WHISPERS OF TERROR

The third adventure in Big Finish‘s main range of Doctor Who audios, Whispers of Terror, begins in far more familiar territory than the previous adventure, Phantasmagoria.  All the familiar elements from the 80s TV series are there, complete with reassuringly familiar sound effects and background noises/music.

The adventure opens with a break-in, very reminiscent of the tomb robbers in the TV adventure Revelation of the Daleks – albeit this break-in is of a museum of sound, where “aural antiquities” are stored for posterity. The intruders seem intent on altering some famous speeches, much to the chagrin of the museum’s blind curator, a man with an exemplary ear (played to perfection by Doctor Who stalwart Peter Miles).

The 6th Doctor and Peri are introduced to us in a typical “early season 22” scene.  We have an overly loud and bombastic 6th Doctor who loves the sound of his own voice, played by Colin Baker as though not a day had passed since 1985.  He’s accompanied by Peri, with Nicola Bryant providing an excellent recreation of the young and brash voice she had back in the 80s.  The playful arguing between the two leads is so perfect that you’d swear this was a season 22 adventure.

The TARDIS lands, as is its wont, in this mysterious dark (dim!) museum.  Peri feels anxious and would rather be back in the better-lit TARDIS, but the “bull in china shop” of the 6th Doctor charging into danger, particularly if he can’t see the danger, drags her further in to explore where they are.

It’s not long before they’re caught as intruders, and the appearance of a dead body has them suspected of murder.

Thoughts

This is a much more self-assured adventure, spiriting us right back to 1985.  There are none of the quick-cut scenes of the previous adventure, so we have plenty of time to get into what’s going on and becoming familiar with the voices (all of which are distinctive enough to avoid the confusing clashes of the previous outing).

Definitely one to recommend, even having only listened to the first episode.

Update – 29/11/2017

Overall, having finished the adventure, it’s a good story that uses the audio medium well, and has a sensible resolution (although I’m not sure where the “copying itself all around the world via audio broadcast” threat disappeared to – suddenly it was more important to stop the presidential candidate than it was to stop the mad dead guy from “infecting” the entire world).

Peri didn’t get to do a huge amount but both Nicola Bryant and Colin Baker are on good 80s-era form.

This one left me with a more positive impression than the previous one.