Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Barnaby Kay, Beth Chalmers, Charlie Norfolk, Derek Hutchinson, Dan Starkey, Camilla Power, John Dorney, Rachael Stirling, Alex Wyndham, Blake Ritson, Nicholas Briggs, Alex MacQueen, Sorcha Cusack, Susannah Harker, David Sibley.

Arguably one of the most involved, most deliberately, and it has to be said wonderfully elaborately written endeavours undertaken by Big Finish finally comes to an end as the saga of Dark Eyes sees the Eighth incarnation battle not only the Eminence, The Master and the Daleks but also Time itself. It is a battle that sees the foreshadowing of what is to come, of the ache that will grip the Doctor as the Time War sets out to destroy all and in which the very soul of the Time Lord is challenged.

With Nicola Walker, Rachel Stirling and Alex MacQueen adding huge influence to the overall arc of the story and Paul McGann once more giving huge cause to believe that between his and Colin Baker’s incarnations as The Doctor, the stories that could have been told on the B.B.C., had faith been kept and internal politics been kept out of the equation, are worth musing over but ultimately leaving at the door of non existence lest anger and prevailing time winds prevail a storm that cannot be controlled or weathered.

It is in Nicola Walker though in which much interest for the future lays, a companion of note is always a bonus and whilst The Time War looms heavy on the horizon, there is much mileage to be had in both her character of Liv Chenka and of the man from Gallifrey under Paul McGann’s stewardship. There should also be great appreciation for what Alex MacQueen brings to the role as The Master, a man who is living epitome of evil and who is, alongside Davros, the finest foil for the Doctor captured on screen.

It is the gentle cunning and Macbeth-like quality for planning that marks The Master out as being a character of depth in the audio dramas and in Alex MacQueen, especially in this fourth instalment of the series, that quality is heightened to be able to be compared to both the late Roger Delgado and to John Simm. It is the hybrid nature of the manic and the megalomaniac in which Mr. MacQueen’s performance lays and is quite iconic in its own way.

For the eighth Doctor, where the storyline now goes is perhaps up in the air, the war is coming, but for the romantic, for the former Byron-esque man of action, there is always the chance to save many lives yet.

Doctor Who: Dark Eyes 4 is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.

Ian D. Hall