DOCTOR WHO: DOOM COALITION 1 [2015] - The First Half

 "THE ELEVEN NEED YOU . . . BUT WE DON'T NEED YOUR TONGUE!" 

Embarking on the Big Finish 8th Doctor box set DOOM COALITION 1.  Warning to self:  there are 4 box sets in the DOOM COALITION series!  Struth! I'm leaping ahead from the last two Big Finish audio adventures in the early 2000s to this rather newer one.  The 8th Doctor Paul McGann has had quite a run of box sets and this follows the epic DARK EYES saga (4 box sets there too).  The storyline features one of Big Finish's excellent ideas (presumably thought up by Matt Fitton who pens the first episode) and that is a new kind of mad time lord.  His name is The Eleven and he is played with diabolical relish by Mark Bonnar.  The Eleven is suffering from a rare timey-wimey psychosis in which he retains all his previous incarnations and personalities inside his mind each time he regenerates.  Being called The Eleven, you can guess he's on his 11th regeneration so he has 11 distinct and warring personalities battling inside his head constantly.  I can understand why he goes a bit mad sometimes . . . .

DOOM COALITION 1.1:  THE ELEVEN.

Unusually for Big Finish (at least the ones I've heard), the episode opens with a pre-theme 'cold open' scene in which the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy in a surprise cameo) has captured a villainous Time Lord called The Eleven and brought him to an ultra-high security stasis prison on Gallifrey.  Cue Doctor Who theme song.  The Doctor (Paul McGann) and his companion Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) are in the middle of wrapping up an encounter with some spiders as we get into this episode.  Meanwhile on Gallifrey, a young time lord named Kilani (Bethan Walker) has applied and been granted an interview with The Eleven for her research on naughty time lords and their time crimes.  I hope I'm not spoiling anything when I tell you that The Eleven manages to escape and wreak havoc on Gallifrey.  From Big Finish's own blurb:   "The Eleven. A Time Lord whose previous personalities live on in his mind: arguing, plotting, jostling for supremacy... He is also Gallifrey's most dangerous criminal. And he has escaped.  The Doctor is recalled to his homeworld to lead the hunt. As they search the Capitol's corridors of power, the Academy halls and the cells of the highest security penitentiary, Liv realises the worst monsters may be among the Doctor's own people.  For inside his fractured mind, the Eleven has a plan. And its deadly consequences will extend through space and time... "  This first episode of the quartet sets up The Eleven nicely.  Kaili's first encounter with her interviewee is very reminiscent of a similar scene in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS where Clarice goes to the cell to meet Hannibal Lechter.  Bonnar's warring personalities are portrayed in a bewildering, swirling myriad of 11 different voices which the actor manages to pull off very well indeed.  The listener even gets to recognize certain different incarnations by their voices -- all done by Bonnar -- the violent 6, the bewildered 8 etc.  Once he escapes, The Eleven runs through the endless secret tunnels of the Capitol (with Liv in tow) cooking up his mad scheme.  This is a noisy, bang bang shoot-'em-up kind of episode which admittedly is not my favourite kind but still it's quite enjoyable.  Each story in this box set is only about an hour each so they never overstay their welcome.  Bonnar as The Eleven is suitably malevolent and threatening and his ultimate goal, once revealed, makes a lot of sense.  This episode is written by Matt Fitton and directed by Ken Bentley.

DOOM COALITION 1.2:  THE RED LADY

Another cold open where we learn about and antiquarian's art collection which all seems to feature a distant figure of a woman with flaming red hair . . . and possibly a mask.  After the theme song, The Doctor and Liv head back to 1963 London (gee, he likes it then, dunt he?) following a temporal anomaly that possibly leads to The Eleven's whereabouts.  They encounter museum worker Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan) who is struggling against the inherent sexism of the time in her profession.  Since the cold open, we learn that McCallum the antiquarian collector of all the art featuring the 'Red Lady' has died (along with his entire family) and willed that his art objects be locked away permanently.  His executor can't bear the thought of that and has Helen's boss Professor Walter Pritchett (David Yelland) put them in the museum where Helen works.  Later, the executor calls Helen's boss and says he's made a terrible mistake and Pritchett must destroy all the artworks.  During the phone call, it sounds like the executor is being killed . . . and that's just what IS happening.  After the murder, the sound of heavy breathing is heard coming down the phone line.  This is really creepy and effective!  Later, when Helen gets a panicky summons from Pritchett, her boss tells her what happened and shows her the tapestry with the woman in it.  However, whereas Helen sees the distant figure, Pritchett now sees the woman much closer . . . . as if she's coming nearer . . . .   This is more up my corridor:  a nicely spooky DOCTOR WHO with a creepy concept.  Who is this woman in the paintings/artworks and what will happen when she manages to come closer?   The trope of a haunted painting has been seen many times but to me it's always a winner!  For instance in the first "story" in the NIGHT GALLERY pilot where Roddy MacDowall keeps seeing the walking corpse getting closer and closer to the house.  I mean, great stuff.  And that's what this 8th Doctor story is too:  great stuff!  THE RED LADY is written by the great John Dorney and directed by Ken Bentley.

