Episode 228: Susan’s War (Big Finish).

Martyn takes 30mins out of relocating Bad Wilf Towers, to record a quick podcast with Richard from Megan and her poncho boys to discuss the Big Finish audio ‘Susan’s War‘.

Gallifrey needs every Time Lord to fight the Time War. A summons has been issued across the universe to its prodigals. Whatever their skills, the war effort can use them.

Susan’s call-up papers have arrived, and, unlike her grandfather, she is willing to join her people’s battle and finally return home.

Because Susan knows the Daleks, and she will do her duty…

Susan’s War is available to purchase directly from Big Finish.

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Big Finish review-Torchwood: The Sins of Captain John

The Sins of Captain John is a Torchwood release that boasts a fun and engaging four-episode story arc written by David Llewellyn. From zombies in Restoration London to the gates of Hell crashing a funeral, James Marsters as Captain John Hart leads the audience on a wild, unpredictable ride. This release is not suitable for younger listeners due to its adult themes and language.

James Marsters truly shines in his portrayal of the swashbuckling Captain John, and it’s clear that he has a great deal of affection for the character. He breaks the fourth wall with ease, creating a connection with the audience akin to that of the Whoniverse’s answer to Deadpool. Even the director gets in on the fun in a moment where Captain John laments not being able to hear the theme song. It’s an incredible performance by James Marsters as Captain John Hart. Marsters delivers an absolutely stellar performance, showcasing his versatility as an actor and his ability to portray a wide range of emotions. He has the ability to convey the complex emotions of his character. Captain John is a complex character, and Marsters does an excellent job of portraying his many facets. He can be charming and witty one moment, and then cruel and ruthless the next. It’s a testament to Marsters’ skill as an actor that he is able to make all of these aspects of Captain John feel so believable. It’s evident that Marsters has a deep affection for the character, and he seems to relish every moment of his time as Captain John.

One of the things that makes Marsters’ portrayal of Captain John so enjoyable is his ability to break the fourth wall effortlessly. He talks directly to the audience, often making fun of his own situation and poking fun at the other characters. This creates a unique connection between Captain John and the audience, and it makes the listening experience all the more enjoyable.

David Llewellyn’s script is both fast-paced and funny, and Scott Handcock’s direction expertly matches the tone of the story. The supporting cast is also incredibly talented, each giving a memorable performance without outshining Captain John.

Overall, The Sins of Captain John is an excellent addition to the Torchwood canon, and fans of the show will undoubtedly enjoy this latest instalment. It’s been 12 years since we first met the character, and it’s great to hear James Marsters back in the role, leading us on his own adventures. The only thing left to say is, to roll on to Volume 2!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Finish review-Torchwood: Fortitude

Fortitude is a remarkable example of small-scale storytelling. Despite its limited cast and singular setting, writer James Goss has crafted an engrossing and atmospheric tale that blends character-driven drama with suspenseful action. From the moment Queen Victoria and Maharaja Duleep Singh find themselves stranded on a storm-battered fort, the audience is drawn into a world where sinister forces are at work. As the tension mounts and the characters encounter ghosts and a menacing alien force, the stakes are raised to a fever pitch.

The strength of Fortitude lies in its characterisations. Paul Bazely’s portrayal of Duleep Singh is particularly noteworthy, capturing the intense emotions of a man who has lost everything. Rowena Cooper’s performance as Queen Victoria is equally impressive, portraying a monarch who is both cunning and ruthless. Even the supporting character of Colonel Crackenthorpe, played by Mark Elstob, is given significant depth and nuance. As the story unfolds, the audience learns more about his motivations and past, adding to the complexity of the overall narrative.

Like many Torchwood stories, Fortitude explores dark themes and contains mature content. However, unlike some of the more gratuitous entries in the series, the adult material in Fortitude serves a purpose, highlighting the complex relationships and moral dilemmas at play.

Overall, Fortitude is a triumph of storytelling, with an excellent script, first-rate performances, and haunting sound design. It is one of the best Torchwood audios to date, offering an adventure that will appeal to fans of historical fiction, science fiction, and captivating storytelling.

