The Final Phase draws a season of Tom Baker audios to a close. Fittingly – and perhaps in tribute to the late Mary Tamm – it ends with Tamm’s character having the last word, reflecting beautifully on the Doctor-Romana relationship and its development. It is truly a great loss that this TARDIS team has now been parted, but Mary’s involvement across these recent adventures has amply demonstrated both her affection for the role and her unquestionable brilliance as a Time Lady.

Continuing on from The Dalek Contract, this story exploits a series of expectations: (when) will the Daleks turn on Cuthbert? Will Cuthbert’s staff remain loyal to him? And just what is Cuthbert’s mysterious plan? The answers are well spaced out and although there are fewer surprises overall than might be hoped for, this remains an extremely satisfying finale. As realized by David Warner, Cuthbert is really too good a character to simply exterminate and I found myself hoping that he might live to bother the Doctor another day. The script strives to generate moral ambiguity around Cuthbert by implying that his business practices may have helped or even saved countless lives. A stronger focus on this dilemma would’ve been more dramatically compelling, and it ends up fairly low down in the mix, overwhelmed by the Daleks' plans for conquest. Cuthbert is also slightly diluted by Briggs’ decision to give him a running gag of sorts, namely that he can’t get Romana’s name right (or is perhaps sufficiently self-obsessed that he doesn’t care enough to make the effort).

Cuthbert isn’t the only intriguing guest character on show here, however. Toby Hadoke invests Mr. Dorrick, who could easily be a cipher of a supporting character, with a deadpan comedic edge and a lively line in anxiety. Unfortunately, the Proximan rebels remain largely one-dimensional, despite some effort to humanize their relationships. And the Daleks revert to type fairly promptly after their time as an outsourced security outfit, allowing the story to play out as a conventional battle between the Doctor and his enemies. There are some lovely moments along the way, though, including another strong Part One cliffhanger from writer Nick Briggs as well as a highly unusual bit of Dalek voice work that’s such a wonderful conceit it almost becomes the highlight of this epic tale.

Interview chat in the CD extras addresses Briggs’ idea that the Doctor is trying to persuade monomaniacal Daleks to rethink their raison d’etre, and this is another fascinating possibility that whizzes by almost too quickly in the execution. The Final Phase whips along at near-breakneck pace, meaning that its ideas don’t always get as much of an airing as they really deserve. Another victim of this storytelling speed is the Doctor’s accusation that the Daleks are trying to challenge God; a notion of hubris that they promptly dismiss. The ‘becoming God’ card is one that SF often plays, of course, and it’s notably been used in relation to Davros in Doctor Who’s illustrious past. Here, it turns up during a shuffling of the Dalek deck, only to be apparently discarded. By hitting so many familiar philosophical narrative beats, Briggs sometimes gives the impression of wanting to play ‘Dalek Conquest Bingo’ rather than winnowing his material down to one or two coherent themes.

Amongst all the fizzing, quickfire drama, there can be no doubt that the Doctor, Romana and K9 are typically well served. Romana’s realization that she’s unwittingly become a genuine friend of the Doctor’s is particularly nicely played and well motivated in story terms. Gallifrey suddenly seems less appealing than TARDIS life, and this takes Romana herself rather by surprise, with her “ice maiden” persona thoroughly melting away.

With so much going on in this adventure, Cuthbert’s top-secret scheme defaults to standard SF domination, taking in the idea of parallel or infinite universes in order to indicate the scope of his fantasies of omnipotence. Mind you, given the story’s own final phase, an alternative interpretation becomes possible – perhaps Cuthbert’s God-like fantasies have taken on a reality all of their own, and he’s been getting by all along because he already knows these events inside-out and back-to-front. Cuthbert ends up as a fascinating figure: corporate man trapped between infinitude and the here-and-now. But The Final Phase could have explored (allegedly) predestined capitalist powers far more directly and effectively, had it wanted to.

In the end, this release feels like a collision between fast-paced action-adventure and ideas-driven, philosophical SF where adventure finally wins out. It also sounds very much to me as though Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Tom Baker, David Warner and Toby Hadoke are enjoying every minute of it, relishing the chance to interact with Nick Briggs’ energetic Daleks. The Final Phase is an ending of sorts, but it’s one that allows for time-travelling loops, returns and remembrances, just as fans will continue to remember and return to the character of Romana – the Doctor’s good friend – thanks to her wonderful portrayal by Mary Tamm.

