Following on from last year’s Volume 1, this boxset follows a similar format with long-running Big Finish regular Lisa Bowerman as the eponymous archaeologist Bernice, who is once again reunited with her former travelling companions, the Doctor and Ace, in rather surprising circumstances. Like last time, there is a effectively a single story running throughout the four adventures which make up Volume 2 but this time around, the stakes are much higher as we are presented with a clear threat from the very beginning. As the box set’s title reveals this series features the long-awaited return of Gabriel Woolf, reprising his well-known television role as Sutekh the Destroyer from the 1975 story Pyramids of Mars.

The Pyramid of Sutekh finds Bernice reunited with the Doctor in less than pleasant circumstances as the long-lost tomb of the Osiran Sutekh has been uncovered. Bernice must try to save the Doctor and prevent Sutekh’s attempts at self-revival. Along the way she is joined by a mummy with recognisable voice which is not credited so I shall also maintain the pleasant surprise, except to say that it will be very familiar to followers of Benny’s solo adventures. It is notable that the Doctor is given a more prominent role to play as there was some criticism that the Doctor and Ace were only featured peripherally in the last year’s boxset and it is great fun to hear Sylvester McCoy utter one of the most infamous lines in the history of Doctor Who.

The Vaults of Osiris finds Benny reunited with Ace, this time on present Earth as they attempt to make sense of recent events and discover the means to prevent the seemingly unstoppable triumph of Sutekh. This is a fun romp with some nice suprises, even allowing for some occasional lapses from the Big Finish school of dodgy foreign accents.

The Eye of Horus sees Benny once more reunited with the Doctor, who is very much not himself in this rather unusual episode. Set in an apparent forgotten period of Ancient Egyptian history this episode feels a little uneven and a little too comedic. It is however saved by the sinister presence of Woolf as Sutekh.

This set culminates in The Tears of Isis. This is another slightly unusual story which finds our protagonists witnessing the end of the world and the ultimate triumph of Sutekh. However, this is the virgin New Adventures universe and even at the darkest of times, the Doctor is not to be underestimated. Suffice to say there are some neat twists in the story’s concluding scenes which lead to a satisfying conclusion and the final confrontation between McCoy’s “Little man” and the Woolf’s deliciously evil Sutekh make for an enjoyable listen.

Overall, a very enjoyable set of stories if at times rather whimsical. The highlight is definitely hearing Woolf give further voice to Sutekh, but fans of Pyramids of Mars may be left wanting a sequel that is more in keeping with the gothic horror style of Season 13.
 

“I kept trying to think what my Doctor would have done ...”

“I am your Doctor, Jo – just with the benefits of a few more centuries’ wisdom ...”

Jo Grant and the Seventh Doctor, The Defectors

 

The Defectors is the first instalment in a trilogy that culminates in (and marks) the impending 200th release of Big Finish’s Doctor Who “main range”* later this month.  It has been described (with tongue firmly in cheek by Big Finish) as the “locum Doctors” trilogy, as each story transplants some of the Doctor’s later regenerations into the respective eras of his first three incarnations.

In The Defectors, the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) finds himself deposited at UNIT headquarters during the Third Doctor’s era, much to the surprise of companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning). Indeed, the Time Lord can barely reflect on how he suddenly came to be at this point in his past before he and Jo are whisked off to a remote island in the North Sea by regulars in the British Army who have, in the “interests of national security”, had all UNIT personnel despatched to London, including Captain Mike Yates (Richard Franklin) who is standing in for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart whilst he is in Geneva.

In the ensuing events, the Seventh Doctor and Jo uncover a near three decades-old conspiracy and the Doctor is presented with an agonising moral dilemma that may (or may not) explain why he has been relocated to this point in his timeline. Is he supposed to rectify something he did long ago or sanction a course of action which his third incarnation would have vociferously opposed?