So, hit a speedbump after listening to the first half of this box set.  Guess I'll have to write about the last two stories when I get a chance to listen to dem.

DOCTOR WHO: THE CREEPING DEATH [2019]

 "GO ON, I KNOW THAT FACE.  HOW'S THE WORLD GOING TO END THIS TIME?"

  This go round we head into the fog with Doctor number Ten(nant) and Donna Noble.  While I'm no novice the the Doctor Who audio adventures, this is actually the very first Big Finish 10th Doctor audio I've listened to so this was something of an event!  Of course, knowing me, I chose death amidst the creepy London fog as my starting point.  Big Finish synopsis:  

"London, 1952, and a deadly smog envelops the capital.

But something even more dangerous - and alien - is hiding within the mists.

When the Doctor and Donna get lost in the fog, they find a motley group of Londoners trying to make their way home.

Very soon, the stakes are raised, as death creeps along fume-choked streets, and not everyone will make it out alive..."

The Doctor and Donna pile out of the TARDIS in swinging sixties London where Donna wants to snag herself a Beatle.  Only it's not.  It's actually 1952 London and the streets are enveloped in a filthy thick fog.  When they finally discover what year it is, Donna's realization that her Gramps is out there somewhere and it's a really lovely moment.  I can just picture the young Bernard Cribbins running around . . . but sadly imagine it is all we get to do.  Still, it's a really nice, human touch from Roy Gill's script.  Before they can think, the Doctor and Donna hear a woman screaming for help deep inside the fog.  Soon separated, cinema usherette Ivy Clark (Lauren Cornelius) asks for the Doctor's help; all the customers are slumped dead in their theatre seats and 'something' is in there with them -- swarming insect-like.  Meanwhile, Donna stumbles into Terry Hopkins (Theo Stevenson) who mistakes her for a bloke (Ooo, the cheek!) on his way to meet his boyfriend Richard -- (which, you'll remember is actually illegal in 1952 Britain!  Two blokes and all).  This is also a nice bit of characterisation that's not crowbarred into the script but emerges naturally through the writing.  Meanwhile, the Doctor tries to convince Ivy to leave the macabre cinema scene for her own safety.  Ivy resists running away and, even if she did, she'd have to pick up her maybe boyfriend -- if she plays her cards right -- first.  His name is Richard.  Then we have pompous actress Alice Aitken (Helen Goldwyn) and old codger Malcolm Wishart (Stephen Critchlow) who are involved in an accident when her Bentley crashes into a bus.  All our characters meet up in the garage where Richard works.  The Doctor takes Donna aside and tells her this is the deadly 1952 London smog which was the worst on record and resulted in up to 12,000 deaths!    Meanwhile, the Doctor has determined that there is something alien out there in the smog! 

David Tennant and Catherine Tate slip back into their characters like they never left.  Actually, the entire ensemble cast is superb with Helen Goldwyn particularly wonderful in her OTT diva performance; particularly sparring with Catherine Tate.  Here's a nice idea of their repartee:

"ALICE:  Does no one appreciate the pickle I'm in?!?  I'm due on stage in half an hour!

DONNA:  Oh, you mean you're an . . . 

ALICE:  Alice Aitken.  Star of the West End stage.

DONNA:  Never heard of ya!

ALICE:  Well, really!

DONNA:  Do you know who she is?  Miss High and Mighty! 

RICHARD:  I prefer the movies.

DONNA:  What about you, Tezzer?

