Doctor Who review: Shadow of the Daleks 2 resolves an unusual anthology

Continuing directly from last month, the Fifth Doctor continues to investigate a strange mystery in Doctor Who: Shadow of the Daleks 2.

Last week saw the release of two Doctor Who audios featuring the Fifth Doctor: Wicked Sisters and Shadow of the Daleks 2. We’ll be reviewing the former story shortly, but first, let’s take a look at the second half of this unique anthology.

Shadow of the Daleks kicked off to a good start back in October. We got four very different stories from four different writers. While they technically featured different characters, they were always played by the same actors – and, unlike many audio productions from Big Finish featuring actors in multiple roles, the Doctor actually noticed that he kept seeing the same faces. But why? What’s really going on?

That mystery continues in Shadows of the Daleks 2. Once again, despite the title, the Daleks don’t appear directly for most of the stories, although they do make their presence known. Instead, what we get are four very distinct stories sharing one central mystery. How well do they work together?

The mystery of Shadow of the Daleks began in last month’s audio release. Will he finally solve its central mystery?

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Distinct stories

Shadow of the Daleks 2 kicks off with Echo Chamber by Jonathan Barnes. Barnes is usually great at handling epic, complex narratives featuring many characters. (Any fans of the Great Detective should check out his Sherlock Holmes audios, which expand on the character and his world greatly.) So I was curious to discover how well he could handle the short story format.

In this case, rather well. Echo Chamber has a very small scale, but it also has a great hook: the Fifth Doctor presenting a radio show. Along with taking angry phone calls and failing to be even remotely controversial, the Doctor also aims to investigate why he’s there. It’s a short and simple little mystery that’s also intriguing and effective – exactly what you need from an episode of this length.

We then get Towards Zero by Roland Moore. Moore has written quite a few solid stories for Big Finish the past few years, and this is no exception. It focuses on a murder mystery – one where the Doctor is both the victim and the detective! This is a nice little story that both follows the Agatha Christie formula while also subverting it, allowing for a few solid surprises along the way.

Castle Hydra by Lizzie Hopley explores the arc of the repeating faces in a fresh way. It doesn’t solve the mystery, but it does provide it with some sharp focus. Hopley’s story does a great job of taking the core concept behind the overall arc and flipping it from a fresh perspective, allowing for some interesting character exploration. At the same time, we get a good sci-fi take of the witch hunt story, which is always great to explore.

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Finale

The arc ends with Effect and Cause by John Dorney. Now, I’ll be honest: while I’m a fan of Dorney’s work in general, I wasn’t sure even he’d be able to wrap up a satisfying conclusion to the whole arc, not in just half an hour at least. With so many questions raised, I was convinced that he would need two episodes at least to give Shadow of the Daleks a satisfying conclusion as a whole.

So I’m genuinely happy to be proven wrong on this one. Dorney’s story wraps up the arc nicely, giving it some excellent twists while also adding some emotional moments, too. Especially with its conclusion.

Like last month’s release, Shadow of the Daleks 2 is a good mix of standalone stories with an intriguing arc, the latter of which is wrapped up nicely in the final episode. It’s been an interesting experiment from Big Finish – one created as a result of lockdown, essentially – but also a rewarding one, giving us some extremely creative stories while also adding a fresh spin on the anthology formula.

Do you enjoy anthologies? If you’ve listened to Shadow of the Daleks, do you think it provided a fresh take on the format? Let us know in the comments below.