Torchwood: Fortitude is available to buy directly from Big Finish.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review-Torchwood: Dead man’s switch

One of the most intriguing characters from Torchwood on TV was Bilis Manger, the creepy time traveller portrayed by Murray Melvin. While his potential was never fully realised on the show, Big Finish has once again demonstrated their talent for taking supporting characters and making them shine in this latest production. In Dead Man’s Switch, Bilis is at his best and most sinister.

The story begins with three strangers – an antique dealer, a property developer, and a heartbroken hairdresser – sitting on a train going nowhere. They are soon joined by the enigmatic Bilis, who has a chilling message for them: he wants to tell them how they died.

As with many Big Finish audios, Dead Man’s Switch is a departure from the usual Torchwood fare.

The three guest actors are perfectly cast, but it is Murray Melvin who truly steals the show with his masterful portrayal of Bilis Manger. His gravitas and otherworldly aura are palpable, making his return in future productions eagerly anticipated.

One of the standout features of Dead Man’s Switch is David Llewellyn’s exceptional script. His talent for crafting multi-layered characters and intricate plots is on full display in this production, and he takes full advantage of the audio medium to create a palpable sense of dread and tension throughout.

The dialogue is sharp and evocative, capturing the distinct voices and personalities of each character. The pacing is masterful, with the story slowly building towards its gruesome conclusion. Llewellyn’s attention to detail and willingness to take risks make Dead Man’s Switch one of the most memorable Torchwood audios to date.

Overall, Dead Man’s Switch is a testament to the power of great writing in audio drama. It showcases the incredible potential of the medium to tell gripping stories and immerse listeners in terrifying new worlds.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review – Space: 1999 – Breakout

This is Wilf Base Alpha.

I cannot know if you will receive this message but I’ve just heard ‘Breakaway,’ the new Space: 1999 audio drama from Big Finish.

Why would they do this? This ‘reimagining’ of the TV programme from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who brought us the likes of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and UFO. Twenty years to the day after the 13th of September 1999, when the events of the original 1975 series began.

The Andersons and producer Reg Hill were known for intricately beautiful miniature effects and stylish designs in futuristic adventures on the small screen, the sort of thing parents show their kids when when they want them to grow up to be engineers.

By the time Space: 1999 was broadcast they’d made some progress toward widening their audience, mixing their love of technology and thrills with some nice moments of humanity. But the programme remained primarily a visual spectacle.

Big Finish love stories, however, and this one’s worth bringing into the future. A cataclysm with dire consequences for all Humanity is played out on the eve of its first foray to a distant planet.

A mysterious and deadly illness strikes the pilots of Eagle transporters, spacecraft servicing space voyage preparations at Moonbase Alpha. The base’s chief medical officer Helena Russell is aided in her search for a cure by John Koenig, who flies out from Earth to take command of the lunar city. As the nature of the disease becomes apparent, the scope of their crisis expands to disastrous proportions.

Big Finish have invigorated the adventure with a better sense of pace (that’s not to say they don’t let moments hang where they should) and a refreshing emphasis on character drama. The delightful gadgets of the original ‘1999’ can still be heard in use – Eagles, Moonbase travel tubes and hand-held Commlocks – it’s just that a model-maker’s sort of skill is instead applied to the intricacy of the soundscape.

There’s an interesting use of music in this story. Beyond simply hinting and sweetening action in progress, composer Benji Clifford inserts brief musical interludes to excite us in tantalising moments, such as the retrieval of an escape pod containing an unidentified passenger. Fans of the original series will appreciate familiar melodies amid the score, in addition to a familiar but fresh version of the original theme tune.

The unique selling point of this audio drama is no gimmick: it’s obeisance to the fact that what happens with the characters is everything. It makes this speculative exercise of the imagination into something we respond to as if it were really happening. Eagle transporters are cool but the challenge of surviving one crashing is really where it’s at.

