Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233248 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Nothing to condemn here
This is a smashing story and one of the best offerings from the Big Finish team since they started creating original `past Doctor' audio adventures. Colin Baker has yet again proved that without the garish costume and the upheavals that epitomised his tenure as the Sixth TV Doctor, he could have been the best Doctor of all. His sonorous tones and arrogant enthusiasm are perfect for audio and he is obviously enjoying himself here as the prime suspect in a murder in modern Manchester. Another bold (and if this is anything to go by, resoundingly successful) move was to bring the Eighth Doctor's audio only companion Charlotte `Charlie' Pollard into contact with his Sixth incarnation. India Fisher grabs the opportunity to remain in the role, with both hands, and her sly deceiving of The Doctor regarding her origins is absolutely delightful. Baker also sparks well off Anna Hope as hard-bitten DI Menzies and her gradual acceptance of him is well-crafted and sincere. The resolution, involving people being absorbed into the walls of a building, is almost a sidebar to the interplay between The Doctor and DI Menzies and Charlie's imprisonment by the mysterious `Maxine' adds little to the drama. To sum up: The quality here is in the relationships - both transient and more permanent - when Big Finish concentrates on this aspect of Doctor Who they inevitably meet with a high level of success.

you have the right to remain silent
another audio adventure for colin baker's doctor who. as usual this comes in four twenty five minute long episodes, spread over two discs, and each disc ends with interviews with the cast and crew of the story.

A difficult one to review this without giving too much away, but since all the potential spoilers are detailed on the cd inlay anyway I might as well [so you may want to think before reading further]



charley pollard one time audio companion of the eighth doctor, was last heard at the end of the story the girl who never was, being rescued from a dead world by the arrival of the tardis. only it clearly wasn't her doctor at the controls...

we find from this that she's been rescued by the sixth doctor, at a time when he's travelling on his own. the resulting open scenes are great and highly entertaining because charley has to be careful about what she says since she thinks the eighth doctor died. thus for long term fans we have the bonus of a favourite character being taken in a new direction and for casual listeners the intriguing mystery of who this person the doctor has picked up is.

beyond that, the tardis comes to manchester in 2008, and the two quickly get separated when caught up in a murder mystery.

This is solved over the next four episodes, and whilst the plot isn't desperately special it's got some very nice ideas and some really creepy moments, and it's performed by a good guest cast who flesh out their characters well. the end promises more adventures for this tardis crew - charley has never been to modern earth before and she gets some great scenes as a result by virtue of her unfamiliarity with modern things - and I look forward to them.

A good little audio story.

Old meets new in this brilliant crime thriler of a story
Barcode: 9781844353149

The 6th Doctor is in his element in this story as, along with Charley (previously a companion of the 8th Doctor), he travels to Manchester - 2008. Thus, with this adventure taking place in contemporary times, and in the setting of a gritty council estate, this has a distinct feel of some of the 9th and 10th Doctors recent TV adventures. And thus, by inserting Colin Baker's 6th Doctor into this setting, you are presented with a fascinating blend of old and new.

The Doctor and Charley work brilliantly together here, Charley's uncertainty at this 'new Doctor' and unfamiliarity at the modern world throwing up some interesting scenarios. Special mention must also go to Anna Hope's brilliant portrayal of DI Menzies who's tough-talking attitude becomes a backbone to this story.

From by-the-book murder mystery 'Prime Suspect' stylings as the story kicks off, more mysterious elements slowly creep in, resulting in some genuinely unsettling moments as we encounter alien autopsies and a disembodied voice talking through telephones. And rather refreshingly, the 'villains' of the piece are aliens that seem to want to take the Earth by more subtle, stealthy means for a change instead of the 'all guns blazing' approach often favoured by the TV series.

All in all, this is an intensely gripping story, fantastic from start to finish and represents what looks to be a great dynamic between the 6th Doctor and Charley.