Who has killed the Global President of Molaruss?

Spoilers

There’s no way of discussing this story without getting into at least one major spoiler for the entire story, so look away now if you don’t want to know…

This is Big Finish doing a Doctor-lite episode. In fact it’s so Doctor-lite, there’s hardly even a mention of him let alone an appearance by either Colin Baker or Miranda Raison as Constance Clarke. The set is called The Eleven, and the focus is firmly on that Time Lord – and his wife, of course.

Nigel Fairs’ tale has all the twists of a murder mystery combined with a protagonist who’s split into multiple personae – even if he is maintaining for much of the time that he’s actually the “good” version, the Eight (or Father Octavian as he’s called here – not connected to the character from the Weeping Angels two-parter from Matt Smith’s TARDIS tenure). We get a degree of insight into how the Eleven came to be this way, and his time on Gallifrey, although given the narrator’s unreliability, this can safely be disregarded down the line if necessary.

Mark Bonnar clearly enjoys the opportunity to stretch in the role, and Fairs provides a number of two-hander scenes for him with Simon Slater’s Akkron, and for Lucy Gaskell’s Miskavel with Anjelica MacKintosh’s duo-minded Sheppon. There’s something of the feel of the War Master sets to this – a similar willingness on the part of the Time Lord to spend time in a situation building a power base – but the nature of the Eleven adds a twist to the mix that sets it apart.

Andy Hardwick’s score and sound design provide the jolts that the story requires, and Ken Bentley ensures that as listeners, we’re aware of what we need to know at the requisite times.

Verdict: The box set format allows for some experimentation, and this is one that works well. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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