Writer/director Nicholas Briggs delivers a very good script which seeks to capture the spirit of the Pertwee era whilst offering a twist on the usual “alien invasion/base under siege” style of storytelling. Briggs’ brief is challenging, as he has to deliver what is nominally a UNIT tale without that era’s key players – Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) has sadly departed and John Levene (Sergeant Benton) declined to appear, effectively robbing Briggs of two-thirds of the UNIT staff before he had even put pen to paper. As a result, UNIT is relegated to the sidelines, and the Doctor and Jo must rely on their wits to uncover the truth on Delphin Isle. The Defectors therefore has the undercurrents of classic Pertwee and McCoy TV serials The Sea Devils and The Curse of Fenric respectively. Both serials are set in seaside locations and the respective Doctor/companion combinations have the assistance (or hindrance) of the armed forces, but the perceived threat in The Defectors is not nearly as cut and dried.

Indeed, there is good reason to sympathise with the motives of the antagonistic Europans (Rachel Bavidge and Jez Fielder) and to be suspicious of Delphin Isle’s populace, represented by the slippery Commander Wingford and Captain Cornelius (portrayed by BF regulars Barnaby Edwards and Neil Roberts) – in spite of the alien influence pervading their community. Indeed, Briggs channels Pertwee era scribe Malcolm Hulke by showing that the token monsters aren’t as monstrous as they appear and that their victims – the so-called “defectors” of the tale – aren’t so innocent either. Unfortunately, Briggs cannot emulate Hulke’s flair for irony and tragedy. If Hulke had written this script, I think he would have put an entirely different complexion on the climax. Briggs, in contrast, rather neatly winds up the story in exactly the manner that you would expect of a Pertwee era serial. So, yes, while Briggs remains true to the essence of his brief, The Defectors lacks the pathos that Hulke (or perhaps his peers like Barry Letts or Terrance Dicks) would have instilled in the closing proceedings and gives the tale an almost upbeat ending that it probably doesn’t deserve.

As you would expect of a BF Doctor Who audio, The Defectors benefits from excellent sound production and top-rate performances. Sylvester McCoy continues to be excellent as the Seventh Doctor, injecting the right amounts of humour, assurance and steel into his character as the script demands. What isn’t in play here (which is great for the script and the character) is the Seventh Doctor’s proclivity for playing cosmic chess with his adversaries and his friends. Indeed, the mystery of how and why he has been brought to this earlier point in his personal history is not even properly considered until the serial’s fourth episode; this particular version of the Doctor is uncharacteristically as much in the dark as Jo Grant and the listeners are. Indeed, he remains relatively unflustered by this turn of events, concentrating instead on the mystery of Delphin Isle; it is only as the stakes soar that the Seventh Doctor questions his place and also the intended course of his actions.

Katy Manning is fantastic as Jo Grant, having only had the opportunity to portray the character previously in BF’s The Companion Chronicles without the advantages of a full cast audio drama. Although you can occasionally detect the age in her voice (she is, after all, a near septuagenarian playing a character in her mid-twenties!), Manning still manages to recapture the qualities that make Jo so fondly remembered to this day: her naivety, compassion, courage and impetuousness. Briggs shows he has a very good handle for Jo’s character and that’s she not just a “dolly bird” assistant; she makes some critical discoveries through her own detective work, aided by Doctor Who veteran David Graham’s befuddled character Shedgerton. Manning’s scenes with Shedgerton are also illustrative of the rapport Jo could quickly develop with supporting characters, and how she could bring out the best in those people.

Jo’s reaction to the “new” Doctor is also an intriguing part of the story, even though she is cut off from him for almost a good half of the serial. She is familiar with regeneration (this story, for her, occurring not long after the events of The Three Doctors) but she is nevertheless uncertain how much she should trust this stranger claiming to be the Doctor. At first, her accidental acknowledgments of this man as the Doctor is a frequent source of humour – both with the Seventh Doctor himself and the listener alike – but by the climax, Jo’s faith in the Time Lord is unfailing – to a fault. Like her attempt at self-sacrifice in The Daemons or Ace’s conviction in the Doctor in The Curse of Fenric, Jo’s belief proves to be critical ...

