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.

Another in this slow going series from me, and this time I'm going for the easiest fandom of all for me to tackle!

I first started watching Doctor Who in 1978, aged 5, very shortly to be 6, with "The Ribos Operation" and the Key to Time 16th series with Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor paired with the glorious Mary Tamm as the first Romana. I was vaguely aware of Doctor Who before, but don't think I'd ever properly watched it. Certainly when I got my first Doctor Who annual, which featured Louise Jameson's Leela, I was utterly baffled. Though happy to go with the flow.

From that moment on Doctor Who was a fixed viewing point in our house, with Dad and me both hugely enjoying it. I loved the first version of Romana, but was shocked by the second - my first experience of Time Lord regeneration. And then we got to Logopolis, and yes, that was a shock too. Though I recognised Peter Davison from All Creatures Great and Small, and quickly took to his version of the Doctor with no problems.

I continued as a fan throughout the 1980s. Dad was often exasperated by some of the 1980s Doctors, especially Sylvester McCoy, but I remained a fan throughout. Loved the often bonkers storytelling. It did feel very much of its time. I continued to get a Doctor Who annual most years, but never joined fan organisations then like DWAS. Though I was generally reading Doctor Who Magazine every month throughout the 1980s.

I do remember trying to see a Doctor Who exhibition at Burntisland. My parents and I travelled the long distance up from the Scottish Borders by car, then got a train near Edinburgh to go over to Fife for the day. And there was supposed to be a Doctor Who exhibition there. But it wasn't there when we got there. I was disappointed. Though I do remember enjoying a helter skelter!

And then we got to 1989, and the end of TV Who. And I fell away. I remember joining a Doctor Who fan club at St Andrews University in 1990, but had a really unpleasant experience as a female fan and immediately left. It's just possible that it was a more generic scifi fan club, though if so I think it was still heavily Who leaning. I never knew about the Virgin New Adventures novels at the time, and completely stopped reading Doctor Who Magazine.

Then, somehow, and I still don't know how it happened, I completely missed that there was going to be a new Doctor Who TV Movie in 1996. I didn't even know it was on. Martin also failed to notice that - he would have mentioned it if he'd seen it. So we completely missed it. I also had no idea for many years that Paul McGann had played the part.

And that was how things remained, until 26th September 2003, and the news that Doctor Who was going to return with a new series. I saw that news on Ceefax, and it was like a total bolt out of the blue. And prompted me to return to the series, check out some books that had come out, start reading Doctor Who Magazine regularly again, and try my first Big Finish audio: The Chimes of Midnight, with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor I'd never heard or seen before. Listened to on my own in our new home in 2004. Magic.

Writing up brief reviews of a couple more stories in my Matt Smith era rewatch, which is nearly over. As I write these reviews it is currently Doctor Who's 61st birthday. Happy birthday to my all time favourite TV show, which I have watched almost continuously (I didn't know about and missed the 1996 TV movie!?) during its broadcasts ever since 1978 and the Key to Time series.

I am going to discuss spoilers, but not put them into spoiler space after all this time. Look away if in doubt though.

These two stories, as well as the Night of the Doctor minisode between and The Time of the Doctor after, provide a quadrology of "of the Doctor" stories. Which is a surprisingly little used title form for the series. Though recently we had "The Power of the Doctor" with Jodie Whittaker.

"Name" provides an answer to the long running Clara mystery, with her jumping into the Doctor's time stream, and scattering into splinters. This was a satisfying resolution for me, and also neatly handled in a way that led in to the mystery of John Hurt's War Doctor.

Not so good was the rest of the episode for me. It felt like it had too many things packed in, and lots didn't get enough depth. I liked the conference call, with Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Clara and River. I liked the farewell between River and the Doctor. But so much else, including Richard E Grant's Great Intelligence and the Whisper Men, was just too much thrown in. Of course without REG we wouldn't have seen Clara jump into the Doctor's time stream. Yes, REG's character was necessary. But a lot felt clumsy, and too thinly spread.

"Day" by contrast has an extended running time. 77 minutes versus 44 minutes for "Night". and it needed that to balance its many elements. There are slower, more thoughtful moments, such as John Hurt's War Doctor's trudge to the barn. But these are matched by numerous hectic action scenes. And just so many ingredients. Elizabeth I and Zygons, UNIT in the present day Tower of London, Gallifrey during the Time War, the High Council of Gallifrey, Doctors and their TARDISes swirling. But somehow, and even though it feels as though it shouldn't, it works. Really well.

Even the three main incarnations of the Doctor on screen are each given sufficient time. It does feel like a Matt Smith episode though. He's at the start and end, bookmarking, and is in no way outshone by David Tennant or the War Doctor. I *love* how the War Doctor effortlessly sums up the other pair in a few words, far from flattering. Billie Piper, this time as a sentient interface to a weapon of mass destruction, works too. And yes, Clara is also well handled. This is by far the best representation of her since The Snowmen, though Steven Moffat writing her again will have helped. It was a little strange to realise there must have been quite a time jump, for her to qualify as a teacher. Of course she's at Coal Hill School. But that's ok too.

Ultimately though the episode is a love letter to the past. The scene where multiple Doctor incarnations appear briefly to save Gallifrey is epic. This was the first time my husband had any clue about the next doctor after Matt Smith, and he recognised Peter Capaldi immediately from just his eyebrows! The best nod to the past for me though had to be Tom Baker's appearance. I'd heard a hint that he might appear, but forgot when watching. And then was in tears seeing it on screen. The doctor of my first years as a fan, and still one of my all time favourites. And played and scripted so beautifully.

So yes, a lot to like. I would also highly recommend the Target novelisation of this, written by Steven Moffat himself. Which plays with the structure and details in a highly imaginative way. A great read, even if you think you know the version from the telly.

Just one more Matt Smith story to go. To quote my all time favourite doctor "I don't want to go ..."

Watched this about 1AM in the morning, after it had downloaded on our Sky Q box. Which lags a bit in the download going live versus iPlayer in the UK or Disney+ outside the UK. Going to put this in spoiler space. ( spoilers )

I don't listen to many audiobooks now. I mean books read by a narrator - not audio plays like most Big Finish Doctor Who audios. I'm too heavily asleep for much of the time, and can find them difficult to keep up with. But I've just treated myself to a Big Finish audio novel coming out very soon, that combines the Third and Fourth Doctors, with their Sarah Janes. It's read by Jon Culshaw who from the trailer sounds like he's doing a fine job of the two Doctors. His Sarahs aren't so good, to be expected. But I think I will enjoy it a lot. At 535 minutes duration it will take me a very long time to get through it all though!