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Doctor Who review: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: The Triumph of Sutekh (Seventh Doctor audio)

By James Aggas

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Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

Continuing our look back at Sutekh’s previous appearances in Doctor Who, we review the box set Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: The Triumph of Sutekh.

Professor Bernice Summerfield has long been a major and much-loved character at Big Finish. In fact, the first audio plays they released were adaptations of her own novels, before they had the rights to make Doctor Who stories. (Expect us to cover twenty years of Benny at Big Finish later in the year.)

One of the key major aspects to the character is that she’s an archaeologist from the future. She’s investigated many different sites from across time and space.

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So having an adventure that begins with her looking into the Pyramids of Mars sounds like a completely natural fit for the character. Not to mention include a way of bringing Sutekh back from the dead.

The Triumph of Sutekh was a huge release back in 2015. It was the first time since his debut in 1975 that Sutekh had appeared in a Doctor Who story. Once again played by Gabriel Woolf, the evil god still wanted the same thing. Specifically, to wipe out all other life in the cosmos.

But how well could a sequel live up to the original? Particularly when it was one of the most popular Doctor Who stories ever made? Let’s find out.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

The Pyramid of Sutekh

The series begins with Benny investigating a pyramid on Mars. However, it’s not long before her old friend shows up, the Seventh Doctor. But it’s far from a happy reunion. In fact, it might just be one of the darkest and most desperate adventures she’s had to endure.

Guy Adams gets this box set off to a very strong start with his story The Pyramid of Sutekh. From the opening moments, he adds a brilliant twist to show just how different this series will be from Pyramids of Mars.

We also have a different key setting for this episode, too. While we did partially explore one of the pyramids of Mars on screen in the original serial, here, the pyramid feels much bigger, and there’s a deeper sense of exploration to it. This is due to some excellent sound design, which really gives us a strong feeling of both space and claustrophobia, as well as the writing.

If you’re new to Benny, this is also a fantastic introduction to the character. While there are references to her family, (with a particularly major reference occurring for a great deal of the episode,) you’ll still be able to understand the story easily.

Even better, you’ll very quickly discover why Benny is such a great character. You really get to see her archaeological skills in action.

More importantly, however, you also get to see what happens when she’s pushed to her limit. In just the first episode of this box set, Benny faces a huge threat. One that she might not be able to stop. Not without some help, at least…

Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

The Vaults of Osiris

Set in modern day Egypt, The Vaults of Osiris has Benny reunited with her old friend Ace. They know how high the stakes are. And to stop the ancient Osiran Sutekh, they need to do whatever it takes. Including stealing a very ancient Egyptian artifact.

The Vaults of Osiris is a bit of light relief after the darkness of the opening episode. A mixture of both heist and adventure story, it’s very fun, and a bit more of a romp.

Justin Richards clearly had fun writing this, as it features ancient cults, mummies, and even Nazis. It’s basically Doctor Who doing an Indiana Jones story. Considering Benny is an archaeologist, this makes it a perfect story for her.

This is also the Doctor-lite story of the set. One thing to keep in mind with this series is that, despite Doctor Who being in the main title, the real protagonist is definitely Benny. This episode really highlights that.

But at the same time, it still feels like a Doctor Who story. Perhaps even more than the previous episode, despite the fact that the Seventh Doctor featured in The Pyramid of Sutekh.

One clear reason is, along with a really fun story, there’s a lot of great banter between Ace and Benny. You can tell they’re really old friends, and that they’re glad to see each other.

In some ways, Ace is more mature and experienced than the one Benny knew, as Ace has recently been studying on Gallifrey. But at the same time, in some ways, she hasn’t changed at all.

The Vaults of Osiris is probably the lightest episode of The Triumph of Sutekh. It’s also heaps of fun.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

The Eye of Horus

Benny is finally reunited with the Doctor in ancient Egypt. But there’s something odd about him. While Benny tries to find out what her old friend is up to, an old man from the desert starts making devious plans.

The Eye of Horus is a great story by James Goss. It has a very strong feeling of historical tragedy to it. Particularly on the relationship between the Pharaoh, Hatshepsut, and her son, Tutmosis.

Hatshepsut, played brilliantly by Sakuntala Ramanee, is a fair and just King of Egypt. You can tell that she does a lot of good for her kingdom.

Tutmosis loves his mother, and also sees her as a fair ruler. At first. But then a mysterious old man meets Tutmosis, and changes the kingdom forever.

Gabriel Woolf is brilliant as Sutekh in this one. Here, he gets to play a very different side to the character. Completely lacking the power he usually has, he resorts to using some very devious methods to get his power back. While he knows he’s unable to manipulate Hatshepsut, the same is not true for her innocent and more naive son.

Sylvester McCoy is also given a lot to work with. The relationship he shares with Hatshepsut is a rather unusual one. At least, it is for the Doctor. It’s definitely interesting finding out exactly how close they are, and what kind of situation the Doctor is in this time.

James Goss includes so many interesting elements in this story. The fall of a kingdom, a family betrayal, an evil manipulator. Altogether, it helps make The Eye of Horus into an epic and great pseudo-historical story. And it sets up the finale brilliantly.

The Tears of Isis

The Earth has been completely devastated. Only a handful of lives are left, and Sutekh walks among the ashes to claim them. This time, has the Doctor lost?

The Tears of Isis is an interesting finale to end things on. I mentioned that The Pyramid of Sutekh was an incredibly dark episode to begin the story. How do you outdo that? You show the end of the world, of course.

However, despite the apocalyptic setting, Una McComack throws in a surprising amount of humor too. She does this by answering a question. What if, just once, a doomsday cult prophesying the end of the world found out that they were actually right?

Naturally, there are an interesting mix of reactions from various cult members when this happens. There’s confusion, satisfaction, denial, even horror. They’re also the last group of people that Benny wants to meet.

Once again, Gabriel Woolf is fantastic as Sutekh. No longer disguised as an old man, in this episode, he’s back to his full godlike state. He comes across as more threatening than ever before, and a great deal of this is down to Woolf’s amazing performance.

How well does this episode resolve The Triumph of Sutekh? Wonderfully so. When you find out exactly what the Doctor’s plan has been the whole time, (it’s the Seventh Doctor, of course he has a plan,) it makes you want to re-listen to the series again to understand and appreciate it all.

More importantly, The Tears of Isis is a great story that balances out the high stakes of a finale with some great humor. A great final episode for the box set.

The Triumph of Sutekh summary

Writing a direct sequel to one of Doctor Who‘s greatest stories could have been a huge risk for Big Finish. Especially a sequel written at twice the original’s length.

Thankfully, the whole series of The Triumph of Sutekh works brilliantly as a successor to Pyramids of Mars. Each episode of the epic explores different key elements of what made the original story so popular. The whole production team clearly had a lot of fun with it, and Gabriel Woolf is amazing as ever as Sutekh.

Not to mention the fact that Lisa Bowerman is brilliant as Benny. If you haven’t listened to any of Bernice Summerfield’s stories before, then The Triumph of Sutekh is a perfect introduction to the character.

Next: Examining Doctor Who's new VFX studio: Double Negative

Have you listened to The Triumph of Sutekh? Are you a fan of Bernice Summerfield? Let us know in the comments below, and look out for our next review, Kill the Doctor, where Sutekh shows up once again to face the Fourth Doctor!

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