TERRY:  I only go to pantos.

DONNA:  That'd work cuz right now I'm seeing her as the wicked stepmother.

ALICE:  (LONG, LOUD GASP)  I'm FAR too young for character work!!!  I've never been so insulted in my life!

DONNA:  That's good, Baby Jane, cuz I'm only just getting started!  So pipe down!"

 Stellar acting combined with a cracking script and deft direction by Ken Bentley make this audio adventure a perfect way for me to venture into the 10th Doctor audios.  This was a wonderful time!  Oh yes, and apparently there was a limited edition vinyl LP which I'm totally lusting after!

DOCTOR WHO: NEVERMORE [2009]

 "SOMETIMES ALL I AM IS A CAT'S PAW!" 

This go round we find the Doctor with his brand new companion Tasmin Drew (Niky Wardley) after the 'companion casting call' of SITUATION VACANT.  With Lucie Bleedin' Miller gone, Tasmin keeps the witty comebacks coming but in a different way than Lucie did.  It's always difficult when a change of companions happens but Wardley quickly makes Tasmin an interesting, entertaining character.  As you've no doubt guessed by the adventure's title, this one is a heavily Edgar Allan Poe inspired outing.  From Big Finish's own blurb:  "  A bizarre manifestation in the Control Room forces the TARDIS onto the Plutonian shores of the irradiated world Nevermore, whose sole inhabitant is the war criminal Morella Wendigo – a prisoner of this devastated planet. But the Doctor and his new companion aren’t Morella’s only visitors. Senior Prosecutor Uglosi fears the arrival of an assassin, after the blood of his prize prisoner. An assassin with claws…There’s no escape from Nevermore, whose raven-like robot jailers serve to demonstrate Uglosi’s macabre obsession with the works of the 19th century horror writer Edgar Allan Poe. An obsession that might yet lead to the premature burial of everyone on the planet’s surface – wreathed in the mist they call the Red Death!"  Not only do they have characters with names straight out of Poe (Morella, Berenice but also a shout-out to the Universal 1934 film THE BLACK CAT; guess what Prosecutor Uglosi's name unscrambles spells!  And also there's another character important to the plot named Verdegast (which is Bela Lugosi's character in THE BLACK CAT as well).  Oh, and yes, while the Doctor is giving Tasmin a tour of the TARDIS, there's suddenly a black puddy tat which the pair chase around.  As if all this wasn't Poe-y enough, the author himself also makes an appearance.  The robotic raven guards are nicely cracked characters themselves that seem not too right in the programming; and their voices are somewhat Dalek-sounding but with enough raveny differences to make them different enough sonically to stand on their own. 

Niky Wardley, Catherine Tate & David Tennant

NEVERMORE is one you really have to listen to closely to unravel all that's going on; in fact, I'll probably give this a second listen eventually to clarify some things.  But the ride is really fun; especially for us Poe fans!  This might start sounding a bit cliched but Paul McGann and Niky Wardley also have a really nice chemistry and work well together from the start.  It's always nice to have a companion who needles the Doctor now and then and Tamsin starts right in with her quips.  When she spots the kitty cat, she automatically thinks it's the Doctor's pet.  "There's two types of men . . . one's a serial killer and the other is one who lives at home and loves his cat . . . and it's nothing to be ashamed of!"  Of course, Niky Wardley has another connection to DOCTOR WHO in that priceless Red Nose Day "Am I Bovvered" sketch with David Tennant alongside Catherine Tate.  Fenella Woodgar as Morella Wendigo gives her character an evil whispery menace which is soooooooooooooo good but not a one note vocalization; she changes to an acid-tongued snarkiness with a knife-sharp sense of humour alternately.  This really works even if the description here doesn't make it sound like it does.  Other heavy hitters in the cast are Emilia Fox (Polanski's THE PIANIST) as Berenice and Michael J. Shannon (who, among other things, played JFK in that episode of RED DWARF) as Senior Prosecutor Uglosi.  There are Poe quotes galore in this story.  In fact, at one point the ravens demand that the Doctor recite from memory Poe's poem THE RAVEN as sort of a password.  Many Poe stories are referenced and, in fact, re-enacted also. NEVERMORE was written by DOCTOR WHO vet Alan Barnes (who penned Paul McGann's first Big Finish adventure STORM WARNING) and directed by Big Finish honcho Nicholas "EXTERMINATE" Briggs.  Somewhat wacky and a little bit spooky, this is an above-average lot of fun! 

