The Best Big Finish Releases of 2023 | Doctor Who | Torchwood | Spinoffs | Blake's 7 | UFO

0:00 we had long conversations about bringing Kenny Smith back because he's a fantastic podcaster and Doctor Who journalist but time and society and culture and taste has moved on and there's a problem with the Kenny of old in that he's a podcaster who is Scottish and I had problems with that and a lot of us at the Sirens of audio had problems with that of associating podcasting with Scotland and trust me there is a very long tradition of this [Music]

1:05 good day audio files this is the Sirens of audio the show that explores the universe of Doctor Who and the audio medium I'm Dwayne and I'm Philip good Dwayne good audio FES good day Phillip I know you've been driving all day long you've driven back to Sydney from Queensland you must be feeling so up to podcasting right now oh I can't think anything I'd rather be doing after a 9h hour drive all the way down the coast but it's at least a lovely drive now it's good to know you're dedicated to the Sens of audio philli so thank you for that joining us also after two too long a time we say this every time but it's too long a time it's uh the man himself Kenny Smith is back with us good day you flam and Lans no just don't just

1:50 don't hey KY good to see you Andre you GRE how have you been keeping how how was the 60th anniversary Doctor Who here for you tell us all about it very very busy because obviously plenty going on with big finish and lots to go in Vortex and then having sort of put one of my podcasts the power of three in Hiatus back in 2022 decided maybe just do a couple more episodes in 2023 and then get started and then turned into one a week and then throughout November it was one episode a day with uh different book authors and dropped in some audio stuff there as well getting a look at some of the destiny of the doctor Series where got some authors onto chat because there were never any CD extras in those and SP

2:37 with John nworth as producer so did that and yeah lots of stuff going on of course plenty of stuff on TV as well to to keep us all entertain so yeah I've had a busy year and then then decided to do eight episodes of the power of three as well sorry and I meant pieces of a that's think when you do a podcast it starts with a word with p and ends in a number uh it's a bit of a pain so yes um yes did a few um Pieces Of Eight as well and the run up to the anniversary so yes no it's run up to Christmas go so see that's how busy I've been I can't remember what month it is am I Kenny Smith still I think so I don't I've turned into David Tenant have I no just checking no but yes busy busy busy guys and thank you for asking and again

3:22 thanks for all your kind words and support when we always say nice things about episodes when we we do get a chance to catch up so thank you for that our pleasure our absolute pleasure now today on the podcast we're going to be doing our annual best of big finish for the previous year which is 2023 and the output hasn't slowed down from Big finish there is lots and lots and lots of stories to talk about we cannot possibly talk about every single one of them um normally Philip you'd be pleased to know we we jump down the rabbit hole but we probably won't today are you happy with that Philip you got to leave me alone that' be good yeah I'll leave you alone today Kenny might be disappointed with that but we might just get straight in and we're going to do uh our favorite can I say a

4:09 top five because I know Philip you don't you don't believe in ranking um and I'm not really ranking the stories either I've picked five but they're in no particular order either uh and Kenny I know you've picked five too we might talk about a few um notable other entries as well that didn't make our top five lists so I guess Kenny if we go straight to you with your number five okay I'll go with it's a Torchwood release that I particularly enjoy by uh Lauren M and Stuart Pringle which was dog hop a very unusual story where we got uh Torchwood investigating a case where people think that people been dogs

4:55 and human have had their body swapped around and it's a very very dark but also Darkly humorous story and for me it's one of those ones you just think what and it was all based in an idea that Stuart and Lauren had had because and there were times when they thought that the barman who was in charge of the place was swapping places with his dog and it's just one of those bizarre Notions sort of like you know what it's like you make up a running and joke amongst yourselves when you're at work and lo and behold they've taken this wonderful idea and turned it into a Torchwood Story I mean it's not exactly the sort of thing that you'd be able to do with um a doctor who one particularly

5:43 but in this case we've got Tom Price As PC Andy investigating and a bar manager who's thinks there's something strange going and it's just wonderfully wonderfully dark and what a Twist at the end as well obviously I'm not going to spoil it but my goodness it is a great one it's dark it's funny and Tom Price is just in top form in this throughout he's always in good form but just that that sort of like PC Andy desperate for love wants to be loved so much love to give and never quite finds it instead he finds people swapping places and Minds with dogs and Lauren money and Stuart Pringle have uh becoming more and more regular with uh with their Torchwood releases

6:28 and uh usually those real Twisted type of stories so uh they they look like they're not stopping along that front definitely not I mean their first one that they did uh with the the horse uh going around in Wales at night mean the first time I listened to that story I was out for a walk and it was dark and it started snowing and it was just the perfect the perfect weather for it and just you know a bit of a wind built up and because I needed to go to the shops and I wanted to get a bit of exercise in after a long day in the the home office so it was just you know just absolutely it's what the story's all about with the Mari Lloyd a horse going around and knocking people's doors and yeah the P of them ABS they're perfect for Torchwood that sort of darker side of things but with a hell of a lot of humor in there as

7:14 well very good all right Phillip what about you for your number five okay well as you know I'm not ranking mine one to five I'm just doing a countdown for our it's a countdown for the purposes of the podcast that's all edit edit not a ranking so I I've just chosen five so I'm actually just going to work through the year um five five stories that have touched me or affected me during the course of the year is what I'm doing uh and I'm going to start off with the eighth doctor because can I say the eighth doctor had a sensational year all year um I there was a d story that came out from Pagan and as always his performance is great so I'm going to start at the very start of the year with Cass um so the box that came out at the very beginning was called Cass

8:00 um people would know that Cass um was that character who lasts about three or four minutes in the night of the doctor special the 50th Anniversary 10 years ago um and she was it was amazing the impact that whole was what was it 12 minutes long 15 minutes I don't know how long that that little episode was but Cass really made made a amazing impression and she was like a yeah she was the companion we never had and never had her so big finish and through the joys of the time War and the muck that the time war is making up um it was just great to have Cass back and her and P again work so well together so three stories um Tim Foley did did a great story Lou Morgan and James Moran um

