interesting as an audio novel it wasn't a single reader uh as we've had before uh next release uh that I want to point out is Doctor Who Saran versus rutin the Battle of Giants Causeway this was an eighth doctor story it was the start of the with big finish doing single releases over a period of time uh where they were not doing box

7:17 sets but it was kind of set up as a box set but released monthly or episodically so featuring the eighth doctor team with carries making a Triumph at return so that was exciting uh the Torchwood that came out that that month was called poppet um Lauren moury and Stuart Pringle did an amazing job uh starring Kai Owen on that one as Reese uh we had the fugitive of the DX Jonathan Morris's story uh featuring The Return of Vicki in a slightly different role than we used to seeing her in Doctor Who so that was a standout as well um we had star cops blood moon I was killed yesterday so I want to ask you guys some feedback on any of those releases that stood out to you for that month but I want to make a confession before we begin um you guys

8:05 know that I was on the road last year and you would think and I always think when I go on my trips yeah I'm going to have heaps of time to put my headphones on and I'm going to drive all these miles through the desert and catch up on all my big finish but there are quite a few from the first 6 months when I was on the road that I missed so I'm going to make that confession now so I'm curious to hear your feedback from some of these I haven't listened to every single one I know believe this you know at this point at this point I should be going yeah can't believe this I don't know but you Philip I'm I'm sorry headset off I'm aold I'm end recording now yeah it it's it's bizarre I always think that I'm going to be driving you know for days on end and but my wife and I seem to enjoy driving

8:52 and talking it's it's weird with each other wife so that's what we tend to do all right so uh we'll start with you Kenny as our guest what what was what was some standouts for you from January well firstly we'll go with the chaos Cascade I loved I love this big finish range of the audio novels they are fantastic calling break is a good pal of mine and known him for a good few years and I think he did a fantastic job here the fact you've got such diverse characters and he does such a great job with them all and Dan starky does a fantastic Peter Capal it has to be said you know he gets that sort of Scottish intensity with a little bit of poshness

9:39 in there but um oh he's great um so I really love chaos Cascade the fact there's you cannot see where it's going at all but you've got The Madness of Missy and you get a fantastic turn from Beth chamers who's half Scottish on her father's side for those who are interested and uh yeah it was it was lovely and Rebecca rot does a great job as always but I think poppet was such a good release that it's really creepy I think Stuart and Lauren uh have become like two big finishes like real Rising Stars over the last 18 months two years absolutely what they do is great they got a real eye in the horror and the scary side of things and they're great I actually bumped into Stuart at a sort of mini convention last April and he recognized me by my voice because I was

10:24 there with my friend Dave from pyro three podcast and we're wandering around this classic Sci-fi Museum and just this unassuming chap with a baseball cap on and long hair and said are you Kenny Stuart introduced himself and he came from Allandale so it was lovely to meet him in person just in a completely unexpected way it was great and such a nice guy just cannot F enough but they cannot criticize their work they're so good poppet is creepy as hell really really enjoyed that um and uh well delighted with Saran versus routines and Giants Causeway because Conrad's been a friend of mine since 2003 and I first found out I think must have been about maybe about 18 months before this was released when I was chatting to Lizzy

11:11 hopley who's the p as well and she mentioned she was writing this to bring back conr like yes so and uh cannot beat a bit of carers uh I mean again it's such a great month star cops what a fantastic series that turned out to be Andrew Smith just absolutely on top of his game as script editor and running the show on that and yeah and F Alex Morin O'Brien you can never have enough Morin O'Brien in your life so yeah it was a really strong starts to the year very good what jump down at you philli I'll just say a couple of things because I want to come back probably uh it kicked off the on versus the re Ran's Box series um big finish experimented we putting out CDs again one one month at a time cuz this would have probably been a

11:57 box 12 months earli would have been a box set that would have put all the stories together and um I'm actually glad it was actually a exciting and useful experiment which they started and I think I don't I don't know how successful was was selling but certainly as a listener I was waiting for each month to come out so I think the um the four episodes in the whole swn versus Ron set were brilliant very cleverly done over different doctors over different times kicked off well um and I just I would I just give a high five to popet as as well it did freak me out um it's actually seeing kyion in his chubby stage on the column cuz I'm not sure KY now is personal training people and so you can actually go and see videos and him and he's slim and muscular and he

12:43 looks nothing like the cute cuddley Wilman from Torchwood anymore okay he's so um if you look him up you actually see you can get personal training from him he's offering it all online now but he's still doing a great job in terms when he comes back on in character I think tort he would have thought had suffered by the fact that so many of the main cast either aren't able or not willing to come back but it's amazing I mean you know Owen was a pretty important character but he was one of the main cast but the couple of stories he had this year have all been excellent um I think yanto is probably the one who stepped up the most this year and we'll see a number of yanto stories as we go but it has been yeah it's been SED to have lost a lot of the other crew haven't been able to come back partly for work and for other reasons don't know but also some other people that introduced ju along the way so the tort

13:31 range still is a very strong range and yeah well we used to have the Doctor Who coming out every month um torture now is the only range that you know will come out month by month over the year which is exciting so yeah it's an incredbly inventive range isn't it so they they do lots and lots with it that uh well by necessity I guess because they don't have that regular team there all the time yeah it was it was certainly a very strong kickoff month anything you want to say bra yeah well the the the two that really jumped out to me that I was uh you know looking forward to was uh the Battle of Giants Causeway and especially fugitive of the dcts um I love uh Steven nunan's first doctor and it just seems to me to be to get better and better I love morein O Brien I mean

