Doctor Who: Masters of Earth

Writers: Mark Wright & Cavan Scott
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Script Editor: Alan Barnes
Cover Illustration: Anthony Lamb
Music: Nicholas Briggs
Sound Design: Martin Montague
Producer: David Richardson

Starring Colin Baker & Nicola Bryant
Released October 2014

The most remarkable thing about Masters of Earth is how much of a melting pot of stock Terry Nation plots it is: obviously Daleks and another visit during their invasion of Earth, but there's duplicates, Varga plants, trans-solar discs, double-crossings galore, a secluded community with its own system of justice and a mysterious island that you have to cross dangerous waters to reach. Mark Wright and Cavan Scott embellish these with a few short-lived innovations of their own but at its heart this story is trying its hardest to be the ultimate Dalek story. Unfortunately it comes up short.

After their fractured reunion in The Widow's Assassin, the Doctor and Peri of Masters of Earth are indistinguishable from the characters at any other point in their history. There are a small number of token lines like "it's been such a long time" or "how I missed you" sprinkled throughout, but they could quite happily be cut and the rest of the story would be unaffected. It's understandable on some level: such straightforward action-adventure stories rarely dwell on luxuries such as character unless it later serves some plot function. But if that's the case, why make this the first story after they've finally found each other again? Why not change the story to fit the two central characters, rather than carrying them through a narrative they are bound not to interfere with? We've seen that it's possible to tell a Dalek story that is affecting on a personal level. Something along those lines might have had much more of an impact than this rerun of The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The story begins, as you might expect, with the Doctor and Peri cut off from the TARDIS, meeting a subjugated community and then being carted off by the Daleks. The twist here is that they've landed at least a year before the first Doctor and co in the 1964 TV story, meaning the Doctor is bound from getting involved in case he disrupts what has already happened. Lucky it's the shy and retiring sixth Doctor on hand, not known for ruffling feathers. Pleasingly, Masters of Earth does get to the refinery much quicker than it took to reach the mine on TV, but it turns out to be completely inconsequential to the plot anyway. The bulk of the adventure is actually relatively Dalek-free, instead foregrounding their more gruesome creations - Robomen, Varga plants and Slythers - and taking place on the aforementioned island, and the journey to it.

Masters of Earth is fine scene-to-scene but completely unchallenging and almost entirely forgettable. Even the writers' invention of a higher tier of Robomen, and the reason why they are quickly dispensed with, feels a bit like clutching at straws to add yet more to an already overlong story. It's hard to believe that if Big Finish wanted an unapologetic sequel to a sixties Dalek story set entirely in Scotland nowadays, it wouldn't be Andrew Smith getting the call. And the execution is uncannily similar to how Smith might have dealt with the brief. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are unfazed by the shallow material and get almost exactly zero opportunities to showcase how their characters have developed in the years since they were last together. The Doctor is also more callous and closer to his Season 22 personality than we've seen in a while, taking his character in the exact opposite direction to what the listener might expect. Kyle Inskip, easily the best original character in this thanks to yet another winning performance from Hugh Ross, has his prized motorbike stolen and dumped by the Doctor after offering him refuge, and then spends the rest of the story hauling the TARDIS out the swamp. His thanks? A box of knock-off whisky that the Doctor says is foul. We can only hope the Doctor snaps out of this mood soon.

While the script is slavishly adherent to sixties conventions, the production of this story is not. The Dalek voices sound far too modern and the mechanical, electrical sound effects are a far cry from the creaks and thumps of their 1964 counterparts. I realise that since this is an audio drama more work has to be done but there must surely have been some middle ground of this. The sound design is otherwise excellent, especially for a script that demands the inclusion of so many different dialogue-free horrors. The music is another matter however. Frequently out of place, missing the point in scenes and breaking any immersion the listener might've managed to work up, its inclusion is arguably to the detriment of the story. One thing that can be said is that it is at least authentic, sometimes too authentic. I hope Roger Limb's royalties aren't too steep. A soundtrack with a sparser, more sixties feel would have been welcome but at least it's not too far a cry from what we might've got had this been on TV in the mid-eighties.

Masters of Earth is not actively bad but we've heard it all before and it's somehow still less than the sum of its well-worn parts. Shockingly for their first trip back together, you could skip this story without missing any of the Doctor/Peri storyline. This is a massive oversight on the part of the script editor and huge potential squandered. To think a story that really gets under the skin of these two characters was sacrificed for this Saturday afternoon shallow adventure tale only sours the impression Masters of Earth leaves. So what if it's Peri's first Dalek story on audio? Nothing is made of this - in fact it took quite a bit of effort to check this was actually the case. In case the listener was in any doubt there'd be another one along in a minute, Bryant has only had one trilogy since this and, oh look, there's another Dalek story. In the same way, the concept of there being disastrous consequences if the Doctor gets involved in any way goes out the window almost instantly, flattening the only real hook this story had.

Despite its incredible 140-minute length, Masters of Earth is another inconsequential set piece-based adventure narrative that goes in a big loop. Fine but far from essential.