8:47 James Moran did a double parter um I won't say too much about it it's it is time war and so pans doctor is a bit Bleaker and sadder and weary than later on um I think other people are going to recommend some stuff from towards the end of the year when he's back with some new stuff um where he he's back to his cheerful fun original Self but I'm still enjoying this performance but it's a very different performance Paul gives in the time War series astoundingly different and and he's just old and weary but anyhow Cass really lightens things up and some yeah some very clever ideas the time Wars playing well and the writers have all managed to C the idea of the time War uh and actually incorporate the stories really well into

9:33 it and just yeah just great performances all around so Kenny as the resident eighth doctor expert would you say that the Eighth Doctor's got probably the biggest character Arc of all the incarnations of the doctors what's your opinion on that I would say so I think that as you mentioned he starts off younger when he's bubbly adventurous and S shaking off the shackles of all the Seventh Doctor his machinations and his plotting and such like and he he is he's young he's carefree and out there and having fun again and very much so because we know how his story ends and when it his time descends into into war and how does the Eternal Optimus survive in Wartime with difficulty and I think that you

10:19 know as you mentioned Cass is such a great box X and Emma Emma Campbell Jones is so so good she is half Scottish on her father's side and uh which is an absolute bonus but yeah she's great and bringing back sunny as well as Alex is it's a great great pairing and fingers crossed for more of that in the near future excellent I might go to my uh number five pck and it was an early one from 2023 in January it was an audio novel and Kate Almond's the dead star was released that month and my reason for choosing this was uh because there was a lot of anticipation when it was announced that Kate Orman was coming back to write Doctor Who she done a few

11:05 different things bits and pieces over the years for big finish whether it be Blake s or short stories here and there but this was her first sort of audio Doctor Who release I think ever because if you you walking to Babylon wasn't uh wasn't really Doctor Who was it that was a Benny um and that wasn't that that wasn't adapted by her either yeah yeah it was written by Jack Rainer so so this was highly anticipated and I you know how much I love the second doctor I think the second doctor is very underrepresented in the big finish catalog uh but every showing that the second doctor got in 2023 was a great one and this this is a great story the audio novels are an interesting animal you've got to kind of invest yourself in

11:51 these and view them as a book and you've got to put aside time if you want to get through them uh in a in a reason able amount of time you can't try and do it all in one go like you can with other big finish audio releases but the way they've set it out they virtually set it out in episodic form so this would be a six-part and the parts go for about 90 minutes each so um what what does that make it anywhere between between seven and nine hours to get through the whole story but Michael trouton just does these characters so well um it's very timey it's a very timey wiy story it's about black holes it's um a little bit uh a little bit spify as well in certain

12:37 parts uh there's some car chase scenes in there that are that are done really well there's one character in in particular um that is I I I haven't heard it since then so you'd have to correct me if I'm wrong but I think the character is gender fluid so starts off in a certain way at the beginning of the book and the same character is portrayed differently expertly by Michael trouton in a different in a different way uh towards the end of the story and uh it's it's not explicit that it's the same character and you sort of you come to realize that it is the same character and it's Michael trouton's done such a good job with that and Kate orman's writing is uh is superb I think this is great for anyone who is a fan of the the the Virgin novels uh because Kate is one

13:23 of those authors that is always talked about still to this day I think there's a bit of a nostalgic uh return to those stories in in a lot of fans at the moment uh looking back on the Wilderness years um because I think those fans that are just slightly younger than us Philip who who went through the 90s and the Wilderness years are are starting to do podcasts talk about all that era uh even though you and I weren't in in that era so much uh Kenny you might have been more than Philip and I but um yeah so it was great to have Kate there looking forward to to more from Kate if there's more coming from Kate from Big Finnish I'm sure there is that there was such a uh a groundwell of support for for Kate and it was great to be able to to talk to

14:08 Kate in person about this she came to uh one of our recent events with only a few months ago um Katie Manning's event I was able to have a chat with her about it and she was really touched that so many people were approaching her and uh remembering her she had no idea that people remembered her from all those years ago because keep in mind it's 30 years since she wrote the novels um but there is a lot of love for Kate Orman and long may it continue absolutely agreed absolutely agreed and I'm not just saying that because obviously she's one of your fellow Aussies no I think she's she's wonderful she's such talent and I was there buying the new adventures in the 90s and carried on obviously with the edas you know getting them all as they came out you know excitedly and I've said this elsewhere

14:53 recently that for many ways do to fandom became like a book club before book clubs were a big thing thing where we'd be getting together and we'd be discussing the latest book in the pub um I I'll give you a quick Kate Orman story she came to the UK in the summer of 93 and she came to Edinburgh and she came along to the Edinburgh Doctor Who group and because it was summer I wasn't at Uni so I was back in Glasgow so I wasn't going to go through just you know every Monday night I was a student I didn't have a lot of money and uh she was there this is just that I think it was just before the left-handed hummingbird came out and she mentioned the title of her book and my friend Brian was long Brian's very much a traditionalist in do two stories and do two titles and he heard the name of the book thing he saying oh no please you can't call it that oh no please awful

15:39 name so yeah Brian was never a fan of these sort of more outd titles but yeah left hand of hummingbird great book I mean what Kate did was I mean like Paul Corell brought an awful lot of heart and Humanity to the to the books and I think obviously people recognize what Paul did but Kate's often overlooked and wrong so because of what she did and what she brought to to the range and uh yeah wonderful writer and a lovely wonderful warm funny human being as well yeah and also this is such a great release um you know Dr Ben and paully story and yeah so much complexity to it and it's it's a good one it's like you say you cannot listen to these in short bursts I mean I like to have the audio novels for my morning walk so I can sort of like time