14:18 we've had the opportunity to talk to uh to to both of these on the podcast uh previously and even Jonathan Morris like we were talking cuz I think it had been announced when we were talking to him for another story that he'd written a couple of months earlier so he could say that this was coming uh and he mentioned that at the time so I was eagerly anticipating this one and it didn't disappoint it deals with it deals with an era that I love uh bringing back that older companion is a is a great start to this series which we've now gone on to this year with um Peter pervis coming back in the living Darkness so that was great too so a fantastic month January it was very

15:03 exciting we had just solved a singular case of the Inon incident when I was unexpectedly and inexplicably taken out of time Police telephone free for use of public yes it's the Tardis everything it's just as I remember oh thank you ches most kind my boy most kind I'm not as weak and feble as I look the people here certainly seem to know the onions highly Advanced highly advanced technology so you see you must take us with you it's some sort of scientific research station observing a dying red

15:50 giant you will delivered adopter to us or you will be exterminated I hope i' know see the never see who again those things the DAR sement detectors indicates we are one mile beneath the planet's surface the most evil ruthless beings in the cosmos fire fire tesing fire it's some sort of camp but everything's been smashed up burned yes indeed there's been some kind of catastrophe here the Sue are encamped somewhere near the Little Big Horn and I don't want any any nasty surprises oh DX prepare to disembark it's your fault you're making me nervous

16:38 par about success anti-gravitational magnetism most ingenious has the doctor's time machine been captured goodby we're in the do's time machine run it must have reverted to its original programming which means the child is in terrible danger then what are your orders you to be taken to the DAR Supreme I'm honored everyone in this city will soon be dead your wish to die will soon be fulfilled by a nuclear bomb the Tardis can look into your heart and see not what you want but what you need I need to be with you big finish for the love of stories all right let's

17:25 move on yes Kenny sorry I don't I don't know if you heard that sorry we've got Thunder and snow at the moment I've just sent you a picture in the WhatsApp you'll see my garden oh that snowing it snowing heavily and uh we've got thunder snow at the moment so there's a Scottish weather phenomenon for you oh wow sorry about that that's all right it's okay 45 Dees on Monday here all right now that we've looked at snow pictures uh we'll go through the releases for February 2024 the first one was a Torchwood release relas another postcard from Mr Colchester which was a free Torchwood episode we had the 11th doctor Chronicles volume 6 victory of the doctor uh was that the last one I think

18:11 there was another one to it was there that was the last one that was the last one y we had the second in the Sans versus rutins Children of the future uh that was a third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith story starring Tim tror and sad Miller we had another Third Doctor release uh a six PARTA revolution in space once again featuring Tim tror and sad Miller which oh yeah there's an interesting interesting comments about those that we made at the time uh Philip that we might reiterate here we had a Ninth Doctor release a box set called buried threats which featured Bernie Summerfield and we had Eric Roberts in master Planet Doom another box set from him we had Torchwood sabotage starring Sophie aldred and Paul Clayton that was

18:56 the first one for the year wasn't to be the last and we had another star cops release blood moon Daughters of death so along with the sarons versus rutins they were releasing monthly the star cops range as well so that was they were both happening at the same time so um let's go to you this time Philip what was what was jumping out at you from February 2024 well once again I think this month was stunning and so strong really strong um I think probably what you're alluding to is to the two3 doctors stories with Sarah Jane Smith yes um it was wonderful having two stories one made the traditional Third Doctor way um I think being led probably by Nicholas Brees with all the traditional Third Doctor music very it

19:43 felt like a very third doct so the revolution space really enjoyed it I think S Miller was just getting stronger and stronger as playing her mom sir Jane Smith and there's times in which I'm just lost in her voice and thinking is Elizabeth slayen um but but yeah so the revolution space was a very typical of era Third Doctor Story the S versus Rons made by the modern production companies though with modern producers modern sound effects modern music so it was just astounding listening to these two side by side and the difference that the production crew make I don't think I mean i' I've always know there differences but when you actually have the contrast in the same month um I I wouldn't say one was better than the other um I enjoyed them both I mean I have I was loving the the rion's box set

20:29 I must admit I've just found I found the four of them to be just great stories and how they built and what they brought to the Rin of the s's characters I really enjoyed but yeah for me having these two doctors well same doctor two different production companies production side side by side was just a joy to hear the difference of um n doctors was great love Bernie sunfield and Christopher Eon was this his last was this his last second last second last second last yes and we don't know if there's more to come so I guess feeling a bit nostalgic because i' I've really enjoyed Chris Eon coming back I think he's added some lovely Dimensions there been some lovely writing for him still it's still not in the period I would have put him in I

21:15 still would have put his time in that when he leaves Rose in um the first of the sine stories and he and goes to visit thank you aliens of London that's where I would have put the Gap I would have actually had him between those two things go off and do all these Adventures um rather than trying to set it beforehand but that's just me but he's been great and meeting Bernie was funny um Eric Roberts Planet a doom that was so much better than I expected I I wasn't quite sure what to expect Eric Roberts has a interesting acting style and but that being said the stories were great and it really did get me caught in and I do love Chase mson masteron as the um assassin can't your

22:04 name at the moment Kenny Vienna VI cator yeah and so there there there were it was sort of one long story Le together but I enjoyed that so yeah there's lots in that Lots in this season that I really enjoyed so this yeah this month Kenny oh is Kenny next you Dwayne Kenny yeah I thought there was a i k there's such a great mix in here um something me say about star cops blood moon when we've got um Camille kaduri's daughter Rosa appearing this she sounds so like her mom it's uncanny it's really really strange just how much she sounds like her so yeah is and she's so good as well she's got she sounds really Street wise and yeah she's she's got a lovely lovely act just lovely actor really really good