McCoy and Manning eclipse the play’s other performers. Franklin is underused as Yates but makes the most of his limited role. Edwards and Roberts are unconvincing villains, although you get the impression their caricatures of old school soldiers is a deliberate feature of Briggs’ writing. Graham is surprisingly convincing as the constantly bewildered, yet courageous Shedgerton (his reaction when he is introduced to the interior of the TARDIS gives off the impression it is the least of all the uncertainty he’s had to deal with!). Hackneyed accents aside, Bavidge and Fielder are also proficient as two of the lsle’s local publicans as well as the alien antagonists.

Indeed, if there is one disappointing aspect of the sound effects, it is the Europans’ voices. The aliens sound too often like wounded 1960s Cybermen or 1970s Silurians and their voices are so high pitched and heavily modulated that they are at times almost inaudible. You either have to play back the tracks on the serial to understand what they are saying or listen to the story multiple times to improve your understanding of their dialogue. Perhaps the voices are also an attempt by Briggs to recapture the style of alien tones frequently tried during the Pertwee era – the quality of sounds used back then were experimental and on repeat viewings today can still grate with the audience because the dialogue is hard to understand. When sound is so integral to BF’s output, it’s ludicrous to compromise the story out of affection for archaic sound techniques which are incomprehensible to the listener.

Nevertheless, Joe Kramer’s sound design and incidental music does enough to evoke impressions of the era of Doctor Who in which this story is ostensibly set while also providing some stirring and exciting passages of music. Although I’m a great admirer of film and TV soundtracks, I don’t often notice incidental music on BF audios largely because I’m focusing on plot and characterisation while listening. However, for The Defectors, I did notice and enjoy the music. Some of the cues Kramer uses – particularly for the lighter moments that exploit Jo’s accidental acknowledgements of the Doctor – are reminiscent of the humorous cues that Dudley Simpson employed in the Pertwee era. But there are also tracks in the story that are grander and more ambitious than what Simpson or his contemporaries in the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop could have attempted. Kramer’s passage of music when UNIT helicopters converge on Delphin Isle in the story’s climactic moments has an almost cinematic tone, daresay of the likes of Apocalypse Now. It just illustrates how far along music has come in 50 years; compositions that would have taken Simpson or the Radiophonic Workshop weeks to develop on what was then considered state of the art equipment can probably be replicated on Big Finish’s studio facilities in a matter of minutes.

The Defectors is a solid start to the “locum Doctors” trilogy and a fun, entertaining and well thought out morality tale in its own right. By the end of the serial, we are no clearer about why the Doctor has been drawn back earlier into his time stream or who or what has perpetrated it. No doubt more clues will be laid in the next instalment Last of the Cybermen and answered in “200th” release The Secret History*, with Colin Baker and Peter Davison respectively. If The Defectors is any guide, then these instalments should be just as entertaining.

* Author’s note: BF’s Doctor Who output over the last 16 years truly exceeds 200 releases, considering the “main range” does not encompass the Fourth and Eighth Doctor adventures (whose output alone equates to an extra 100 titles), Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories and numerous Whoniverse spin-offs, eg Gallifrey, Jago & Litefoot, Counter-Measures, Dalek Empire, Professor Bernice Summerfield, etc.

 

Revivals are a funny old thing. In popular culture, they tend to happen because something happened, say, twenty years ago. These revivals tend to take the form of TV specials or talking head documentaries detailing trends or fashion crimes of the time - or, in music, themed anniversary gigs or 'special editions' of albums. 

Big Finish is having its very own 90s revival at the moment. Thankfully, it's chosen to leave out the dodgy fashions and the Macarena. 

The 1990s were, arguably, not a brilliant time to be a Doctor Who fan. The TV series was effectively dead for the entire decade, barring around fourteen minutes in '93 and ninety in '96 when it briefly stirred from its slumber. However, Who enjoyed an extended afterlife in print through most of the 90s, where old hands and hungry young writers were given practical carte blanche to bend the rules, and take the TARDIS to new, more grown up places. 

Having successfully adapted a slew of the New Adventures and Missing Adventures novels, Big Finish have now moved on to one of the big hitters, Damaged Goods, a 1996 novel by one Russell T. Davies, expertly adapted here by Jonathan Morris.