16:25 it into an hour at a time um and my phone at the moment I've got the uhm the most recent one which is prior to about I'm giving the wrong one um I've got the box of Terror I've still not completely finished that I've got hour 29 minutes of that left to go and yeah I I look forward to concluding it it's there's such a such a great range and you know deserving of your attention absolutely and not only is we've mentioned Michael trouton mentioned Kate Orman but also Steve Foxon very important as well uh as the sound designer because these are audio novels with sound so they're enhanced audio novels um and very very integral to it's not just a straight audio book uh so Steve Fox and big shout

17:12 out to him for this uh particular book too from Big finish Productions Doctor Who the audio novels the dead star Polly and the doctor walked through the deserted campus past the brushed concrete buildings heading for the tube station the barmy summer evening was spiced with the smell of freshly moan Lawns doctor said Polly if I ask Dr Fields to tell me what a black hole is she'll never stop telling me so would you mind explaining it preferably in words of one syllable the doctor said well I'll try you see a black hole can be created when a very large star reaches the end of its lifespan and goes

17:58 Super and over now A Star is tremendously massive Earth's sun weighs about an octillion tons when a star's furnace goes out there's nothing left to hold the star up against its own enormous weight he mimed a ball with his hands bringing them suddenly together the dead star collapses in on itself crushing all of its matter into a tiny space his right hand became a tight fist the closer you get to it the more intensely you feel its gravity until it's so powerful that nothing can escape its pull not even light that's why it's black said Polly a little bit AED out of the corner of her eye she saw a large

18:43 dog Crossing one of the Lawns when she turned her head it was gone she said so it sort of sucks everything in well no they're not vacuum cleaners said the doctor please with his joke they don't suck and they don't gulp from a distance the black hole's gravity is perfectly safe just as if it was an ordinary star but if you go back into the black hole you can never come out again was that the dog again passing behind them Polly tried to concentrate it's funny orbit it has something to do with the time Corridor doesn't it he nodded the time Corridor is straight as a die Dr Fields thinks her Planet X is

19:30 following an elongated elliptical orbit like a comet she doesn't have enough data yet to see the straight line they were passing by the grandiose Optics building but doctor does that mean between two columns she caught a glimpse of that dog again no it wasn't a dog an instant later the thing skittered around the column A thick body with multiple legs staring at them menacingly with two black eyes no four eight the shriek came out of Polly as though someone had pushed her down a flight of stairs now the monster was a Hound bigger than she was made of hundreds of

20:15 small metallic Parts all jumbled together moving and changing in front of her eyes oh dear it's a robot exclaimed the doctor all at once it was tumbling towards them this collection of pieces of red rods and gold chains and Jagged silver shapes Galloping across the grass so lightly it left no Trace but there was a parked car in its way and it leapt onto it crumpling the roof like foil oh my star shouted the doctor Polly was frozen in place the moment he grabbed her arm she turned to run with him even though the robot man dog was racing down the road only a few seconds behind them only one second behind it was on [Music]

21:02 them big finish for the love of stories all right Kenny let's go to your number four yep I like obviously these are not particularly in any order they're just sort of or ones that I've chosen um and for this one I've gone for a six do box set Purity Unleashed which I just I got the first come me and I got my first idea of what this was all about in February when I was chatting to Matthew Sweet at galifrey and he was telling me all about Broadway belongs to me and the fact there's you know there's a musical number in there and the fact you've got Mel can't dance and the doctor's the one who's got to teach her how to do it which you know just sort of in real life

21:48 of course we all know what Bonnie Lang bir's a wonderful dancer we had her on the mass dancer over here rather than the mass singer the dance version and she was on that squiddle she was wonderful and it's just such a funny funny adventure and for those who are interested in football or soccer over here it's got the former Celtic and Leicester city manager Martin O'Neal popping up very briefly for a line near the end and he's very very amusing in that um which was uh I thought was quite good and yeah it's just such a funny release and kicks off a really good box set as things get darker as we go along U I mean I really enjoyed you know the introduction of heie and particular in this set he's gone missing and the the doctor

22:33 M are trying to find out what on Earth has happened what's Changed History what's removed her from this and it's just fabulous fabulous mix and particularly when you bring in um an actress as Brant as imagin stubs who's Patricia McBride and she's just so so good I've been a big fan of her since the early 90s when she was in Ana Le was like a detective show and she just has such a wonderful cold Edge to the part of padria and just there's a really good mix of stories tells me time burst that's hyphenated kids like time flight and um by Ian Potter that's particularly enjoyable when there's a a burst Dam on the way and my goodness it keeps your

23:18 grips all the way really really good set oh and I should mention purification by Chris Chapman as well which is a middle story which set in New Zealand and on the way to Antartica and generally just Chris is such a good writer for the sixth doctor anyway and yeah great release for me three damn good stories and different tones different feels to them but add up to a really really strong box set you enjoyed this one too didn't you Philip Oh I thought it Sensational and Broadway belongs to me in particular um Bonnie lanord of course you like that one well I know but we for several reasons I mean Bonn had given us some clues about it beforehand when we spoke to her um so we sort of so was sort of aw it was coming but yeah aside from the musical aspect though I think in the whole um World War

24:04 II Nazi Vibe and in terms of History to me that that that was fascinating as well and you know the the whole period um what's the musical it's not Chicago it's the other one starting with C Liza Manelli um Cabaret Cabaret thank you which of course you tomorrow belong the song Tomorrow belongs to me comes from Cabaret and so it was it had a lot of Cabaret to it as well in terms of the rise of the Nazis and what was actually happening politically so I think because not Doctor Who's never political haha um there's a lot of politics in it which I really enjoy and I thought was done in a very clever way touching with history um and of course he be being disabled and what that would actually mean in those situations it worked on so many

24:49 different levels I just thought that that that particular script was one of the best of the Year well we've got you there Philip why don't you hear hit us with your number four yeah okay um I'm going to give you my number four is I'm going to give this robot six which came out in April robots um I think people know I've been raving about robot since it's been coming out for several years it's taken a long time to come out the six box sets um which is dealing with uh Liv Chena and her sister um and so the the final box that came out last year and I was really sad actually to have the final box set come out um Helen Goldin John Dorney Matt fisten wrote scripts for it and so you couldn't have SP writers I mean that's three of the top top top range John dony script in