22:51 um love the Ninth Doctor run particularly when he meets Benny and you hear the CD extras afterwards and the way that Chris eon's talking about Benny and he obviously doesn't realize that Benny's a creation of the 90s who's been sort of added into the the mix since the TV series came to an end but in Chris's mind she's as authentic as Ace is or Joe Grant or anyone else which she is I regard Benny as legit and it's just lovely that combination that they have it it's a great Cliff Cliffhanger to that when he says oh I'm going to definitely avoid meeting any archaeologist in future wonder what happens next um again S turn versus rutins great series it's it's so good building up John Dorney did a fantastic job scripted pulling this together um

23:37 torch Woods just what a consistently great series nothing in this range is ever less than a seven out of 10 for me it's so so good and you've got that wonderful dynamic between singen and Ace it's so good so so good and Paul Clayton and Sophie are just magical together they've got that just that energy between them but my probably my highlight of this month is Victory of the doctor where we've got the doctor getting his revenge on the Paradigm and pretty much wiping the buggers out which is why we hardly see them in future which is quite good so they're introduced suddenly and then the doctor absolutely tricks them and sorts them out and we have that we have wonderful H safy inar in there as well

24:23 who's just so lovable and yeah a really a really strong one with yeah plenty to to keep you going I love safia ingga they have done an amazing job as a companion here but I've I'm really sad that Jake dudman uh Ste back from from doing particularly the 10th doctor he's great at this and uh the 11th doctor I should say the 11th doctor um I've Loved what he's done with it and I think that that range could have just kept going on and on if if he decided to stay um so that's that's going to be a a bit of a bit of a shame that that was that was coming to an end but the standout for me for this month was the definitely the Third Doctor revolution in space and

25:09 of of course the um The Good Old Faithful uh Nicholas Briggs production you know bringing in the soundscapes and music from you know what was recognizable from season 11 I love what Nick does with that range which whichever period is in he tries to emulate some of put puts his own things in as well but he does that too um keeps keeps nostalgic as well so and that was a massive contrast between that and the rutins story uh which was put together by Ken Bentley so it was interesting to get those two different production teams with the with the same characters um how different it actually sounded it was they were both great but it was fascinating to hear so that was definitely my big stand out for the month of February from Big finish

25:55 Productions you ruined my life no I hate you Doctor Who the 11th doctor Chronicles victory of the doctor Eternal want to test that you are nothing to us that's cuz I made a mistake the rest of the universe they should all forget about me but you lot I should have let you remember I should have kept you afraid DX do not feel fear you will what do you want same thing as you I want to understand which is why I'm going to open you up and take you

26:41 apart Peace by peace special weapons unit deployed and I heal it well while you're having a good think millions of people are out there dying you think I don't know that I've seen this before I gave up everything to put a stop to it and turns out that wasn't enough that's all you had to do be my doctor one more time big finish for the love of stories let's move on to March and the first release from March was the fourth doctor Adventures storm of the sea Devils um so fourth doctor and Harry and Naomi uh box Set uh the Torchwood was

27:30 called tube strike great cover there with um it was actually written by gett David Gareth David Lloyd uh great cover with the Weevil on the front uh there uh we had another Saran versus rutin story called Born to Die that was a six doctor and Charlie story so we got two lots of Charlie so far in this range from different periods in her history with the doctor so that was great we had classic Doctor's new monsters volume 4 broken memories with four stories in there there was a there was two standalones and one two-parter wasn't there the silent silence one was a two-parter wasn't it from memory uh and we had another star cops which was blood moon Troubled Waters and the first celebratory six doctor box set for the year which was

28:16 called the Quinn dilemma which was celebrating 40 Years of the sixth doctor uh we also had the 12th doctor Chronicles volume 3 you only died twice twice so Jake dudman once again is that his last appearance in big finish or his last release for big finish uh correct me if I'm wrong uh and what was also good about that month was that the sapphire and Steels were also released in box sets so that was very exciting too I mean I've got I've got all the singles as well but I love that range so much it was great to be able to say to everyone it's back go get it it's worth it absolutely so I think the sapphire and steel was a big stand for me not that I listen to them all again but the fact that they were re-released as box

29:03 sets I thought was fantastic available yes yes and yeah because I don't they weren't available on download before were they no and the license had the license gone for a while and then it came back is that the story I think the license came in because the series was being hugely pirated it was I think it was the most pirated big finish series of the lot for some reason and that led them sort of not renewing the license CU just because of costs just weren't being met because of or there wasn't a significant enough return because of pirating which is something I absolutely upore I really really hate piracy if I want something I'll buy it my living room is full of CDs if I want my music I buy it in physical form I'm so retro I

29:48 am so 20th century I don't have Spotify I don't have anything like that um yeah so I think that was part of the problem there I ALS also loved the quinnn Dilemma as well I generally enjoy everything that Colin Baker does he's the most redeemed doctor that's ever been in big Finnish and this was a a good celebration it was a quirky story very funny in some parts uh but it gave us a good Showcase of the companions the doctor several different iterations of the doctor in fact um and yeah so that was an enjoyable story to listen to as well so there are uh oh actually broken memory the classic Doctor's new monsters set too was also a good one because I think that prompted you Philip to reach

