Big Finish Jago and Litefoot Series
The pathology skills of Professor Litefoot and Dr Sacker are called upon by Lord Ruthven, who asks them to catalogue a cache of bones beneath his country estate. And so begins the endgame… as a plan long laid come to its glorious fruition.
Wow but this story could've been fantastic! Instead it is very good but a bit too easily solved, in my mind. Appropriately solved as Jago and Litefoot are not the Doctor, with his superhuman intelligence. They do what they can and that is, as usual, the best method to get the monster and solve the case. But it just felt empty at the end. And where in the world did that butler go, anyway?
So Sanders isn't actually in this story until close to the end. However I just kept waiting for him to show up. As Jago has problems with creditors, then signs away the New Regency theatre, then Litefoot is dismissed as a pathologist and professor, I just knew he was behind it all! There was no doubt in my mind but he never reared his ugly head, as it were. Then we discover what the Ruthven inheritance actually is and wow, that guy really needed a hobby! He wiles away the centuries by breeding inhuman, smart killers? Intense stuff but they all go down with a trickle, more than anything. And Jago keeps calling for Litefoot to help him but then he solves his own problem in the end. And here we come to how Ellie survives and returns to the Red Tavern in future stories.
Coming back to this series after listening to the future ones is quite fun but the stories aren't quite as strong. I just prefer when they're taking out of their natural habitat to deal with other times and places. They provide a fascinating perspective with the florid and scientific-minded as counterpoints to the eras I'm more familiar with. This was a fun series, though!
Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago), Trevor Baxter (Professor Litefoot), Lisa Bowerman (Ellie), Conrad Asquith (Sergeant Quick), David Collings (Gabriel Sanders), Chloe Howman (Mags), Alex Mallinson (Landlord/The Station Master/Fosco/Creature), Vernon Dobtcheff (Reuben Mord), Jennie Stoller (Madame Deuteronomy), Simon Williams (Lord Ruthven), Duncan Wisbey (Dr Orman Sacker)
Writer: Andy Lane
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Release: January 2011