 

Damaged Goods is an interesting beast, looking both forwards and backwards. It's very much a New Adventure in that we have a mysterious chess-player of a Seventh Doctor, new companions, adult content, Gallifreyan super-weapons, and grisly death everywhere. However, there's also a germ of the sort of Doctor Who that Davies would bring us nine years later, with its late-80s council estate setting, strong female characters, and that instantly recognisable dialogue. In fact, the only person not talking like a character in an RTD episode of Who is the Doctor himself. Sylvester McCoy is in a mellow mood here, rrrrrrrolling his rrrrrrs, and clearly very much enjoying himself.

He's not the snappy Doctor of 2005 - instead his dialogue is mysterious and florid, much more the Cartmel Masterplan than the Bad Wolf scenario, but it's a refreshing look at what might have been if the likes of RTD had got their hands on the series earlier.

He's joined here by Travis Oliver and Yasmin Bannerman as NA Companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. Both are already established by the time of the original novel, and Morris wisely doesn't waste much time introducing them, instead choosing to write them in by basically having them arrive with the Doctor and that's that. Oliver is gung-ho and likeable throughout, playing up nicely to the coded sexual come-ons he receives. Bannerman is equally good, but in truth doesn't have as much to do, being basically back-up whilst the Doctor solves mysteries and Chris.....gets involved.

The story isn't quite a straight adaptation, instead this is more the sort of rewrite that Davies himself would later perform on Paul Cornell's Human Nature - faithful, but retooled for audio with hindsight and a few changes made with Davies' blessing. There's still sex and drugs, but the famous same-sex fumble between Chris and David is now a little less explicit, and the cocaine being dealt by the Capper in the novel is now, a 'made-up drug' - Smile, perhaps in tribute to Chris Morris's 'Cake' episode of Brass Eye.

This doesn't mean the story's been in any way neutered. This feels more like the darker moments of The Second Coming and Cucumber. The dialogue sings, but it's dark as hell, with perhaps the only concession to a family audience being a note of hope at the end.

The real heart of the tale is the terrible bargain that Winnie Tyler (Michelle Collins) strikes in the 1977-set prologue. The moment where she gives away one of her twin babies, through a third party, to rich, childless Mrs Jericho (Denise Black). Collins plays a troubled everywoman, driven to do the unthinkable by desperation. Black's Mrs Jericho is utterly chilling, appearing initially meek and grief-stricken, before she literally transforms before your ears into a very prim and proper murderer, who calmly visits the vendor to announce that she has been sold a faulty child and wants an exchange, whilst all hell breaks loose around them. In fact, she's almost oblivious to it. Further darkness is added by the creepy Capper, a reanimated grinning corpse full of tentacles, played by Peter Barrett. Barrett has a tough gig, having to convey undead malevolence purely through a low, gravelly voice and gritted teeth. He pulls it off, but is overshadowed slightly by the more human menace of Mrs Jericho.

The sound design and Ken Bentley's direction are both first-rate. The cast and crew rise to the material brilliantly, and Morris brilliantly re-weaves RTD's story for audio. Morris also surprisingly drops in one or two very on-the-nose new series references which I won't bring up here. One is definitely a portent of things to come, considering Big Finish's recent announcements about a certain institute based in Cardiff. The other could be something. I'll leave you to decide. New series links or not, this is another excellent offering from Big Finish. it's perhaps the only time we'll hear a Davies story on audio, but, you never know.......

The release of the box set Missing Persons in December 2013 seemed to bring the long-running audio adventures of former Virgin New Adventures companion Professor Bernice Summerfield to something of a conclusion, albeit a not entirely satisfying one for this listener. However this new boxset of four episodes which each dovetail neatly to form a very satisfying overall arc is very much a start of a new phase for Bernice or Benny as she prefers her friends to call her. Unlike the previous range of Boxsets which still carried a large amount of continuity baggage which Benny had accumulated over the course of the previous decade of audios, this set has dumped the other regular characters and presents us simply with an older version of Bernice who we are occasionally reminded has a family and friends. Unlike 2011’s Epoch, this really can be recommended as an ideal jumping on point for anyone who hasn’t heard any of the previous audio adventures. This set also sees her reunited with the Seventh Doctor and Ace with whom she travelled in the Virgin New Adventures novels two decades ago. However, it is Bernice who is the main protagonist throughout this box set with her erstwhile companions only making their presence felt at key intervals. Kudos then is due to Lisa Bowerman, who has been playing Benny on audio for 16 years now for making her such a continued joy to listen to.

