Manufacturer: Big Finish Productions

Written By: Robert Valentine

RRP: £10.99 (CD) | £8.99 (Download)

Release Date: May 2023

Reviewed by: Robert Emlyn Slater for Doctor Who Online

“The Time War. The Doctor has been injured and brought to a Time Lord field hospital. His body glows with energy, but this is no regeneration into a future form – instead, the Doctor’s past faces begin to appear as he flits haphazardly between incarnations...

Staggering to his TARDIS, the Doctor sets out to solve the mystery of his ‘degeneration’. Who has done this to him? How? And why? From the Earth to the stars, across an array of familiar times and places, he follows clues to retrace his steps, encountering old friends and enemies along the way. Tumbling through his lives, the Doctor must stop his degeneration before he loses himself completely...

Settling as his Fourth incarnation, the Doctor goes in search of the Monk, with a vague memory that he had something to do with his ‘degeneration’.

On Earth, the Monk is meddling, bringing Sarah Jane Smith to the future UNIT HQ to steal a device for an alien race. The Doctor must help Kate Stewart and Osgood foil an invasion before he can confront the Monk about what he knows...”

WARNING: The following review contains spoilers. You have been warned!

Big Finish’s 60th anniversary party has officially begun! Past Lives is the first of an eight-part audio celebration of Doctor Who’s Diamond Anniversary - featuring most of the Doctors!

This month’s offering sees Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor reunite with Sarah Jane as he crosses paths with Kate Stewart, Osgood, and The Meddling Monk.

We’re thrown straight into the action as the Doctor begins degenerating on a Time War battlefield. He then runs back to his TARDIS, jumping between incarnations as he does so in a really fun sequence. There’s no messing about, we’re quite literally thrown straight into the action - something I always appreciate. 

With the Doctor temporarily stabilised in the form of his fourth incarnation, he’s immediately after the Meddling Monk. Their ensuing game of cat and mouse is a lot of fun - and Rufus Hound is brilliant. His version of the Monk is by far the most entertaining for me. 

Also in this adventure are Kate Stewart and Osgood, played by Jemma Redgrave and Ingrid Oliver. Hearing them interact with Tom Baker’s Doctor is just a delight. I wasn’t sure how UNIT, Kate, and Osgood were going to fit into this adventure, which already has a hell of a lot going on in it, but they get a lot of “screen time” and have their own time to shine. 

Unfortunately, Sarah Jane - played by Sadie Miller - does not. She feels a bit surplus to the plot here, which is a shame. The Sarah we meet in Past Lives has quite literally just been dropped off in Aberdeen by the Doctor. It might be just me, but having the Doctor and Sarah reunite so soon after her exit undercuts the emotional ending of The Hand of Fear (for Sarah at least). I didn’t really feel the emotional reunion between Sarah and the Doctor here, as a result. Sadie Miller is great in the role though, as always. It just feels like Big Finish came up with the idea of this adventure by drawing a bunch of random characters out of a hat and sticking them together (which can be a lot of fun, of course). With so much going on, one character had to pull the short straw, and it was Sarah this time.

Also, the armoured dragon warrior creatures seen on the front of the box - the Hyreth - just aren’t utilised enough to be that much of a threat here. Maybe if this drama had been longer they’d have had more time to shine, but they just feel a bit like the monster of the week unfortunately. 

Those are my only criticisms though. The rest of the adventure is a great ride and leaves me really wanting more. I enjoyed the performances of all the cast - in particular Rufus Hound’s - and really enjoyed the almost anachronistic feel of having Tom Baker’s Doctor interacting with Kate and Osgood in the 2010s. 

This definitely does feel like a part one of something much bigger - a taste of what’s to come. Robert Valentine’s script zips along at a hell of a pace, never really letting up from minute one. The hour or so truly flies by. In fact, I was a little surprised - and disappointed - it had ended so seemingly early. 

Overall, It’s a nice, fun adventure to kick off the eight-part Once And Future story and left me really looking forward to whatever comes next (Fifth Doctor, Jenny, and Colin Baker as the Curator, to be exact). Also, there are plenty many callbacks and cameos, as is fitting of an anniversary adventure. You won’t be disappointed on that front. 

It’s certainly whet my appetite for the rest of Big Finish’s 60th anniversary celebrations! 

+  1. Once And Future: Past Lives is OUT NOW, priced £10.99 (CD) | £8.99 (D/L).

+  ORDER this title from Big Finish!

Manufacturer: Big Finish Productions

Written By: Mark Wright & Tim Foley

RRP: £24.99 (CD) | £19.99 (Download)

Release Date: May 2021

Reviewed by: Robert Emlyn Slater for Doctor Who Online

"Two brand new adventures for the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and Sarah Jane Smith:

7.1 The Unzal Incursion by Mark Wright

Under the supervision of the Doctor, the Brigadier and Dr Liz Shaw, UNIT are getting ready to activate Hotspur: their new, advanced early warning system.

But something goes wrong. Can it be that UNIT has been betrayed from within? Suddenly bases are falling across the globe, and only the Doctor and his friends are able to escape.