DOCTOR WHO: THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY [2000]

 "I FIND THAT CAKE IS AN EXCELLENT SOLUTION TO SO MANY OF LIFE'S PROBLEMS." 

This Big Finish Doctor Who listening project seems to be on it's way to becoming a thing.  This time, I'm re-listening to a classic early Ole Sixie audio -- only Colin Baker's 3rd audio adventure for Big Finish -- from way back in 2000.  I probably haven't listened to this one for about 15 years but it was absolutely as fantastic as I remembered it to be!  Besides being a 10 out of 10, THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY is also the introduction of one of the best Doctor Who companions ever:  Dr. Evelyn Smythe played by the late great Maggie Stables.  The first episode, in which Evelyn is conducting a history class while Ole Sixie's 'device' is beeping annoyingly is priceless; unable to stop the noise, the Doctor is kicked out of Evelyn's lesson.  Back in her abode, Evelyn is humming and knitting when Ole Sixie's voice comes through her letter box.  Reluctant to let the annoying man in, Evelyn eventually does when Ole Sixie pleads to look at some books she has concerning her distant historical relatives.  Oddly, Evelyn's ancestor has disappeared from the history books and a geneology printout; somehow Evelyn's past is being erased!  After gathering up her shampoo, toothbrush and ration of cocoa, Evelyn insists she's going with the Doctor to try to find out what is erasing her past and how to stop it.  The pair arrive in the Tardis back in Tudor England in order to meet with Queen Elizabeth I -- but they're in for a surprise.

THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY is usually considered one of the best Big Finish adventures of Colin Baker's 6th Doctor and one of the best of the range.  This is down to not only the superb writing and directing by Jac Rayner and Gary Russell respectively but also to the absolutely top notch performances of the cast.  Anah Ruddin as Queen Mary Tudor gives a wonderful performance ranging through all the sides of this complex character. 

But the performance of Colin Baker as the Doctor teamed with the marvelous Maggie Stables as Evelyn can't be topped.  As good as I remembered this one to be, it's better.  This, I think, is where the new, softer version of the 6th Doctor is first heard to full effect as Colin Baker is allowed to really play Ole Sixie as he wanted to do all along; the bombastic and cranky qualities of Ole Sixie are still there but the character is fully rounded now as Baker brings a lovely warmth to the part as well.  Maggie Stables is magnificent from the first few seconds of her first appearance matching Baker toe to toe as if they had been acting together for decades!  The two actors were meant to act together.  The first episode, particularly the scene in Evelyn's quarters are pure fried gold and I could listen to it on an endless loop forever!  After causing her to drop a stitch, Evelyn reluctantly lets this annoying man in to look at her books and Ole Sixie sulkily says "A cup of tea would be nice".  Evelyn basically tells the Doctor not to push it.  By the first minute, while Evelyn is in the kitchen preparing a cup and the Doctor tries to find a ringing phone amongst all the clutter, Baker and Stables perform together like a veteran comedy team.  It's really the height of Big Finish audio and every subsequent pairing of Stables with Baker is classic.  We really miss you , Maggie!  Of course, the episode 2 travel back to Tudor England amongst the Catholic and Protestant brouhaha and court intrigue also features top notch writing, acting and directing making this one of Ole Sixie's best audio adventures.  Colin Baker started strong with Big Finish and has just gone from strength to strength ever since.    

DOCTOR WHO: SEASONS OF FEAR [2002]

 SPENDING NEW YEAR'S WITH THE DOCTOR.

  OK, so it's taken me about 20 years to listen to this Big Finish audio but it starts out on New Year's Eve so I thought I'd strike while the iron was ice cold! This is an early one for Number 8; this was only the 30th release of Big Finish's Doctor Who audio adventures and only the 7th audio starring Paul McGann since he triumphantly began his reclamation of the 8th Doctor the previous year along with India Fisher as Charley Pollard .  This is also the very next adventure after the classic THE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT which many consider the greatest Doctor Who audio of them all!  So Big Finish's own synopsis is as follows:

"On New Year's Eve, 1930, the Doctor lets Charley keep her appointment at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what he's done to time by saving her life soon turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy. An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat. The Doctor and Charley desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor and the time vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity."