Terror of the Zygons:

The Doctor has received a summons from the Brigadier to assist him in Scotland back on Earth. What seems initially to be an investigation into the destruction of oil platforms turns into something more sinister as they encounter shape-changing aliens and their pet, the Loch Ness Monster ...

Out of my top three favourite stories of Doctor Who, two have been out on DVD for a long while - not only that, both have also received the Special Edition treatment (one coming out next week in fact, so you can probably guess what it is!). However, I've had to wait a long time for the other which - barring a miraculous recovery in the future - looks set to be the final complete Doctor Who story to receive the DVD treatment.

Many of my age will say that the Holmes/Hinchcliffe era was when Doctor Who really rocked, with hardly a weak story amongst the duo's sixteen credited story run. The stories were held up as a banner against JNT's latter series, flying in the face of his infamous "memory cheats" comment. Certainly, for me, there was plenty to keep this primary school kid entertained, and Season 13 was right in the thick of it all! Thinking back, my misty memories of this story mainly involve the Loch Ness Monster chasing after the Doctor in the country and in London - this was re-inforced by the striking cover on the first Target novelisation I read a few years later (which I still have, if a little sorry for itself in its well-thumbed state!). I recall strange eyes staring out from the TV whispering terrible things upon the Doctor. Harry goes bad. And people melting into hideous scaly creatures covered in bumps.

Of course a few decades later and I've watched the story many times since, and if that memory has "cheated" a bit, the full glorious tale is there to prove that the story is still every bit as good as I'd remembered - well, perhaps the Loch Ness Monster isn't quite up to my childhood delight (but then the dinosaurs in Pertwee's final season delighted an infant, too!). Being that I haven't plugged the VHS in for a couple of years, it's been a while since I last watched it, so it is great to be able to finally settle down and once again recapture that youthful experience of fright and delight.


With Nicholas Courtney's unavailability for the two UNIT stories of the following production block, coupled with the Holmes and Hinchcliffe masterplan to take the Doctor back into the wilds of time and space, this was to be the last time the regulars would properly interact together before UNIT faded into the background of Who lore (Harry and Benton did return in The Android Invasion but they're almost caricatures in that). Whether they realised this at the time, in Zygons they are all in fine form here, playing off each other to great effect. Courtney's Brigadier continues to be the authority figure of UNIT who still retains a sense of humour, and the camaraderie between him and the Fourth Doctor is as comfortable as it had been with the Third; it would have been nice to have seen that relationship carry on in future stories had it been given the chance (Tom and Nick became firm friends outside of Who). John Levene's Benton is as methodical as ever, and with Mike Yates loss the year before he is once again effectively the Brigadier's right-hand man. Ian Marter continues to give Harry Sullivan a sense of respect and decency, but also gets to play a more villainous version of his character as a Zygon duplicate - the scenes in the barn as "he" attacks Sarah are really quite disturbing because of the couple's friendship over the previous shared adventures, in spite of us knowing he's a "wrong'un" (this scene was cut in Australia and on the original VHS release, though I think that was more down to the physical rather than psychological activity in the scene).

Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah is well on the road to becoming the best Doctor Who sidekick by this point, and her performance in Zygons only serves to increase our love for her. Her pluck, initiative, journalistic instinct and intelligence are all on display, and she gets some of the best lines too - "why do I always get the dirty jobs?" she wonders during episode three, shortly before discovering the Zygons' base and rescuing Harry!

Tom Baker, of course, manages to practically dominate every scene he's in. You cannot help but be drawn in by his authoritative demeanour, charismatic voice, and mesmerising eyes (left over from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad no doubt!), and it is clear how he is considered by many to be the best Doctor by far from his performance here, and throughout the Holmes era.

However, he is given a run for his money by guest star John Woodnutt, playing both yhe acerbic (duplicate and real) Duke of Forgill and the scheming Zygon leader Broton. I didn't realise originally that they are played by the same person, and even with hindsight now it is hard to tell that this is the case, such is Woodnutt's wonderful portrayal of the two personalities of Broton. It's never really made clear how much of the original's personality is instilled during the duplication process, but the polite, gracious Duke chatting with Sarah is such a far cry from a "screaming baddie" it comes as a genuine shock as the realisation of his, ahem, duplicity becomes apparent. Woodnutt also gets to deliver the best line of the story: "“I underestimated his intelligence, but he underestimated the power of organic crystallography!"