25:37 particular um face to face was just a two-hander with four of them and in fact the recent 60th anniversary special that came out with David Tenant and um well the do Donna um being the only two in a two sort of like a two-hander face to face is actually very similar in lots of ways um oh look at that you've actually got the oh you got the book already I'm feeling jealous um so yeah wild blue yonder had some very similar ideas as well but face to face came out first John dney did it first and it's just a two-hander twice over um using those characters where they don't actually know who is actually the real live CH you who who who are the real sisters who aren't and they've got to try and work through those situations

26:23 where they share those memories it's a very very disturbing and clever script um forces of nature is back to the whole um politics of the place and Matt fit wraps up things quite well um it felt a bit rushed I think in some ways towards the end um but I've really been loving it I think the fact that we lost you Pamela well we lose Pam Salem but Pam wasn't apping the last ones and we did lose po David Collins along the way meant that their stories weren't quite wrapped up to my my mind my way thinking as well as I would have liked but once again just visiting cowo visiting the robots um and it's just yeah I'm amazing performances as always um you know

27:09 Nicola Walker and CLA rashbrook have just been amazing but along the way you know John coosaw is in there doing some great voices it's yeah the whole the whole release is just Sensational and I'm looking forward to now going back and listening and I need to do this soon to all the stories in a row so because it's often been 12 mon I think it might have been 12 months before the last since the last one there's some big gaps between them my mind just I I forget what's going on so I just want to listen to All how been 18 stories um in a row and just see he how they go because I'm excited to hear the whole flow B box set can I just give a a shout out to Joe Kramer as well for the whole series particularly his theme for the robots I think it just suits I can

27:56 see those silver feet marching every time like that theme's gone through my head right now so uh he's he he does a brilliant job with his themes as well as his music so shout out to Joe Kramer for that one beginning role play now from Big finish Productions the worlds of Doctor Who the robots volume six hi no yes two of you yeah siblings can be so different nature versus nurture you can't trust anyone around here there are weird things going on hi there good morning good good morning that is definitely not what this is there two of me too oh well this is awkward it seems

28:43 terrorist activity has recommenced she's a robot duplicate well one of you is roll out has been scheduled look at today this could be it the uprising d770 to d780 designated security Duty the Dums are the worst dead eyes always watching you [Music] d781151 there is no

29:33 override you are leaving today right oh you won't be leaving this building Alive chener live she's got a squadron of [Music] dumbs big finish for the love of stories we all have somewhere that we came from even if it's somewhere we need to run away from what's your next one Kenny you no oh we up to you I was going to say before we go we should also throw an escape from calor from ravenous 2 as a pilot episode for the robots make an 18 Arc into 19 go on you know you want to want throw robophobia as well then just to kick it off the whole thing with s mcor because that's where it all starts with li chener doesn't it with um

30:19 robophobia Nicola Walker just appear is a guest amongst 20 Doctor Who fans having no idea what's going on in the world and and then why not throw in uh Kor city as a sid step as well before you start all the big finish stuff yeah that's a good one too I mean what what a great world Calo has proven to be yep absolutely all right for my for my number four I'm going to choose a Fifth Doctor box set entitled in the night both the fifth doctor box sets I believe were brilliant uh for 2023 but the reason I chose this one is because it's the one I listened to most recently uh so I I remember the most Tim Foley recently announced that he was uh finishing up as as a writer for big

31:04 finish moving on to other things uh who knows he might come back from time to time we don't know but uh he did he did say that that he was that he was finishing up but he wrote A A cker of a story here in this set called Pursuit Of The Night jar which is a really interesting one and as I said the The Fifth Doctor box sets over the last few years have been absolutely great they've got the the really comfortable this this tardus team um if you're a fan of this tardus team uh you will be a fan of these box sets without a doubt because it is like going back to the early 80s um and the in Pursuit Of The Night jar is is a great look at the character of the fifth doctor because it's uh it's

31:49 about meeting your Heroes and the tale of the night jar was a story uh that was told to the doctor as a boy and he always always wanted to meet the pilot of this ship called the night jar and things don't quite work out how they were in his imagination so it's a it's a kind of a story of do you want to meet your Heroes um so a lot of that and you know we said we were talking about authors and their Styles recently Philip and this is a this is a character piece it's a a character piece between the two uh characters the the the captain pursuing the night jar and the captain of the night jar that there's a character piece there going on the character piece of the doctor and tan and Nissa and the doctor always work well together uh so uh that that story is brilliant in itself I also like Sarah

32:37 Gala grala story called resistor which is a two-part story so the night jar story was four parts this was two parts um set in warsa in 1982 bit of a rocker story so if there's rock music in there I always like that uh but the story of course bit of a Sci-Fi twist to it uh which is which is a fun two-parter I'm starting to like these two-part stories Philip um so pleased and Sarah is another one who announced that she was moving on from Big Finnish as well so I don't know whether she's got any more to come or whether resista was the last Sarah grala story that is to be released I don't know if you know about that Kenny I'm not sure if there are any more sched but you should mention sah grala who won an award for our recent big

33:25 finished script with a the love La in it and one I was reading something about it in the guardian last night and uh just as an example of you a good story for your women in writing and about about other women and that that was a Fifth Doctor story as well wasn't it it was that was in the first box set earlier in the year yeah there the that was the two-parter for that one yep brilliant story brilliant very funny yeah really writer love her stuff in the night jar in the night jar think of In the Night Garden my goodness I just back for years prer to the night jar great story I mean just such a great idea do you meet your Heroes what happens then oops he's dead how on Earth

34:11 are we going to keep history on course and maintain his reputation so yeah wonderful story and just really good interpersonal Dynamics when you hear like the old messages between the ships that are going on with Captain eslo and yeah just a wonderful wonderful pair of story I really enjoyed resistor as well I love that whole sort of you know the fact there's the taxis going around and grabbing people off the streets or are they uh which is quite like Matt Jones's new adventure um which yeah the start was just wonderful wonderful stuff really really good strong imagery and loved it to bits really good set great choice great artwork for that one too um I I love the artwork for that sort of makes me a little bit sad that I'm only doing downloads these days

