When is a suicide not a suicide? Department 7 investigates…

The Omega Factor was one of those series that I always hoped Big Finish would get their hands on, and I was delighted with the first box set that brought Louise Jameson’s Dr Anne Reynolds back into action decades after the original series. With John Dorney playing Adam Dean – the son of James Hazeldine’s character Tom Crane from the original – and the reappearance of Natasha Gerson as Morag, it was a revival that made its own mark quickly.

The second box set is even better.

The first story sets up threads for the four plays, but is pretty much self-contained. Alan Cox’s James Doyle is a pain in the neck for Department 7, but he realises he needs their help when he sees something that should be physically impossible – at the same time as something connected to that starts to happen to Adam. Guest stars Camilla Power and Alex Tregear are excellent; both have the sorts of roles where the actor has to walk a fine line or they can become melodramatic, but neither succumbs to the temptation.

I was listening to it on a bright April day and got shivers at certain scenes – the combination of Phil Mulryne’s script, Dorney and Jameson’s acting, Steve Foxon’s sound design (which on numerous occasions is at the forefront of the storytelling) and Nick Briggs’ music score made for some extremely disturbing moments.

Verdict: An excellent start to the second series. 9/10

Paul Simpson