Another performance of note is Angus Lennie, who though isn't seen half as much as he should have been in the Inn scenes, is a strong presence whenever he is on screen, not to mention being able to put the creeps into Sarah and us with his tales of mysterious goings-on on Tulloch Moor. He also effectively depicts the Scottish landlord as somebody with a sense of fierce loyalty to his laird, and the realisation of that 'betrayal' with the bug and subsequent horror of meeting a Zygon face-to-face still sends a shiver down the spine.

As the enemy, the Zygons are another triumphant creation by James Acheson, and the finishing touches of make-up by Sylvia James completes the look of one of the most effective alien species in the series. They have always been memorable, and it seems strange to think that they only ever had one proper appearance in Doctor Who, cameos in flashbacks notwithstanding; perhaps it is this enduring popularity that has given them the honour of returning in the 50th Anniversary Special - I sincerely hope they are treated with the respect they deserve and don't become a source of ridicule post-November!

However, for every pinnacle there is always a crevice to slip into. The top slot in fan polls tends to see The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Genesis of the Daleks and The Caves of Androzani vie for that accolade - but Talons has its rat, Genesis has its crustaceans, and Androzani its Magma Beast, there to remind us that even these heavyweight masterpieces have something to mar an otherwise immaculate story. Similarly, Terror of the Zygons has its own burden to bear in the form of the Skarasen! Fortunately the Zygons' pet fares quite well, even getting its own cliffhanger in episode two - though this is immediately preceded by a rather ropey chase across the moor which, like the tank in Robot, gets seen again in the reprise! The final appearance in London was also a little patchy, which sadly is often what those who aren't so keen on the story like to point out. It's one of those things that it would have been nice to have the option for a new CGI version, but c'est la vie!

Finally, for those who love UNIT dating there's another forward-looking moment in the series as the Brigadier takes a call from "Madam" Prime Minister, making the story almost contemporary on its original VHS release in 1988 with Margaret Thatcher still in power - mind you, the order to take "discreet and resolute action" perhaps doesn't sit so well with the UK's only female PM to date!

The DVD:

As this is a special release of the story at part of the Fourth Doctor Time Capsule, the introductory captions are presented in a different font, as is the Main Menu which has a Zygon-theme about it. As this is marketed as a "vanilla" release, there isn't much to see on the menu as you'd might expect ... but this is not entirely true as lurking on the Audio Options is an option to listen to the story in 5.1 Surround as well as the original mono broadcast version - I certainly wasn't expecting to find that!


Should you decide to set off on a surround adventure you are immediately presented with a theme tune that swirls around you, bringing new life to the Baker theme tune (though it isn't as noticeable on the closing theme). As one might expect, having depth to the soundtrack produces more balanced conversations on screen and directional effects with the likes of moving cars, gunshots etc. Little things stand out, like the echoes of the Doctor's voice as he hypnotises Sarah in episode two, or the Skarasen's roar across the moor. Also, though I have heard Geoffrey Burgon's score in stereo before, the presentation here helps accentuate those haunting themes that weave their way throughout the story.

In terms of picture quality, this feels like the first time I've seen the episode in such clarity. I was a little too young at the time of transmission to properly remember such detail, and the resultant VHS releases are, well, VHS quality. Even UK Gold's digital broadcasts weren't too great as I recall. So watching Zygons this time around was really enjoyable, with colours vibrant and no real fuzziness present at all (with the exception of the Skarasen scene on Tulloch Moor as mentioned earlier, but this was never too great to begin with). The Zygon transformations looked especially good on the new release, though that does go hand-in-hand with the sharper picture leading to CSO effects standing out more obviously. Mind you, this has always been the case with the more recent DVD releases so isn't really a deficiency!

However, those who were expecting to be watching a new, extended version of episode one with the previously unseen arrival of the TARDIS team in Scotland will be disappointed, as here the 'vanilla' presentation is exactly that - no bells, whistles or extensions. That'll certainly be something to look forward to with the 'full-fat' two disc release due later in the year.

Interview With the Time Lord - In Conversation With Tom Baker:

The other DVD in the Time Capsule is Interview With the Time Lord - In Conversation With Tom Baker, which after a few minutes looks as if it was always meant to be a special feature to accompany Terror of the Zygons, as that is the only story utlised for clips to illustrate the various sections of the interview. Whether this was originally intended to be for the regular DVD but was instead ported to this set instead is something that hasn't been admitted, but whatever its origin, the interview is now an exclusive to this set.

