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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Horror Of Glam Rock

Doctor Who: The Horror Of Glam RockThe Doctor tries to get Lucie back to her own time, but lands in 1974 in the middle of the Glam Rock fad. On a wintery night, they find themselves holed up in a diner with a variety of music-business types, including a manager and his up-and-coming young brother/sister act, Trisha and Tommy Tomorrow. But there’s also a never-was ex-singer with an odd connection to Lucie. And who are “The Only Ones”? And what do they want from Tommy Tomorrow?

Order this CDwritten by Paul Magrs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Tim Sutton

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Bernard Cribbins (Arnold Korns), Una Stubbs (Flo), Stephen Gately (Tommy Tomorrow), Clare Buckfield (Trisha Tomorrow), Lindsay Hardwick (Pat), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter)

Notes: Bernard Cribbins previously portrayed Tom Campbell, the storyline replacement for Ian Chesterton, in the second Doctor Who theatrical film, Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD. The title of this story is a play on The Horror Of Fang Rock, a popular Fourth Doctor story.

Timeline: after Blood Of The Daleks Part 2 and before Immortal Beloved

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Immortal Beloved

Doctor Who: Immortal BelovedThe Doctor and Lucie find themselves literally among the gods, as they land on a planet apparently ruled by Zeus, Hera and a host of other gods. But how did they get there? And given the fact that they clearly age, how do they maintain their immortality? When Zeus’ son Kalkin falls inlove with a young girl named Ararti, it sets in motion a chain of events that will alter the landscape forever.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Clements
directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Ian McNeice (Zeus), Elspet Gray (Hera), Jennifer Higham (Sararti), Anthony Spargo (Kalkin), David Dobson (Tayden), Jake McGann (Ganymede)

Notes: Elspet Gray portrayed Chancellor Thalia in the original Doctor Who story Arc Of Infinity. Jake McGann is Paul McGann’s son. Ian McNiece would go on to play William Churchill in Doctor Who television episodes starring Matt Smith, and would return to audio in Big Finish’s fourth Doctor range in Renaissance Man.

Timeline: after Horror Of Glam Rock and before Phobos

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Phobos

Doctor Who: PhobosOn Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, tourists engage in a wide variety of extreme sports. Key to the thrillseekers is bungie-jumping into a wormhole found on the surface. But there’s a problem: tourists keep disappearing or winding up dead. Kai, who runs the place with his longtime girlfried Eris, says it’s all caused by monsters from the wormhole and tries to warn everyone away, to no avail. But tensions among the guests begin to run high and even Kai himself seems somehow tied in to the danger. When the Doctor and Lucie show up, things begin to come to a boil and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come out alive.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Amy / Headhunter), Timothy West (Kai), Nerys Hughes (Eris), Ben Silverstone (Drew), John Schwab (Hayd), Tim Sutton (Farl)

Notes: Nerys Hughes previously appeared in the Doctor Who adventure Kinda.

Timeline: after Immortal Beloved and before No More Lies

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

No More Lies

Doctor Who: No More LiesThe Doctor and Lucie are entangled with a rogue time traveller named Zimmerman who escapes, leaving them at the mercy of an group of angry aliens, bent on finding the cause of the time trouble, no matter the cost. But when the Doctor and Lucie finally catch up to Zimmerman, they find him happily married and enjoying a garden party that seems to go on forever. Only Zimmerman can end the time loop and thereby save the space/time continuum. But even though he has denounced his former life, he is disinclined to help, as ending the time loop would cause the death of his beloved wife, leading to a standstill between the Doctor, Zimmerman and the Tar-Modowk, who get ever closer.

Order this CDwritten by Paul Sutton
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Tim Sutton

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Nigel Havers (Nick), Julia McKenzie (Rachel), Tom Chadbon (Gordon), Tim Hudson (Tar-Modowk Leader), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter)

Notes: Tom Chadbon previously appeared in the Doctor Who stories City Of Death and The Mysterious Planet, as well as playing a major role in the second “season” of Sarah Jane Smith audios, also produced by Big Finish Productions.