30:34 out to David K Barns and we got to chat with him about his silent story or both of both of the episodes of his that were on there so that was fascinating as well so I like that box set because we got to talk to David well the silence in that I don't remember yes yep absolutely sorry were the silence in that one I don't remember oh you got [Laughter] me you got me big time on that one all right who should we go to let's go to Kenny another great month we get to meet a new companion well we've already met Naomi in a couple of other ranges but

31:22 she's makes a really good impression here in storm of the sea devil joining the doctor and Harry and Chris Naylor is just superb as Harry so this is a great start for the PA of them um tube strike Gareth David Lloyd starting the yany as it was called what a brilliant title and loved that it was a a really good run and this idea of communities hidden in London Underground and in sewers and things like that just sort of brilliant absolutely brilliant again Born to Die Dr and Charlie fabulous and that just that little bit got some Tarn when she recognizes them obviously from her previous travels with Caris and yeah I love that um and but I think the Quinn

32:09 dilemma in a brilliant punning clever title um my PO Dave from pyro this is one of his favorites of the Year adore it it's the fact you get all these doctors and companion Combos and then for the final episode you get all the different six doctors coming together and think what a great idea and Colin does such a good job with it as well I just hate to been the one who had to sort of direct him for that one and sort of like okay right you're going for the Charlie doctor so you're a bit more slightly slightly more on edge and your per early perod doctor older perod doctor Mel constant yeah just super really really clever and done with so much humor as well and yeah that was that was a real highlight of the month and I just say saire steel what a welcome return and just so getting to

32:55 hear David Warner again is always lovely so I hadn't listened to these in years I've got my CDs somewhere in the Loft so it was great to be able to get some new some new old Mr Warner absolutely philli um I'll just kick off there because yeah Susan har I've was had a bit of a crush on ever since I saw her in um House of Cards and um you know we actually got an interview and spent a couple hours with her and she was just so wonderful and yeah and yeah hope hope a lot of her prod she was working on come off so yes the fourth doctor really enjoyed the storm of the sea Devils it was great funny how Naomi actually joined the doctor because having seen her with the Seventh Doctor for the last couple of years it was always frustrating to work out try to work out

33:42 hang on why is she here and how does she come about and it was a lovely Touch of where how Tom B got introduced CU usually you expect the fourth doctor to arrive in this case he didn't have to which was um a lovely little plot device two strike was gory as but boy was entertaining and kept you on the edge of the seats can never get enough Charlie uh classic monsters really the two silent stories in that to me were amazing and the fact that the doctors were back to front if I'm remembering properly I think they told the story sort of backwards so you had a whole world created and you had two doctors come in sort of one after the other in this world and of course couldn't remember anything later because of the silence I thought that was very clever

34:27 as you said we got to speak to the author about that I did love the queen dilemma and I'll get back to that probably a bit later yeah it was a really really solid month but we'll actually come back a bit later to tell about them my people 40 years ago today I had the great honor of becoming your king I know you are eager to hear which of my sons will soon be exalted in my place from Big finish Productions Doctor Who the sixth doctor Adventures the Quinn dilemma they're identical yep identical quins yeah their poor mother what monstrous SpaceTime event has brought us

35:19 together I have heard talk of you Doctor the madman dressed as a rainbow who are you traveling with a certain Miss perp Gillam Brown my hands are too cold to clap the incomparable Melanie Bush I'm starting to get a very bad feeling about this the dynamic dream team of flip and Mrs Clark I think it's all turned out rather well don't you I'll flip I hope they don't go to too much trouble and medal for example would be rather embarrassing my sons I hope that one of you will make me proud my Throne will go to whoever first brings me be the head of the doctor big finish for the love of

36:04 stories let's move on to April and we had a new series called Dark Gala Fray which was going to be released monthly over the next 6 months and we had the first part which was dark Gala Fray morbius part one so morbius played by forgotten his name Sam West West yep Sam West uh we had a fif off box set um the first one of those that was to be released called The Dream Team so featuring the Tardis team of Fifth Doctor Nissa Tegan and adric which was fantastic I really enjoyed that we had uh Gareth David Lloyd back for the Torchwood in missing Molly uh we had the next in the Saras versus rutins in name only that the last

36:51 one so features the War Doctor as the doctor in that one so that's the last episode for that particular series we had the first of the pster gang box sets for the year come out trespassers to the case book of pster row and we had another star cops blood moon a cage of sky that was the releases for April let's go to You Kenny what jumped out at you there my favorite this month was missing Molly I think it's very moving story about somebody who goes missing and then reappears years later and and there's a lot of Doubt is it her is it really her and there's a lot of convincing involved or not convincing and she's beautifully

37:36 played the part of Molly and the the story is denimo is just absolutely heartbreaking and it's it's it's just horrifying to think that that sort of the way that some people could react and that's what happens as a result of their action so be kind people that's all I'm going to say um don't want to ruin it for anyone um other highlight uh ptor norer gang love them absolutely love trespassers and was very excited I think Gary Russell joined with this one he got to write about Peter Noster after whom the street is named and that was fabulous Fifth Doctor set Dream Team wonderful I think this is the one that had um this Lizzy hopley got them with

38:21 the encountering the dream crabs and then we also had the Tim Foley two part I think this is the one that's in the the murder mystery or is that the second set I getting ahead of myself um but it's a wonderful set I just love the doctor Nissa tan and adrick are just sort of that comp they were sort of my second regular team because the doctor the fourth doctor Roman and K9 are sort of my first go-to team and they were sort of like the second long running one so yeah I really enjoyed it and they just get so much time together and there's a lot of humor between them which was something that GNT perhaps didn't allow them to do on screen so this will be the big finish actually get to show the comic timing that Peter

