Short Tips - Forever Fallen (Big Finish)

Producer Ian Atkins, Script Editor Ian Atkins
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Written By: Joshua Wanisko, Directed By: Neil Gardner

Cast

Nicholas Briggs (Narrator)

So, here we have Forever Fallen – an audio story that is published for free by Big Finish as part of a competition held in the memory of Paul Spragg, who was a very popular employee at Big Finish, and of course a massive Who Fan. The competition encouraged writers to submit a story to Big Finish, Joshua Wanisko’s Forever Fallen (here read by Nicholas Briggs himself) was the winner.

The story fits perfectly into the latter year of the Seventh Doctor, who as we know has become a master at manipulating others. Here we find his attention turning onto the usual power crazed megalomaniac, just before he gives the order to destroy a planet and unleash the power of his android army. So far, so Doctor Who........however, what happens next is quite a charming surprise as the Doctor and Ace nurture  their new charge over a series of yearly meetings, sensitively showing him the error of his ways.

I was never a really a massive fan of McCoy’s portrayal of the seventh Doctor. Like a sizeable portion of fandom, I thought that the stories were getting a bit ridiculous, and it was being purposefully made a laughing stock by the BBC at that time, forcing it down a route that could only end in it's inevitable cancelation. For me this was made more evident when the writing did try to take a serious turn towards the mysterious However, Forever Fallen comes off as a nice little morality tale set bang in the middle of this (for me) troubled era of the program. Briggs narrates well, but does come off a little serious at times. I did though wonder whether this was more to do with the reasoning behind why the story was released and to give it a more somber and serious air, rather than let loose with a series of possibly over the top characterisations.

If you are a fan of the era, you will love Forever Fallen. I look forward to seeing further work from the author.

Forever Fallen is available to download now, for free, from Big Finish, and is a perfect opportunity for those new to this great range to give them a try.