The set opens with The Revolution by Nev Fountain. This is very much a comedic piece in the mould of some of the more whimsical of Benny’s past adventures opening with her getting drunk in a bar on the planet Arviem 2. The introduction into the preceedings of Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor, who has apparently lost track of both his TARDIS and mind leads to a number of comic mishaps which may grate a little on first hearing. Fountain later observes in the CD extras that even the Doctor has the capability to just be an annoying man in a hat sometimes although those who are not fans of McCoy’s more season 24-esque performances are duly warned to expect occasional over the top silliness. However the conclusion to the story seems to justify the means to which it is arrived at and so Benny is duly dispatched to search for Ace.

Goodnight Sweet Ladies by Una McCormack is possibly the highlight of this whole boxset. Pitching Benny into a situation where she ought to be at home and yet the reality of what’s really going on reminds just out of sight until it’s too late. The two guest stars for this story add to the atmosphere. John Finnemore is a genuinely likeable if somewhat useless companion but just as she has done on TV as Clara Oswald’s Gran, Sheila Reid steals every scene she’s in as the mysterious Claire whose role is central to this story.

Next up is Random Ghosts by Guy Adams. This changes the pace quite dramatically as Benny is reunited with Ace on the Forbidden World where time is not running correctly. The device of events jumping around in time is not a new one for audio plays but it certainly seems some time since Big Finish last produced a play that did so this memorably (The examples of 2003’s Creatures of Beauty and 2004’s The Natural History of Fear come to mind). Some listeners may find the continual jump cuts between scenes and varying outcomes of conversations slightly hard work but the conclusion is a worthwhile one and despite seeming obvious given the clues we’ve had previously still manages to seem surprising at the same time.

The set concludes with The Lights of Skaro by James Goss. Whilst this set has been very much centred on Benny, this final story pitches her firmly back into the world of Doctor Who with Daleks around every corner and even a fleeting cameo from Davros. There are some clever revelations and if you’ve survived some of the topsy-turvier moments of the first three stories you’ll be well rewarded in this finale. Possibly the best thing about this set is that is has allowed some fresh storytelling from writers who are not regulars at the Big Finish stable. It is to be hoped that this new phase of Benny’s return to the worlds of Doctor Who will continue for the foreseeable future under new range producer James Goss (whose track record includes having produced some great audios for the BBC Doctor Who and Torchwood ranges). This listener is very much looking forward to The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 2: The Triumph of Sutekh.

 

In his first audio adventure for the Big Finish Main Range, writer James Goss (The Scorchies) takes the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Hector (Philip Olivier) for a holiday to ancient Greece in the year 421 BC. As holidays go, it’s about as refreshing as a dip in the seas of Marinus.

Outside Athens’ walls the Peloponnesian War rages, and a horde of Spartan warriors (described by the Doctor as "like the Daleks, but with better hair") are preparing to sack the city. Inside the walls, a strange sickness stalks citizens and slaves alike, turning them into mindless zombies; and a winged fury haunts the Tyrant of Athens, the tormented Cleon (Alisdair Simpson).

In the words of the poet Sophocles:

"Ah me! it is a world, a world of woe,
Plague upon the height and plague below!"

Or as Goss puts it, speaking through playwright and comedian Aristophanes (Samuel West), this story’s major supporting character: "Basically, it’s the end of the world.".

Mask of Tragedy is that relatively rare Big Finish release, a comedy; a wry, knowing, bawdy and clever comedy that balances camp quips with dark undercurrents in a way that recalls such classic Doctor Who stories as The Sun Makers and Revelation of the Daleks.