34:57 um so who did the music for that yeah music and sound design Howard Carter so he must be working on the fifth doctor Adventures at the moment so yeah great stuff all right Kenny hit us with your number three yeah I've gone for a story that we all thought we knew but then again we didn't I have gone for Doctor Who and the Ark as in the Tom Baker version of what became bar AR in space and for me it was a fascinating look at these because I always love the Lost stories and where they are and what they could have been and particularly this one which like d exclamation mark Genesis of Terror getting to see something that and revenge or return of the Cyberman to see what we started out

35:43 with and what Robert Holmes did to them and for me the Arc was a fascinating lessen because we've got this story that's very pedest quite pedestrian in Pace and it does feel like it's you know a relic from the 60s and 70s but trying to be a bit more 70s and just fascinating listens just to hear how Noah originally was and in fact there's no woring there's nothing like that and it's just a completely different Foe and you know people being taken over elements of possession where they are just possessed not sort of physically transformed into the the body horror that was to become a feature of those early Tom Baker years to me just a fascinating listen great cast as well uh Terry Malloy is fantastic as Noah

36:30 very very cleverly done just wonderful performances great music great sound design and just that wonderful insight and you can see absolutely why they changed it to give us Aran space but it's wonderful that we've got this sort of this lovely little timeline after robots to where things couldn't perhaps have gone and fascinating absolutely fascinating these little nuggets that so pleased they survive and we've managed to hear them and what they've done with them I will say with this story I struggled with listening to it because I listen to this in the car and there's a lot of there's a lot of noise going on within the story that ambient noise kind of drowns out um so I think the

37:16 experience of this is much better with headphones rather than trying to listen to it on a stereo or in the car so uh that would be my one recommendation with that yeah I think people need to understand what they're getting with these stories um I think some people have been disappointed thinking well actually I think their purpose is a bit different just in terms of giving us a taste of what could have been um you know is it a better story than the Arc in space it's not it doesn't even come close but it is so fascinating to hear what we could have had and how much better what we have is um which is why I really enjoy that the Genesis dial one I know a lots of people complained about as well and once again I just thought what we got what big F released was so fascinating as a piece

38:01 of Doctor Who history so in that historian sort of sense of what what what what was actually scripted what was actually there was just astounding to hear and so I really appreciated three the three that came out from that first season just to understand better what we could have had what changes were made what were the original intentions of the original authors yeah it's been very clever and understanding Robert Holmes better too it's they've been fascinating fascinating pieces though you know not stunning Bran's big finish stories because they're not that's not their purpose from Big finish Productions the worlds of Doctor Who The Lost Stories the ark Noah's Arc sorry did you just say

38:48 Noah's Arc as in the animals went in 2 by two but a spaceship rather than a ship with this being the uh docking Bay access chamber but something's a Miss ah is this it I don't think so Harry it's the cryogenic power center whatever that is when it's at home it's like the cold store of an abattoir rows and rows of plastic bags there must be hundreds of them what's in those bags doctor oh just the entire human race zero upon my soul what is it what's the matter there is something here

39:35 shut the door Sarah shut the door doctor I I don't seem to be able to catch my breath what aliens there are aliens in the ark yes a giant TOA but how did you know no humanize thought we just go back to the top hard is no Harry if we abandon the ark now the human race will die Noah Noah come on Harry it is time to conduct the metamorphosis if this goes on much longer I'll end up as a puddle doctor it

40:20 was strange the cerebral strobe suddenly inverted look anyone there because if there is I should warn you I'm carrying a pot of boiling hot tea and I'm not afraid to use it oh yes that's what I've been waiting for chameleons you are an unnecessary present that's not ready for you to say big finish for the love of stories okay Philip hit us with your number three yep um I was so excited to have Ronnie come back from baman Road um so yeah so my number three is going to be Beyond

41:05 benanaman road but can I say the wormwood as well is also amazing um it is just so lovely to have the cast come back there so three stories um Joseph litster who we spoke to last week you can go back into the podcast um did the very first story here today it's a lovely time timey Wy timey Loop story but it's also it's he's Love Story We I I talked about the fact because he loves big emotions I sort of I sort of challenged him in terms of you know do ever do love stories and he went oh this is a love story yeah it is actually um destination waiting is an outright comedy by James Goss as only James canr and the the witching Tree by Lizzy hopley um so they really brought back you know once again three great big guns

41:51 um Angie Mah Mahindra is just lovely is Ronnie she's comes across so much like Sarah Jane terms she's a professional she's now got a podcast which reaches lots of people um and so she's the investigative journalist list of today um Daniel Anthony comes back as Clyde Lang in a couple of stories which just love to hear um but also to me Ronnie's mom being back GA by played by Mina anoa um she is so funny and that second episode on this desert island wedding it is just laugh after laugh so you got got a love story to start off with you got a laugh after laugh in the second one and the witching tree is actually very spooky uh in terms of what's going on and so as the serah adventures every two

42:37 story every story two episodes were very different in feel as you went through each season the Box said and managed to pick up the same IDs um beautifully written um yeah acted is really well um a sound designed by a sound designed by noomi Clark so someone actually quite new to do the sound just great and S what's doing the music so it's actually quite a new Young cast um so this one this is being produced by Emily cook and Emily has really come in and she's bringing a the Young Guns um and so this sort of box set is sort of the Young Guns coming in and showing what they can do and they're doing great I think the way they handled the death of Sarah Jane in the first uh box set was really nice as well uh they

