Big Finish Main Range
Team 7th Doctor, Ace, and Hex show up in 1920’s Paris, determined to visit the artists and literary greats that populate the area at that time. But many of them are gone, back to wherever they came from. And it’s all down to someone writing a bad review of their work. Who’s writing those reviews then? And whatever happened to Shakespeare as the famous bookstore is now Dickens and Company? Dora Muse seems to be the nice bookstore owner with a map of the “flames of genius” in her bookstore office while Iris Wildthyme is skulking around the city. It all seems mysterious and our main characters, Kevin and Isabel, are heading into the thick of it.
The lack of communication is just astounding in this story. Willful lack of communication, where assumptions and suspicions rule over common sense. The Doctor has sometimes made assumptions about who is the villain that have turned out to be wrong but this one takes the cake. He is manipulated by Dora Muse and seems to want to be manipulated. Somehow Hex is the only one thinking and though we’re supposed to think he’s just been taken in by ole Auntie Iris, I just can’t buy it throughout the story. There are hints laid out but it was far too easy to guess the bad vs. good and what was really going on here. Except for the vampire bit. But yeah, it had really cool pieces that just never fit together right for me. I wanted to yell at Ace and the Doctor (and Iris!) just TALK to each other, you idiots! And other such choice words…
Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Katy Manning (Iris Wildthyme), David Benson (Panda) Gethin Anthony (Kevin Archer/Dali), Rebecca La Chance (Isabel Archer), Christine Kavanagh (Dora Muse). Other parts played by members of the cast.
Writer: Paul Magrs
Director: Jamie Anderson
Release: December 2018