The interview is split into sections, featuring subjects like "Getting Doctor Who", "Living As The Doctor", "Fandom", and "Something Special". The actual interview bites are regularly split by a montage of stills from other Fourth Doctor adventures, but this regularity does get a little tedious after a while, unfortunately.

The sections themselves are quite interesting, with Baker chatting quite candidly about various aspects of playing the Doctor, kicking off with how he initially didn't know how to play the character and so winged his way through the interpretation and was surprised by people liking it, through to how, decades later, he would be surrounded by middle-aged MPs who grew up with him as the Doctor all wanting their photo with him and 'reverting' to childhood! Along the way, the actor discussed his many experiences as the Doctor - including how he was once asked to chat to a comatose child in character - and how he felt that over time he perhaps became too opinionated on how the Doctor should be, feeling that his connection with the public through his appearances meant he knew what was best for the character (which led to an altercation about a scripted knife scene at one point). His affection for his female co-stars also came across, especially towards the late Elisabeth Sladen, and how he and Louise Jameson are now firm friends enabling her to influence his decision to accept Big Finish's invitation to further his adventures as the Doctor!


There is plenty more to hear in the interview, and being recorded earlier this year covers more recent activities in his life, but as one might expect it is very much focussed on his time as the Doctor. A more personal interview on his life was conducted by Laurie Taylor in 2010 as part of In Confidence for Sky Arts, which is worth catching on a repeat, and there is also, of course, Baker's autobiography with further anecdotes of his experiences.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, whilst it was great to see Terror of the Zygons again, the fact that the former will have its own formal, fully-featured release later in the year leads me to conclude that you shouldn't buy the boxed set solely on that basis. Even the exclusive Tom Baker interview, though entertaining, might not justify the purchase. However, the two DVDs are just part of the Time Capsule, which also contains a number of collectibles including an exclusive Fourth Doctor action figure in Third Doctor costume, a Fourth Doctor sonic screwdriver, art cards featuring all of his companions, the novel The Tomb of Valdemar by Simon Messingham, the audio book of Genesis of the Daleks, plus a letter from Tom Baker himself. If all that appeals to you too, then The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule might well be worth the purchase.

Returning to events and characters from The Sands of Life and War Against the Laan, The Dalek Contract is itself Part One of the grand finale to this season of adventures for the fourth Doctor and Romana, or “Ramona”, as Cuthbert calls her. Yes, David Warner is back to spar with his fellow actors once more, as writer/director Nick Briggs continues to explore the Conglomerate’s shady activities. And helping the story to bounce atmospherically along there’s some excellent incidental music from Alistair Lock.

If Phantoms of the Deep partly hinged on a cliffhanger putting K9’s catchphrase in a whole new light, then this month we get a similar gambit surrounding the Daleks’ most infamous slogan. Dalek stories can perhaps be grouped into two categories: one where they are traditional monsters intent on invasion or domination, pure and simple, and one where they are more radically recontextualised or reimagined (with the latter also sometimes acting as a lure or a blind for the former, as the Daleks eventually reveal their true colours). Big Finish have previously welcomed Shakespeare-citing Daleks, affectionately merchandised versions, and Toy Daleks as well as nano-versions. One might be forgiven for wondering whether there are many new twists that can be put on the polycarbide-shelled creatures, but The Dalek Contract pulls something out of the hat. These Daleks are employees, it would seem, part of the Conglomerate’s outsourcing plans. Although this is undoubtedly an interesting concept, turning Skaro’s meanest into the story’s hired muscle means that they necessarily have a very different narrative role to usual and are necessarily blunted or reduced in the process. It’s as if they’re the new Ogrons, playing second fiddle to a far greater threat. Presumably The Final Phase will restore the order of things and feature the Daleks turning on Cuthbert – though this story move seems so blindingly obvious that hopefully it’ll be avoided, complicated or subverted in some way.

