Big Finish Main Range
This story was surprisingly good for its lack of aliens and absolute danger. I was underwhelmed by Clara, the behemoth herself, but entertainment in the past sure isn’t what we have today! And as someone mentions in the interviews, the villain in this story is the dark side of human nature – the unwillingness to share and consider others in worse situations than you. Or just being considerate as that seems to be a problem for Craven when it comes to Flip.
The Doctor, Flip, and Mrs Clarke arrive in the past and the Doctor immediately endears himself to a Mrs. Middlemint, a fun name for a lady who really does come out looking good overall. Flip tries to use her engagement ring and her fiance’s last name (Ramon) to keep the suitors at bay, to no avail, ultimately. And Mrs. Clarke tries to assist some enslaved people who are being tortured and worked to exhaustion by Sir Geoffrey Balsam. There are a few salty sea captains thrown in, with Clara the rhinocerous, some explosions and wandering about the countryside trying to stop the traffic of slaves.
Overall, it’s a complicated story with a lot of characters but fortunately, they all had a variety of voices and accents, making it much easier to keep track of them all! Though there was danger, no one had to sacrifice themselves to make the Doctor’s plan work and it all went surprisingly well overall, I must say. I really did enjoy it, despite it being a pure historical, which can confuse me as I’m not up on British history.
Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Miranda Raison (Mrs Constance Clarke), Glynn Sweet (Sir Geoffrey Balsam), Georgina Moon (Mrs Middlemint), Liam McKenna (Titus Craven), Wayne Forester (Rev Mr Philip Naylor), Giles New (Captain Douwemout Van Der Meer), Diveen Henry (Sarah), Ben Arogundade (Gorembe)
Writer: Marc Platt
Director: Jamie Anderson
Release: October 2017