Timeline: after Phobos and before Human Resources Part 1

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Human Resources – Part 1

Doctor Who: Human Resources Part 1The Headhunter has finally gotten Lucie and puts her to work…in an office. Of course, it’s in Telford and she thought she was going to work in London, but it’s a nice enough place and she settles in quickly, having easily gotten over her dreams of travelling through time. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds that his TARDIS won’t work without Lucie (handiwork of the Time Lords) and accepts a time ring as a means to locating her. But Lucie is already finding trouble and even once she gets her memory back via the Doctor, she can’t keep from getting fired. As this involves her finding herself in the middle of an alien jungle during major hostilities, its hardly back to the dole queue on Monday. When the Doctor learns the sinister truth behind the “company” for whom Lucie was working, he tries to throw a spanner in the works only to be thrown himself by who is trying to do business with them. They’re a group with whom the Doctor has had plenty of experience and they give new meaning to the term “hostile takeover”.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter), Roy Marsden (Hulbert), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Owen Brenman (Jerry), Louise Fullerton (Karen), Andrew Wisher (Malcolm), Nicholas Briggs (Cybermen)

Notes: Roy Marsden later appeared in the 2007 TV story Smith And Jones.

Timeline: after No More Lies and before Human Resources Part 2

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Human Resources – Part 2

Doctor Who: Human Resources Part 2With the Doctor and Lucie embroiled in a conflict with warmongers on one side and the inhuman Cybermen on the other, the Doctor isn’t sure who he should back. But even as he noodles his way through that question, many more are raised. Who is responsible for this war being fought? Why is it being run in such a peculiar fashion? And what was so important about Lucie that so many people were making so much fuss about her? The answers lead all the way back to the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey and, as usual, he’s not going to like them…

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter), Roy Marsden (Hulbert), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Owen Brenman (Jerry), Louise Fullerton (Karen), Andrew Wisher (Malcolm), Nicholas Briggs (Cybermen)

Timeline: after Human Resources Part 1 and before Dead London

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Absolution

Doctor Who: AbsolutionAs the TARDIS is in mid-flight, Charley watches as C’rizz goes through his personal effects from the Divergent Universe, including an odd glowing vessel, which Charley insists on peering into – and something is released, at about the same time the time machine comes grinding to a halt. C’rizz and Charley rush to the console room, just in time to help the Doctor bring the TARDIS in for a rough landing – after which the ship seems to split apart, with C’rizz disappearing into the void. C’rizz finds himself in the company of a man called Aboresh, who begins to unlock abilities that he didn’t realize he had. The Doctor and Charley, in the meantime, find themselves among a superstitious people, though there seem to be hints of more advanced knowledge among some of the people there. Walled up in a compound surrounded by an energy barrier, this small society defies a creature called the Borarus, which constantly tries to break into the compound. The barrier stops it, but Aboresh – who lives on the outside with those cast out from the compound – now has a powerful new weapon at his disposal: C’rizz. As C’rizz’ powers increase exponentially, he may now be the greatest threat to the Doctor and Charley’s survival.

Order this CD written by Scott Alan Woodard
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Conrad Westmaas (C’rizz), Robert Glenister (Aboresh), Christopher Villiers (Cacothis), Natalie Mendoza (Lolanthia), Tony Barton (Straith), Geoff Breton (Phelgreth)

