In which the witch Cassandra Collins – formerly known as Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker) – and private investigator Tony Peterson (Jerry Lacy) continue to crack cases of a supernatural bent whilst breaking in a new secretary (Sydney Aldridge)…

Tony and Cassandra had been such a popular pair for Big Finish’s Dark Shadows audios that they got their own box set last year. While Lara Parker and Jerry Lacy’s work was praised, the stories and guest actors’ performances had their flaws (particularly when it came to American accents). Fortunately, Big Finish seem to have taken constructive criticisms on board, as Series Two sounds and feels more polished than its predecessor.

Philip Meeks’ The Mystery of Stone Heart Studios sees Tony and Cassandra travel to Hollywood to investigate fatal goings-on at a recently-reopened animation studio. A gleefully caustic send-up of Tinseltown’s lower-tier cartoon characters and the eccentrics who lend them voice, this story brims with larger-than-life characters whom the actors clearly adore playing. Tom Michael Blyth has a ball portraying a hammy thesp whose voice somehow combines Paul Lynde and Vincent Price at their most vocally excessive, with transcendently kitsch results. As beloved cartoon characters start coming to life and murdering people, complete with sound effects and a laugh track, Dark Shadows has never been more knowingly arch – and that’s saying something!

The Mystery of West Vale Sanitarium, by newcomers Joshua J. Price and Tanja Milojevic, starts by addressing the elephant in the office that’s been plaguing Tony and Cassandra – their lack of a secretary since Rita’s self-sacrifice at the end of Series One. Fate, it seems, has provided them with a proxy: Alice Wilkes, whom they previously saved from the doomed Flight 493 (also during Series One). But no sooner has Alice accepted the job, when she’s possessed by a spirit who urges them to investigate West Vale Sanitarium in upstate New York! Thus, Tony and Cassandra pack their bags and head for a clinic that makes Windcliff Sanitarium seem like a health spa…

In her distant past as Angelique, Cassandra threatened a young child’s life and was ultimately responsible for her death, so it’s odd at first to hear Cassandra bonding with Billy (Jake Wardle), a teenaged “patient” (i.e., inmate) of the asylum. But once the shock wears off, this shows how much Cassandra has grown as a person since she left a trail of death and havoc in late 18th century Collinsport. Parker completely sells this unexpected character development as Cassandra struggles to process these unfamiliar feelings. But fear not – she’s back on familiar ground when confronting the sanitarium’s director and scornfully dismissing his justifications for his actions before unleashing her wrath…

Alan Flanagan’s engrossing The Mystery of Apartment 493, essentially a two-hander for Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker, plays out in real life as Tony’s first visit to Cassandra’s new flat goes horribly awry. Why can’t they leave Apartment 493? Why do bloody corpses keep appearing and disappearing from the bedroom? And who keeps interrupting a television broadcast to announce that Anthony Peterson and Cassandra Collins have been found murdered? This story feels more like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Sapphire and Steel than Dark Shadows, capably playing on the fears common to anyone who’s had to live in a dumpy flat in a disreputable neighbourhood, and cranks them up to eleven. The relative lack of explanations adds to the palpable unease, as does Cassandra’s uncharacteristic panic.

Grace Knight’s The Mystery of the Soulmates Hotel concludes Series Two in typical bravura fashion. Cassandra’s complaints of needing a vacation are answered when she and Tony go undercover to investigate odd goings-on at the newly-opened Soulmates Hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine. The hotel’s proprietor, the efficient and officious Mrs. Hill (Abi Harris) runs a matchmaking service whose results seem much too good to be true. Also, why have so many recent guests suddenly emigrated and never been seen again? Easily the most comedic story of Series Two, it has staid Tony forced out of his comfort zone, having to play a lovelorn buffer, while Cassandra verbally spars with the surprisingly well-informed Mrs. Hill. Not only does this story push Tony and Cassandra to confront their unspoken feelings for each other, it also explores the nasty consequences of literally losing oneself in the pursuit of love and happiness. Plus, it ends on a sudden multi-faceted cliffhanger that promises more infernal investigations for this unlikely duo…

Verdict: Thanks to more credible accents and strong performances by main cast and guest actors alike, this box set is a definite improvement upon its predecessor… 8/10

John S. Hall