Big Finish Productions Recorded Time and Other Stories

Written by	Catherine Harvey, Richard Dinnick, Matt Fitton, Philip Lawrence
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2011

Starring Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant

Synopsis: Four one-part stories.

• A Review by Thomas Tiley

A Review by Thomas Tiley 22/9/25

The 150th release in the main range, Recorded Time and Other Stories is anthology of four tales starring the sixth Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant of whom its lovely to here again).

Recorded Time has the duo summoned to the court of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It has some interesting ideas (the quill made form a phoenix that lets you rewrite history using the writer's own time as ink), Laura Molyneux gives a strong performance as Anne Boleyn, and it is funny in parts; Henry thinks the Doctor is his new jester because of his outfit, Peri hums Greensleeves to Henry who enjoys it (according to legend it was he who supposedly compose it, a myth but it's a funny little joke), and when Henry flirts with Peri the queen calls her a harlot! Peri has to dodge the king's advances, and the Doctor gets put in the stocks! Peri hits the king over the head with a vase! There is a lovely bit where the Doctor reassures the queen that her daughter will becomes one of England's greatest queens, which is a touching part.

I did however think that Paul Shearer's performance as Henry VIII was rather broad, cartoonish and lacking nuance, a sort of comedic/theme park version of the character, which, considering how his wife was played, was rather disappointing. Also, while the real Henry was an unpleasant person, especially to his wives and sisters, this story posits that he had his brother killed to make way for himself on the throne (I know Doctor Who plays fasts and loose with history sometimes, but this felt rather too much in my opinion). The Doctor is summoned to court by the queen's machinations, but he sort of feels supercilious to the story. He is only needed to destroy the quill before it's used to rewrite history for the worse, but it sort of seems that the characters already present could have done that or at least hidden it from the king. It's a good story but slightly let down by Henry.

Paradoxice starts with the TARDIS team receiving a garbled message about the lost world of Sendos --- a planet destroyed by a plague, holding a shielded vault containing the ultimate super weapon, where a group of aliens capture the Doctor to force him to help them break in. To be honest, while the story is okay, it's rather cliched and stereotypical; you can guess how it will go very easily due how many other Doctor Who and Sci Fi stories have done similar things in the past. All Female Aliens who think they are better than Men? Check. Travel into the past to before the plague destroyed the planet where it turns out you are responsible for said destruction? Check. The message form the beginning was actually from your future self? Check. Super weapon in the vault turns out to be a trap? Check. There are some nice touches like the alien computer only listens to women. It's well made, don't get me wrong, perfectly average, but it isn't special, it won't exactly rock your world.

A Most Excellent Match opens with the famous Jane Austen quote (you know the one, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged...') then we have Peri getting proposed by Mr Darcy and the Doctor. Starting weirdly, it's then revealed Peri is trapped in a VR simulation and the Doctor has entered the simulation in order to save her, only it turns out they aren't the only ones stuck in the machine.

It's a fun story. Cranton (Paul Shearer) the machine's owner reminds me slightly of Carnival of Monsters Vorg - a showman using alien tech that he doesn't understand fully trying to make a buck. The part where he has to pretend to be an old woman to fool the alien is a hoot, as are the Doctor's comments on his acting ability.

Philip Bretherton is great and puts on different voices/accents for his various roles in the VR scape, a very talented man. The idea of a race of aliens (the Mindsmiths) who battle other armies by taking over parts of it is brilliant, while Rosanna Miles plays the fun Tilly the machine's AI who helps the duo out. It's a great story, filled with literary references and in jokes and great fun. The best story by far in the set.

The final story, Question Marks, starts with an amnesia plot: the duo and various other characters awaken in a strange location and have to figure out who they are and what's happening. Its a good story, where you slowly figure out what's going on (when they speculate they are in a prison, a character wonders if it's a prison for clowns based on the Doctor's coat) and become paranoid and confused at what is happening. I did not see the dark twist at the end coming, and I won't spoil it here except to say it deals with the classic transporter dilemma.

All in all, a strong set of stories save the second, which is a bit average. I would rate this collection as 8/10.