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The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to Baltimore, 1984 - four months since, as far as her family and friends know, Peri disappeared without a trace at Lanzarote. Far from being a happy reunion, Peri’s arrival coincides with the apparent murder of Anthony Chambers, her best friend’s father. Peri discovers that her friends and her mother aren’t exactly overjoyed to see her. The Doctor becomes interested in Chambers’ death, and when he discovers the Cybermen are behind the incident, he wonders why they’ve targeted one man. Even when the Doctor thinks he’s close to solving the mystery, it’s putting Peri, her mother and her friends into mortal danger.

written by Joseph Lidster
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Claudia Christian (Janine Foster), Stuart Milligan (Anthony Chambers), Jane Perry (Kathy Chambers), Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor (Nate Chambers), Vincent Pirillo (Daniel Woods), John Schwab (Lt. Doyle), Denise Bryer (Mrs. Van Gysegham), Allison Karaynes (Natalie Hamilton), Nicholas Briggs (Cyberman voice)

Notes: Claudia Christian is well known to SF fans on both sides of the Atlantic for her portrayal of Commander Susan Ivanova in the first four seasons of Babylon 5; unlike her B5 co-star Peter Jurasik, who guest starred in the earlier Big Finish audio play Winter For The Adept, she now lives and works full-time in the UK.

Original Title: Dead Men Walking

Timeline: After …ish and before The Year Of The Pig

Review: One of the best Doctor Who audios in quite some time, The Reaping is a story that not features as much drama courtesy of the Doctor’s old enemies as there is from rather more personal matters, showing that Big Finish has had to wake up and take notice of the new series, stylistically speaking. (more…)

With the Doctor and Lucie embroiled in a conflict with warmongers on one side and the inhuman Cybermen on the other, the Doctor isn’t sure who he should back. But even as he noodles his way through that question, many more are raised. Who is responsible for this war being fought? Why is it being run in such a peculiar fashion? And what was so important about Lucie that so many people were making so much fuss about her? The answers lead all the way back to the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey and, as usual, he’s not going to like them…

written by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter), Roy Marsden (Hulbert), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Owen Brenman (Jerry), Louise Fullerton (Karen), Andrew Wisher (Malcolm), Nicholas Briggs (Cybermen)

Timeline: after Human Resources Part 1 and before Rose

Review: The second part of Human Resources serves as the conclusion to the current story, as well as the entire series as a whole. As such, all the questions that have been raised so far (why the Headhunter was after Lucie, why she was sent with the Doctor by the Time Lords) are answered. I was actually a bit surprised that they wrapped things up so tightly, but I guess they didn’t want any loose ends in case there isn’t a second series. (more…)

The Headhunter has finally gotten Lucie and puts her to work…in an office. Of course, it’s in Telford and she thought she was going to work in London, but it’s a nice enough place and she settles in quickly, having easily gotten over her dreams of travelling through time. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds that his TADIS won’t work without Lucie (handiwork of the Time Lords) and accepts a time ring as a means to locating her. But Lucie is already finding trouble and even once she gets her memory back via the Doctor, she can’t keep from getting fired. As this involves her finding herself in the middle of an alien jungle during major hostilities, its hardly back to the dole queue on Monday. When the Doctor learns the sinister truth behind the “company” for whom Lucie was working, he tries to throw a spanner in the works only to be thrown himself by who is trying to do business with them. They’re a group with whom the Doctor has had plenty of experience and they give new meaning to the term “hostile takeover”.

written by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter), Roy Marsden (Hulbert), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Owen Brenman (Jerry), Louise Fullerton (Karen), Andrew Wisher (Malcolm), Nicholas Briggs (Cybermen)

Notes: Roy Marsden later appeared in the 2007 TV story Smith And Jones.

Timeline: after No More Lies and before Rose

Review: The first part of Human Resources gets off to a poor start with some startlingly creaky dialogue. Lucie being oriented to the company has a large quantity of phony “banter” that never rings true. Of course, given the duplicitous nature of the company, this can actually be explained away. Not so the lousy conversation between the Doctor and a nameless Time Lord. It’s as if the writer had never seen a proper Time Lord story before. It’s not what the Time Lord does that’s the problem. We’ve seen them be complete bastards before. But it’s the flippant nature of his attitude that feels wrong. We’ve seen them haughty, standoffish, conniving, or diplomatic. None of that here. Just a “Hey, Doctor! Here’s a time ring! Good luck!” They could have cut the whole scene and explained it’s events later and it would have worked better. (It would have made the Doctor’s appearance at the company more effective, too.) (more…)