As with the comedies of Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC), that humour is sometimes dragged down by the occasional cheap laugh that reminds listeners why everyone from Wilde and Faulkner to Arthur Quiller-Couch urged writers to "kill their darlings" (the most groan-inducing example being the line, "Is it a bird? Is it an astral plane?") but for the most part it’s a smart, even sophisticated script that takes every opportunity to celebrate Goss’ love for Aristophanes’ contributions to the theatrical canon, as well as the foibles of the theatre in general.

Continuing the playfully self-aware approach to storytelling that has become a trademark of Goss’ writing, from Torchwood spin-off novels Almost Perfect and Risk Assessment to his tenth Doctor audio Dead Air, the adventure’s structure reflects classic Greek proscriptions around the need for all plays to have a hero, a villain, and a chorus, with Ace often playing the latter role. Much of the script is presented in extended flashbacks, framed by narrative sections which heighten the listener’s awareness of actively listening to an audio drama. Goss also successfully and meta-theatrically plays with the listener’s awareness of common Doctor Who tropes, such as the Doctor’s exasperation over Ace once again stuffing up his plans by taking action at the wrong moment, or the Time Lord’s sudden realisation that he neglected to listen to one of his companions when they were telling him something important.

Indeed, even the citizens of Athens in Mask of Tragedy seem hyper-aware of the nature of the universe they live in: apparently ancient Greece is a hotspot for temporal tourists. As Aristophanes succinctly notes: "We get visitors all the time. From all of time."

Mask of Tragedy sees a return to the Machiavellian Doctor whose long games were so successfully represented in the Virgin New Adventures, even as Goss leavens his script with jokes that writers in particular will enjoy, such as Aristophanes’ faux-exasperated complaints about the popularity of his base comedies: "Hack work. But alas people do seem to like them."

Supporting characters, ranging from time-travelling theatre-luvvie, Tyrgius (Russell Bentley) to a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of Cleon, are well developed, though a cameo from the slave-girl Lysistrata (Emily Tucker) is tantalisingly brief.

Goss also writes Hector well, making the recently changed relationship between the current TARDIS crew feel genuinely fresh – such as an early scene, when in response to Ace telling Hector that she and the Doctor care about him Hector replies, "You don’t even know me!" And indeed they don’t know him well; not his new personality at least.

This new Hector gets a chance to spread his wings in this adventure (as does Tyrgius); certainly more than in the previous month’s lacklustre Revenge of the Swarm. Here Hector tries to become a hero in response to what he sees as the Doctor’s indifference to the plight of Athens – with predictably unfortunate results. That said, for someone whose only known memories are as life as a petty Liverpool gangster, Hector is still a relatively passive character – perhaps suggesting that Hex’s lost memories are not all that lost after all?

Not every aspect of this audio adventure is entirely successful: Ace is written as strangely naïve as she leads the Spartan army into Athens, and some of the line readings – such as Philip Olivier’s Jim Carrey-esque exaggerations when wearing the artefact that is this story’s titular McGuffin – are a trifle grating, though perhaps deliberately so given the Mask in question. Too, Richard Fox and Lauren Yason’s sound design is not always successful; for instance the invading Spartan army’s cheers seem distinctly masculine, despite the fact that said army is written as female. The pair’s score, however, is far more impressive, a convincing pastiche of traditional Greek music that makes excellent use of percussion to ramp up the intensity of the drama.

Though it may be a trifle too light-hearted and self-aware for every taste, for this fan, Mask of Tragedy is one of the strongest Big Finish releases of 2014: a playful, intelligent and engaging homage to the dramatic structures and characters that have made Doctor Who – and Greek drama – a lasting success for so many years.

Both a prequel and a sequel to 1977’s Fourth Doctor story, The Invisible Enemy, the latest adventure for the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) picks up where 2013’s Afterlife left off. Hex (Philip Olivier), now known as Hector, and in possession of an entirely new set of memories, has re-joined the TARDIS crew, and his relationship with Ace has grown more intimate. Unfortunately, his condition has also left him psychically vulnerable: in the opening minutes of the adventure Hector is infected by The Swarm – a telepathic virus with delusions of grandeur that has lain in wait inside the TARDIS for centuries, having previously been defeated by the Fourth Doctor and Leela.

