vivdunstan

Big Finish currently has an up to 50% sale on its Companion Chronicles series of Doctor Who audios. Many are available to buy only in download form now, but they are offered DRM-free, in MP3 and M4B formats that you can download to keep, as well as play in the Big Finish mobile app. The current sale runs through until 23:59 (UK time) on 5th May 2025.

The Companion Chronicles audios from Big Finish audios are reduced cast audio plays, told usually by a single main companion, with a small additional cast added on. This works surprisingly well, and they are IMHO one of the strongest series of audios that Big Finish ever produced. Each Companion Chronicles story is typically about an hour long.

Ones reduced in the sale that I would especially recommend are, focusing on the lower priced ones, all available as downloads for £1.99:

• Frostfire, set in Regency London, with 1st Doctor companion Vicki. One of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories ever.
• The Transit of Venus, an adventure for the original TARDIS crew, narrated by Ian.
• Find and Replace, with an older Jo Grant meeting the 3rd Doctor again. Plus bonus Iris Wildthyme. Phenomenally moving.
• The Magician's Oath, a story from 3rd Doctor companion Mike Yates, with surprising emotional heft.
• The Mahogany Murderers, that would form the template for a spinoff Big Finish audio series starring 4th Doctor friends Jago & Litefoot.
• Solitaire, 8th Doctor companion Charley Pollard meets the Celestial Toymaker. And the Doctor is a ventriloquist's dummy ...

There are other fantastic stories in the range. But for just £1.99 each I have no hesitation in recommending any of the ones above.

On to the first in season 5 of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audios. And a rather unusual one, where at the start Benny's young son Peter activates Benny's time and space travelling rings, leading to a manic chase through strange times and places.

As with many Benny audios in this period this one calls back to old stories. The time rings that Peter uses to transport the group through time and space were a gift from the Seventh Doctor to Benny and Jason, in novel Happy Endings, and were also used as a plot element in a number of subsequent novels featuring Benny. Many of which were made into audios later by Big Finish.

But the story also calls back to the First Doctor TV story "The Chase". Which I haven't seen or heard, any more than I've read Happy Endings or read/heard the other time ring stories. There is even a Grel who seems to sound like William Hartnell's First Doctor early on in this audio, though I'm not sure if that was intentional! But at least I didn't need to know about the earlier TV story, even if it means I miss some of the connections.

It's a truly bizarre set of adventures, that's often extremely funny. The Grel chasing Benny and team are consistently good value on entertainment grounds. And the dialogue between Benny, Jason, their friend Sophia and robot assistant Joseph is also often laugh out loud hilarious.

Oh and I didn't previously know who the Grel were either - they first appeared in Doctor Who novel Oh No It Isn't, another Virgin New Adventures story Big Finish turned into an early Benny audio, that I haven't heard either! But the very useful Tardis Wiki told me probably all that I needed to know, with the description "Squid-like humanoid". And it was fine.

In a nutshell this was a lot of fun. It also creatively developed the ongoing story of Benny, young Peter and Jason. And I laughed a lot. Though I'm not a fan of the new Benny title music. The previous theme was much more fun. Also sounded a lot less like Space Invaders or Galaxian.