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Doctor Who review: The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume Five is a perfect tribute to the Pertwee era

By James Aggas

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The fifth volume of The Third Doctor Adventures features some major recasts – including iconic characters Liz Shaw and the Brigadier.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Featuring the return of characters as loved as Sergeant Benton, Liz Shaw and of course, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the fifth volume of Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures is a magnificent tribute to a much-loved era.

The Third Doctor Adventures has given us some rather strong releases. Whether set on Earth or on distant worlds, all of them have featured stories that captured Jon Pertwee’s era in Doctor Who brilliantly.

However, there was certainly something missing. As excellent as Tim Treloar’s performance was as the Third Doctor, and as brilliant as the chemistry was between him and Katy Manning, (who reprises her role of Jo Grant,) you couldn’t help but notice a distinct absence. Especially with the stories set on Earth. I am of course referring to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

Since the very start of the Pertwee era, the Brigadier had been a major part of the UNIT family. Before then, he had been a great character in two Troughton stories, but it was the Pertwee era that truly defined him as an iconic character. With the loss of Nicholas Courtney back in 2011, and with Big Finish not having the license to the character for a few years, The Third Doctor Adventures found ways to avoid including him in the series.

However, after four years of thrillingly nostalgic stories, and Big Finish finally getting the license to use the character, they decided it was time to bring the character back once more on audio. Of course, the big question was this: who would play him? Who would capture the voice and spirit of Nicholas Courtney’s iconic performance so brilliantly?

Enter Jon Culshaw.

Jon Culshaw is the Brigadier!

For years, Culshaw has been best known in the UK as an incredible impressionist. One of his greatest and most iconic is his absolutely perfect impression of the Fourth Doctor, a performance so good, even Tom Baker himself is a huge fan of it.

But he’s also an excellent voice actor in his own right, as he’s proved to be in several Big Finish releases already. In fact, only a few months ago, he played the all too brief Fifth Doctor companion Kamelion in three audios. It was a rather impressive performance, too.

However, his performance as the Brigadier is easily better. He gets the speech, the mannerisms and the tone of Courtney’s original performance exactly right. It’s incredibly impressive, and I hope he continues playing the role and continuing Courtney’s legacy for a long time to come.

But what of the stories themselves? Let’s take a look at them, starting with a sequel to one of the Third Doctor’s greatest stories…

Primord features not just Jon Culshaw in his first story as the Brigadier, but Daisy Ashford, taking on her mother’s role of Liz Shaw.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions. Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Primord

Primord was a pretty bold story to open this latest volume. Not only is it a sequel to the hugely popular Inferno. But, in addition to featuring Culshaw as the Brigadier, this story also features another major re-cast: specifically, Daisy Ashford as Liz Shaw.

Again, this was another risky move for Big Finish. While not as prolific a character as the Brigadier, there’s no question that Liz Shaw was greatly loved by fans. Caroline John kept playing the role in a number of audios up until her death in 2012, with her final performance as Liz released just a few months later in the story The Last Post. So whoever you got to replace her needed to be brilliant in the role.

Thankfully, Big Finish made the right choice with Ashford. It probably helps that she is Caroline John’s daughter, and has an extremely similar voice to her mother. It’s initially a little strange to get used to, but after a little while, you’re picturing Caroline John easily. Ashford just gets the mannerisms and the spirit of the character so easily, and does justice to the role.

Even better is that this is an excellent story for Liz. Writer John Dorney takes the character in a bold and rather risky new direction, but it works. In fact, I can’t help but feel that John would’ve adored playing this new side to Liz, it’s that good.

Meanwhile, we also get a lot of focus on Jo and the Brigadier working together, which we didn’t get too much of in the TV series. It’s interesting hearing them work together, and Jon Culshaw gets to show off just how good he is for much of this plotline.

As for the story itself, it starts out small before gradually escalating over time, which is one thing it shares in common with Inferno. But what really stands out is the fact that Dorney avoids simply copying the classic. He just focuses on a key element of the original story – and you can probably guess what that is from the title – and takes it in a brand new direction. It’s exactly how a sequel should be handled.

With excellent performances from everyone in a great new take on a much-loved story, Primord gets this box set off to a strong start. But what of the follow-up story, The Scream of Ghosts?

For The Scream of Ghosts, John Levene reprises his old role of Sergeant Benton once more.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions. Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

The Scream of Ghosts

Another much-loved member of the UNIT family returns in this one, as John Levene returns to his old role of Sergeant Benton. As lovable as the character is, he hasn’t appeared in many Big Finish audios at all. In fact, Levene has only returned to the role twice for Big Finish: first in Council of War, which gives him a much-earned spotlight in the story, and UNIT: Assembled, where he and a few other older members meet the new UNIT team.

So it’s an absolute joy to hear him playing Benton once more. He has a big role too, as he asks the Doctor for help when he hears reports of strange, ghostly noises…

It’s rather unusual for both stories of a set of Third Doctor Adventures to be set on Earth. Usually, they like to mix them up a bit: have one story set on a distant world, another more focused on telling a contemporary Earth invasion story. But when you’ve finally got the chance to use the Brigadier again – a character who only appeared in the latter kind of story – it makes sense to use him as much as possible, at least to start off with.

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Besides, Primord isn’t your typical invasion story, at least not as much as The Scream of Ghosts is. Writer Guy Adams gets to have a lot of fun building this story up, as we get a lot of spooky moments involving strange sounds and random disappearances. The first half has a lot of buildup, which makes the second half more satisfying with its answers – especially when you find out what the monster is in this story…

The Scream of Ghosts is a nice and effective little story. Unsurprisingly, it aims for a little more of a spooky horror story than Primord, but it’s an approach that definitely works. It also uses Benton rather well, and I hope we get to hear a lot more from the character in future audios.

In fact, the whole of The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume Five has been a rather strong release from Big Finish. Both stories in the set feature great performances, and bring a much-loved era of Doctor Who back to life brilliantly. If you’re looking for new Third Doctor stories that serve as a tribute to what made his era so fantastic, then you can’t go wrong with this box set.

Next. Jon Pertwee centenary – One hundred years of a legendary Doctor. dark

Have you listened to the fifth volume of The Third Doctor Adventures? Do you think a role as iconic as the Brigadier should be re-cast? Who was your favorite character from the UNIT family? Let us know in the comments below.

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