EDAs 1.7/1.8: Human Resources (Parts 1 & 2)

[Anthony Williams]

The Cybermen are back, in this final audio of the first season of the Small McGanns!

We at PS want to know your thoughts on this thrilling conclusion to the season!

[SiHart]

We've had it for years and never got round to it, despite quite enjoying the rest of the season. We parted ways with the 8th doctor at this point and have never gone back.

[Junkyard]

I heard this when it was broadcast on BBC Radio 7. And mostly enjoyed it, enough to get it as a download. But some of the later EDAs are better.7/10

[Anthony Williams]

Don't get the Doctor angry. Don't ever get him angry.

At least, that seems to be the moral of this story. And boy does he have a lot to be angry about! But, let's start at the beginning. My initial thoughts are that this is a very strange story. I mean, Lucie being kidnapped and being put to work in an office in a blue-chip firm apparently in Telford... which actually turns out to be a war machine on an alien planet!? Absolutely bizarre! The David Brent style manager that Lucie has doesn't exactly help this feeling.

Still, in this story, it seems that everyone is out to screw up life for the Doctor and Lucie. We have the Headhunter, finally succeeded in her aim to kidnap Lucie, mistakenly believing her to be a future far-right dictator, we have Time Lords interfering in the Doctor's life, much to his irritation, particularly since they've hooked him up with a time ring. Here, we see a Doctor so bored of petty Time Lord politics. In fact, by the end of this story, the Doctor is just so utterly pissed off with the Cybermen that when they refuse his offer, he just murders them all. Could this be the beginning of the hard-nosed Time War Doctor?

There are just so many brilliant moments here. A particularly brilliant moment is the Doctor's horror when he realises that the poor oppressed race that is being invaded turns out to be none other than the Cybermen - and he's the one that saved them! There are so many great ideas surrounding these Cybermen - I love that they're post-Tenth Planet Cybermen, which sound somewhere in their evolution between the sing-songy variety in The Tenth Planet and the later metallic-sounding versions. They stomp around with the clang of metal. Yet, here they are flipped on their heads, and Eddie Robson leaves them as the oppressed, fleeing destruction and persecution. Yet, just because they're oppressed with people trying to destroy them, it doesn't mean that they aren't evil - there's an interesting moral dilemma here.

Of course, something must be said about all the regulars. It's nice to finally hear the Headhunter in her full role, and I doubt that this will be the last that we see of her. McGann is his usual lovely self - I've always said that his silky smooth voice lends itself so well to audio, and this is really no exception. This is the audio where I finally fell in love with Lucie Miller - Sheridan Smith does such a great job here, portraying a full range of emotions, and her off-the-wall anger when she thinks that she's been manipulated is just wonderful. The chemistry here between the two leads is just superb, and it's at this point that they finally seem to have become best of friends.

This story really brings this season full-circle. It started out with an epic two-parter against an old enemy, and finishes is exactly the same way. This is like no story I've ever seen or heard before - utterly, utterly mad, but so brilliant. This was a great way to end the season, and the character development has come to its final point, setting us up nicely for the next season... This story gets a full 5/5 from me!