John Leeson plays two roles here, but to no great gain, as his non-K9 part is that of Tollivun, a rather generic figure among the cast of rebels. On the plus side, K9 does get to mount a heroic rescue mission at one point, as well as conversing very entertainingly with the Daleks. A few other elements here feel overly familiar, though: there’s a resistance force (of course) on Proxima Major, and Cuthbert is busy beaming propaganda down to the planet. And there’s a MacGuffin to get the Doctor involved and raise the stakes: a “haze” of miniscule particles which could lead to Very Bad Things, i.e. tearing apart the fabric of space-time. However, as a reason for getting the Doctor to switch off his randomiser and explore the Proxima System, this is actually a rather intriguing and playful story device – it threatens vast destruction, but only due to the creation of almost infinitesimally small particles. An inversion of conventionally epic scale, it deliberately undercuts what we might expect, just as the Dalek’s typical role undergoes a similar kind of alteration. Feeding into this unexpected set-up, and again playing Mr. Dorrick, Toby Hadoke has great fun with his delivery of certain dialogue, instantly transmuting what could have been the base metal of bafflegab into comedy gold. In this Contract it’s not the small print you have to beware – it’s the even smaller “particles”.

There are some reversals which are less effective, however. Romana asserts that she knows the Doctor very well just before he does something that she’s failed to predict. On the plus side, this makes the Doctor’s behaviour appear daringly risky, but on the other hand it makes Romana look slightly foolish, which is a shame. From this run of stories, The Auntie Matter has probably given Mary Tamm the most to do (treating Romana like a parallel version of the Doctor rather than his subordinate), but here she again seems to be cast back into a more standard ‘Who girl’ role, especially towards the end of this installment. Cuthbert is also sidelined a little, though no doubt he’ll take centre stage in the following story, as Briggs’ revisionism of the Daleks edges out other story content this time round.

The Dalek Contract suffers by virtue of being a connective part of this season’s mini-arc. Its job is to set everything up, and move narrative pieces into place ready for The Final Phase. As a result, we don’t quite get the full pleasure of encountering a new world, culture, or scenario that a standalone story can offer, but nor do we get the satisfaction of a tale that's neatly resolved. There are some great ideas, such as how the Daleks cope with operating on an icy, frozen planet, but by the end I was impatient to find out more about Cuthbert’s aims. Although there can be no doubting Contract’s ambition to do something different with the prototypical shape of a Dalek story, I suspect it will end up being judged more on how well The Final Phase seals the deal than on its own merits.

Writer Jonathan Morris muses in the interview “extras” for this release how surprising it is that Doctor Who hasn’t done many submarine stories, given the potential for ‘base under siege’-type affairs. Of course, Phantoms of the Deep arrives not long after Cold War: you wait years for a sub and then two come along at once. The two adventures share basic structuring devices: both play on feelings of claustrophobia, and both find a way to promptly separate the Doctor from his TARDIS in order to ram home the point that there’s no way out.

Despite basic similarities, however, there are also a host of differences. Cold War needed to expend energy on reintroducing a classic monster, whereas Phantoms is unencumbered by any such need. And where Mark Gatiss’s screenplay necessarily had to pay close attention to budgetary constraints, Morris is free to throw in super squid as well as vampire squid and giant jellyfish: there are sea creatures galore featured here, with Big Finish playing extremely well to its audio strengths. Sound design also helps to convey the tension and isolation of characters trapped in various submarine vehicles, using a host of pinging, echoing underwater and radio communication effects to generate an acute sense of imagined place.

Sometimes across this series of fourth Doctor tales Tom Baker has been given a running gag (it was a desire for hard-boiled eggs in The Sands of Life, for instance), but there’s less obvious tomfoolery on this occasion, and Baker’s performance is all the better for it. He also finally gets to play off John Leeson more substantially, as a repaired K9 is given a far meatier role than he’s had of late. In fact, the cliffhanger to part one represents a stroke of genius from Jonathan Morris, turning one characteristic K9 expression into a chilling expression of threat. It’s a great moment, reminding the listener just how much televised Doctor Who has missed its traditional cliffhangers in recent times.

K9 also gets to communicate with some highly unexpected allies, and at least one event that would probably sound absurd if I summarized it here actually works well in content. Morris’s dialogue also takes the opportunity to poke gentle fun at the K9 prop; offered assistance by Romana, K9 notes that he’s “perfectly capable of traversing flat metal floors”. Along with using the robot dog effectively, Phantoms of the Deep also gives the TARDIS a memorable entrance, and as the cover image makes clear, the Doctor gets to supplement his characteristic costume with underwater/diving garb, venturing the observation that he’s a very strong swimmer. Clearly enjoying putting his lead characters in some unusual settings, Morris’s versatility comes across powerfully when you compare this release with The Auntie Matter; whether crafting Wodehouse pastiche or base-under-siege ghostliness, the writer seems equally at home.