39:08 Davidson's got just down to a tea and great just a really good month again there's plenty in there to enjoy once again Jonathan Carly who of course is uh in an Oscar nominated film and it's great to see him just absolutely Brewing into this the war Doctrine name only so yeah I really loved Sun turns versus WR as a series and I really hope there's going to be more in the future along those lines because it was just I felt there was still more that could have been done a story almost for every doctor in there so yeah loved it really really good month oh and should mention dark gfre morbius I didn't know too much about it even though i' done the vortex preview but it was sort of I felt that I didn't know too much even though I'd done the

39:54 preview but I think that was the intention sort of to get you hooked and sort of like ask questions say what is it about and yeah we get to see morbius and uh at the at the height of his poers you think he really is one nasty Time Lord I stopped myself there I could have said something else one lasty blomor time Lord I saw that um now did you did I just pick up on you correcting me with the pronunciation of P nosto that is the way Gary Russell that's Peter Noster is How Gary Russell had it because that is the correct Latin version I believe although patter Noster is the correct pronunciation for the series but Peter Noster is the character in this story uh who appears and after whom the street is named so it is

40:40 correctly is patter Noster is the is right and Peter Noster is also approved of so we're both we're good with both but patter Noster is the correct way to say the series very good all right so the one that jumped out at me for that month was the fifth doctor Dream Team Set uh what a couple of fantastic writers Tim Foley and Lizzy hopley rarely disappoint and they're just an amazing sets they're amazing sets of stories these Fifth Doctor ones they've been so consistently good for such a long time now um and this team is is fantastic it's great to hear Matthew Waterhouse getting lots of uh time in these box sets he's got you know another one to come this year and

41:26 there's uh there's another one released in a couple of months time if not one or two months I can't remember exactly but it's great to see him getting uh lots of time to play with his character in the in the box sets too um who directed this one Ken Bentley yeah so when we spoke to Ken Bentley last year on the podcast I'd only just listened to this and I was still spinning from that so I was uh enjoying his work on this as a director very much as well so yeah that was the big stand out for me for this month uh philli what about you I love the dream crabs I I kind of Wonder was this a leftover from um new monsters classic doctors because it was a bit of a surprise to get the new monster in the um Peter Davidson range

42:12 but it worked really well and yes I think you're right Matthew waterhous he'll be in austral in six weeks time so book your tickets and come and see him yeah a get your tickets there I'll just drop that in while we can um missing Molly just tore my heart and I actually was I actually cried I think I may have cried it was such a powerful powerful story um it was great to have the wrap-up of son versus Rons and it it was essential you had actually listened to the first three parts it felt kind of like each of the first three stories was sort of Standalone but they weren't and you really needed to know what had happened to enjoy this one I think so it was a bit of a you know hope you pay paid the list of the first three and this is the only Series this year I went back and

42:58 listened to the whole series again CU it's just finding time to do all the listening that one needs to do has been hard but I made the effort to go back to listen to this whole series through again so I could actually enjoy the fourth episode even more so the trouble of course with spining them out is the fact that you forget stuff but then the advantage of spring them out is that you get to have the delayed story telling and thinking time which often with a book that you don't you just rush through it so I did think it was a huge hit P gang I loved and what a cliffhanger to the this box set um they basically play the same Cliffhanger for the second box set fairly similarly but this the first time it [Music] was excellent and I think Tom Baker pops

43:44 he does the fourth doct Pops in there kind of um which is good having that sort of connection there um dark G Fray it took me a while to get going to be honest I there's a lot in the story that I found confronting and the whole sailing ship thing and the time Vortex and I really didn't get into this first one but by the second episode it started to then get into it and I think don't think there a lot of Mor this was part of the issue with the first one either I don't think Samy was was in it hard at all so it it took off for me but I really wasn't sure after part one this one I think I could have done with the box set because it wasn't until I got to part two and into part two I was going oh no okay is okay so more to come with

44:32 that Holly Holly where is he where is he Molly from Big finish Productions Torchwood missing Molly my daughter Molly went missing 12 years ago from a fair in panana she was nine missing Molly what oh sorry I remember it I grew up on this estate missing Molly Morgan it was all over the news so she's upstairs I went home what if it's not really Molly oh there's something wrong with her what happens to her then then we'll find a way to make everything right d it's me mly mly moo I miss

45:18 you no who are you really big finish for the love of stories it got dark I knew you were looking for me but the sea is so big moving on to May and uh the first release was another dark galif Fray morus part two was released um and we had uh Torchwood one I hate Mondays with Tracy Anne Oberman and G Gareth David Lloyd uh released as well as the regular monthly Torchwood which was called disco we had an eighth doctor box set

46:04 Kenny this one was just for you Echo uh featuring Liv Cher and Helen I've forgotten her surname what's a surname H Sinclair Sinclair that's it that's it uh we had a Missy box set bad influence another SC star cops blood moon London Zone lots of star cops in the first half of the year and we had the final Ninth Doctor Adventures box set starcross where he was uh with I think River Song was in every episode wasn't she it was uh different periods in her history I think from memory correct me if I'm wrong um but let's see uh well let me talk about what jumped

