Andy’s Blog

As will become apparent when Cult Collectors gets going, I’m a huge Doctor Who fan. This month Big Finish released a new mini series of Doctor Who spin-off adventures on CD. I’ve had as chance to listen to them this week, so I thought I’d post a review here.

The Companion Chronicles are a little different to the audio plays normally produced by Big Finish. As opposed to a full cast audio drama, these plays are more like audiobooks, with each one being read by one of the actors who played a companion opposite the first four TV Doctors.

The first of these releases is Marc Platt’s Frostfire, read by Maureen O’Brien reprising her role as Vicki. I’ve always enjoyed Marc Platt’s work, particularly his contributions to the main Big Finish range (Spare Parts and Loups-Garoux) and so I was looking forward to this. I wasn’t disappointed. More so than in any of the other Companion Chronicle plays released, Platt managed to capture the spirit of the TV episodes. Set in cold 19th Century London, his dialogue creates a wonderul sense of location, and is ably presented by O’Brien.

It’s been over 40 years since she last played Vicki, but the character is still well defined by both author and actor. By telling the story from the point of view of an older Vicki, whose travels with the Doctor are now over, it gives the play a real sense of belonging in the world of Doctor Who, something which is not as readily apparent in the subsequent plays. This is the strongest of these plays, and a wonderful evocation of the William Hartnell era.