EDA 2.1: Dead London

[Anthony Williams]

And so we move onto Season 2 of Big Finish's series of audios featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller. This one guest stars Rupert Vansittart, known to many of us as General Asquith in Aliens of London/World War Three.

We at Planet Skaro want to know YOUR thoughts on this adventure!

[Junkyard]

I found this quite entertaining, mostly for the performances of Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith. The setting and plot were good, though not outstanding. There is one plot hole that I found unsatisfying; there was plenty of explanation as to how the villain was doing what he was doing, but nothing as to his motive. Because he could? Or have I missed something? 7/10

[Anthony Williams]

I find this to be a bit of an odd one. I absolutely adore the opening of this particular play - the courtroom suddenly going from the 21st Century to the 17th Century, where he's condemned to death is such a great opening moment.

Yet, overall, I found this play to be mostly unmemorable. And that could never be a good way to open a season. There are some good ideas here, but ultimately, they just seem very derivative - the similarities of this play to The War Games are really quite astounding.

I'm going to be honest in writing this review - there's very little here to get excited about, either in a negative or positive way. Of course, it's nice to see the lighter and more cantankerous side of the Eighth Doctor's personality here, but that alone does not make a good play.

When I think about it, that's precisely the problem. This never really sounds like anything more than a "play" - while some of the stories in Season 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures had some wonderful epic qualities that made it difficult not to visualise what they would look like on tv or on the big screen, this never makes that jump.

All in all, a thoroughly disappointing way to kick off the season... this one only gets 1/5 from me.