Doctor Who: The Company of Friends

An anthology of four stories each featuring the 8th Doctor and a different companion. The twist being that none of the 8th Doc companions previously featured in Big Finish audios are among them.

First up, we have Bernice Summerfield, the 7th Doctor companion from the Virgin Books novels of the early '90s, previously paired with Eight only in the 1997 novel The Dying Days. Benny, of course, has a long history on Big Finish, albeit mostly in her own, Doctor-free stories, so we're right back into familiar territory with Lisa Bowerman's portrayal of the character, even if the dynamic is now a bit different. The story itself is straight-forward, but fun, and Benny comes across as good as ever. 4 stars.

The second story features Fitz Kreiner, from the 8th Doctor novels of the early '00s. The story is written by Michael Collier, who created the character in the 1999 novel The Taint, which makes it all the more surprising that for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, it just doesn't seem to do a good job of portraying Fitz. Perhaps it's the limitations of the 30-minute format, or of audio for bringing out the sort of internal character detail you get in a novel, but this isn't how I imagined him at all. The story is rather limited, too, although there are some good comedy moments that pull it above the truly mediocre. 3 stars.

Jumping ahead, the final story features all-new companion Mary Shelley. Yes, that Mary Shelley. The story is set around the infamous holiday in which came up with the idea for Frankenstein, and is (I think) a bootstrap paradox in which she is partly inspired by things the Doctor already knows about the novel. It is a little confusing, though, and I might have that wrong. Although it's a short story, it manages to fit a fair bit in, and Shelley comes across as a decent character -indeed, she was brought back later on in the series. 4 stars.

But the real triumph is the third story, featuring Izzy Sinclair, from the pages of the 8th Doctor comic strips of the late '90s. Jemima Rooper does a great job of bringing the character alive in a story about geek girl Izzy trying to track down a fabled ‘lost issue' of a '70s comic book. Anyone who grew up in Britain reading comics in that era will know exactly what sort of thing this is, and should get plenty of the references to a certain real-life comic book. It's both funny and, in its own way, rather nostalgic. Zarjaz! 5 stars.

We also get the conclusion to Polly's “Three Companions” story, which has been spread out over the last few releases. Which actually works quite well.

Average rating: 4.0 stars.