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Psychotherapist Sam Ross is concerned about one of her patients – his story keeps changing, and he doesn’t seem to understand boundaries. But is her grief over the loss of her sister affecting her judgement?

If you’ve got a longish car journey coming up – or good long periods that you can devote to listening to one story – then I can heartily recommend Big Finish’s original drama, Transference. Produced by the team behind some of the company’s most creative offshoots – producer David Richardson, script editor Matt Fitton, director Ken Bentley and writers Jane Slavin, Roland Moore, Andrew Smith and John Dorney – it’s story that constantly wrongfoots the listener and walks among some moral shades of grey.

It would be very wrong to even hint at spoilers on this, save to say that there’s only the smallest fantastical element to it (and even that could easily be regarded as mild extrapolation from the current state of play in its field) – so don’t go into this anticipating wild flights of fancy. It’s a modern thriller – it would certainly work in the ‘stripped Monday to Friday 9 pm’ slot – that plays with your perception of events and is not afraid to shock in service of the story.

Alex Kingston’s Sam Ross is at its heart, and she brings the character to emotional life from the first to last scenes. Warren Brown and Robert Whitelock have complex parts to portray, and Wendy Craig and Ingrid Oliver are excellent as Sam’s mother and sister. Joe Kraemer’s score is suitably stripped back while Steve Foxon’s sound design and Bentley’s direction ensure that this feels very different from the sorts of drama that we’re accustomed to from Big Finish (the way in which flashbacks are incorporated is one very obvious area).

Would I want a sequel to this? No – the ending is totally appropriate and we don’t need to know what happens next. Do I want another thriller from this team? Without question.

Verdict: Engrossing, surprising and morally grey – a definite success for this Big Finish Original. 9/10

Paul Simpson