Doctor Who review: The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 4 neatly resolves the spin-off’s first series
By James Aggas
The final volume of the Paternoster Gang’s first series gives us a finale with extremely high stakes – but still has plenty of fun by bringing in another major Doctor Who character.
When Big Finish began a spin-off series for the Paternoster Gang in June last year, they went for a rather ambitious approach. Rather than simply telling a complete arc in one box set, as they had often done with many other series, they decided to spread out the arc of Heritage across four separate volumes.
What worked about this approach is that it allowed the arc to build up slowly across its twelve episodes, giving us plenty of standalone stories spread across the first two volumes. As a result, these stories helped to shape the tone of the series.
Of course, when Heritage entered its second half with the release of volume 3, the arc really picked up steam and developed considerably. As a result, the fourth and final volume of the series had many story threads to tie up and resolve. Is it a satisfying conclusion to the series?
Jenny (Catrin Stewart), Strax (Dan Starkey) and Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) continue to stand out as brilliantly written and portrayed characters in this volume.
Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
Christmas special
One particularly surprising move that Heritage 4 makes is that – despite having just three episodes – one of them is completely standalone. Yet at the same time, it’s also a key draw for many Doctor Who fans, due to who’s starring in it: Christopher Benjamin as Henry Gordon Jago, a rather popular character thanks to both his original TV appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang and the audio spin-off series Jago & Litefoot.
As a result, it’s an absolute joy to hear him spend Christmas with the Gang. The fact that Merry Christmas, Mr. Jago isn’t connected to the arc at all is actually a smart move: it allows for plenty of focus on the characters, and we get to hear a nice light-hearted Christmas adventure, too.
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Finale
And a light-hearted adventure is exactly what’s needed before the final two episodes, The Ghost Writers and Rulers of Earth. Despite having different writers for each episode, these stories are extremely closely linked. They’re also just a little bit darker too. Not so dark that there’s no humor in these episodes at all, but dark enough for the stakes to be raised considerably – especially when it’s revealed who the major villain is. In this story, the Gang faces perhaps their most personal threat yet.
There’s a lot that’s tied up in these final two episodes – more than I might have noticed on the initial listen. But more importantly, these stories focus on resolving the emotional themes of this series at least as much as resolving its plot threads. There are interesting explorations of faith and family in the finale, making Heritage‘s final volume feel like a suitable conclusion to The Paternoster Gang‘s first major arc.
Naturally, The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 4 isn’t a box set that you should jump on board with (although Merry Christmas, Mr. Jago is a great standalone Christmas special to enjoy). But if you’ve been following and enjoying the series so far, then you should be more than happy with how it’s resolved. Heritage 4 isn’t quite as strong as the previous box set – which featured a lot of deep and personal exploration of each member of the Gang – but it’s still a solid closing volume. I’m excited to find out where the Gang goes from here.
Next. Whovian love story Tenspotting available on Prime video. dark
Have you enjoyed listening to The Paternoster Gang? Do you think the arc of Heritage worked well for establishing the audio spin-off? What do you think the Gang should face next? Let us know in the comments below.