Audio CD review
Big Finish
Starring the voices of Catherine Tate (The Forever Trap); Jean Marsh (Home Truth); Michael Praed, Nicholas Briggs (Curse of the Daleks); Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred (Forty-Five)
Release date Out now

Doctor Who's 45th anniversary is marked with a varied selection of releases, both in the eras they're set and in quality…

The BBC's contribution is a second audio original, following the okay Pest Control read by David Tennant earlier in the year. The Forever Trap is narrated by Catherine Tate, and in many ways feels like an extended Companion Chronicle, given that a lot of the story is told from Donna's perspective.

It's a tale that's highly reminiscent of the early McCoy era, set up in much the same way as Paradise Towers, with a group of residents in a high rise building and some not very pleasant creatures near the bottom. Tate's rendition is fun, with a great recreation of the 10th Doctor, and a wide range of other voices.

VERDICT: 7/10


Big Finish's release, Home Truth, is a very unusual Companion Chronicle, in that it's narrated years after the events it recounts, as is standard for the range – but by a narrator who's killed off on-screen.

It's great to hear Jean Marsh recreate Sarah Kingdom, and she gives an impressionistic take on the first Doctor and Steven Taylor, rather than try to imitate them. The twist in the tale is a little derivative, but works in this context far better than the other times it's been tried recently.

VERDICT: 7/10


The Curse of the Daleks also hearkens from the first Doctor's tenure, but this was a stage play that didn't actually feature the character of the Doctor, or anyone else from the TV show except the Daleks and the Thals.

Adaptor and director Nicholas Briggs wisely adds a narrator to the proceedings, rather than try to rework the dialogue and retains its uniquely 1960s flavour, sexism and all. Some of the humour is appalling, and original writer David Whitaker wholesale nicks a section from his novelisation of the first Dalek serial! Michael Praed leads a strong cast in an intriguing relic.

VERDICT: 7/10


The 45th anniversary itself is marked by Big Finish with another "compilation" CD entitled Forty-Five, which consists of four separate stories featuring the seventh Doctor with a linking theme. This starts off well, but goes downhill, with some truly appalling acting in the final story, and very simplistic writing too much of the time.

BBC book authors Mark Morris and Mark Michalowski come out of this displaying potential but the "linking theme" is highly unoriginal and frankly a waste of time. A severe disappointment.

VERDICT: 3/10

Peter Quentin

Click here to buy Doctor Who: The Forever Trap at Forbidden Planet (forbiddenplanet.com)