Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, David Selby, Michael Felton Stevens, Hywel Morgan, Clive Mantle, Christine Roberts, Ian Hallard.

There is a new villain in town, Earth and its associated planets are under threat from a despicable evil and only one man can save them, one man, a savage of impeccable understanding and loyalty and a strange Blue Box who never takes the Doctor where he wants to go but always where he is needed.

Destroy The Infinite is by far the best story so far for Tom Baker in his three series for Big Finish. Having been written by Nicholas Briggs has helped the actor showcase his rather grave sombre but also ingenuous way of speaking elevates the script from something that on the whole feels as though it may have been rejected from the writers of The Eagles’ Dan Dare to something that brings out the very best in Mr. Baker’s commanding appeal in the role.

Destroy The Infinite is one of those Doctor Who Stories that you really want to love but in the end are driven to distraction by some of the characters placed within and the way they are treated. One moment in which the listener might be disturbed by is the callous death of Sarla, portrayed by Christine Roberts. Arguably the most sympathetic character in the ensemble, with exception of Tom Baker and the great Louise Jameson of course, the way she is killed off with but a single order is both unexpected, slightly ingenious but also hugely disturbing. Not even the Daleks seem that heartless by comparison. Yet with a single mention The Eminence places themselves at direct odds with a flabbergasted Doctor. It is a good moment but one that brings the thought of deeper, darker times to come, an exploitation of the Doctor’s emotions and responses, just the right Doctor to do it to.

Aside from Sarla, the rest of the characters feel as though they have come out of a British post war society that still had the hangover of pre-Empire association running through its heart. The allusion to Dan Dare is perhaps not lost with some of the talk between the officer class in the story and The Eminence is a villain with the same amount of depth as fish floating in a one inch pool of water. No doubt this seemingly major villain will become more robust, more adept at becoming something to fear but for now it only served notice, with pleasure it has to be said, that it gave Tom Baker the chance to shine unlike before in his return to the role.

As the third series of Tom Baker’s adventures as the fourth Doctor nears its end, it is with baited breath that all the right pieces are in place for a storming finish and not a middling, muddled up affair that has been presented with Destroy The Infinite.

Destroy The Infinite is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.

Ian D. Hall