Tales from the life of Del Tarrant

‘The Authorised Version’, written by James Goss and directed, as the entire set is, by John Ainsworth, is almost indescribably smart. Tarrant visits the Dream-Makers, established in previous BF B7 releases. They normally tell the great and good the future but Tarrant wants something different. He wants a final, definitive version of his past. There’s a lovely meta-fictional note too to the fact each story here has a different sound designer. Benji Clifford, David Roocroft and Alistair Lock do witty, subtle work with distinct tones but also a stylistic unity that eludes Tarrant himself.

This sort of story could so easily be the sort of Fourth Wall breaking continuity fixing gonkery that all UK SF that lasts more than two seasons falls prey to. It’s not that at all. Instead, anchored by a staggering trio of performances, this is Tarrant navigating his damage as an external landscape rather than internal trauma. Steven Pacey, who is superb throughout this set, is especially good here as we hear Tarrant at multiple periods of his life. We meet him as a brash test pilot about to do something very stupid, a cargo captain about to do something very stupid and various other occasions. Pacey makes it clear where we are through his performance and does the equivalent of a backward double somersault on top of all that by also playing the contemporary Tarrant, passing comment on the experiences he’s seeing.

What emerges is a story that’s both tremendous fun and tremendously sad. Tarrant’s mutable nature comes, we learn, from the fact he was both good enough to be anything he wanted and ambitious enough to not understand how lucky he was. Tarrant’s superpower is Tarrant. Tarrant’s weakness is Tarrant. We see him make a life-long enemy, edit a tragedy out of his life and make a single, deeply heroic sacrifice. He has no idea what he wants other than to continue. He does, and pays the worst possible price for that.

I had to doublecheck the cast on this one because it’s huge, taking in Servalan, multiple members of Tarrant’s family and numerous other characters. All of them are played by the Dream-Makers, Man and Woman, played in turn by Raj Ghatak and Rosalyn Landor. Big Finish’s acting talent bench is always deep but this is genuinely one of the most impressive pieces of work I’ve ever heard from them. Ghatak and Landor are stunning, giving each character nuance, mirroring established performances and switching on a dime. It’s incredible work, in a truly extraordinary play.

Following that is within sight of impossible but ‘Behemoth’ does it with style. This is a classic ‘Something very nasty on a spaceship’ story that proceeds to look the traditional beats of that story in the eye, dismember them and then reassemble them as something much more fun and considerably gooier.

Andy Lane’s story has more than a hint of ‘Star Trek but with murders’ to it, Tarrant in full Space Captain mode and as a result an arrogant monster who also happens to be frequently right. Lane talks in the interview section about how this is a story that riffs on both Alien and Aliens and you can see that in the deeply likable fire team Tarrant leads aboard the vessel. Also in how few of them come back.

This is another standout supporting cast but the two MVPs by far are Margaret Ashley as Sergeant Anj Ralson and Esmonde Cole doing double duty as the team Mutoid and as Junior Technician Stu Parro. The former is Tarrant’s righthand woman who would rather be literally anywhere else. Their sparky relationship is the script’s entry into how intensely self-destructive Tarrant can’t help but be, his insecurity and arrogance driving each other in a Moebius loop of personal horror. The latter’s two characters cleverly embody the extremes of the story. The Mutoid is a look at the casual degradation the Federation perpetrates while the latter is that taken to the extreme and, somehow, given even more humanity. Special praise too to John Sackville’s Comms Officer Naviid who completes the trifecta of Federation Naval personnel having a horrible time in a story which is both deeply alien and horrifically close to home.

The set closes out with ‘Bomb’ by Gary Russell. Tarrant is now an unofficial member of the Liberator’s crew and he and Dayna have been sent on a run to an abandoned Federation refinery, which is exactly as abandoned as you might think.

Massive praise once again for the supporting cast. This is the sort of story where to tell you too much about them would spoilt the fun but they all do fantastic work, especially Alistair Lock’s magnificently snippy Orac and Yasmin Bannerman’s excellent take on Dayna. Tania Rodrigues’ Lon-Vessi, Ian Brooker’s Per Ferow and Joe Jameson’s Cal Ravella are all tremendous fun too. They’re locked in with Pacey’s Tarrant in a story with a ticking clock at its core and a zippy, sniping script that gives everyone some great moments.

But the ending is what will haunt you here. For all his incredible skill, and luck, Tarrant is still Tarrant and his actions at the end here are delightfully ambiguous. But they’re also poignant. We open this set with Tarrant working on a sole version of himself. We leave it with him leaving it up to Dayna to decide who he is.

Verdict: It’s hopeful, and sad, trusting and arrogant. As complicated as the man himself and a great end to a very strong set. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart

Click here to order from Big Finish