Sometimes a deal really is too good to be true…

One of Big Finish’s best series returns with a further four stories continuing the story of the late 1970s TV series, with Louise Jameson reprising her role as Dr Anne Reynolds, alongside John Dorney as Adam Crane, son of the original protagonist Tom. Coincidence plays its part in this first story by Roy Gill, as Adam discovers that his new girlfriend and his boss both want him to attend an exhibition opening at a gallery – and Morag also has her reasons for needing him there.

Gill’s script deftly blends the supernatural with the mundane (as in the day to day lives of the characters) and Dorney brings across the helplessness that Adam feels as he becomes caught between two of the most important women in his life. The story freely acknowledges its roots in one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s lesser known works (which you will almost certainly be tempted to read once you’ve finished this), and Steve Foxon gets plenty of opportunity to provide unsettling audio landscapes. Roberta Taylor gives a very haunted performance, while Lucy Goldie takes what could easily have become an overly melodramatic role and makes it credible. The only slightly jarring note is in the final scene that does just slip over into melodrama, with a metaphorical twiddling of the moustachios by a key character…

Verdict: As unsettling as ever, it’s good to have The Omega Factor back. 9/10

Paul Simpson