46:50 out at me uh it was the eighth doct Adventures box set Echoes what an amazing box set I Love This tarus Crew and it was really nice to to get them having some Adventures outside of a massive epic you know 16 part four box set series just to have some Standalone stories was really good I really liked the um the story slow beasts uh by Dan rebelato a new new writer unless he's written something else that I'm unaware of Kenny uh but I'm hoping to to get some more because I really enjoyed that story it was different I liked it very much that was the out for me for that month Philip what about you uh yes Nicola Walker anything she eat is just amazing

47:35 with eth doctor I me can say you always know if the eighth doctor going to get something good I I I don't think we've had a bad eighth doctor story for years I'm trying to think if I can think of anything that wasn't good it just he yeah everything that they write for the eth doctor it really feels some ways that's the big finished doctor he was the first you know he got they they got him is really early on and the first you know three four seasons were very much this is new Doctor Who before new Doctor Who came back and it's still feels like it's new Doctor Who it's cly that's big finish Missy the Missy stories were excellent and they had me laughing and horrifying at the same time um I think Michelle Gomez is just breathtakingly great as Alex Alex Kingston and so

48:22 having her and the Ninth Doctor together was great and there were some really great stories there um in terms of looking at the different parts of yeah John Dorney Li Hoy Tim Foley I mean yeah you can't do anything wrong with those three and just just a great combination and and um morbius once again I was getting into it now and starting to understand the characters and what was going on there so it's becoming a lot more enjoyable but yeah I think the eth doctors stand out the torture was again was excellent probably Missy was the one I enjoyed the most Missy and the night drer but yeah all good Kenny yeah I again so many good releases this month

49:08 Torchwood one I hate Mondays and disco which ties in being set between a couple of the episodes where we get to meet Yo's dad or learn about Yo's dad and uh yeah you do get see why and L why yanto is the way he is almost like reacting against his own father and his lifestyle so it's quite uh again an an emotional listen but the whole I hate Monday series is so good traan Overman is just wonderful as ion and you've got Tim bending in there as Tommy and of course garea as yanto is a really really strong Trio to lead this run but Missy outstanding just you really shouldn't be rooting for her because you know she's a wronging but she's just so much fun

49:54 she's great Michelle Gomez has just got that impish waspish sense of humor and you cannot dislike her she's absolutely perfect there could have been no one else could have played Missy like her no sorry Emma Thompson you know all the great actresses of the world Missy is very much Michelle Gomez and um and I'm not just saying that because of where she comes from Star across what box we finally well okay I'm a little but yeah it's lovely getting to the chance to hear Chris echon and Alex Kingston performing it's just so good the dynamic the fact that the doctor is just so disinterested in Romance particularly this one and River sort of she does

50:40 understand why and she doesn't push too hard but she can help it flirt a little but but that's her and that's her nature but again it's Echo that's the the real star of the show this month fantastic stories bird song by Tim Foley really creepy just like why would there be bird song in an alien world lost Hearts by Lauren money and St Pringle once again where we get bit of Mr James coming in there whose ghost stories I was introduced to a couple of years ago properly I'd read them years ago but reintroduced to them by Dave who got me a copy of some Mr James short stories for my birthday last year wonderful stuff and slow Beast by Dan rebat as you said making his big finish debut and very very clever just wonderful the just the dynamic between

51:27 the leads there is so good and long may it continue please don't struggle sir it doesn't help anyone but I don't want to help you no stop wait don't don't I even get to say goodbye to my cat from Big finish Productions the words of Doctor Who Missy bad influence ow I feel like someone staged a rock festival in my head I'm not a very good one either did you hear about the Scout Troop that went missing here a few years ago maybe it was the trees seeking Revenge oo you've got a creepy one I must have for any camping trip gone wrong it pleases me to present you with

52:12 this great Ruby that Ruby could change everything it could save our village I cannot stand aoral People fence sitters the lot of them pick aside the trees are Coming For You Grace they want revenge for all their Brethren that were used for books and fireworks well if you ask me this is just Intergalactic has gone mad stop it you fool can't you see that I'm wounded behind you watch out you're not going anywhere you're quite angry aren't you oh my gidy uncle I've teamed up with an idiot you're rotten Missy a bad apple oh sorry all I heard was blah blah blah blah hey good luck blah blah blah blah blah I must be

52:58 fit to receive His Highness what's the point of even trying everything I do is a complete disaster are you a Healer a doctor you I prefer not to use that word if it's all the same to you madam I am in your hands do as you will all right I'm on board big finish for the love of stories Missy battered me with an umbrella she scared me and tied me up she actually she was quite nice to me but I can totally see your point of view all right let's move on to June and we had a worlds of Blake S release it had been a while since we'd had one of these this was tarant so starring Steven pacy and Yasmin banman makes an appearance too in one of the episodes uh

53:44 fantastic episode we had the second Fourth Doctor box set called uh metamorphosis which um features the return of the celestial toy maker I think and also the master that you can see on the front there uh we had another star cops blood moon Divas boy you're you're not you're spoiled for Choice with star cops in the first half of 2024 that's for sure um we had another packaging up of single uh episodes we had the eighth doct and Lucy Miller Series 2 which is still there for a pretty darn good price for those um eight stories actually so yeah that's that was really good to get that as a package we had dark GFR morbius part three uh we had 6 months after the first

54:32 part came out we had the Seventh Doctor Adventures the last day part two um so that was an epic 12-part series that sort of wrapped up the Seventh Doctor story and sort of led into the TV movie we had Torchwood the restoration of Catherine and that is it for the month of June Kenny give us your your thoughts on June it's uh well it's my birthday month so I was delighted I was in lerot and holiday and was able to download some of these to listen to when I went out on my daily walks which was always nice to have so I've always got memories of listening to particular new releases in when I'm in lanzerotti when I've been there for the last few years to the Roy GS wizard of time a couple years ago that was great first holiday back in the sunshine after covid lovely and what a

