As a city burns, the Doctor tells a story…

There’s probably not a more inappropriate time to listen to this story than a warm June day (it’s set in a snowy Salzburg on the eve of the feast of St Nicholas in December) but John Dorney’s tale gets you in the wintery mood from the start. (By a weird coincidence – I’d not looked at the CD cover or had much idea what the story was about – just before listening, I’d just finished an editorial pass on a story about… the Krampus!)

There’s a certain timeless quality about Salzburg that Dorney captures in this – in fact, until the amount of the rent debt was specified, I wasn’t totally sure what period we were in – and the soundscape by Benji Clifford brings the city to life. This is one of the stronger TARDIS teams that Big Finish has created, with plenty of opportunity for one or other of them to be slightly on the back foot depending on where they land, and Paul McGann, Nicola Walker and Hattie Morahan give strong performances.

There are a number of disparate threads through this that start to come together at the end and I’m intrigued as to how it’ll play out.

Verdict: A strong tale for the Eighth Doctor and friends – no word of a lie. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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