The Big Finish Catch-up: January 2017

For those of you new to this section of the blog, I started listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they started back in 1999, getting them as they were released up to mid 2002 and release No 33 Neverland. At that time I left Uni and due to being a bit busy with life and what not I only heard one or two releases over the next few years. I started getting back into them around 2008 and was 6 years behind at that point. Due to wondering off into the Lost Doctor range and a relaxed listening pace I fell further behind. In order to catch up I'm listening to two releases a month (or more when its a 60 min single disc release, plus without seeing the cover or knowing anything about the story) and my mission to catch up continues;

First up this month was 'Assassin in the Limelight" featuring Colin Baker as the 6th Doctor and Maggie Stables as Evelyn. This is a very strong story from Robert Ross and sees him bring back Knox as played by Leslie Phillips. Its a story dripping in atmosphere with a similar vibe to the writers debut story which is also set around a lesser known event in history. Theres a plot which gets stronger as the story goes along but the main draw to this story is the return of Knox who has a great rapport with the regulars. Also I'm treasuring Maggie Stables as Evelyn as I don't know how many stories we have left with her. In short a strong, powerful story and in effect possibly the finale of an unofficial Robert Ross trilogy, 8/10.

Next up was "The Boy that Time Forgot" featuring Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. A rather fun pulpish adventure story given added depth by Andrew Sachs character, I wont be spoiling this as I'd recommend that you come to this story like me and get taken by the surprise of it. The story feels a bit disjointed and leads into the next story for this TARDIS crew, however I was expecting more of Thomas Brewster and I was genuinely thrown a bit of kilter by the unexpected nature of this story 8/10.

Next up was "A Sting in the Tale" with Tom baker as the 4th Doctor and Richard Franklin as Mike Yates. A good solid story which focuses on plot instead of the flavour I tend to associate with this range. It has the feeling of a story where the stage is being set for later releases but Tom Baker is brilliant, 7/10.

Finally this month we have Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor and Sheridan Smith as Lucie. Of the stories I heard this month "Brave New Town" is my favourite. A lovely plot, fantastic performances and full of aspects that still stay strong in the memory as I write this months later. This has become my go to story when I think of one that does the 60 minute (half the normal length of a Big Finish release) perfectly. Highly recommended 9/10

Doctor Foster

Good afternoon lady and gentle readers, for those of you unaware this evening is the final episode of the second series of Doctor Foster a drama on BBC 1. I for one wont be watching and haven't been watching since week one. Allow me to explain why...

Episode one was a slow build up of tension for the titular Doctor Foster with her ex husband that result in her taking her wedding ring off and melting it in acid. After 55 minutes of build up I was left feeling non-plussed and asking myself 'is that it?' In short it was an episode of building up to nothing, in a cinema for a two hour film this is acceptable not on a TV show where we have a week between episodes.

On mentioning tonights episode to my sister about tonights episode I asked if anything had actually happened yet. Her answer was 'no.' I'm so glad I got out of this show when I did, three weeks of build up to something is my idea of poor TV. If anyone is still watching I hope you're enjoying it but for the rest of us endless buildup isn't enough. It is poor pacing of a TV series and I for one will not be risking tuning in if there is a third series.