Doctor Who #34: Spare Parts (2002)

Doctor Who: Spare Parts (2002)
Marc Platt
Big Finish #34
Starring: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton
Before beginning to listen to Big Finish’s range of Who adventures, I had heard of Spare Parts. Marc Platt is credited in the TV two parter Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel – an origins story for the Cybermen – with [...]

Read Full Post »

Dalek Empire I (2001)

Dalek Empire I (2001)
Nicholas Briggs
Big Finish
Starring: Sarah Mowatt, Mark McDonnell, Gareth Thomas
Spread over four parts – Invasion of the Daleks, The Human Factor, Death to the Daleks!, Project Infinity – Dalek Empire is almost five hours long, a truly epic story of the Dalek invasion and conquering of the galaxy and the subsequent fight back. [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who: Excelis Decays (2002)

Doctor Who: Excelis Decays (2002)
Craig Hinton
Big Finish
Starring: Sylvester McCoy, Anthony Stewart Head
Something has happened to Artaris. Once a peaceful planet it is now ruled by a totalitarian regime that wages war with its neighbouring countries, in a conflict that has run for decades. The soldiers are made of the underclasses, taken forcibly, and [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who: Excelis Rising (2002)

Doctor Who: Excelis Rising
David A. McIntee
Big Finish
Starring: Colin Baker, Anthony Stewart Head
With trepidation I began listening to this second Excelis story. The first had disappointed me that much. Gone was the narration that so disconnected me in Excelis Dawns – this was more familiar, more like a traditional Big Finish drama. [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns (2002)

Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns (2002)
Paul Magrs
Big Finish
Starring: Peter Davison, Anthony Stewart Head, Katy Manning
The Fifth Doctor arrives on the planet Artaris, where the warlord Grayvorn and a new sister at a local convent are seeking a holy relic – the new sister is, however, Iris Wildthyme…
Excelis Dawns, and the subsequent Excelis stories, were recorded to [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who #33: Neverland (2002)

Doctor Who: Neverland (2002)
Alan Barnes
Big Finish #33
Starring: Paul McGann & India Fisher
Time is unravelling, spinning out of control, as the consequences of the Doctor rescuing Charley from the R101 disaster become real. The Time Lords, sensing the seismic quakes in time, capture the Doctor and Charley and with president Romana, set about setting time [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who #32: The Time of the Daleks – Dalek Empire Part Four (2002)

Doctor Who: The Time of the Daleks: Dalek Empire Part Four
Justin Richards
Big Finish #32
Starring: Paul McGann and India Fisher
Charley Pollard has not heard of William Shakespeare – surely she jests. But then neither had Orson Welles. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. Searching for answers, the Doctor discovers a rip [...]

Read Full Post »

Doctor Who #31: Embrace the Darkness (2002)

Doctor Who: Embrace the Darkness (2002)
Nicholas Briggs
Big Finish #31
Starring: Paul McGann & India Fisher
The Doctor and Charley visit the Cimmerian System to unravel a long standing mystery – why did the sun go out? Fleeing the Time Lords, they witness a fleet of ships passing through the system and then darkness. Travelling backward [...]

Read Full Post »

Dickens, Charles (1840-1841) The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841)
Charles Dickens
Penguin, 556pp
The Old Curiosity Shop, Dickens’ fourth novel, appeared at the height of his fame. In 1841 he had declined an invitation to stand for parliament, and was riding a wave of public adulation that would end with a public dinner in his honour at Edinburgh. It is [...]

Read Full Post »