Big Finish Benny Season 11

• A Review by Stephen Maslin

A Review by Stephen Maslin 12/9/12

Forget Grace or Sam: Bernice Summerfield was the quintessential companion for Doctor Who in the 1990s. Unlike the majority of Bernice's fan-base, I'm not one who got attached to her via that decade's New Adventures books. (Like many a fan, I've read quite a few but with the exception of Nightshade, Bad Therapy and a handful of others, I was never wildly impressed.) No, I became a Benny fan via the audios, even though they have more than once tried the patience: with ill-judged leaps into overly adult fare (Draconian Rage, The Wake), with lame comedy (Summer of Love, Venus Mantrap) or by being just plain dull (Dance of the Dead, Bone of Contention). Yet there have been enough little gems to keep one dipping into one's wallet (and Timeless Passages, The Worst Thing in the World, The Final Amendment and The Diet of Worms are some of Big Finish's absolute best).

Season Ten was a bit of disappointment, coming after four years of generally good (and sometimes outstanding) stories, in spite of an overlong story arc continually trying to get in the way. The first three titles of Season Eleven imply that one should expect the fresh start that previous season failed to deliver...

11.1 Resurrecting the Past. Synopsis: When a group of Irving Braxiatel's defensive mechanioids embarks on a kidnapping spree, Braxiatel denies all knowledge - but his former associates Bev Tarrant and Adrian Wall suspect something else is going on. They've been waiting for Braxiatel to show his had for months and this looks like it.

11.2 Escaping the Future. Synopsis: The galaxy has been torn apart by merciless invaders from the future. A coalition of worlds set up by Braxiatel has been comprehensively defeated by the superior technology of the Deindum. Only a few scattered pockets of resistance are still active.

Eddie Robson, the writer of the first two stories (and of the final one of Season Ten) seems to have two distinct styles: his Doctor Who scripts for Big Finish have, as a rule, been dazzling creations with oddball scenarios and memorable dialogue. His writing for Bernice Summerfield, however, has tended towards dry, plot-driven sci-fi. Nothing wrong with a good plot of course, but these are decidedly dreary fare. There's so much ground to cover, so many threads to tie up, so much to be retro-fitted, that it's easy to get lost in the mass of detail. Nor is the difficulty relieved by any of Mr Robson's usual wit and flair. Part one, Resurrecting the Past, is particularly dull. Nice start with Benny's last diary entry before her going missing but then, almost immediately, she's found again, the first of many plot-twists-for-the-sake-of-it. I'm assuming there's a book I'm supposed to have bought as a lot of back-story seems to come out of nowhere. Or maybe I dropped off.

Things do pick up a little half-way through Escaping the Future, with former adversaries forced into partnership but the much-trumpeted showdown with Braxiatel never arrives, his having tampered with time is never satisfactorily explained and we are denied the pleasure of putting all that behind us. Personally, I was hoping for Benny and Peter (and perhaps Bev and Joseph) to be the sole survivors in one glorious goodbye to the past but we're left with an inconclusive end which, although it may cleverly leave matters open to a variety of ongoing narratives, seems more like someone marking time until a real decision can be made as to future casting. This would have been the perfect time to get rid of Hass and Doggles (neither of whom ever added up to much), even Adrian - or maybe to rehabilitate Brax in some way - but one gets the feeling that they'll all be back (again). 4/10.

11.3 Year Zero Synopsis: Planet Raster, Year 54: Professor Bernice Summerfield is arrested on suspicion of Archaeology. She admits that she is an Historian; is she a dangerous revolutionary or simply mad? Inquisitors have an hour to decide, before she is terminated to prevent the spread of the contagion.

Jonathan Clements is a very clever bloke by all accounts and, to paraphrase The Stones of Blood, clever blokes sing clever songs. No surprise then that the plot here is well thought out, Benny gradually piecing things together from a minimum of information. Yet it's barely enough to keep you awake. A sympathetic female supporting character is developed, just long enough to be polished off (see also Miss Martin in Escaping the Future and almost every episode of 21st century Who on TV) in a chase sequence that achieves no tension whatsoever. Then a link to the next story and that's it. One gets the feeling that there is a deeper message than I am capable of tuning in to. Almost certainly, given the author, but is it too much to ask to be entertained rather than merely impressed? 5/10.

11.4 Dead Man's Switch Synopsis: 26 years ago, a team of scientists came to a moon to unearth the secrets of a long-dead civilisation. They were later found to have died in what the authorities called an anti-matter explosion.

Carrying on straight where Year Zero left off, this is the pick of a fairly sorry bunch, the only one with any tension or life. Yet it's another very 'down' story, beset with feelings of loss and longing. The sound design is rather spare too and even with a decent pair of headphones, there's very little sense of place. (This could be said of the season as a whole in fact.) Nicely understated music, though. Thankfully, the plot and dialogue are a considerable step back in the right direction and William Whymper (Otek) makes a great job of what could have been a merely expositional part. Yet it's spoiled a bit by some naff aliens and by Maria McErland's variable performance: her exaggerated characterisation may have suited The Wormery, but here (like Leslie Philips in Medicinal Purposes) it just sounds like she is reading the script for the first time. 7/10.

Even though Season Eleven gradually picks up, none of the first three stories are any fun and none of it has enough pace or intrigue to keep one that involved. It all sounds very flat, even weary. Benny has been through so much that her irrepressible joie de vivre has all but evaporated; this may be an accurate picture of how her character would develop under the circumstances, but removes the main reason for listening in the first place. The production team seem to remain committed to linking stories together, in the hope one will shell out to find out what happens next. Yet not one of these story's endings manages to engender a glimmer of curiosity. Ultimately, the season fails to recapture what it used to do so well (and what the first three seasons of The Sarah Jane Adventures did on TV): that happy menage a trois of the theatre of ideas innate to science fiction; likeable characters whom you really cared about; and witty, well-crafted dialogue. What we have been left with is now mere Sci-Fi with all its obsessional minutiae, convoluted plots and portentously voiced aliens. If that's all that's on offer, then, with a heavy heart, I feel that this once rather special little franchise may have finally run its course.

If they'd called it a day at the end of Season Nine, I would have been screaming for more. As it is now, Benny, I shall miss you.