Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jonathon Carley, Adele Anderson, Anna Andresen, Nicholas Briggs, John Dorney, Amy Downham, Helen Goldwyn, Chris Jarman, Marilyn Nnadebe, Veronica Roberts, Tracy Wiles, Kit Young.

We cannot judge the actions of the final act of a person’s life unless we truly understand what led them to the battle, the rage of conflict in the first place.

It is far too easy act as the critic, the far off and perhaps celestial observer, passive, peaceful, lifeless as war gathers and takes place in the cosmos, a watcher from a distance who sees the skies filled with pain but who refuses to add anything of determination which will conclude the final reckoning. It is the reluctancy of the hero, the so-called lesser person who has the privilege to light the match that sparks the flame of extinction.

For the fans of Doctor Who, arguably one of the great revelations of recent times is the reveal of the incarnation who stood between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston, the face of the one forgotten, and as the camera shone the spotlight on John Hurt, The War Doctor was born, made flesh, created from rumour and memory, and became one of the highly emotive moments in the long history of the Science Fiction staple of British television.

Before his untimely death in 2017, John Hurt had delivered exacting and defining performances as he continued to show how the time-traveller from Gallifrey had changed as one would be when Forged In Fire.

With the passing of John Hurt, the fan and collector of the Big Finish audio range would have lamented, not only the death of a favourite of the acting fraternity, but the chance to hear how the man became who was in the final moments before his own regeneration, that there would be no chance now to hear how this unexpected manifestation of The Doctor would have reacted in the minutes, hours and days after he shed his name and became a warrior.

The three episodes that make up the arc of Forged In Fire, brings together the writing talent of Matt Fitton, Lou Morgan and Andrew Smith and directed with a dedicated surveying eye by the irreplaceable Louise Jameson, shows that in the world of Doctor Who, not everything is final, and in the stories Light The Flame, Lion Hearts and The Shadow Squad, The War Doctor lives on, and in the impressive performance of Jonathan Carley stepping into shoes that almost could not conceivably be filled, John Hurt’s contribution to the ethos and lore of the character is not lost, in fact it is preserved by the uncanny vocal matching provided.

From dealing with the death of Cass and the interference and insistence of Ohila of the Sisterhood of Karn who gave the eighth doctor the chance to live once more, and into the realms of the initial skirmishes and battles of the Time War, Forged In Fire is a positive and engaging set of tales that only adds to the mystery of the hidden doctor’s time at the helm of the Tardis. The reactions to the war are unexpected maybe for those who have not followed the other series created by Big Finish, however it does not detract from the ability to imagine how the listener might react if placed in the same dilemma, if asked to be part of a war that they had long since resisted joining.

A class set of tales, Forged In Fire is the welcome salvo in the life of the War Doctor, one that will set the pace for further revelations to come.

Ian D. Hall