Doctor Who review: The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 2

The second volume of The Paternoster Gang’s own Doctor Who spin-off series provides us with three equally strong but distinctive stories to enjoy.

Heritage 2 – the second box set in the Paternoster Gang’s own audio series – is another strong volume of the Doctor Who audio spin-off. Like the opening volume, it presents us with three different cases for the Gang to investigate, each very distinctive in their own right. As a result, it’s extremely hard to pick a particular favorite from this volume.

The box set opens up nicely with Dining with Death, written by Dan Starkey himself (best known for playing Strax the Sontaran). Over the years, Starkey has written a number of decent scripts for Big Finish, and this one is no exception. Unsurprisingly, it features a great deal of humor, particularly in the first part of the episode. The plot takes a while to get going, but it does pay off, giving us plenty of twists and turns as a result.

The second episode, The Screaming Ceiling, features a very special guest character: Thomas Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. If you’ve never heard of him, don’t worry: this episode works well as a decent enough introduction to the character. It also features a strong mix of both humor and horror, a mix that suits The Paternoster Gang very well. It’s clear that Guy Adams had a lot of fun writing this story, and it’s equally fun to listen to.

The final episode has been written by Big Finish newcomer Gemma Arrowsmith. Mixing up Victorian mythology with plenty of commentary on tabloid journalism, Spring-Heeled Jack is a story that really plays to both the Gang’s and the series’s strengths. It rounds off the box set nicely while providing hints of what’s to come.

(L to R) Catrin Stewart, Dan Starkey, and Neve McIntosh continue to work well together as the Paternoster Gang.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

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An entertaining volume

All three stories work extremely well in Heritage 2. They don’t explore the characters in a great deal of depth, but like Heritage 1, this box set is more focused on establishing the series and showing off what kind of stories we can expect from this spin-off. It’s quite an entertaining volume and continues to show a lot of promise for the series.

Even better is that it’s not just the episodes themselves that are worth listening to in this set. Like most Big Finish audios, there’s extensive behind the scenes interviews included with the stories. This is definitely worth a listen.

Not only is it a joy to hear everyone’s enthusiasm for the series, but composer Joe Kraemer (who’s also composed for major Hollywood films such as Jack Reacher and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation) provides some fascinating insight into composing for the series and even working on the sound design with Josh Arakelian.

Overall, Heritage is shaping up to be a strong series for the Paternoster Gang and has really captured the spirit of their original Doctor Who episodes, while also showing how well they work on their own. Expect us to review the third volume of the series – which was released just last month – extremely soon. But first, it’s time to rewind the clock back to ten years ago, when another Doctor Who spin-off began…

Have you listened to any volumes of The Paternoster Gang‘s own series, yet? Do you think it’s a worthy spin-off for this trio? What adventures do you hope they’ll have in the future? Let us know in the comments below.