"Have you met them before?" "Yep, but I was a different man back then...."

Back in 2015, when Mammy and Daddy told our little scamp they could go and play in the new big sandbox with the new toys, we were teased with three brilliant concepts. Firstly was the introduction of River Song into the Big Finish repertoire, where we knew she would be treated with just cause and elegance, even if we doubted it for a minute. Then there were the unseen stories of a friendship between the last of the Time Lords and Britain’s greatest ever Prime Minister (after we have just dealt with the worst). Now, six long months after those pieces of brilliance, we have the last of the original trinity we were promised. And perhaps the best premise out of the lot…

(AND I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY WITH THIS ONE!!!)

DOCTOR WHO NEW SERIES REVIEW

CLASSIC DOCTORS, NEW MONSTERS: VOLUME 1

By Jack Ryan

BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

The reverse of this boxset is a premise we’ve seen on the TV series more times than we’ve had hot dinners, to be quite honest. Classic monsters have been returning to the show quicker than you could say Phillip Hinchcliffe. But seeing the classic era Doctors taking on the new series monsters, effectively answering why they already know of them, is something that couldn’t be done on the TV series due to the passage of time for the actors involved. Thankfully, that issue isn’t so obvious on audio.

There’s a chicken and egg scenario I wish to present to you: Does trouble find The Doctor? Or does the Doctor find trouble? Either way, his escapades have seen him face off against countless unspeakable creatures, some more times than others. These are such stories, showing his earlier encounters with some formidable foes, including the Fifth Doctor’s visit to Renaissance Italy and discovering the Weeping Angels, the Sixth Doctor’s defence for a deserter Judoon, the Seventh Doctor’s formidable battle against the psychotic Sycorax, and the Eighth Doctor’s struggle with a new, more deadly race of Sontarans, ready for the Time War… (Ooooh, the complaints we had about that one…)

You hear a premise like that and you can help but squee at the possibilities that this could bring for good stories; the idea of the classics rubbing shoulders with the new crowd is something every fan dreams of. And with this boxset, some of those dreams are realised. Starting off is Fallen Angels by Phil Mulryne, where The Doctor discovers a couple from the twenty first century in the sixteenth, along with a plot concerning the great Michelangelo and a familiar looking angel. Then we find our way into Judoon In Chains by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris, where an unusual trial is being undertaken; the prosecution, the Judoon Guard Platoon; the assailant, Judoon Captain Kybo; the accusation, desertion; the defence, The Doctor. Harvest Of The Sycorax by James Goss shows the titular tribal race attack a pharmaceutical space station for blood, and soon the Doctor discovers life under the control of the Sycorax. Finishing the set is Andrew Smith's The Sontaran Ordeal, where the Eighth Doctor fails to keep the Time War from the planet Drakkis, and discovers a group of weponised, battle ready, blood hungry Sontarans. But one is not like the others, and is hiding a secret that could blow a huge Sontaran conspiracy wide open.  Every story presented here is nothing short of marvellous! So good, I can't pick a favourite as each plays to the strengths of their featured creature (*holds back a snort of laughter*), such as Mulryne making use of a largely visual character on audio brilliantly, or Barnard and Morris showcasing an essence of character development that plays into the plot. Everything here has been written to perfection by the authors and directed brilliantly by the genius of Barnaby Edwards.

As for the acting ability this set brings to the table.... well, where do I begin? As well as our regulars of Davison, Baker, McCoy and McGann, we're graced with the likes of Sacha Dawan (from An Adventure In Space And Time), Diane Morgan, Matthew Kelly, Nicholas Pegg, Nicholas Briggs (says EX-TER-MIN-ATE for a living, I think), Tony Millan, Trevor Cooper (Revelation Of The Daleks), Nisha Nayar (Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways), Giles Watling, Dan Starkey (you know what he's from!), Christopher Ryan (Mindwarp), Josette Simon (BBC's Death In Paradise), the aforementioned Edwards... (*breathes in*) You hopefully get the picture here. The cast across all four stories here, even the members I haven't named, are brilliant and all bring their A game to the production and are just delightful to listen to.

Howard Carter, once again, returns for music duties and performs them very admirably, creating a fantastic blend of classic and new Who-esque music to fit in with the box's prominent theme. Also joining him on sound design duties are regular BF alumni Martin Montague and Iain Meadows who brilliantly make every little thing in this set sound real. Also, major kudos on making the Weeping Angels scary on audio; not an easy task!

A good number of years ago, I think ideas like this would have been simply confined to the realm of fan-fiction, to be discovered only by a few. With Big Finish's growing notoriety, stories like this, some of which talk to us in more ways than we expected, are able to be appreciated by the masses. Quite simply, there's a reason this was one of the most anticipated boxsets in Big Finish's history. And it deserves not only your money, but every second of its glorious audio goodness.

VERDICT: 5/5 No Timey-Wimey trickery here. Just brilliance! ;D