The Prisoner's Dilemma (#3.08)

  Big Finish, Companion Chronicles


Dilemma, huh? Hmmm. Not sure what the actual dilemma is but this is Sophie Aldred’s first companion chronicle. And she does a great job of it! But this story is more of a monologue for both characters, with them each telling stories and some action going on. This story starts in the middle of the action, with Ace being thrown into jail with Zara, who is never named in this story but in all of the related Key2Time trilogy with the 5th Doctor. Ace attempts to escape the prison with Zara and they are captured, then later mind wiped.

It turns out that Ace has been following Zink and Magda, Harmonius 14 Zink and 1V Magda, in their criminal exploits in the universe. They end up on Erratoon with Ace and intend to do additional mischief. But Zara is determined that Zink is hers so things don’t go quite as any of them expect. This story all revolves around the Key2Time that Zara is there to get. And as things seem to go haywire, they all end up going well and everything is improved for these people, descendants of the original prisoners sealed onto this planetoid for generations. So I did enjoy this though it was a bit talk-ee from one side then the other. But each character has entertaining stories to tell and despite Zara being born only 4 days before, she has a lot to tell. Good stuff!


Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Laura Doddington (Zara)

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Director: Lisa Bowerman

Release: February 2009

© Laura Vilensky 2019