The first Doctor and Dodo arrive in Lincoln at a difficult time… made worse by the presence of an old friend…

The primary focus, inevitably, of this release is the debut of Stephen Noonan as Big Finish’s new First Doctor, partnered with Lauren Cornelius returning as Dodo Chaplet. The stories have been placed in the on-screen gap between the end of The Savages – and Peter Purves’ departure as Steven Taylor – and the start of The War Machines, which marked the end of Dodo’s trips in the TARDIS, with Jackie Lane given short shrift and an off-screen goodbye. It’s fair to say that Dodo wasn’t the most developed of companions across her stories and there’s been a certain amount of work done in the novels and earlier audios to give her some three-dimensionality, but with Cornelius’ arrival and from her spirited performance in the two audios so far, I suspect we’re going to get to learn a lot more about her.

Noonan has clearly done a huge amount of research and preparation, not just into the First Doctor and Hartnell’s portrayal of him, but also the man himself, and by the end of part 4 of this (and after deliberately listening to it one episode a night), it felt as if he’d relaxed into the role a bit, not needing to emphasise quite as many of Hartnell’s idiosyncrasies. (It’s worth listening to the soundtrack of The Massacre to remind yourself just how much of the Doctor was a performance for Hartnell – yes, his health was failing but a lot of what was often put down to that was actually conscious choice.) Noonan’s scenes with Cornelius, Rufus Hound’s Monk and Glynis Barber’s sheriff hit multiple different notes, and the only real change I’m hoping for in the second story and future sets is A BIT LESS SHOUTING!

Hound and Barber are the main guest stars in Lizbeth Myles’ story, which takes its cue from The Time Meddler, not just in the incongruous appearance of the Monk, but also in the deliberate mixing of tones – comic scenes are juxtaposed with high drama (although I think adding in The Curse of Fatal Death’s method of getting from A to B is a bit of historical accuracy too far!). There’s quite a lot of background score in those dramatic scenes which is occasionally distracting but Nick Briggs’ direction keeps the momentum going.

Verdict: A good start from the new TARDIS team. 7/10

Paul Simpson

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