Not knowing how far the conspiracy goes, the Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier become fugitives. Their investigations lead them to the Fulcrum military training facility. And something beyond the Earth.

7.2 The Gulf by Tim Foley

The TARDIS lands on an ocean planet where the Doctor and Sarah find themselves stranded on a former rig, which has recently been converted into an artistic retreat.

But art is far from the residents’ minds. A troubled member of their collective has disappeared, and the Doctor senses a sinister psychic presence. The waves are rising. And there’s something in the water."

WARNING: The following review contains spoilers. You have been warned!

We’re thrown back into the 70s this month with two new adventures featuring the Third Doctor, Sarah-Jane, Liz Shaw, and the Brigadier. Taking place in two different eras of the Third Doctor’s time on the show, we’re given two completely different stories here in the seventh volume of The Third Doctor Adventures.

The first story, The Unzal Incursion, written by Mark Wright, is a pacy, bombastic adventure which sees the Doctor, Liz Shaw, and the Brigadier become fugitives who have to go on the run when it seems that UNIT has turned against them. 

This four-part story never really lets up, right from the first minute. It’s an action-packed game of cat and mouse, with the Doctor and his friends always trying to keep ahead of the people that are chasing them, by any means necessary. There are car chases, airplane chases, and even a big Venusian Aikido fight for the Doctor against the villainous Unzal in this rip roaring adventure. It was a thoroughly entertaining ride, and one I’m looking forward to revisiting already.

I must give praise to the acting in this story. Daisy Ashford is brilliant as Liz Shaw and provides a really convincing performance as Liz Shaw, the role her late mother, Caroline John, used to play in the show. I was very impressed with what I heard from her in this boxset and look forward to hearing more from her in the future. 

Jon Culshaw is also utterly fantastic. His impression of the Brigadier is so scarily accurate that I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t actually Nicholas Courtney who was stood behind the microphone. I always knew Culshaw was good with his impressions, but this was something else. A 10 out of 10 performance and impression.

My only criticism of this adventure is that I feel as though the final ‘fight’ between the Doctor and his friends and the Unzal in episode four fell a bit flat. The Unzal were much more intimidating when they were hidden away, rather than when they went all ‘lumbering monster’ and turned up for a scrap at the end.

I was a big fan of the Unzal’s plan, however, and thought it was a nice, clever change from the usual ‘alien invasion of Earth’ trope. The ‘mystery’ that was left dangling at the end was also a really nice touch.

Overall, for the most part, this was a pacy, exciting adventure with fantastic performances from all the cast that was a real joy to listen to. I’m hoping for more adventures with Ashford’s Liz and Culshaw’s Brigadier in the future.

The second story, The Gulf, written by Tim Foley, was in my opinion, the slightly stronger story from this boxset. Featuring Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane, this adventure takes place aboard an old rig out in the midsts of an ocean planet. The rig, which floats just above the water (which is a really cool mental image) is now home to an artist’s retreat which is seemingly being haunted by a maleficent telepathic force.

This base-under-siege-esque adventure was a nervy, atmospheric story that could be quite disturbing at times. You could really feel the claustrophobic sense of isolation here, and the Doctor and his friends being chased through the rig as it slowly falls into the sea was incredibly exciting. 

I was particularly impressed with the performances from the guest cast in this adventure. Everyone was on top form, in particular, Wendy Craig as the famous painter, Marta Malvani. Lucy Goldie also gives a chilling performance as Laurel, the woman who fell into the sea and came back changed. 

The Gulf is Sadie Miller’s second appearance as Sarah Jane Smith following her debut in The Return of the Cybermen earlier this year, and I was once again really impressed, and blown away, by how similar she sounded to Elisabeth Sladen at times! It wasn’t an outright impression, but there were times where it was really uncanny, especially towards the end. I’m looking forwards to hearing more from her in future audios.

It goes without saying that Tim Treloar was absolutely brilliant as the Third Doctor in this boxset. He nailed his impression, as always, and had everything right, down to even the smallest of mannerisms. 

In fact, it was really weird, and obviously really impressive, that every single performance of these much-loved characters was an impression of them given by another actor. I honestly felt as though I’d just tumbled back through time into the 70s and was listening to the original cast act out two brand new audio adventures for me. I did have to keep reminding myself that these people weren’t the real actors, and I guess that just goes to show how brilliant they all were in this boxset.

I also have to give huge praise to the production team too. The sound design in particular was excellent, and really felt as though they’d lifted music straight from the show and placed it into this boxset. This volume was clearly made by people who loved this era of the show, and the adventures available here really feel as though they could slot into their respective seasons quite easily. 

If you’re a fan of this time in the show’s history, or if you just want to sit back and listen to two excellent, atmospheric, pacy stories that will have you gripped throughout, then I highly recommend you giving this volume of The Third Doctor Adventures a listen. It’s a huge success, and I for one can’t wait to see where they go next in volume 8. 

Excellent stuff. 

+ The 3rd Doc. Adventures: Vol. 7 is OUT NOW, priced £24.99 (CD) | £19.99 (Download).

+ ORDER this title from Big Finish!