Timeline: after Memory Lane and before The Girl Who Never Was

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Girl Who Never Was

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Never WasDevastated after C’rizz makes his exit from the TARDIS crew, and outraged over the Doctor’s apparent lack of emotion about it, Charley decides she’s had enough time travel and wants to return home – even though history records her death aboard the doomed airship R-101. The Doctor tries to surprise her by taking her to her intended destination, Singapore in 1930, but the TARDIS is drawn off course in time, depositing the Doctor and Charley in Singapore in 2008. Now more disgruntled than ever, Charley tries to leave as the Doctor tends to the TARDIS controls to see what caused the time change, instead running into a man named Byron who not only seems to know who she is, but has a gun drawn on her the whole time. The Doctor arrives to foil whatever it is that Byron’s planning, and talks Charley into one last adventure – a trip back in time to the 1940s, and the source of the temporal event that redirected the TARDIS. The trail leads them to a docked sea freighter, but even there something is making a mess of the flow of time. Charley is stuck in the 1940s with a man who looks and sounds exactly like Byron – not a day older or younger – while the Doctor winds up back in 2008, only to find that Byron has staked a claim to this ship. An elderly woman accompanies Byron, and though he initially introduces her as his mother, the Doctor learns that her name is Charlotte Pollard, age 85, and she doesn’t remember anything about traveling in time – and she certainly doesn’t remember the alien invasion force stored in the ship’s hold…at least not until they stand before her, and then she remembers a single word: Cybermen.

Order this CD written by Alan Barnes
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Danny Webb (Byron), Anna Massey (Miss Pollard), Amanda Root (Madeleine Fairweather), David Yip (Curly), Robert Duncan (Borthwick), Natalie Mendoza (Receptionist), Tim Sutton (Colville), Jake McGann (Young Man), Nicholas Briggs (Soldier)

Timeline: after Absolution and before Blood Of The Daleks Part 1 (for the Doctor), after Absolution and before The Condemned (for Charley)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Dead London

Doctor Who: Dead LondonThe Doctor and Lucie travel to 21st century London so Lucie can conquer her most dangerous foe yet: her urge to go shopping. But when London changes around them, both of the time travelers are in danger. Lucie finds herself in London at the height of World War I, with zeppelin bombing runs an imminent danger, while the Doctor’s court appearance for a TARDIS parking violation becomes a more deadly affair when he winds up in an 18th century court. What’s even stranger than the time shifts is the fact that the residents of London are not only aware of them, but take them in their stride. With the Doctor sentenced to be hanged, time is running out to find out what’s happened to London, in the past and the present.

Order this CDwritten by Pat Mills
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Rupert Vansittart (Sepulchre), Clare Buckfield (Spring-Heeled Sophie), Richard Laing (Clerk), Katarina Olsson (Yellow Beryl)

Timeline: after Human Resources Part 2 and before Max Warp

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Max Warp

Doctor Who: Max WarpThe Doctor and Lucie arrive at a live taping of the hit spacecraft hot-rodding show, Max Warp… just in time to see the show’s seasoned test driver plunge to his apparent death when he loses control of a Kith ship and it slams into a nearby moon. Immediately the Doctor is convinced that the ship was sabotaged, and its pilot murdered. He and Lucie split up to try to narrow down the list of suspects – and Lucie ends up with the unenviable task of going undercover as a new host of Max Warp, and while the regular hosts think she’s just providing something for the dads to watch, she’s trying to figure out of either of them is a killer. The Doctor focuses on the intrigue between the humans and the Kith, who exist in an uneasy truce, with some on both sides ready to resume a state of war. An assassination attempt on the contentious Kith ambassador may be the last straw before shots are fired… until the Doctor realizes that something else has been happening all along.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Graeme Garden (Geoffrey Vantage), James Fleet (O’Reilley), Duncan James (Timbo), Nick Brimble (The Kith), Samantha Hughes (President Varlon), Katarina Olsson (Judd Gilbride)

Timeline: after Dead London and before Brave New Town

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Brave New Town

Doctor Who: Brave NEw TownSeptember, 1991: the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Lucie to a town which seems to be frozen in time. With no electricity, nothing here has been cleaned for years, and the friendly locals have no problem with the idea that yesterday’s date was the same as today’s – just like tomorrow’s will be. Surrounding the town is a bleak desert, though everyone living there swears that the tide is out. One thing disrupts the calm here: armored vehicles routinely patrol the area, crossing the desert that shouldn’t be there, and all the locals have to do to avoid detection is stand still. Lucie is captured by one of the patrols, and discovers that their occupants seem fairly certain that it’s 2008. The Doctor, trying to track down a missing local girl, discovers that the town – and the desert – are actually deep inside the borders of Uzbekistan, and that the locals are anything but. They’re Autons who, without control from the Nestene Consciousness, have blended in to the point that they think they’re human. But somewhere in the desert, a Nestene control unit is trying to re-establish contact with its Auton army, and the innocuous townsfolk may justify the armed presence patrolling their home.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Clements
directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Derek Griffiths (Jason Taylor), Adrian Dunbar (McCarthy), Lorna Want (Sally Taylor), Nick Wilton (PC Sharp / Karimov), Katarina Olsson (Margaret / Vitas)

