tcdg04a_trickortreat_1417_cover_largeOctober 31st, and all Dorian Gray hopes for is an undisturbed night…

More of a vignette than a full-blown story, this short addition to the Big Finish Dorian mythos is unsettling, and proof of the old adage that less is more. Alexander Vlahos once again gets under the skin of the character, every so often reminding the listener (and himself, remembering the conceit that was used earlier in the series to explain the title) of his curse/gift, and the ways in which it affects his life.

It’s the mark of a good ghost story that you can get chills experiencing it even on the sunniest of days – Stephen Volk’s recent award-winning Newspaper Heart was one of the most recent to give me that sensation – and the combination of Scott Handcock’s script, Vlahos’ performance, Neil Gardner’s sound design and James Dunlop’s music quite definitely produced goosebumps on what was hailed as the warmest November day on record!

Verdict: It may have been designed for listening to at Halloween, but Trick or Treat is a haunting tale for any time. 8/10

Paul Simpson