55:18 great story to listen to um wow Blake s Taran I love Taran as a character because I started watching Blake seven from series C and really like Steven pacy from the word go and he just sounds so good in this he's just just brilliant metamorphosis as you said bringing back a couple of old villains and we've got the return of the toy maker in a slightly different form where we got a female toy maker but it it does all still fit in John Dorney assures me um the restoration of Catherine lovely bit of um time traveling torch with theirs I remember but eth daughter in the C Series too lovely to get that in a nice compilation just such a great mix of stories in there great writers and oh my shered in

56:04 there future second wife she's so good um but star cops Divas was my probably my highlight of the month for you because you've got what's been building up as a nice monthly V range an ongoing story arc as to who is Sophie is she divas' daughter she claims what's going on is she involved in the the various business shall we say of um drugs running and the likes and it's it's a wonderful wonderful run it concludes in a very satisfactory manner the regulars are all so good in here and um yeah is it's been such a good run star cops I think it's often goes under the radar but I think it is it's wonderful it's

56:49 Andrew Smith I'm not saying that because he's a friend and and Scottish but no yes but that's just coincidental it's such a good range and it's it's proper drama proper grown-up stuff and it shows you can do good science fiction stories without meaning to go to ray guns and aliens and it's you a proper adult tone to it as well so yeah I'd say that Divas was my highlight of June very good philli well I've got a confession to make realizing as we go through this the last day too I haven't listened to so I remember listen to last day one which was I think December last year and going through that not having a clue what was going on and I got to the end of it still not have a clue what was going on

57:36 and thinking it was absolutely bizarre and not know what to make of it and so my intention was to listen to it again when this came out and then I never quite got up the nerve to listen to number one again I hadn't enjoyed it and I realized I have number two so just there thinking oh that's still sitting in my my big finish playlist to listen to and I haven't done it yet so was part two good Kenny it Carries On from part one and it's still got the same amount of confusion thinking what is going on what is gandell doing with this group of villains they're all ganging up and with multiple reality doctors as the seventh doctors effectively trying to suppress

58:21 all other dimensions so there's one distinct timeline and um it's it's it's it's tough going because it's very hard sci-fi Concepts and with a bit of sort of comic sort of sensibilities thrown in as well because Guy Adams does like all the stuff and it all started off with dark universe so effectively you've got a 16p part story not just a 12p part and yeah it's it's good going but it's love always lovely to get Ros and Chris in there yes okay I um I guess I need to get to it um but yeah I I did find part one really hard work and felt I need to go back into it um the other the fourth doctor one the med officers really enjoyed and once again Chris Van just

59:07 enjoying his performances all the time and for me the the highlight of the month was tarant a huge huge Blake s fan and there's not been enough Blake seven out but be finish this year I think this might be the only thing actually play sevenish which I know it's getting hard and harder because there's less less of them either alive or willing to do it which does make things harder and harder but it was it was L to get this set and I'm hoping there's more coming but there's been nothing announced for a while Dwayne yeah tarant was uh one of the big standouts for me uh it is one of those stepen P pacy is one of those voices though you've got to suspend your disbelief a little bit because he does sound quite different to the tarant if you go straight from the TV to the other but that's easy to do we we we're Doctor

59:53 Who fans we suspend our disbelief all the time so uh that's fine the stories are absolutely fantastic I love the way that the the worlds of Blake s doesn't sort of always go in the order you think it's going to go does things differently uh quite often Gary Russell did one of those didn't he in this set so that was that was cool it's always cool to get Gary back to do stories like this um I also loved the fourth doctor Adventures metamorphosis it took me a few months to actually listen to it as one that was on the back burner for for a while I've only recently listened to it and the story that stood out to me from that box set was the second one called the Caged Assassin by Matthew Sweet that was one of my favorite Fourth Doctor stories that I've heard in ages and it's typical

1:00:41 Matthew Sweet bizarre bizares that only he seems to do and get away with and I just loved every second of that of course the master story and the the toy maker story were great too but it was that middle one the cage assassin that really stood out to me for uh for that particular set all right yeah well we might have to listen to the Seventh Doctor last day part two together Phillip I'm the same forgive me Kenny don't don't stop the recording it's all right I've learned from earlier on that you do have other lives you don't just exist to podcast although really you should because I do I know I know sorry Kenny the thing is well to be candid I've told so many

1:01:28 different accounts of my past and it's about time I decided on one that works let's decide the authorized version from Big finish Productions Blake s tarant we've been on Liberator 5 minutes and already Avon is treating us like a delivery service why are we here and not him well perhaps this isn't an important job in his eyes he doesn't trust us wants to see if we can obey his orders or we're Expendable so Dell tarant right former space captain in the Federation Avon's been talking too much again I see not at all he's offered to pay me very handsomely for information regarding you such as oh

1:02:14 don't get angsty he reckoned I might know where daa is he thought that might interest you hello little brother daa daa tarant first class Cadet Federation Elite I mean look at him he's posing for his statue a word brother of course brother I didn't know there'd be blockaders outside the solar system can't you fire back well start an outter world war in a borrowed Federation Pursuit ship they'll send me to the Clone Masters just so they can execute me a dozen times we have our orders once we find the Liberator we can go home we've been out here a long time we're on a hunt sergeant and the Predator only go goes home when the prey is found and killed we don't do this for money we do it

