Pursuing a creature that can bring nightmares to life, the Doctor, Flip, Mrs Clarke and bounty hunter Calypso Jonze arrive in Providence in 1937and meet Mr Howard Phillips Lovecraft…

Anyone coming to this review in the months and years ahead won’t be aware of the brief delay in release that it experienced (and despite all the online complaining, that’s all it was – a one-month delay), and will approach the piece unaware of any potential re-edits etc. They’ll be judging it based on what’s in the released version, in the same way that no-one will care down the line that a particular audio was recorded during Lockdown.

And hopefully they’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Yes, there’s no way that you can come away from this story not knowing that HP Lovecraft was a racist and a xenophobe, nor that he embodies so much of what the Doctor has stood against in all their incarnations, but Robert Valentine negotiates the path between creator and creations with aplomb. During the adventure, the Doctor and Flip encounter multiple versions of Lovecraft’s creations, and they retain the power that they have had – a power that has lived on in games and other media – with the odd moment where creations see the creator (and not necessarily to the latter’s advantage). Alan Marriott’s Lovecraft and his alter ego Randolph Carter are nicely linked in performance but you know which of the two you’d prefer to spend time with!

Valentine also creates his own character – who I really hope we’ll encounter again – Calypso Jonze, who embodies pretty much everything that Lovecraft despises. They are a strong addition to the Doctor Who universe, with Robyn Holdaway sounding as if they are having a great deal of fun! Andy Hardwick and Peter Doggart’s sound design and the former’s score help distinguish between the Arkham of Lovecraft’s mind and the reality of 1930s America. David Menkin and Jonathan Andrew Hume present multiple voices as the assorted denizens of Lovecraft’s psyche and it really does sound as if director Scott Handcock has assembled a much larger cast than was the case.

Verdict: Big Finish stories have often taken a stand against all forms of hatred, and this is a timely addition. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order The Lovecraft Invasion from Big Finish