43:23 didn't overdo it but they did it enough that it was really powerful as well so which is which is what it needed it needed that transition from the Sarah Jane Adventures to this yeah I I was a bit sad that you know Tommy Knight wasn't in in the original box set but I think they did the right thing holding him back um I think so when they do finally bring him back uh in Tales of wormwood um they've really done a good job and it's interesting because Tommy Knight's working for unit um but he's very much he's he's the guns he's he's you know where Ron's the heart like Sarah Jane was um you can still see of course Sarah's influence is there I mean Sarah Jane just permeates through the whole box set she does yeah she's she's just got this influence it's it's yeah

44:09 you just it's like um I'm just say it's like some the doctor Light episodes in Doctor Who that the doctor doesn't have to be there but he still permeates um the somehow managed to write it all so that Sarah Jane permeates through these box sets and she's hardly she you know she's a refer to occasionally but she's just there and just just you just go yeah it's just it's just lovely what they've done it's it's a real honor to what they've done with Elizabeth slayen um but yeah but having Samantha Bond she's not in enough she's only really in the last episode so Samantha Bond boy she's Scottish um no no but she's oh she's good anyway um but yeah she's spectacular coming back it has everything you could

44:56 have wanted and it's a bit more grown up than SJ Adventures but still got that feel yeah I think one wonderful Choice it's it's really good a really good set um you know a lot of heart and soul to it and it definitely is it's it's absolutely and the fact we've got Sam wats doing the music who of course did it for the TV show to give it an extra element of continuity as well okay right b um and I should also mention that I really like the character of Samira who's played by Char who happens to be Scottish but that just happens to be an incidental bonus you know I'm half Scottish Don't You Kenny absolutely good you too my mother's Scottish I'm very proud to be my mother's M name is

45:42 mcneel you're Scottish we're claiming you as well Dwayne don't worry okay EXC the love I'm I'm I'm McMillan all right I go down the street and get me haggus that good accent no was lousy what's your all right let's jump into my number three I'm going to go to a more recent release from November 2023 and I feel I don't feel very qualified to talk about this but I really loved it uh the eighth doctor Adventures audacity contain two stories uh first one written by uh Lisa McMullen uh which was called the devouring and uh this was this was the story remember we were talking we talking about Joe list Style now we're talking about Lisa McMullen style and

46:28 we're talking about how things that happened to her in her personal life and she writes them into the stories the devouring is an example of that uh which was also an introduction to the character of Lady audacity played by Jay Griffith lady audacity monague um and Jay Griffith did appear in the TV series but she didn't have a very big role but she was in a quite a pivotal episode wasn't it she was in dark water uh death in heaven those were the episodes she was in wasn't it and did she come back for the zygon inversion and I thought she died I thought she died in death in heaven okay I think it's the Z one she died yeah this is she dies gotcha

47:14 yeah yeah so she was in a few episodes then yes on TV well there you go um but she playing a different role here and a very different Dynamic for a character like the eighth doctor had many many different personalities in in his travels over the years and Kenny I guess you'd know more than any of us being the eighth doctor expert um this is a a totally different kind of companion that we've got um and and of course the Second Story written by Tim Foley once again the great cyber War I just love the cover as well you've got nerva Beacon you've got the vogan you've got the uh the Revenge of the cyman cymen um and uh I I love the way

48:01 the the the transatlantic the is it Christopher Robbie the Christopher Robbie style accent in there uh as well so yeah a really great introduction and I listened to this box set uh a a couple of weeks before you did Phillip and uh we were we were actually talking to India Fisher at the time and you hadn't heard this box set yet so I I knew what was I knew what was coming at the end because obviously at the end it's out now but um we we had India Fisher uh coming in so it was going to be the pairing of audacity and Charlie uh in the tardus with the doctor for the next box set but um what else have you got to tell us Kenny about this box set because I'm sure you love this one too absolutely it's what's not to love

48:48 the fact we've got uh fantastic new companion in there again like Charlie she's from a historical setting but say an earlier period but she's somebody who's just got so much attitude to her so much strength of character somebody who's been involved in a manage of convenience it's probably fair to say and she's just just so much going for her you know she wants to know what's going out there in the world and looking around you know through a telescope looking up at the stars and that wonderful idea of what if somebody's looking back at you and just it's brilliant it's it's so well done and then we go off to the the Cyber story and we've got I say those brilliant Revenge Cybermen which are very

49:33 underused on the TV show in fact I watched episode one of Revenge last night for Tom's 90th birthday I'm sure that that's a very unusual way to celebrate our our doctor but I was like to go for that one because I'd been sort of slightly in the mood having listened to this and thought need to watch Revenge again soon and having got the soundtrack for Christmas as well was like yeah go for it but no wonderful character and uh yeah yeah I think um there's a lot more to come from audacity and uh but we'll come back to her later perhaps perhaps we could do we could do now the one other thing I wanted to mention about this was the sound design by Benji Clifford I don't know if you remember Philip but um the the opening scenes were of a a drink pouring into a glass and as soon as I heard that that intricacy of sound design that Benji

50:19 Clifford does best I knew it was him straight away didn't even have to look at the credits um and uh yeah so had that trademark Benji Clifford in the sound design in this one too fantastic when when was this written do you know when was these were done around February last year because I know that Lisa was working on this when we were at galifrey because she kept having to nip back to room to try and work on it and get the script nailed down and um yeah she to there's a few things that needed sorting and uh yeah so she and she missed out and the best night I've ever had when we went to out in LA with Jason Healy which was great fun uh God that was nearly the year ago I'm so depressed um yeah so so you're talking about February March last year so it was it was recorded at the

51:05 end of March and early April so yeah it would have been would have been January February because Bridgeton has been such a huge hit um out here in Australia I'm assum it's been big big over there um just in ter of the whole Regency period because that's where aity comes from from that that time period so it delving into a period at the moment where we feel like we know because yeah I said there's been what three different Bridget and series out so far fourth one's about to come out it feels like we know that period it's because it's it's been done in a way which is full of more humor and you know it's color blind and those sort of things Jay just fits into that that category so beautifully and she just has a magnificent voice and um

