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Series Four

APRIL 2003 - JANUARY 2004

  1. THE BELLOTRON INCIDENT     2. THE DRACONIAN RAGE

3. THE POISON SEAS      4. DEATH AND THE DALEKS

The Bellotron Incident

“I need someone with a cool head,

someone who can follow orders and someone with tact.”

The summer of 2003 saw the start of the fourth season of Bernice Summerfield, beginning with Mike Tucker's second contribution to the series, The Bellotron Incident. This release is the second story in the series to feature prominently an old Doctor Who monster; here the shape-changing Rutans, who originally appeared in the Doctor Who serial, Horror of Fang Rock. The Rutans work very well on audio, and I'm still hoping that we get to hear both the Rutans and the Sontarans one day.

The Bellotron Incident is centred around a planet that passes through both Rutan and Sontaran space, leaving an Earth ship, the Rites Of Passage, with the difficulty of preventing either side from exploiting this situation against their enemy. Once the ship detects a source of an unusual electrical energy hidden within an ancient system of caves (in which their orders forbids them to interfere with without expert archaeological help!), Professor Bernice Summerfield finds herself within a war zone once more…

This story has an intriguing set up as it has the potential to be very tense, with the human characters boxed in on both sides by aggressive aliens who only care about fighting each other, but Tucker never fully explains the most crucial question about this scenario, i.e.: 'Why are the humans involved?' It's implied by the Captain of the Rites Of Passage to Braxiatel that there were 'complications' behind their involvement in the conflict, but Tucker never explains what these are, making the military’s presence somewhat anomalous (particularly given that when the Rutan appears, it claims that they have no interest in human peace treaties).

Director Gary Russell encourages good performances from his cast, with Lisa Bowerman

as Benny on fine form. The rapport she shows with Louise Faulkner during the final moments of the play shows that Bev Tarrant’s arrival in the Benny-verse could prove to be very interesting indeed, if her presence is utilised well. Save for two brief cameos from Miles Richardson and Steven Wickham, the cast is completed by Peter John as Captain Quilby, an actor who shone brilliantly in the lively fifth Doctor adventure The Church And The Crown, and so it’s wonderful to hear him again here.

The verdict? The Bellotron Incident is certainly entertaining yet it does suffer from Tucker overplaying certain scenes, sacrificing the story’s pace for extended exposition which really reduces its effectiveness. It's sort of a quiet yet a good start to the fourth season of the Bernice Summerfield audios.

The Draconian Rage

Whilst season four continues along its theme of reusing classic Doctor Who monsters, The Draconian Rage also offers listeners the prospect of a sequel to Trevor Baxendale’s not so good / not so bad play The Dark Flame, which featured Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor and the New Adventures’ companions.

Of course, the big selling point is the appearance of a Doctor Who monster. This time it’s

the turn of the Draconians, whose solitary television appearance in the 1973 third Doctor serial Frontier In Space was memorable enough to imprint them on the collective consciousness of fandom, yet still somehow failed to earn them a return appearance. In my view though, the Draconians work better on audio than they did in their original televised appearance.

More cynically, there are probably only two reasons for the Cult of the Dark Flame’s return here – either Big Finish were after exploiting something successful, or they lacked the creative imagination to devise something original! To me, reusing the cult certainly smacks of indulgence on Baxendale’s part, particularly since it is conceivable that there may be listeners who have not heard his previous play (particularly given that this takes place in a different series), however I suppose Baxendale does justify its inclusion quite well by showing that its influence still extends over Benny directly, as it was she who felt the warmth of its lure.

The performances in The Draconian Rage are where it really triumphs. Director Ed Salt specialises in these contained dramas with a small cast, and he really brings out the best in his company. Despite a slight off-key characterisation early in the story, Lisa Bowerman soon settles back into the part of Benny and shows some fierce determination and passion as her enthusiasm about this unfamiliar world dissipates into a nightmare of pain as she is brutally tortured while her past haunts her. Bowerman is particularly adept at showing Benny’s deep horror at the realisation that the embers of the Dark Flame that remain in her may have been passed on to her son, Peter, and that he too may be nothing more than a slave to the cult.

As for the Draconians themselves, they are well realised with the three actors’ performances evoking strongly the style of their original appearance through their affected voice manner-isms. Philip Bretheton brings a sly dignity to the role of Emperor Shenn, his cultured veneer disguising the depths that he would go to in order to maintain his grip on power, and Jonathan Willis' Lord Vasar’s constant about-faces somehow seem consistent because of the atypically interested way that his Draconian is conveyed. This in turn contrasts perfectly with the stern arrogance of the Emperor and the snideness of Kraig Thornber’s Paranesh.

Overall, The Draconian Rage is another gem for this season despite the lack of urgency within it. Indeed, though it does share a significant number of the faults that plagued The Dark Flame, this play is one example of the sequel being superior to the original.

The Poison Seas

As the 'classic Doctor Who monster’ season continues, the third release sees the return of the Sea Devils (who were last seen on-screen in the infamous 1984 fifth Doctor serial Warriors of the Deep) in David Bailey's Poison Seas.