Phantoms does hit a number of eminently predictable story beats, mind you – given that we have a deep-sea sub exploring the Mariana Trench, there’s precious little doubt that something nasty is going to be lurking down in the blackness of the ocean floor. And the title alone promises some kind of spectral presence. But this story still finds ways to surprise its audience – themes of possession may not be earth-shatteringly original, but there are a few new wrinkles to how events play out this time around. There’s a particular emphasis on the mind as well as the body, for instance.

The cast are all decent enough, though I’m not convinced they are greatly challenged by script requirements. Indeed, director Ken Bentley discusses how they rattled through scenes at quite a pace when making the story, and it’s easy to see how the limited settings and small cast would lend themselves to quickfire production. Alice Krige plays Dr. Patricia Sawyer; sadly her character feels a little identikit rather than really coming to life, and likewise other crew-members of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Erebus feel fairly generic – not that the story’s tight focus gives many opportunities for individuation. Phantoms of the Deep is very much action-oriented, so this is a rather inevitable outcome.

Gwilym Lee as young midshipman Jack Hodges is given a more unusual role amid the twenty-first century scientist-explorers, as Phantoms presents us with what, on the face of it, can only be an impossible lad. The collision of different character types doesn’t give rise to perhaps as much dramatic tension as it could, however, and there’s a “fish out of water” story bubbling away under the surface rather than really being given room to breathe. If this were a contemporary TV episode we’d no doubt be offered a greater emotional connection to Hodges and his strange plight, whereas here the emphasis is very much on a mystery to be resolved. Horses for fourth Doctor courses, though: Phantoms still feels like it belongs to its era, despite Morris’s characteristic playfulness. This is a satisfying addition to what has thus far been an occasionally uneven run of Tom Baker and Mary Tamm stories. The inventiveness of Phantoms isn’t submerged by ongoing story strands: it offers a self-enclosed, stand-alone and tension-filled tale before we're due to return to the character of Cuthbert for The Dalek Contract.

This review is based on the CD release from AudioGo and may contain minor spoilers.

“Yes- I dare say he had a good reason. I usually do...”

Satirical productions are everywhere these days, with recent Doctor Who episodes like The Bells Of Saint John proving shining examples of modern writers’ takes on current social trends and technology. For the Fourth Doctor instalment in their Destiny Of The Doctor audio range, AudioGo have taken it upon themselves to echo these growing commentaries on our reliance on knowledge and communication. Babblesphere marks a shining highlight in the franchise so far, and with any luck should set a precedent for the remaining seven adventures still to come.

Set on a human colony inhabited by a seemingly omniscient and omnipotent technological matrix, Babblesphere once again perfectly encapsulates the vast science-fiction and inherently interplanetary tales of Tom Baker’s Doctor and Lalla Ward’s Romana. Although Baker isn’t present on recording duties for this script, Lalla does an exemplary job of reviving her companion character and indeed mimicking her former co-star throughout the story. Roger Parrott provides superb support too, taking on the role of a bewildered user of the Babble network who finds himself in the middle of a growing catastrophe.

What’s perhaps most reminiscent of the rather defining 1974-1981 era of Doctor Who here is the sense of an inherent investigation of the human condition even in the context of a distinctly alien society in comparison to our own. Yes, there’s plenty of satire on offer to link the Babblesphere to Sol 3, yet undoubtedly we’re in extraterrestrial territory, so it’s testament to the sound creative vision of writer Jonathan Morris that he can make the entire narrative experience feel just as grounded as the legendary Who works of classic writers such as Douglas Adams did back in the good ol’ days.

Of course, no entry in the Destiny audio range would be complete without an allusion to an ominous future to come for the Eleventh Doctor in the franchise’s finale. As we’ve previously mentioned, the Fall of the Eleventh and the Fields of Trenzalore will no doubt be dealt with on screen in The Name Of The Doctor, yet whatever the various references to events that have to be preserved to help the Time Lord’s current incarnation in a battle to come are building to, we can be sure that November’s The Time Machine will provide a pay off in a satisfying fashion. It’s sadly the only real weakness of Babblesphere that this month’s arc reference feels a tad shoehorned in for the sake of it, yet for dedicated fans of the range the reference will at least provide further interest for the evolving story in the months ahead.

