A pick-up from the recent Scribe Awards sale, for my latest review I thought I’d take my first foray into Big Finish’s newer series, The Ninth Doctor Adventures.

1) The Hunting Season by James Kettle

Starting off the Lost Warriors boxset and the Doctor finds himself at Duberry Hall during a siege. Around the country grounds, the Fleshkin are on the hunt and the Doctor will have to try his hardest if he’s to find a peaceful solution.

Hunting Season is a solid, fast-paced adventure to open the third set. Having Eccleston’s Doctor mingle with the upper classes is a sight to behold. Clearly uncomfortable with the situation, you can tell this version of the Doctor more than any other has a real distaste for the way these people treat others, especially those considered lower than themselves.

The entire Hawthorn family are a piece of work, from their gun-loving daughter and misplaced rose-tinted view of war to the way they choose to deal with the Fleshkin and their abhorrent treatment of their servants, the author wants us to dislike them and it works, even if its a little over the top. It’s not all madness with the Hawthorns though, as there’s a clear acknowledgement between Lord Hawthorn and the Doctor about his experiences in war and his stance on the matter.

Beyond the rich folk, there are the servants who work downstairs each with their own sets of dreams and ambitions. Annette Badland is the standout performance here as Mrs Goose, protecting the others from the harsh punishments brought about by Streatham’s sadistic mind. Her character is also instrumental in the peace talks between the humans and the fleshkin making what would’ve been a revolutionary vegetarian meal for the time.

As for the supposed alien threat of the episode, the fleshkin, well they’re not actually a threat. They’ve come to Earth in search of a war criminal and have no interest in killing humans or even animals since they’re vegetarian. Very much a “looks can be deceiving” kind of deal and as I found out by the end of the series, it becomes a running theme.

As it turns out, Lord Hawthorn is the alien in question and has been in hiding on Earth ever since the war. Whilst he may have calmed down quite a bit since the war days he still needs to pay for his crimes and with him gone, the house disbands and the servants can go out and follow their dreams. A nice end to a fun story.

Overall, Hunting Season, the first story in the boxset is all in good fun. It’s not particularly groundbreaking but does a good job of getting the pace and the feel of a Ninth Doctor story. There are some great performances and a nice bit of humour thrown in as the Doctor struggles with the higher-ups in society making for a good comfort listen.

My Rating: 7.5/10

2) The Curse of Lady Macbeth by Lizzie Hopley

Medieval Scotland is the stage for the second story in the boxset as the Doctor meets the figures used as inspiration for the infamous play, Macbeth.

Queen Gruach and the Kingdom of Moray are under threat, not by King Duncan or the Vikings, but by an unseen foe. With the Kingdom’s children being taken and returned as mouthless ones, will the Doctor be able to solve the problem before Gruach’s people turn on her?

In contrast to the first story, The Curse of Lady Macbeth gives a darker tone to the series as the Doctor comes across children in cocoon-type structures and people struck by fear and ready to turn into a mob at a moment’s notice.

What Hopley does well in this story is in her creation of well-rounded characters, none more so than Lady Macbeth. In very much a man’s world, she does her best to serve her people. Hopley and the actress Neve McIntosh do wonderfully in showcasing the characters’ necessary ruthlessness alongside the pivotal motherly side that ensures The Doctor can get a head start in identifying the alien being.

As for the story itself, it’s fine. The twist of Prince Kinade having killed Lady Macbeth’s former husband was done well but the main alien threat is just another alien being that feeds on the emotional state of humans – not an all too uncommon motivation in Doctor Who.

This, however, is also where one of the main problems of the story lies, its inherently visual nature. Almost all of what the Doctor finds out about the creature comes from Lulach, a child who does not speak and can only communicate through drawings, which usually wouldn’t be a problem had this had been on tv, but this falls on descriptions which I find fail to bring these nightmarish creations to life. A similar problem occurs when giving evidence to show that Gruach hadn’t killed the children due to her motherly nature and the way she held a baby – something we can’t see.

Furthermore, this story hinges on the audience being somewhat familiar with the Shakespeare play and Gaelic mythology, which comes at you thick and fast throughout the story. I was lucky in having studied Macbeth for GCSEs so I had some knowledge of the references but I definitely needed more info on the mythology to make the story more enjoyable.

The Curse of Lady Macbeth would be fantastic…If it was on tv. As for its audio representation, it’s still a good story, the dark atmosphere is palpable and Eccleston and McIntosh play well off each other, it is just a shame the horrifying imagery never truly shines through.

My Rating: 7.5/10

3) Monsters in Metropolis by John Dorney

Finally, we reach my most anticipated story of the set, the Ninth Doctor vs Cybermen story and one I’d heard nothing but good things about.

The story sees the Doctor arrive on the set of Metropolis, only to find that the robot central to the plot has been changed for a cyberman. With murders piling up on set, Metropolis is about to become famous for all the wrong reasons!

This story starts as a solid cyberman romp as the Doctor goes into fan mode over one of the most influential movies in history. Fantastic imagery is created as the atmosphere aims to feel like a film set during the 1920s and we often get Lang’s stage directions go off in the background.

Unfortunately for the Doctor, it won’t be your average meet and greet as history has changed, a cyberman puppeteered by Jovanovic has wrangled its way into the main role.

Originally deciding to destroy the creature, the Doctor changes his mind, giving it a chance since it doesn’t seem like an ordinary cyberman, more human than most. Then the murders take place and the story changes from a solid, generic cyberman story to a stellar piece of audio work.

At around the halfway point, the dynamic of the story changes as it’s revealed that the cyberman has overcome its programming and has fallen victim to Dieter’s manipulation, forcing it to continue killing.

There are some wonderfully human moments from then on as the story delves deep into the killers’ motivation. German history and especially the period during the 20s and early 30s make for the crux of the story. After the first world war, the people were forced to pay reparations backing an already poor populous into a corner giving them nothing to lose. Dieter is one of them and his reaction to having nowhere left to turn brings him to hatred, looking for someone or something to blame for his suffering. He chose to direct his hatred towards a movie promoting peace, others later will direct their hatred at a people, a hatred that would cause the death of millions.

Alongside Dieter, there’s the story of the cyberman, a terribly sad story of pain and suffering. Forced to continue killing as its more human side has taken over is hard to listen to. After everything the cyberman has been through, it just wants to stop, it holds no grudge and has to reckon with everything it’s done.

Dorney then creates some of the most poignant scenes in audio that I’ve heard for a long time, a scene shared between two former warriors. The Doctor decides to watch the finished Metropolis film with the cyberman allowing it to witness something beautifully human before it ends its life. I don’t think my review will quite do this scene justice it’s just something that needs to be listened to. The scene is full of emotion and completely heart-wrenching and was one of the very few stories from Big Finish to have brought me close to tears.

Concluding the third volume in the series, Monsters in Metropolis is Dorney and Big Finish at their best. A story built on solid cybermen foundations elevated to extreme heights due to the human story the audio evolves into. Masterful!

My Rating: 10/10

Lost Warriors overall is an incredibly solid set with two good stories and one that would likely be thought of as one of Big Finish’s best stories. After listening to all three, each story has similarities such as the reveal of the true threat, done to varying degrees of success in each story. Yet, each story does well to fit into its chosen era and has done well to characterise the Ninth Doctor not long regenerated after the events of the time war. Monsters in Metropolis does this best with the Doctor showcasing overwhelming mercy and showing that even some of the universes’ great evils can be misconstrued and are capable of humanity and good.

Boxset Rating: 8.5/10