Notes: This marks the Autons’ first appearance in a Big Finish audio production; they had already appeared as both the first villain and the first classic villain in 2005’s Rose, the first episode of the new TV series. The Autons also inspired a trilogy of fan-made video productions in the 1990s, though the interpretation of them seen there is very different from either Rose or Brave New Town.

Timeline: after Max Warp and before The Skull Of Sobek

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Skull Of Sobek

Doctor Who: The Skull Of SobekOn the very blue planet Indigo 3, the Doctor and Lucie find a monastery in the midst of the planetary desert – and they find themselves beseiged within its wills when someone starts shooting at them. The monks and nuns there, however, are too busy trying to cover up a grisly murder – possibly more than one – to really extend any hospitality to the time travelers. When reptilian warriors begin to manifest themselves in the lower levels of the monastery, the Doctor deduces that they are the killers – and that they’re just warming up to doing something really nasty. It turns out that the warriors represent two factions who have been at each other’s throats for hundreds of years, dating back to the beginnings of their hostilities on the feudal planet Sobek. One of the alien combatants decides that the Doctor will be his chosen champion, whether he wants to be or not. The other picks an even more unlikely champion – Lucie – and pits the two against each other in a ritual fight to the death.

Order this CDwritten by Marc Platt
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Art Malik (Abbot Absolute), Barbara Flynn (Sister Chalice), Giles Watling (The Old Prince); Sean Biggerstaff (Snabb), Mikey O’Connor (Dannahill), Katarina Olsson (Sister Thrift)

Timeline: after Brave New Town and before Grand Theft Cosmos

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Grand Theft Cosmos

Doctor Who: Grand Theft CosmosThe Doctor and Lucie are aboard a train bound for Sweden in the 1800s; also on the train are priceless artifacts by an artist named Tardelli. This piques the Doctor’s interest: he has followed Tardelli through time and space, removing his artwork, which has a psychically active component that tends to manifest itself as a malign influence wherever it takes root. But two other old acquaintances are aboard the train as well: the Headhunter and Karen, Lucie’s former co-worker who seems to have been liberated from a dark destiny to serve as the Headhunter’s sidekick. They’re also there to pilfer Tardelli’s latest masterpiece, a hefty black diamond, until the Doctor and Lucie intervene in their plans. The two sets of time travelers are in a race to see who can steal the diamond first: the Doctor wants to prevent it from depositing an evil psychic influence on Earth, and the Headhunter’s motive is pure profit… but she hasn’t even told Karen what the real job is, or who they’re really working for.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Michael Maloney (Simonson), Christopher Benjamin (Tardelli), Colin Spaull (Henrik), Sebastian Armesto (Anders), Katarina Olsson (The Headhunter), Louise Fullerton (Karen)

Timeline: after The Skull Of Sobek and before The Zygon Who Fell To Earth

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Review: Doctor Who is infinitely adaptable, capable of stretching to encompass nearly any story format. But Grand Theft Cosmos may well be a Doctor Who first: I don’t think anyone’s ever tried to do an Ocean’s Eleven-style caper story (albeit scaled down to TARDIS’ Two) with the Doctor and company.