Counter-Measures: The Fifth Citadel

Writer: James Goss
Director: Ken Bentley
Script Editor: John Dorney
Cover Illustration: Alex Mallinson
Music: Nicholas Briggs
Sound Design: Martin Montague
Producer: David Richardson

Starring Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Karen Gledhill & Hugh Ross
Released June 2013

The Fifth Citadel is an immediate step up for Counter-Measures. James Goss easily demonstrates how to really make this series work, mixing mystery and horror with real history and hard science and coming up with something much better than that sounds.

As with Ian Potter's script for the first series, The Pelage Project, The Fifth Citadel wastes no time in scoring points through its atmospheric setting and intriguing premise. Counter-Measures can't seem to escape one of the regulars bumping into an old acquaintance each episode but at least here Goss gives Sir Toby some agency in his pursuit of Dr Elizabeth Bradley (Celia Imrie). The story never shies away from the truth of what's in the Underground tunnels, nor what's beneath them. This gives it an edge that lifts it beyond pulpy spy-fi and at times makes for challenging listening.

But the production team and cast never forget themselves and while the awful story of the bunker might take its time unravelling, the episode plays more on the feeling of dread than trawling through the gruesome details. The Fifth Citadel inventively divides the four lead characters in a way that not only gives us unusual combinations but also makes narrative and character sense once the cards are on the table.

This is a story best enjoyed untainted, but safe to say the level of the production values is reliably commendable, particularly in the use of mechanical and metallic noises. In the tunnel scenes, the listener is never in any doubt that life carries on for the rest of London, trains screeching past in the distance (and not-so-distant). Imrie and Hugh Ross as Sir Toby are an electric pairing, and the latter once again turns in the episode's standout performance. But it's also a more dignified entry than the season opener for Pamela Salem (Professor Rachel Jensen), Karen Gledhill (Dr Alison Williams) and Simon Williams (Group Captain Gilmore). Not bad for three characters from a Doctor Who story broadcast in 1988.

Intelligent storytelling at every turn and captivating right to the end, The Fifth Citadel raises the bar for Counter-Measures. It is a great character piece but tackles a situation with potentially disastrous consequences head-on and doesn't pull any punches and somehow also finds time to build on the listener's uneasy impression of Toby's new aide Templeton. A superb, albeit chilling, episode.

Counter-Measures: Manhunt

Writer: Matt Fitton
Director: Ken Bentley
Script Editor: John Dorney
Cover Illustration: Alex Mallinson
Music: Nicholas Briggs
Sound Design: Martin Montague
Producer: David Richardson

Starring Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Karen Gledhill & Hugh Ross
Released June 2013

The opening episode of Counter-Measures' second series leaves the strong impression that it will basically be more of the same, no reinventing the wheel. But that's OK because wheels are fine as they are, and so too is Counter-Measures. This series of sixties-based adventure that's as much spy-fi as sci-fi fielded a promising first box set and Matt Fitton's Manhunt continues resolutely in that vein.

One of the most refreshing things about Counter-Measures is its lack of reliance on extraterrestrial incursion. This could easily have simply been a precursor to UNIT but science is usually placed at the heart of the story, some secret experiment or project uncovered when it goes wrong. In this respect, Manhunt is no different.

The story begins with Group Captain Ian Gilmore on the run, wanted for murder. He is of course innocent, which makes waiting for everyone else to catch up a little tedious. But there's intrigue at the centre of this conspiracy and although the twist concerning two characters is genuinely unexpected, it's also, to put it politely, complete bobbins. Even for a series based in the orbit of Doctor Who, Fitton's use of science stretches credibility and he gets away with it pretty much by having laboratory boffins Professor Rachel Jensen, also the boss of Counter-Measures, and Dr Alison Williams reason that it must be possible because it's happening in front of them.

With the villain riding off into the sunset, it seems like round two is in the offing, and given the title of the series finale is Sins of the Fathers, there may not be too long to wait.

On the production side, this is nearly immaculate. Ken Bentley's talented cast ably race through the material, even if it sometimes becomes a challenge to distinguish the three RP ladies. Particular praise to Hugh Ross, reliably excellent as the slippery Sir Toby, Big Finish's only original addition to the series' line-up. The sound design is faultless throughout but the music once again throws up a few issues. The theme tune revamp did not fall on grateful ears; it was already a racket and the last thing it needed was even more going on. Likewise, some of the incidental music that errs closer to sounding like Nick Briggs falling asleep at his synthesizer breaks the illusion Bentley creates, interrupting and overwhelming dialogue. On the whole, the pieces containing just a couple of instruments work well but the cacophony of flutes, pianos, drums and goodness knows what else really make it seem like Big Finish are sending up the sixties rather than trying to evoke them.

On balance this is a vanilla episode to ease the listener back into Counter-Measures, exactly on par with Fitton's contribution to the first series. Hopefully the remaining three episodes will push the boat out a bit more, but as a benchmark, the series could do worse.