Colditz (Doctor Who) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

This is the twenty fifth release from Big Finish in their range of full cast audio adventures starring classic Doctor Whos. It stars Sylvester McCoy as Seven and Sophie Aldred as Ace. There are four episodes, roughly 25-30 minutes each, complete with original theme music between each, and cliff hanger endings. Two episodes per disc on 2 discs, and a short booklet with some pictures of the cast and production notes.

I have ot say I loved this story. The Doctor and Ace find themselves trapped in Colditz Castle in 1944. The Germans want the TARDIS and the Doctor's technology for the war effort, and just who is Klein and how come she knows so much?

The story is a complicated one with a great time travelling conundrum at its heart, which reveals just how far the Doctor will go in order to protect the established history. Built around this is a classic little tale with, importantly, some really good characterisation and character development. Ace in particular gets quite a few shocks and Sophie Aldred clearly relished the opportunity to portray the teenager starting to grow up. McCoy is in top form as the ominous Doctor, making doom laden pronouncements and trying to get one step ahead of his opponents. Klein is an intriguing character, and the door is left open for her return in subsequent episodes (we had to wait nearly 10 years!). A certain David Tennant pops up as a rather nasty German guard, and though he hams it up to the rafters it is a fitting performance that really strikes a note of fear in the listener's heart. The theme of the story seems to be that actions always have consequences, as all the characters come to confront their own mistakes, it's a neat little moral and not too heavy handedly done.

I especially liked the sound production here, there really was a feeling of being in Colditz. Equally impressive is the incidental music, which seems to be some merging of the Who theme and Ron Goodwin's Where Eagles Dare main theme. It works perfectly to give an impression of a good old fashioned war movie.

5 stars for this cracking story.

The seventh doctor and ace land in the infamous prisoner of war camp, late on in 1944. And they don't last long before they are captured. How will they escape? And how can they avoid changing history in the process? Does the doctor have one of his usual cunning plans? Is it even more cunning than he realises?

Another story from steve lyons, who never writes great literature, but instead always produces good solid franchise fiction. And that's what this is. Clearly meticulously researched, as ace gets involved with a member of the prominenti - relatives of top allied officials, who really were imprisoned in colditz in real life.

The cast contains the obligatory good german and evil nazi [one played by an actor called david tennant. Wonder whatever happened to him?] And then there's Klein. A cold fraulein of a nazi officer, who has more than a few secrets of her own...

A great story with a lot of twists and turns, and an astonishing cliffhanger to part two. Really good stuff and strongly recommended.

I'm writing this because I don't think there are enough reviews of this title. If you don't already own it and are a fan of McCoy then buy it now and don't waste any more time reading reviews - you won't regret it.

If you're harder to convince than that, this is why it's good:

Sylvester MCoy and Sophie Aldred are on top form, brilliantly evoking the characters from their tv days (the doctor's unfortunate brief relapse into playing the spoons aside!)

It is well researched and well scripted.

It is engaging and evokes the setting well: I lost myself in it and enjoyed every word, something which is relatively rare for me with audio plays.

(It also features David Tennant although you might not recognise him playing a german.)

May I also direct you to the excellent 'Fires of Vulcan', 'Master' and 'Red'. When Sylvester is on form he is easily my favourite of the audio Doctors.