The story starts off with Benny returning to the planet Chosan, the setting for Big Finish’s first original audio play in the series back in late 2000, The Secret Of Cassandra, which saw Benny find two warring factions locked in a brutal and unending conflict.

And to some extent, there is something familiar about Bailey’s script for this release, as Benny’s visit to the planet (ostensibly under the guise of visiting a friend) uncovers an

ancient and malevolent force waiting for its moment to strike, really bringing to mind Bailey’s previous story The Skymines of Karthos. However, instead of have the Sea Devils make another attempt to take back Earth, Bailey opts to reverse the situation, with the humans being the interlopers on the Sea Devils’ newly established home. It worked rather well too, I felt.

Lisa Bowerman gives another fantastic performance as Benny, as does Miles Richardson as Irving Braxiatel. Furthermore, as Carver, Jenny Livsey gives a superb performance that really allows the listener to empathise with this young girl that has been raised to fight and hate for years as the war on Chosan raged between her people and the Pevena, and then was swiftly forced to embrace the people that had killed her parents and her friends upon

the cessation of hostilities. As for the Sea Devils, Ifan Huw Dafydd excels as Principal Lurnix, as does Nicky Golde as Clinician Nedda and Matt Dineen as Ressix.

Overall, The Poison Seas is an exhilarating and highly entertaining romp, with enough twists to be found in it to make for a novel, if not particularly innovative, adventure that manages to trounce Bailey's previous stories. What’s more, the play concludes with a cryptic message regarding what is going on at the Braxiatel Collection that leads beautifully into the short-story collection Life During Wartime and the season finale....

Death and the Daleks

Serving as a tie-in to the short-story collection Life During Wartime (plus, of course, the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who!), this release was originally entitled The Axis of Evil until the beginning of 2004 when it became Death and the Daleks.

And in my view, Paul Cornell's story is by far one of Big Finish Productions’ best kept secrets. Picking up from the cliffhanger in Life During Wartime, the Braxiatel Collection is under siege by the Fifth Axis; Adrian Wall is held captive; Jason Kame is posing as a collaborator; Bev Tarrent has been betrayed by Ms Jones; Brax is being interrogated about his time equipment; and Benny has discovered that the military leader of the Fifth Axis is someone she that hasn't seen in a while - her father Admiral Isaac Summerfield!

In his author notes, Cornell states that the Daleks are “monsters that are very personal” to Benny, which considering that they exterminated her mother when she was only a child, is of course very true. And so given that Life During Wartime also reveals the head of the Fifth Axis to be Benny’s father, everything is laid out for a fantastic story thoroughly woven into Benny’s past and her future as she fights for her family and her home.

Death and the Daleks also gives a flavour of the book anthology, showing how the characters have fared whilst still allowing for some typical Benny self-awareness in recognising the convention of modern genre series to provide a recap of the story at the beginning of each episode – something that has even come to the Doctor Who range with the release of Zagreus.

Moreover, one of the aspects of this story’s success which is often overlooked is its humour. Despite the doom-laden title, it is also very, very funny at times and what’s best about this is it all flows naturally from the script and doesn’t seem forced in the slightest as it often has been in several past releases.

It is also noteworthy that the continuity-lore referenced here includes Heaven (the planet featured in the novel Love and War); the Doctor, Ace and Jan (also from Love and War); as well as of course the whereabouts of Isaac Summerfield (from Return of the Living Dad). Another strong point of the story from a mythology perspective is the possibility of a re-kindled romance between Benny and her ex-husband Jason Kane.

Lisa Bowerman is, as always, at the top of her game as Benny, especially in the scenes with the Daleks (voiced as ever by Nicholas Briggs, who also appears as Crofton, a fifth Axis member). Stephen Fewell also gives a fantastic performance as Jason, showing a kind of rugged nobility that proves Jason is a better man than he’s often given credit for and thus in turn making the idea of a resurgence in the relationship between him and Benny all the more credible; we even have Jason destoying a few Daleks while naked (as seen on the cover)!

Louise Faulkner's Bev Tarrent and Harry Myers' Adrian Wall are both also good, and it has to be said that Beverly Cressman brings Ms Jones to life very successfully in the character's first audio appearance. Miles Richardson's Braxiatel really shines throughout the tale too, especially in his scenes with Michael Shallard's Marshal Anson.

Further, the late Ian Collier (Arc of Infinity, Omega) was a truly inspired choice to play Benny’s father. He has such a distinctive voice that gives him the gravitas to convince as a battle-hardened veteran soldier, but he also excels at showing Isaac’s feelings towards his daughter and his grandson.

David Darlington returns with post-production and sound design duties and he ensures that the scourge of Skaro are realised admirably in a typically atmospheric landscape of sound. The vividly serene ambience of Heaven is also done wonderfully, and of course the usual Dalek effects are here too, plus a new theme.

The Verdict? Death and the Daleks is a very poignant thriller which really rounds off the fourth season of Benny plays (as well as Life During Wartime) in redoubtable style.

Copyright © Kory Stephens 2009

Kory Stephens has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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