Commander Koenig is played by Mark Bonnar, an actor familiar to Doctor Who viewers as the working father Jimmy in The Matt Smith story Rebel Flesh and as the supervillian known as The Eleven, who besets Paul McGann’s Doctor in audio. Mark hails from Edinburgh and follows the likes of Hugh Laurie in delivering an American accent good enough to live in. His Koenig is very relatable; the pain of each challenge glows darkly over him but his endurance shines brightly.

Maria Teresa Creasey is a new name to many of us – California born and New York educated, she’s nonetheless been rolled into a variety of UK productions. The Dr Russell she plays here is refreshingly active in the way she squares off against the impossible situation presented. It allows us to get get a good sense of her character early on. Big Finish have assembled a good pair of leaders in Creasey and Bonnar.

This 2019 view of an imagined, futuristic past makes an interesting novelty. A particular ‘minced oath’ dropped by Helene is a few years out of date by our standards but it comes from a time far beyond 1975. It’s not too far off from 1999, though. It kept me on my toes as I speculated on what might and might not be possible for the inhabitants of this story’s world.

A contemporary zeitgeist captured here (and one of my favourite Anglicisms) is brinkmanship. Both versions of ‘Breakaway’ begin by hiding Moonbase’s dire situation from Koenig but here, the stakes are higher: crowds of the general public are on Alpha, unaware of the expanding epidemic of pilot illness. The administration on Earth responds to this by redoubling its efforts to cover it all up.

Writer/director Nicholas Briggs has sanded smooth a number of rough edges that marred the uneven TV pilot. Sci-fi’s best known writer Isaac Asimov famously had a go at the old series’ scientific implausibility. The fantastic catastrophe played out in audio presents us with a nice combination of nods to real science and plausible fantasy. This puts our focus back on the drama and adds weight to its consequences.

Flawed as it was, the old Space: 1999 sometimes captured the awe felt by those of us who remember the Apollo space programme. I can barely wait to hear how this new crew face the unknown because what we can count on is that the characters and situations here are in good hands.

Space: 1999 – ‘Breakaway’ is available now from Big Finish.

Beeblepete out.

Review – Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon

The Dimension Cannon gives the character Rose Tyler her own series, in four audio dramas by Big Finish Productions. Billie Piper reprises her role as the first of The Doctor’s travelling companions in 21st century Doctor Who.

Shop girl turned sci-fi action hero Rose Tyler is consigned to a parallel universe with her mum, Jackie (Camille Coduri) and a parallel version of her dear departed dad, Pete (Shaun Dingwall). They’ve turned their attention to helping protect not only their world from extraordinary threats but also many other Earths. They’re following in the footsteps of Rose’s beloved Doctor: the charismatic, time-travelling space alien whose defence of Rose’s Earth left her separated from it – and him.

The Dimension Cannon offers Rose a chance to bring The Doctor back into the fight – and into her life again. For short periods of time the cannon allows her to visit other parallel universes that offer clues to the whereabouts of The Doctor. On her first trip she’s reunited with a parallel version of Clive, a conspiracy theorist who was murdered in Rose’s universe. Bark Benton reprises the role of Clive throughout the set and it’s good fun to have him back.

The four stories take us to four new parallel versions of London, where we’re introduced to startling alternate versions of the well-loved characters that head up this series. This collection of audios is not so much a spin-off from Doctor Who as it’s a spiritual follow-on from ‘Father’s Day,’ the episode that introduced us to the ‘original’ Pete Tyler and led us through dark times leading up to his death.

Chasing The Doctor inevitably means getting to know the locals in each different London and Rose finds she already knows many of them all too well. She gets personally involved in the lives of the people she meets, encountering Jackie, Pete and others in slightly different forms. It makes arriving in each universe a treat for the listener – and leaving each of them is tough all round.

Big Finish tie-in plays lure us into the audio realm by offering us characters and situations that are proven successes on television. They honour these successes with intriguing stories that at least equal their predecessors in quality. Rose’s story in Doctor Who has a lot of heart – and heartbreak. These new tales are equally engaging character pieces.