51:51 you at the end when sudden we had um India fish as well you got India you got Jay and you've got for and you've got these three voices which are just so rich and so beautiful I was thinking I don't care what you say the three of you just keep talking and I'm just carried away because the the way they express the way they speak just beautiful but I said we about come back to more of them later excellent all right we're back to Kenny for your number two so to speak yep yes absolutely this one is not a vad of number two this one is superb I have gone for the first war doctor release of 2023 which came out in May which is War Doctor begins comrades in arms which has got three stories in it a mother's love

52:38 Berserker and mnos as we have the word doctor reunited with case who first appeared in the second or doctor box set and here we've got them reunited where we've got the wonderful case who's uh partly converted Berserker dialect but not fully completed and obviously she that gives her a completely in different insight into the time War than doctor has in his own or indeed the time Lords on their own and we have them going around the doctors doing his best to try and uh educate her and as they go on these missions and they have quite a nice double act going along and then by the time it gets to the third story mnos

53:23 which involves Time Lord secrets they're separated at the end and but it's going to turn out to have tragic consequences as we discover in the sixth set in the series and for me is just wonderful you've got a aad is just incredible as case yeah and you know Jonathan Carly is the War Doctor just goes without saying that you're getting everything you would have expected from John Hurt and more and just that youthful energy that he brings to it and yeah Jonathan is just A Gifted performer I mean you've got to forget he's not just doing an impression he is acting as well and a lot of people it gets me slight annoyed when people say that they just discuss Jonathan's impression of the War Doctor it's not an

54:09 impression it is a fully rounded performance because he's getting emotion in there getting everything in there and it's it's just incredible and it's he's acting but just using another voice and he's so good at it and uh I'm generally not just saying that because he's a good friend he's just wonderful wonderful performer and you know I just hope that uh there's plenty more happening away from do worlds for Jonathan as well because he really deserves that he's absolutely when you're listening to this you know that you're listening to the doctor and he's so good at it and these are great scripts uh all of them you've got you know different things again hyers choit sorry that's the that's ad jazz is one from the enemy M Series 6 um yeah you've got the the opener with A

54:55 Mother's Love by NOA Flesh on who wonderful Talent NOA is going to be I'm sure'll be hearing a lot more from her Berserker by timx AAC who's the original creator of case and here we've got it's a really good sort of time War Story here and then MOS fil Rin who's a writer who I wish we'd get more of but he's always so busy in TV Great writer and just a lot of heart and soul in this so yeah I'm going to shut up now because I could talk about this one for ages I just love it I think it's such a good set and they can't recommend it enough yeah when you get to the stage where you say Jonathan Carly he's brilliant goes without saying it's almost like the same as uh Derek jackaby as the master brilliant goes without saying it's incredible the the years of experience between those two but his performance is

55:42 that good that that's what we're saying about it now it's it's it's so good so um it's a shame that series is coming to an end too yes it is but I suppose that's the thing these things can't run forever but yeah it's a good it's been a great bunch of Adventures and yeah just uh good luck to to Jonathan with what comes next absolutely all right Phillip what about your number two well speaking of D Derek chabe I'm going to throw in um the June release of the war Master solid confinement um Scott Hancock has been doing amazing work and so sad to see big finish he's you know gone off to pastures bigger and better and newer

56:29 with um TV Doctor Who working with Russell T Davis and so I can't be grudging that but we're still getting the the last drgs of his work for big finish coming through and I think we're almost towards the end of it now so this is one of his final uh things I suspect he's done uh in terms of being both director script writer producer um all around makes you sick how much talent he's got um so he put together this this solitary confinement box set which there's a couple War I think there have been two War Master sets this year I think this was the better one um I did enjoy the stories in the other box said but they were more Standalone um these four stories all have links coming together to a

57:14 amazing conclusion at the end which I won't spoil but the last episode of The Twist of the end Derek jackob has his ability of making you really like him he's warm and caring and warmth and then he's just so evil and it every time he does that to me he surprises me in terms of just as I feel like I'm getting to know him and care about him and his PO misunderstood he pulls a swifting and the story is really do that um Wars by Dame Scots long despar Tim Foley lives and loves of Mr Alexander Bennett by Alie Shaw she a great one very didn't go where I expected to go and the kick about Trevor bendale so all four are just um great stories I don't say too much because I

58:00 don't want to spoil things um as always great great car silus Carlson comes in um Jacob dubin's in there actually Jacob dubin's performance um yeah Al Alfie I will say I will talk a little bit um Alfie's story on the life and love of Mr Alexander Bennett the master is hard in it it it's really a performance um um being done by Jacob dudman and Jacob dudman is a stunning actor so in some ways we're used to him playing the know 11th doctor and doing doing voices when he gets to act straight he's astounding and that role that he plays throughout a story line in which the Masters just manipulating him and he

58:45 just hideous by the end it is such a clever story and such a powerful performance um I don't know I I it's the standout for me for that box set yeah I think Jacob Dar could end up doing anything in terms of acting I yeah I'm hoping he goes to really huge huge things because he he's so he deserves to anyhow it's a great box set anything anything D Jack does is is great and I'm just loving the stor and I'm hoping we get many more but Derek is getting older and I do know he's worked so well with Scott I'm not I'm not sure what the future holds for the war Master but yeah anything he's done already it's worth getting hold of wave for well to the land to the dry anchors away and let's hope we don't

59:33 die from Big finish Productions the war Master solitary confinement I was in a war there are a lot of them about they're very popular at the moment and you were fighting in it fighting I'm not sure but I was caught up in it you may be harboring wittingly or unwittingly a wanted fugitive and suspected war criminal known as the master you are a curious man aren't you I'd even go so far as to say that you are horrid oh I'm definitely that I'm the one who can come for you when you think you're safe attention allord all cells are to be secured I repeat all cells are to be secured I'm the one who can destroy your

1:00:20 life without effort or even knowing who you are let me out dad there's no running away from this why are you doing this to me because you need to face the truth this is a trick this can't be real I am the master and everyone will obey me eventually big finish for the love of stories I think I'll move on to my number two brilliant uh which is a number three the third release in uh The Once and future Series so this was a a seven episode Arc that Spann the 60th anniversary year and culminated in November with two releases I think it was so this came out in July uh Once and

