The US Government’s time travel program, Project Tic-Toc, closed in 1979. Two of its scientists, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, lost over a decade earlier, were abandoned in time and the base was sealed.

In 2025, four strangers are brought together by something impossible. Doug and Tony have changed something in the past and the present is now under the control of mysterious small country Rakervia. And the Rakervian authorities do not want to seed control…

This is an intensely confident start to one of the most logical franchises for Big Finish to pick up. It’s a neat update to the original story too and it honestly reminds me of the recent Quantum Leap revival. Both are witty, respectful takes on an established idea unafraid to bring their own elements to the sandbox.

Those elements include a very strong cast including two of Big Finish’s MVPs. Seán Carlsen, beloved of Gallifrey fans, is excellent as unflappable submariner Captain Lewis Haworth and he’s got instant chemistry with Safiyya Ingar’s MB. Ingar was absolutely phenomenal in The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, and is just as good here. MB is a hyper competent, fast talking activist and they and Haworth are the perfect foils to one another. ‘A submariner and an activist walk into a time machine’ is a delicious conceit and the show has a lot of fun with it. Rachel Handshaw and Jay Reumas are excellent too as Marine biologist Claire MacGregor  and journalist Cole Smith, who become the support for the reluctant time travellers.

‘The Shudder, November 14th 2025’ by Gary Russell makes nothing but gutsy choices. It introduces four new characters, gives them all a lot to do, introduces a new world and then breaks it and explains why our four leads are the only people that notice. Even better, it also sets up their opposing numbers in Flavie Havenhill’s Captain Elenya Morozova and Nicholas McCardle’s Doctor Muir. They too are aware the world has changed but they’re trying to secure this new world rather change it.

‘The Shudder’ is a great pilot. Marc Platt’s ‘Too Close to the Sun’ is about a great pilot. One of the real joys of time travel stories is finding new, amazing parts of history and I had no idea Amy Johnson was real until now. Amy Johnson was a global celebrity, a pilot who became the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia and whose apparent death on January 5th 1941 is still shrouded in mystery.

Here, we get a possible answer as Lewis and MB arrive on her plane on that final day. In a set full of excellent guest stars, Helen Bang’s cheerful, determined and relentless Johnson is the breakout star. She feels like the heroine of her own story, and she was, and that makes everything here feel more significant. MB and Lewis’ search for the missing scientists, the relentless horrors of war, the human tragedy at the heart of it. It’s all here and all presented with sincerity and compassion. It’s a genuinely great hour of audio drama and it also gives the entire cast a surprising amount to do. While Lewis and MB get to do the heavy lifting, Claire and Cole’s journey into the heart of the Tic-Toc program throws more light on them and gives us the most refreshing, and weird, action beat in the set. We get some more with Morozova and Muir too and it all adds up to an action packed, character facing story that’s the highlight of the set.

Martin Day’s ‘The World, The Flesh and the Devil’ closes the set out with a story that meditates on faith and familial duties through the lens of the English Civil War. It’s very good, and it’s got a tone and snap to it which feels like a Hammer Horror movie in the best of ways. There’s real venom and danger, as MB and Lewis are separated and find themselves in the grey area of the War. The supporting cast, especially Holly Ashman as the splendidly named Diffidence Green, are excellent and feel like they’ve sprung fully formed into the story. Glen McCready, Peter Rae and Fiona McClure are very strong too and there’s a barely contained sense of seething rage to McCready’s Sir Alfred Hynde that’s genuinely upsetting in the best way. The story ends in inevitable violence but it’s the violence of crime and tragedy rather than action and I really responded to that.

The issue, that only raises its head with this story, is that the arc and the plot don’t quite gel. The Civil War characters are great, and the tone is very well executed but the story feels like the Time Tunnel elements are a little shoehorned in. Nicholas McCardle and Flavie Ravenhill especially have very little to do here and it’s a shame. Similarly, the abrupt ending feels even harsher because we don’t get closure on these characters, as we’re whisked away to an arc plot that never quite meshes with the story. It’s a bit of a low note to end the set on but only a little. ‘The story is too good’ is a good problem to have and it still closes a strong, self-confident set out well. Hopefully the second set will mesh the two elements more smoothly.

Verdict: This is confident, assured, fun storytelling. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart

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