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Zygon Who Fell To Earth

Doctor Who: The Zygon Who Fell To EarthThe Doctor and Lucie travel to 1984 to pay another visit to Lucie’s Aunty Pat, and Lucie discovers that Pat’s married to a former folk singer and running a secluded hotel – a marriage that Lucie’s never heard of before. Two other visitors to the hotel also catch the Doctor’s eye; Lucie tries to spy on them, and discovers that they’re Zygons – aliens who can shapeshift to resemble any human that they kidnap and put into their equipment… a fate that Pat’s husband Trevor has suffered, and a fate that now awaits Lucie. The duplicated Lucie tries to throw the Doctor off-course, but even with her interference, he soon discovers that Lucie’s Uncle Trevor is a Zygon warlord who has defected to Earth, taking with him the secrets needed to launch a terrifying new Zygon invasion. Trevor’s fellow Zygons want those secrets, and they’ll do anything, from exposing Trevor’s true identity to killing the human woman he has fallen in love with, to get them.

Order this CDwritten by Paul Magrs
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Steven Pacey (Trevor), Malcolm Stoddard (Urtak), Tim Brooke-Taylor (Mims), Lynsey Hardwick (Aunty Pat), Katarina Olsson (Grakus)

Notes: This is the first Big Finish audio appearance for the Zygons, who made their TV debut in the Tom Baker four-parter Terror Of The Zygons (which established the ground rules involving Zygon shape-shifting and the Zygon’s monstrous pet Skarasen creatures). Guest star Steven Pacey has had a long career on the musical stage in Britain, but he also has a science fiction pedigree as well, having starred as the impetuous Del Tarrant in the third and fourth seasons of the BBC space opera Blake’s 7.

Timeline: after Grand Theft Cosmos and before Sisters Of The Flame

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Review: Doctor Who doesn’t do too many stories of doomed love, but The Zygon Who Fell To Earth is a good one, with one of the best casts Big Finish has assembled for an eighth Doctor / Lucie story and an exciting pace that doesn’t let down the emotional turning points of the story. There’s also a humdinger of a twist at the end.

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Sisters Of The Flame

Doctor Who: Sisters Of The FlameAfter a near-miss with the TIme Lords’ time scoop in the vortex, the TARDIS materializes in the cargo hold of a space freighter. The Doctor and Lucie are immediately ambushed the moment they set foot on the ship; Lucie awakens in a prison cell, with no idea who took the Doctor or where he was taken, and is questioned by a large, centipede-like police officer named Rosto, who doesn’t seem inclined to believe a word she says. Straxus appears, asks Lucie about the Doctor’s whereabouts, and then infuriates her by leaving her stranded in Rosto’s custody. A woman appears and attempts to kidnap Lucie, but when her cover story slips, Rosto comes to the rescue. Lucie’s would-be kidnapper vanishes into thin air, but not before Rosto identifies her as the leader of the raiding party that took the Doctor. Rosto and Lucie follow the clues and discover that the woman was a member of an obscure mystic sect called the Sisterhood of Karn. Rosto and Lucie travel to Karn, hoping that they’ll find the Doctor there, unaware that a much larger crisis looms, endangering the whole universe.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Kenneth Colley (Zarodnix), Alexander Siddig (Rosto), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Barry McCarthy (Bulek / Eurelz Captain), Nicola Weeks (Haspira / Trell), Katarina Olsson (Orthena / Trell), Barnaby Edwards (Galactinet)

Notes: The Sisterhood of Karn was last encountered in 1976’s The Brain Of Morbius, where they helped and hindered the Doctor in his fourth incarnation as he battled the revived Time Lord dictator, Morbius. Guest star Alexander Siddig is practically a household name among science fiction fans, having co-starred as Dr. Julian Bashir in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; after returning to Britain from America, Siddig (the stage name of Siddig El Fadil) has returned to theater and TV work.

Timeline: after The Zygon Who Fell To Earth and before The Vengeance Of Morbius

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Review: In the tradition of the new TV series, the eighth Doctor / Lucie audio adventures here begin the build-up to an epic end-of-season adventure. With this second “season” having been released directly to CD before being licensed to BBC7 for radio broadcast, Big Finish had a somewhat freer hand in deciding which classic series villains to revive (the first “season” commissioned by BBC Radio stuck with the somewhat obvious Daleks and Cybermen).