Big Finish Productions

Review: Doctor Who – Scorched Earth

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Review by Jacob Licklider

It isn’t often when Doctor Who takes advantage of having companions from different time periods, and when it does they often don’t do stories about how characters from different times
would interact with being out of their time. Yes, it is often standard for a modern companion to find some aspect of history to their distaste due to modern sensibilities. This month’s main range release from Big Finish Production is in the unique position to not only have a modern-day companion react to the past, but a companion from the past react to their personal future.
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Review: Doctor Who – Shadow Of The Sun

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Review by Jacob Licklider

Let’s all be honest, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many industries, including the arts and avenues of entertainment, to grind to a halt; whilst there is plenty of misinformation about the
pandemic itself around. With television and film delays and potential cancellations, you would think that a small company like Big Finish Productions wouldn’t be able to keep up, but because they are small they’re able to keep going and find creative workarounds through the quarantines. Shadow of the Sun is the second release to come because of the pandemic and the first to feature a full cast. Continue reading →

Review: The Paternoster Gang – Heritage 3

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Review by Jacob Licklider

The Paternoster Gang: Heritage has been a four set miniseries exploring the characters which Steven Moffat retconned as the Paternoster Gang in The Name of the Doctor and the third set to be released from Big Finish Productions is the first to actually live up to the “heritage” subtitle. Heritage 3 is three stories each taking a look at the family or society that each member of the
Paternoster Gang hails from. It’s also the first set to feel like there may actually be a story arc forming for the next story with hints of a coming apocalypse that Madame Vastra has her own little part to play on. I’d say more on that later, but it is all setup and saved for the final set which has been announced and will be released later this year with a special guest appearance which I will not spoil here. Continue reading →

Review: Class – Volume 3 & 4

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Review by Jacob Licklider

Class is simply an odd series at its conception and connection to Doctor Who.  Announced in 2015 as a spin-off, the reaction to it was overall negative and who could blame it?  The only connection the show has is that it takes place at the same school as the first ten minutes of An Unearthly Child and that the Doctor shows up in the first episode.  It ran for eight episodes in 2016, ended on a cliffhanger, and was quietly cancelled a year later.  Major criticisms of the show were that it was generic and had characters closer to a soap opera than a science fiction program.  The show was revived in 2018 by Big Finish Production with a deal to make 12 hour long episodes set during the series, though not following up on the cliffhanger and released their first six.  It would not be until late April of 2020 that the other six would be produced and released as Class: Volume 3 and Class: Volume 4 and like most things in the Doctor Who universe that isn’t well received, Big Finish Productions have taken the potential Class had and allowed the actors to fulfil said potential.

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British Writer Wally K. Daly Passes Away

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English television and radio writer and former chairman of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Wally K. Daly has died, aged 79.

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Big Finish Presents Doctor Who – The Chimes Of Midnight Listening Party!

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The very first social media listening party hosted by Big Finish will be happening this week.

On Friday 1 May at precisely 7pm (UK time), the very first Big Finish listening party will get underway, with a live stream of Doctor Who: The Chimes of Midnight, the Doctor Who Magazine poll-winning audio drama starring Paul McGann as the Doctor and India Fisher as his Edwardian adventuress companion, Charley.

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Review: Doctor Who – Cry of the Vultriss

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Review by Jacob Licklider

April’s main range release is ‘Cry of the Vultriss’ and kicks off 2020’s Sixth Doctor trilogy and is notable for featuring Flip Jackson and Constance Clarke as companions after a nearly two-and-a-
half-year hiatus due to scheduling conflicts. The last release to feature this team was ‘Static released in December 2017 which ended with a dramatic twist and as such in this review there will be spoilers for both ‘Static’ and ‘Cry of the Vultriss’ in this review, you have been warned!


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Review: Torchwood – Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes #4

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Review by Michael Goleniewski

Torchwood as a spinoff and as an organisation is no stranger to bouts of experimentation. In the course of its existence both on and off-screen, the series has delivered some of the oddest sci-fi stories ever created answering questions such as ‘what would happen if people stopped dying?’ to ‘what would happen if there was sentient gas who existed on the energy of orgasms to survive?’ But ‘Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes’ is perhaps the most experimental Torchwood story yet; answering the question: what would happen if you made a sci-fi adventure out of a self-help stress release tape without any of the main cast and only one voice moving you through?

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Review: The Lives of Captain Jack (Vol. 3)

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Review by Jacob Licklider

The three sets thus far in The Lives of Captain Jack are an interesting experiment as while the Torchwood range is a continuation of that show and that very adult brand; The Lives of Captain Jack is contained with the ‘from the worlds of Doctor Who‘ banner. This means that there isn’t explicit adult content which expands the audience for this release to a much wider range of listeners. The third volume is the first story to be released by Big Finish Productions to feature both Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman and Alex Kingston’s River Song; bringing together two of the most memorable characters from the revival. This gives fans a story that they have been asking for since both characters made a lasting imprint and Jack was supposed to appear with River in ‘A Good Man Goes to War’.

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Review: Doctor Who – Subterfuge

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Review by Jacob Licklider

Helen Goldwyn writing a Doctor Who story set in World War II is an excellent pitch for Big Finish Productions to take up.  Goldwyn has extensive acting and directing experience, being a part of Big Finish Productions since the very beginning with her first work being in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor and The Secret of Cassandra.  Most recently she showed an incredible understanding of wartime as one of four writers on Louise Jameson’s Big Finish Original ATA Girl.  Subterfuge takes place at the tail end of World War II and deals with Winston Churchill’s campaign as leader of the Conservative Party and eventual loss to Clement Attlee, the Labour leader of the time who took the position of Prime Minister.  Ian McNeice returns to the role of Winston Churchill and is brought into conflict with Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor and Rufus Hound’s Meddling Monk.  Subterfuge juggles two distinct storyline tied into the campaign: first is the Monk’s attempts to get Churchill reelected and the second is a series of terrorist attacks by a group of aliens and spies that the Doctor has to find a solution to while dealing with the Monk’s meddling.

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