Yep, that about covers it, I'd say.  The story was written by Doctor Who vet Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox (who also wrote THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA) and directed by Gary Russell.  We also get the return of a classic Doctor Who monster (who comes off much better here than in it's one and only TV appearance) as well as the magnificent Don Warrington as Rassilon!  Talk about a casting coup!!!  And yeah, for a split second, I swear I heard a Dalek at the end of part one!  Is it me?!?!??  I've gotta listen to that again.  And I'm not sure why I'm being coy about not spoiling the classic monster since Big Finish spoils it themselves with the newer version of the CD cover. 

Paul McGann and India Fisher have a really wonderful rapport here (what else is new -- they were superb together since day one) and they work sooooooooooooooooo well together; that's why Charley Pollard is one of my favourite all-time companions!   I also really like the arc of Charley's character in these early audios as she continues to wonder/worry if the Doctor's saving of her life has caused trouble in the timestream; as it clearly did in the previous THE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT.  Charley here flat out asks the Doctor if the time mess in SEASONS OF FEAR is her fault because she should have died in the wreck of the R-101.  I really like the slow realisation over the course of these early 8th Doctor series in which, not only the Doctor and Charley but also the listener begins to get a sneaking suspicion that the Doctor screwed up the timestream by rescuing Charley -- no matter how much we wanted him to do so at the time.  There is a nice foreboding in these early stories which make us feel that there WILL be consequences down the line.  Charley is such a great companion because she doesn't just stand around asking questions or cowering; she is a woman of action!  At one point Charley gets ahold of a sword and comes to the Doctor's aid (even though the Doc told her to go somewhere safe while he deals with the villain).  Our Edwardian-era Charley is no shrinking violet and hangs on to the sword because she quite fancies having one.  The quips and dialogue between McGann and Fisher are particularly tasty and their chemistry between the two actors is simply magical -- as if they'd been working together for decades -- which, by 2023 they actually HAVE been now!  But the chemistry was there from their very first audio adventure in STORM WARNING when they both joined Big Finish in 2001.The Cornell and Symcox story also makes full use of the time-travelling aspect of DOCTOR WHO with trips to several eras and several incarnations of the villainous Grayle in each time period.  Think Julian Glover in the TV adventure CITY OF DEATH.  Stephen Perring as Grayle gives an excellent performance as well as he brings distinct character beats to the character which match his different time period experiences; he goes from pleasant and inncocent to evil and nasty depending on which part of the timestream he's in, 

Having gotten out of the habit of listening to Doctor Who audio adventures in the last few years, I'm making it sort of a New Year's resolution to dive back into them -- old and new -- especially the adventures of Doctor # 8 and Ole Sixie who, let's face it, are the best Doctors on Big Finish!

DOCTOR WHO: THE BAD PENNY [2018]

"STAY BACK!  I . . . . HAVE . . . . LUGGAGE!"

"THE BAD PENNY" is the 2nd story in the 4 disc Big Finish box set "THE FOURTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES SERIES 7:  VOLUME 2".  The story is written by Dan Starkey (who viewers of the modern DOCTOR WHO series will recognise as the Sontaran Strax from the Tennant, Smith & Capaldi series) and directed by Nicholas Briggs (voice of the modern Daleks and head honcho of Big Finish Productions).  From the CD blurb:  "In the 1970s, hotelier Ron Tulip is having a difficult time. Many of his customers seem to be absconding without payment. The few who remain complain of strange noises and terrible sleep. And to top it all he’s just been summoned to the VIP suite... which is something of a problem as he didn’t even realise the hotel had one. When turbulence in time takes the TARDIS off course, the Doctor and Leela find themselves visiting the same establishment and in the middle of a temporal paradox and a terrible plan. Because that’s the thing about the Cross-Keys hotel. You can check in... but you can never leave."    . . . . this rather light-hearted adventure is something like a cross between DOCTOR WHO and FAWLTY TOWERS.  