Whereas past instalments in the Destiny range - particularly last month’s Vengeance Of The Stones - have presented numerous shortcomings of note, it’s a pleasure for this reviewer to confirm that that particular franchise story arc niggle is the only real gripe to be found this time around. Beyond that, Babblesphere is easily the most confident, audacious and compelling instalment in the range yet. Lalla Ward is an incredible narrator both in-character and of the events surrounding the story’s constructs, the atmosphere of the world and its inhabitants is palpable, and more than ever there’s a sense of true dedication to this release’s chosen era of the show’s fifty-year history. Doctor Who has produced its fair share of groundbreaking and memorable satirical stories in the past, and without a doubt this reviewer can add Destiny Of The Doctor’s Babblesphere to the widening list of the finest examples of this budding new genre.

This review is based on the bonus subscriber release and contains mild spoilers

On a remote island a group of scientists have been observing the stars. But when the shadows start moving and people start dying, it seems that something might have been looking back at them. Something that has decided to pay them a visit...

“It’s teatime 1977 all over again” proclaimed the ubiquitous advertising for Big Finish’s first season of audios starring Tom Baker, clearly positioning nostalgia as one of their primary objectives.

Despite the fact that Tom Baker hadn’t appeared in Big Finish until last year, the Phillip Hinchcliffe produced series of Doctor Who have often tacitly positioned as the ‘golden era’ of the programme and have cast a long shadow across the company’s output. For example, when Big Finish first started releasing Doctor Who plays featuring Doctors five to seven they used the Hinchcliffe era version of the theme tune and when choosing villains for the high profile Eighth Doctor series it was Wirrn, Zygons and Krynoids who were brought out of retirement.

Yet, when the man himself returned, and this ‘golden era’ was finally unlocked to Big Finish, there was something missing. It was the Doctor himself. Tom Baker’s performance as the Doctor shifted incrementally during his seven years in the show and when he finally returned to the role, perhaps unsurprisingly he played the part differently. In the Hornet’s Nest series produced by the BBC, Baker perfected a bombastic, whimsical version of his Doctor, very different from what had gone before, and rather suited to the excessive campy tone of that series. It was a slightly muted version of this Doctor which Baker brought to his first series with Big Finish, meaning that in spite of what the scripts, producers and audiences wanted, the tone they were trying to recapture was just out of their grasp.

Night of the Stormcrow marks the return of the Hinchcliffe era Doctor. Baker has chosen to reign in his performance and give us the alien, moody and at times portentous Doctor familiar from fan favorites Pyramids of Mars and The Ark in Space. It feels like the first time all the elements have come together in a Fourth Doctor play, with the cast and writers and production all singing from the same hymn sheet. This is very much helped by the tense, claustrophobic feel of the story and the wonderfully evocative speeches Marc Platt gives the Doctor. A highlight comes when the Doctor declares to the scientists that “Something found you here, something from the darkest corner of the night”, invoking memories of similarly tense moments from his early years as the Doctor.

Louise Jameson is equally well served by the script, and delivers a superbly written monologue for Leela in Episode Two. Throughout her appearances in various Big Finish productions she has proved herself to be one of their most adaptable and hard working performers. She has given subtly different performances as Leela over the course of the character’s life in Gallifrey, The Companion Chronicles and The Fourth Doctor Adventures, and here she once again skilfully recreates the cadences of 1970s Leela’s voice. My appetite has been thoroughly whetted for what the second series of plays starring Baker and Jameson will bring.

The story is a spooky, scientific haunting in the style of Nigel Kneale’s The Stone Tape (or in Doctor Who terms, Image of the Fendahl), with many standout creepy moments. While some may feel that the hour running time may work against the nostalgic aims of the Fourth Doctor series, here it works in the play’s favour. It means that the emphasis can be on building atmosphere rather than the denouement, which is often where sci-fi haunting stories fall down, when they struggle to explain the events away in rational terms.

If there is a fault in the play it would be that Platt’s decision to introduce two monsters, the eponymous Stormcrow and the ‘no-thing’ creatures, make things a little harder to follow in the second half, and perhaps he should have stuck with one or the other.

For fans who may have felt slightly disappointed by the first series of Fourth Doctor Adventures this play will be a welcome nostalgic trip to one of the most enduring, influential and popular eras of Doctor Who. Night of the Stormcrow is currently only available as a Big Finish subscriber exclusive, but will be available to buy separately from December 2013, when it will hopefully gain the wider audience it deserves.