Audio and radio plays

An archive of entries about audio and radio plays, including reviews

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Torchwood – Asylum

1 July 2009 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Torchwood

In the UK: Wednesday 1st July, 2.15pm, Radio 4. Available for download until 7th July. Also available from Amazon.co.uk

I feel violated. Violated and stupid. Don’t I learn? Am I no better than invertebrates or small yappy dogs? Couldn’t I tell that another Torchwood Radio 4 play was going to make the last one look like a work of art?

Apparently not, because I actually sat down and listened, live, to Torchwood – Asylum.

Well that’s 45 minutes I’m not getting back.

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UK TV

Review: Doctor Who – 120 – The Magic Mousetrap

1 July 2009 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

The Magic MousetrapApologies for the delay in reviewing this one: I simply couldn’t face listening to the first of two Sylvester McCoy stories after having to sit through the Key 2 Time season.

In fact, the thought of listening to the new Eighth Doctor and Lucie season was so horrific I’ve decided to give those a complete miss, so sorry if you’ve been hoping for reviews of those – I doubt you have.

But, just for yous guys, I forced myself to get back on track. I steeled myself last week, gave The Magic Mousetrap a whirl – as well as the first episode of The Three Companions – and now I’m ready to report.

It’s not that bad actually, although it would have been so much better with practically any other Doctor/companion combination.

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Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who: Key 2 Time – The Chaos Pool

29 April 2009 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

The Chaos PoolWell, it’s all over. I’d say, “Thank God for that,” if it weren’t for the fact that it’s Sylvester McCoy stories for the next three releases. I might just sit those out.

Anyway, brief recap: in a poorly acted, poorly scripted sequel to the Tom Baker Key to Time season, Peter Davison’s Doctor now has to go looking for the segments to the Key to Time for no well explored reason other than because there wouldn’t be any stories without it. To help him is a ‘human tracer’ who can’t act and is only human because it helps the plot of an audio play to move better.

So far, he’s nearly got Ace killed (but failed unfortunately), messed up Mars, and met up with the inept Black and White Guardians. Now he’s got to find the Chaos Pool while some giant slugs slug it out.

Oh God, surely there’s more to life than this?

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Audio and radio plays

Time to buy an Iris Wildthyme book

24 April 2009 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Iris WIldthyme and the Celestial Omnibus

We’re building up quite a collection of writers and publishers here at the blog, so in what has become a tradition here, it’s time to pimp one of their books.

Stuart Douglas – who hasn’t been around here much of late. Bah! – is publishing a collection of Iris Wildthyme stories by the likes of Paul Magrs, Steve Cole, Mark Wright, Cavan Scott and Mags Haliday next month so why not head on over to Obverse Books and place an order? It’s only £10.99 and it’s a hardback.

In case you don’t know who Iris is, she’s a Time Lady who travels the universe in a TARDIS disguised as a Double Decker bus. According to el Wikipedia:

Her stories are in the New Wave mold, characterised by nonlinear, sometimes stream of consciousness narrative, intertextual references to the rest of Doctor Who and popular culture, and themes of unreliable narration. She has a playful, mischievous personality, delighting in baiting the Doctor and getting into trouble.

Although she started off in the BBC Books Doctor Who novels, she’s gone on to have a range of audio adventures, care of Big Finish, in which she’s played by former Who companion Katy Manning, so you might want to nip over to Amazon to buy them, too.

Iris Wildthyme

Review: The Companion Chronicles 3×9 – Resistance

16 April 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Resistance (Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles)

Polly. Everyone remember Polly?

Chances are the answer to that question is either no or "Oh yes, I remember her. I’d forgotten she was there."

Back when Doctor Who was just a kiddies show (ie the Hartnell era), Polly – together with fellow companions Ben and Dodo – were the producers’ attempts to upgrade it to a family show by introducing modern, vibrant companions that the youth of today could identify with.

Yes, Polly was the Rose Tyler of her day.

A swinging 60s kind of girl, into mini skirts, screaming a lot, using nail polisher remover to kill monsters and indulging in mildly flirtatious dialogue with cockney sailors, blonde bombshell Polly managed to survive the Hartnell era and ended up accompanying Pat Troughton on his journeys through time and space, along with new arrival Jamie McCrimmon, who joined in what was the show’s penultimate, purely historical, alien-free story.

And it’s not long after that that we join her for this surprisingly good historical set during World War 2.

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