1:03:00 because space command tells us to and because Blake and his ragtag Rebels are a threat to the Federation gently L gently careful I think that's the only rib not broken we'll take care of that in the cells can't you just expel me from the academy oh we will once we're done with you big finish for the love of stories well well well well you're the last person I expected to see here it's been a while hasn't it sit down tarant I'd prefer to stand Supreme Commander now we're on to July we've gone halfway we're halfway there and and for those who have stayed this long stay

1:03:46 tuned because we're all I don't I can't remember if I mentioned it at the start of the podcast but we are going to uh do our own personal top fives uh at the end of our discussion of of the month to month so for July we had uh a new dark galif Fray Series begin so morbius had com completed we've got the war Master part one and that was to continue for the next two months with part two and three we had a Torchwood Soho called Ascension another box set there I know you like uh Torchwood Soho Phillip uh we had the second dror Adventures conspiracy of Raven we had the Torchwood uh called Art decadence um written by The elusive Ash Darby Kenny we to track down this ash

1:04:34 Darby and and and have a chat he's L he's very hard to get a hold of but yeah I I have had emails from him so yeah Ash is elusive but brilliant yeah all right we also had Doctor Who goth opera The Return of the novel adaptations range I think that was a a marvelous return and we had Operation Werewolf which was a second doctor lost story although it's hard to see by looking at the cover because they hav they don't put lost stories uh on the covers anymore it's just Operation Werewolf so um I'll jump in there and give you my two standouts for the month well first of all I was very interested in Operation Werewolf because the one of the authors for that uh Robert

1:05:22 kits uh lived in Sydney so I've been to a couple of conventions or at least fan meetings with Robert kits in attendance and he had the script in his hand I've seen it in his hand um and so that was that was in the '90s would have been in the late '90s maybe even the early '90s don't know but so I was interested in that so that was a great story and it was done really well as well so it was nice to get that team that Tardis team back together uh for that particular era cuz obviously Michael trouton does mostly 6B stories so it was nice to go back and do like a series what was that supposed to be Series 6 or Series 5 in that style anyway all right uh de goth Opera was the other one that I really enjoyed um I've struggled a little with

1:06:09 some of the novel adaptations in the past cuz they're just so jam-packed full of stuff that's that must be hard to adapt the novels but this one seemed to me to be adapted extremely well there's only a slight mention of it starts in Tasmania so I'm got to be happy with that that story so so it's nice to get something in your local area so that were the two big ones for me for the month of July Philip what about you well I'll be popping back anyways to talk about it one or two I'll just raise um dark El warm which didn't have the Warmness which thre me slightly um but it's de Warner and Bernie Summerfield um so the the um Unbound doctor and Benny it's a lovely story really great story and at the time my understanding was

1:06:54 this was David War last appearance on being finished um last thing before he passed away but there was a little surprise in store a month or two later which I didn't know and it was just lovely and made me very melancholy but happy as well but the two of them together are lovely David is sounding a bit old in this like there's only a couple of times he sounded his age and certainly at this stage I was thinking oh he really is he's yeah he's not sounding his usual self but it's still nevertheless a wonderful story and just the two of them together is gorgeous and conspiracy Raven I'm just want to point out in terms of um firstly I own the cover now I actually um bought the cover so I'm very excited on my wall over there you

1:07:39 can't see it but um how we had Wendy padbury out at the start of the year and Fraser Hines was this month um it was just lovely hearing this story with Fraser and Wendy in it both I'm not an over big fan of Raven Bally as a character and I there's a few things in terms that I didn't like but having Wendy back playing her age having Fraser playing his age with Michael trouton I thought the three of them together are just wonderful but I'll come back to that later very good Kenny yeah I've uh two real favorites this month I me again always lovely to hear David Warner and Lisa together and yeah a good interesting start to

1:08:26 that dark galfrey with the Abomination as we later discover but for me the two highlights were goth Opera as you mentioned just such a wonderful wonderful book I bought all the new adventures missing Adventures at the time so I'm a big fan of the novel adaptations and love hearing them and what they do with them and we're lucky enough to get Paul canell and Elizabeth miles to come on uh pieces of no it wasn't they come on power of three that's what you do two podcasts you get them mixed up particular when both of a number in it so yes we got Paul and Liz coming on power of three and had a chat about it and it just so exciting to go back and remember this what a great range this was kicking off with the fifth doctor so yeah it was great to see this range maker return and fingers crossed based on what Nick has said in Vortex there could well be more in the

1:09:11 future so let's keep our fingers crossed um again loved Operation Werewolf I had no idea Robert kits had an Australian connection so that's lovely tier new fact for me of the day uh art decadence great the mara so so dark it's it's wonderful the way it's sort slithered its way through the story it's great but Soho Torchwood Soho Ascension again it's following that pattern we've seen previously with Torchwood Soho echoing the quater Mass Cals and this one we've got echoing the fourth and finals of John Mills qu massal where it all ends rather apocalyptically oh looks like that could well be the indes who knows it's just got such a dark feeling to it and it's is wonderful I really really

1:09:56 love what they've done with Torchwood Soho from the word goal and it's one that I do listen to quite regularly if I'm out but it's the the shorter 25 minute episode format so I love that really really enjoyable so yes that was um just outstanding very good sorry one thing I forgot to mention in June was that it was when big finish day was held I didn't actually get to go uh to the event this year but I did write the

…