Servalan devises an unusual way to gain insight into the minds of the Seven…

Nick Wallace manages to have his cake and eat it in this closing instalment of the current Chronicles. We know how well Servalan and Avon react when they’re together, but putting in detailed extra meetings would be difficult to add to the mythos without continuity hounds shouting foul. But the Supreme Commander and a clone of Avon? A different story – although of course it’s a different man.

Servalan and the audience are never sure what drives the clone, who takes the name Kerr; does he have an agenda of his own? Is his hatred of Servalan part of his nature? Paul Darrow takes the chance to give us an alternate take on Avon, occasionally weak but never less than cunning.

It also gives us a chance to see what Avon thinks of ‘himself’, as Kerr analyses some of Avon’s past activities. Unsurprisingly he’s not impressed with some of these previous actions but that doesn’t stop him trying to use them to his own advantage.

It’s personal preference, but the final monologue by Servalan seems to push things a bit too far – up to then this has been about Avon up to and including Series A, but there’s an attempt at the end to extend that into a comment on a critical event later in the series, which I don’t think pays off.

Verdict: A chance to hear Jacqueline Pearce and Paul Darrow spar in character for an hour is always a good thing, and there are some unexpected twists. 7/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order The Liberator Chronicles volume 4 from Big Finish

Watch for our extended interview with Paul Darrow coming soon…

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