The latest series of Ninth Doctor adventures are the biggie as it has Christopher Eccleston reunite with Billie Piper, reforming the Doctor/Rose combo that made up the entirety of their TV run. After three series’ worth of boxsets featuring the Ninth Doctor travelling by himself this a nice break and is a fun story to start on, and one that crucially feels very “of the time”, which is admittedly weird way to talk about 2005, but hey-ho… Let’s take a look!

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The Time War strand of Eighth Doctor adventure’s Uncharted strand (yes, that’s a strand of a strand!) continues with “Pursuit” and I’m sad to say that despite a really fun cliffhanger last time this set is rather bland, and steadfastly refuses to having any forward momentum until the last moment, and that’s only barely different to how Set 1 ended. If this were an adaptation of something I’d label these stories “filler”, clearly existing to stretch the story out longer without adding anything significant. I will say that the final story, “The First Forest”, was good fun at least, it’s just the three leading up to it that lets the side down… which is a lot given that’s three-thirds of the set! Let’s take a look…

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The not-particularly-good run of Seventh Doctor-Naomi-Harry stories come to their conclusion with “Past Forward”, a rather odd set in that it’s two stories but one story takes place in the middle of another one but impacts the second half of the first story greatly. Keeping up? Good! So really its one long story which is why I’ve not split the set up. John Dorney’s “With the Angels” is a cracker too, the one that makes up the first and third of the set, with the exception of one too many fourth-wall-breaking references to a popular YouTube show during its second half. Anyway, let’s take a look at how Naomi and Harry leave, and how a new companion starts…

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Coming off of a really dull two-parter definitely helped “Cry of the Banshee” stand out, but that’s a little harsh because it is a good story by itself, raised by having Leela and the Brigadier meet and rather than have it as a cheesy thing writer Tim Foley came up with some fun things to do with the pair. Let’s take a look!

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The next load of Fourth Doctor audio dramas have arrived, and sadly this double-bill fits into that all too frequent category of “dull and forgettable”. I guess because they have to make so many often one hours stories for Mr. Baker is why so many of his “Fourth Doctor Adventures” fall flat, but that’s not really an excuse when plenty have been good, and a few great. Oh well, let’s get my thoughts down before I literally forget everything about it…

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The final two stories in the “Cosmos and Mrs. Clarke” release couldn’t be more different. “The Key to Many Worlds” sees both the return of Marco Polo and Iris Wildthyme and has a strong line of comedy running through it (as you’d imagine!) while “Inconstancy” is a rather dull affair featuring clones and lots of past-tense narration. Ah well, how well and poorly do these things effect their stories? Read on and find out!

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Kicking off the latest Sixth Doctor audio boxset is “The Story Demon”, which promises a Dalek telling kids stories, which is a weird concept but also a fun idea. A lot of the rest of the story feels appropriately straight for a popular children’s book, with a few more grizzly exceptions, overall leading to a pleasant hour’s listen. Let’s take a look…

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Hooklight is a twelve (!) part story that was released across two six-episode boxsets, but unlike the ill-fated “Last Day” double-whammy from last year this is actually coherent and enjoyable! While not perfect, particularly in the second half, Hooklight succeeds at a grander form of storytelling (even if it borrows heavily from the narrative structure of Lord of the Rings) and introduces genuinely interesting characters that have a chance to develop and breathe thanks to the extended runtime. Let’s take a closer look!

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I know I’ve skipped ahead of a few Big Finish releases here but, given its significance I wanted to get this review up a little quicker as yes: here we are, another Doctor has joined the world of Audio Drama and it’s the Thirteenth Doctor herself! “Vampire Weekend” doesn’t break any mould but what it does do is give us a fun story re-establishing The Doctor and Yaz’s personalities / relationship before, hopefully, doing some more interesting things with the characters going forward. I don’t know about a “full on Sixth Doctor rehabilitation” as some are hoping, but it’s safe to say that this era free from Chris Chibnall can only be a good thing. Let’s take a look!

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