Once in a while, Tom Baker can sound a little tired (but for a man his age this is totally acceptable); however in "THE BAD PENNY" he sounds like a man half his age and performs his lines with a vigor that makes me think he has a REAL Tardis and has travelled from the 1970's to record this Big Finish adventure!  In fact, the chemistry between Baker and Louise Jameson as Leela is absolutely brilliant with them playing off one another like dear, long-time friends (which, of course, they are).  It doesn't hurt that the script is full of one-liners including the one up there at the top of this post which Leela speaks as she tries to wield the overly-heavy suitcase of a time-tossed woman who is on her way to 'Michelle's hen party'.  Leela comes back with a typical Leela line:  "I do not know Michelle . . . or her hen!"  In another scene, when the Doctor is mistaken for a jazz musician due to his garb, Tom Baker gleefully says, "Ohhh, thank you!  Well, I have been known to tinkle the ivories now and then.  Da da da da da DAH!  BOOM!  But mostly I play the fool!"

All this witty dialogue aside, "THE BAD PENNY" is not a comedy but has a straight-ahead timey-wimey story that includes a nasty monster and genuine consequences while still managing to include some smiles.  The characters who are thrown together from many different time periods are eccentric in that most British way.  But most of all the joy of a fun and entertaining script gives us one of the best Tom Baker/Louise Jameson double acts we've heard yet!

DOCTOR WHO: STATIC [2017]

"WE ARE ALSO ARMED.  AND THE DEAD OUTNUMBER THE LIVING!"

"STATIC" is one of the best DOCTOR WHO audio adventures I've listened to and is surely at the top of the heap as far as Big Finish's audios go!  Written by Jonathan Morris (who gave us such corkers as BLOODTIDE, THE HAUNTING OF THOMAS BREWSTER and THE CRIMES OF THOMAS BREWSTER) and directed by Jamie Anderson (AND YOU WILL OBEY ME, VAMPIRE OF THE MIND and THE TWO MASTERS) provide one of the genuinely scary and creepy entries in Ole Sixie's (or any other Doctor's) career.  I listened to it on the recommendation of the indispensible Doc Oho whose glowing review (beware Doc Oho's reviews have spoilers) gave "STATIC" a 10 out of 10!  I was looking for a really great Big Finish Doctor Who I didn't already have and this one actually lived up to the high praise!

From the back of the compact discy comes this quite good blurb:   "Deep in the heart of nowhere, near a place called Abbey Marston, there’s a caravan site. The perfect place to get away from it all. Close by, there’s a stone circle they used for human sacrifice in olden times. A little further afield, there’s an old RAF research station, where they did hush-hush things in the war. There’s only one rule: the use of radios, cassette recorders and portable televisions is strictly forbidden. People come here to get away from it all, you see. No-one wants to hear the noise. No-one wants to hear the voices in the static… No-one wants to hear the ghosts." . . . and the creep factor rushes in 100%!  There are indeed ghostly voices in the static as well as warning not to answer a ringing phone . . . if you know what's good for you.  There are indeed also reanimated dead and strange, goop-covered bodies found inside trees.

Miranda Raison, Colin Baker & Lisa Greenwood

In this story, even though it IS a few years old, Colin Baker continues to reign as the greatest Doctor as far as audio adventures are concerned (with Paul McGann a close second).  The absolute renaissance Big Finish gave to Colin Baker's portrayal of the Doctor puts the TV adventures to shame.  Here is where Colin Baker shines and the stories in which he appears are usually superbly written as well.  Here Ole Sixie faces the ghoulish goings-on with his companions the World War II-era WREN Mrs. Constance Clark (Miranda Raison) and rambunctious teenager Flip (Lisa Greenwood) who, while both unfamiliar to me as this was my first time encountering them, quickly fit in like a pair of old gloves. 

David Graham & Nicholas Briggs

Special mention should also be made of the presence of veteran actor David Graham here as the quite scary and occasional axe-wielding Percy Till.  Graham goes back almost to the very beginning of DOCTOR WHO when in 1963 he voiced a certain pack of pepperpots in the serial "THE DALEKS" as well as "THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH", "THE CHASE" and "THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN" as well as appearing as Charlie the barman in "THE GUNFIGHTERS" and as scientist Professor Kerensky in "CITY OF DEATH".  If a stranger to the great job Big Finish has done with DOCTOR WHO audio adventures over many years, this would be a pretty good place to start.  And if you're looking for a fantastically good Big Finish DOCTOR WHO you haven't heard yet, here's a terrific one!