Audio The Eighth Doctor essentially has three different "on-going" series now. This year's run which began with Audacity in November, the Time War splinter, and this, the follow on from Stranded and the continuation of largely unbroken run of seasons in various formats which began with Storm Warning in 2001. Perhaps having sensed that the after roughly 64 episodes spread four series and sixteen boxed sets everything has become a bit unwieldly, they've decided to return to first principles of stand alone stories across most of these lines and it's terrific.
So here we have Liv and Helen travelling with the Doctor without the baggage of previous series and they play off each other quite well, the former taking a more rational view of events, the latter on a more fundamentally emotional level. They stakes are also much, much lower. In all these stories , we're seeing a localised problem, not something which could destroy the whole universe or timeline in which everyone's life is obviously in danger and the Doctor himself in some kind of emotional or physical distress all of the time.
Sublime. The Doctor and his friends thwart a time travel plot by the pepper pots related to the Time War before they're even aware that its going to happen. Whereas previous audios like Flip Flop have episodes designed to be heard in any order, this is an adventure which will make the most sense on repeat listens as the nuances and Blinovitch dodging actions of each of the characters reveal themselves. John Dorney's farce-inflected script is blazingly funny in places, especially the reality of how the Daleks's plan is being executed. Judging by the extra material this was immensely tricky to record and edit for the result is an absolute classic.
The Dalby Spook
There's been surprisingly little Doctor Who coverage of the Isle of Man with the most prominent being a short story from the 2011 annual about dropping an atomic bomb on the island to destroy some Daleks. But here are in Douglas investigating real life phenomena Gef the talking mongoose asking what might happen if it turned out to be true and how that might be in Whoniverse terms. Arguably this is the kind of adventure which could be rolled out in from of any TARDIS team, but its the perfect mix of Helen's emotional connection to events and Liv's ability to wrangle the Doctor which makes it perfect for this TARDIS team.
A good old fashioned romp with a capital R from John Dorney featuring a pretty starry cast including Nina Wadia, Jeff Rawle, Hugh Ross and one Shane Ritchie who is absolutely wonderful as Drax. One of those stories in which the Doctor is rather pulled along by events and for once playing the straight to a comic turn. It's also an audio which is oddly reminiscent of the Lawrence Miles EDAs, especially Alien Bodies and Interference, not necessarily in relation to tone (Miles was never one for this kind of farce) but story elements and how Time Lords are physically structured. This also makes it a curious listen after the Timeless Child revelations. God it's refreshing hearing this TARDIS team just having fun.
The Love Vampires
Sometimes, you just have to fall back on the old standards. A favourite with Star Trek writers who did versions of this across all of the classic and neo-classical series, we have vampires using character's lost loves and life as a temptation to allow them to be turned or feasted upon. It's fine. There's some pretty good character work between the TARDIS team and their respective loves but it's definitely an episode in which, once you've understood the central gag, all that's really left is for the Doctor to do his clever thing and make a big speech. It's odd that Liv's love doesn't tie back to the Kaldor series and we're introduced to a new character instead.
Albie's Angels
Wonderful. Another spin on the weeping angels which draws together elements from all over the television mythology and uses them to tell the story of Helen becoming involved in the imprisonment of her brother, Albie, originally mentioned in writer Roy Gill's earlier story UNIT Dating and based on an acquaintance of the late Trevor Baxter who was locked up for ten years in similar circumstances. One particular line which resonates is when Helen reveals that it's through her travels with the Doctor and seeing the future that her horizons on love had been opened (perhaps partly having seen Liv and Tania become close?). As Sarah Jane once said, travel does broaden the mind.
Placement: After Stranded, or at least between most of Stranded and when the Doctor drops Liv off again at the end so she can be with Tania.
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