By presenting so many alternate versions of the original roles played by the cast, the normally-invisible work of the actors gets a bit of a peek into the limelight. I was properly immersed in and moved by the drama here but I also enjoyed listening for the subtle differences between the characters parallel to each other.

I’m very much opposed to more for more’s sake; I hate seeing delightful series run down by commercial supplements. You’ll find none of that here in Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon. This box set revisits the Tylers in a clever way that gives us more of what we’re counting on in ways that constantly surprise.

Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon is available now from Big Finish.

Big Finish review-Torchwood: The Hope

If you’re a fan of the Big Finish Torchwood range, be prepared for their latest release, “The Hope”. As always, the warning “This release contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners” is not just a formality – this audio play by James Goss delves into some dark, unsettling territory.

The story revolves around Megwyn Jones, a notorious figure in Britain due to her role in a scandal involving a home for troubled children in Snowdonia called The Hope. The children disappeared, and Megwyn’s silence about their fate has only fueled speculation about her guilt.

The audio play explores this mystery and raises disturbing questions about what really happened at The Hope.

While the topic of a convicted child-murderer is not an easy one to tackle, James Goss has crafted a masterpiece here. The audio play is deeply unsettling, but also compelling and rewarding. Burn Gorman and Tom Price, who previously showed their chemistry in Corpse Day, are back and deliver stunning performances that are both powerful and chilling.

Siân Phillips is also mesmerising as Megwyn Jones, making the character both detestable and fascinating at the same time.

The Hope stands in stark contrast to last month’s “Serenity”, but that’s what makes the Big Finish Torchwood range so great. This audio play is an example of Torchwood at its absolute best – daring, thought-provoking, and not afraid to delve into the darkest corners of the human psyche.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Finish review-Torchwood:Serenity

Welcome to Serenity Plaza, the most prestigious gated community in South Wales. Jack and Ianto have been sent on an undercover mission to investigate rumors of something sinister happening within its walls. The catch? They have to pretend to be a happy, married couple.

As they delve deeper into the seemingly perfect world of Serenity Plaza, Jack and Ianto begin to face the everyday challenges that normal couples do: sharing household chores, participating in the residents’ baking contest, and vying for the title of Best Kept Lawn. But this is no ordinary competition – this is Serenity Plaza, and some residents are willing to go to extreme lengths to come out on top.

James Moran, writer of the series 2 episode “Sleeper,” has crafted a sequel that builds upon the original threat and adds new layers of complexity. With clever writing that plays to the strengths of the audio medium, Moran has created a logical continuation of the story.

Fans of the popular Jack and Ianto relationship will delight in their interactions here, as John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd showcase their chemistry and comedic timing. Ianto’s Stepford Wife-like behavior and exaggerated Welshness add to the hilarity of the situation.

Overall, Torchwood: Serenity is a laugh-out-loud adventure that will keep fans of the series thoroughly entertained. Don’t miss out on this exciting audio drama!

Episode 207: James Dreyfus

I had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon, with 90’s sitcom legend James Dreyfus.

We sat in his living room and geeked out about 70’s horror movies, we discussed if Gimme Gimme Gimme could work in today’s current climate. I got to gush about how great he is as The Master. James told me about his future ambitions and, I confessed to a bizarre rule that I still adhere to..

James Dreyfus is an English actor, most notable for his roles on television sitcoms The Thin Blue Line as Constable Kevin Goody, and Gimme Gimme Gimme as Tom Farrell. More recently, he has moved into voice acting-playing The Master for Big Finish.



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Episode 201:Torchwood-Sargasso

In which Martyn flies solo and brings you a review of the latest Torchwood release by Big Finish.

The seas of planet Earth are choked by plastic. Plastic that no-one has a use for and no-one can get rid of. Rhys Williams finds himself stranded on a container ship in a sea of debris. People on board are dying. Because, luckily, someone’s found a solution to Earth’s polluted waters. The Nestene Consciousness can never have too much plastic.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Amazon Music, PodchaserPlayer FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

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Torchwood contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners.

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