1:01:08 Future a genius for War written by Jonathan Morris it's a Seventh Doctor Adventure uh well kind of a Seventh Doctor because if you go back and look at our spoilerific episode of Once and Future yes I will say it we spoil everything in our review of Once and Future so if you don't want to be spoiled don't listen to it but if you've heard it and you want to get our thoughts go by all means go and do that so the the the story in The Once and Future is the doctor is degenerating for some reason so he's in some kind of some future Incarnation and is visiting his past lives occasionally visits future lives uh but in this case he lands in the seventh doctor's body and um he is recruited by the time Lords because uh well not recruited the time Lords get an

1:01:55 offer from DAV Ross uh to uh for help but he wants the doctor uh to rescue him so from the uh from the from the car from the is it the CARiD Prison Planet falus where he's located uh so there's cars running around and there's uh you know sort of for a while there I was thinking what's going on with these carets what's what's happening but the story becomes clear later on and as we said Jonathan Morris is a very reliable writer does a great story and the voices in this oh this blows me away not only for the story which is a great story but the voices the combination of voices Sylvester McCoy and Terry Malloy together beautiful um Beth Charmers and Ken bones

1:02:43 love those two together Kem bones is just like like honey to my ears I can listen to his voice all day long so for me this is my favorite story story individual story from The Once and Future set most of the stories you can listen to as Standalone but they do have that that Arc that goes through them um so that is my pick uh a genius for War I don't know if you guys have a stand out for once in future and whether this is it I'm echoing what you say this was I think my favorite individual part I think that it's uh I say the performances are great and it's just it's Johnny Morris just doing lovely things I mean falus was originally mentioned in I think it was a Marx and

1:03:29 Spencer's d special back in around 1977 which carried a reprint of the Genesis of the Del novel novelization and falus was first mentioned there as one of the moods of Scaro and uh Johnny's Tak I think he had it in his um one of his big finish plays as well I could be wrong saying that his uh is one with the col Baker and the Napoleon I'm sure that was a man but yeah just the curse of Davos was that the curse of DAV Ross thank you yes which introduced flip yeah absolutely uh wonderful introd is a fulltime companion just make sure I've got my facts right there but yeah it's a great release it's there's an awful lot going on and yeah it's it's definitely one of those ones you listen to and you

1:04:14 think I enjoyed that I'm gon to give that another listen very very soon after which I did still need to do the full once in future listen your guys your guys' episode on it was great by the way really enjoyed so yeah I will yeah do you know what I might start downloading that when this Call's done and do the full once in future experience it's worth doing I I did the whole thing in one go you this do once a month and I said my I'm getting old I I forgot what happened the previous month but listen to them all in a row it really made them so much better this was probably my standout the tw's company is the other one in that series that I really love as well because yeah that actually all of them had all of them had straight great elements um but yeah this this is this is pretty

1:04:59 astounding okay that brings us to our number ones Kenny what have you got for your for your number one pick well it following up from what we were discussing a few minutes back when we were talking about an nasty I've gone for In The Bleak Midwinter because this was just such a great release it brings together things that I love I love Christmas and I love the doctor I love Charlie paard and I'm very quickly growing to love audacity so here we had three fantastic stories 24 doors in December by John Dorney the empty Man by Tim Foley and winter of the demon by Roy Gil and I am slightly biased because I was at the recording of the empty man and that was an amazing

1:05:44 day just seeing everybody at work and getting to catch up with India and getting to meet Jay and just having a wonderful time just start of feeling festive even even though it was April there was bizarrely a Christmas atmosphere about it all it's hard to put into words just how it was just magical but is that what you're talking about in the June editorial of Vortex you're you're scotting about that saying that's exactly what it was that's exactly what it was and had done well remembered no I was reading it today I was reading it today oh there we go behind yeah that's all right heyy I know that things take a we while from reaching here to Australia on the post but uh there are electronic copies available www.bf finish.com

1:06:31 text I was just catching up with my I was just catching up with my July releases rereading some of the Articles to refresh my memory for today's episode but yeah I thought that was that was funny yeah I've got my S scripts in the cupboard behind me which your YouTube viewers can see and uh yeah should anyway uh great book there's Dorney story starts off and it's sort of looking at the the tough life that actors have and particular around Christmas time and yeah you do feel for the various people involved and it's a wonderful wonderful mix particularly Jason Watkins is outstanding as Al Orton the down in his Lu Santa Claus and really enjoyed that there's there's so

1:07:17 much fun in there and a lot of John Dorney The Writer's research came from speaking to people who played Santa including the guy who was book in ish Mari Treadwell was one of he's a regular Santa Claus um empty man just wonderful wonderful story with um elid brinkwood the character played by Nicholas Grace sort of a writer wanting to tell stories at Christmas and then finding that stories are after him and he gets a wonderful happy ending which it listening to it in studio was it was quite hard sort of following it at that point and then just hearing it come together it's like there we go that's it what I hope to be and then we get winter of the demon by Roy Gil who I'm not biased because he's one of my oldest mates and the fact that the story set in

1:08:03 Edinburgh but it's a great story and obviously people who know the film night of the demon may find some familiar elements in there but it's a wonderfully spooky story and you know there's some great real life things in there um like the the statue of the lion from Roman era that was found down by the sea yeah or down by the the river in Edinburgh and the river fourth um and we've ched about that on episode 7.8 of pieces of E plug plug and uh yeah it's it's just a wonderful box set and it really had me sort of in the mood for the festive season because it was cold and it was wet I mean as I speak J I'm looking at my window it's the skies are gray and the rain's absolutely hammering down whereas unlike you two who are enjoying

1:08:49 the the warmth and the heat uh I'm not this is a typical Scottish WI win's day it's also a typical Scottish summer's day except it's probably about 10 de warmer so yeah honestly this box set is wonderful I love the dynamic with

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