What follows is a solid but somewhat by-the-numbers story involving return visits to two prominent locations from The Invisible Enemy: Titan Base and the Bi-Al Foundation (aka the Centre for Alien Biomorphology), though at different time periods from the original television story. And just as part three of The Invisible Enemy ventured into a new, albeit derivative location, so too does part three of Revenge of the Swarm. Instead of Bob Baker and Dave Martin’s pastiche of the Sixties SF film Fantastic Voyage, however, writer and stand-in script editor Jonathan Morris references a more recent film, 1982’s Tron, in this audio adventure.

Major scenes in parts three and four of Revenge of the Swarm take place inside the Hypernet: a galaxy-connecting virtual world whose visual representation doesn’t seem to have much evolved beyond William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, in which Gibson described cyberspace as: “A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding.” In Revenge of the Swarm, Morris similarly and somewhat unimaginatively describes the Hypernet through the mouths of Ace and the Doctor as resembling “glowing green lines of numbers in the sky … square buildings and skyscrapers but as outlines… symbolic representations of blocks of memory”.

Morris’ predictable depiction of the Hypernet extends to his plotting as a whole; his attempt to echo the plot beats of The Invisible Enemy results in a story that is serviceable, but rarely exciting; and its appropriation of Eighties’ cultural touchstones such as Tron lack the inventive flourishes that made similar pastiches during the Holmes-Hinchcliffe years so memorable.

Performances too are sometimes lacking, particularly Olivier, who comes across as unnecessarily leaden, almost somnambulistic in the scenes where he is possessed by the Swarm (especially in comparison to Michael Sheard’s vibrant performance as a similarly-possessed Supervisor Lowe in The Invisible Enemy); even McCoy seems a little bored, rolling his R’s constantly as if trying to bring some life to the script. Thankfully John Leeson, returning after 37 years as the Nucleus of the Swarm, brings some much-needed flair to the production. Supporting characters are consistently well presented, especially Phyllida Nash as Professor Oksana Kilbraken, whose invention of a particular cloning technique plays a key role in both The Invisible Enemy and the first two episodes of this new adventure.

Given that Revenge of the Swarm is the first real adventure for this new version of Hex following his introduction in Afterlife, it’s also surprising that the story is one in which he is immediately possessed, a scenario which denies both Morris as writer, and Olivier as performer, the chance to explore more of what makes Hector unique. Nor does this plot device provide the opportunity to flesh out the changed dynamics between Hector, Ace and the Doctor. It remains to be seen whether Hector’s new personality and its ramifications for a TARDIS crew who’ve been traveling together for a decade will be more successfully explored in future audio adventures.

Another problematic aspect of the script highlights issues that current Big Finish writers face with Ace: her cultural touchstones suddenly include films outside her era, such as 1999’s The Matrix, suggesting her character has evolved in the years since Ace was last seen on television. This impression is later contradicted by her curious naiveté concerning the story’s technology (“What exactly does a neural interface helmet do,” she asks in episode three, as if its self-explanatory name would not be obvious to someone who’s travelled with the Doctor as long as Ace has) and especially by her unwavering loyalty to the Doctor, when she tells Hector in the final scenes of Revenge of the Swarm that: “The Doctor’s right; he’s always come through in the end, without fail.” Fans know that McCoy’s manipulative Seventh Doctor has let Ace down before; a conundrum that’s difficult to reconcile with earlier impressions that she’s grown as a character since 1989’s Survival.

On a positive note, the dynamic between Aldred and McCoy is as strong as ever; a scene in which Ace tells the Doctor, as he prepares to enter the Hypernet, that “You don’t think I’m letting you go in there on your own?” has the perfect mix of exasperation and camaraderie; a simple but charmingly effective summation of the well-established bond between these two iconic characters.

The Invisible Enemy memorably introduced a now much-loved new companion to Doctor Who in the form of K9, as well as heralding what was to become a progressively lighter tone to the series in subsequent seasons. It’s unlikely that this by-the-numbers Big Finish adventure will prove to be as significant, in hindsight, in another 37 years’ time.