Doctor Who: Storm Warning Review

Storm Warning CD Cover

Released in January 2001, Storm Warning was the sixteenth Big Finish audio and the first to star Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. It also introduced India Fisher as Charley Pollard - an excellent companion even if she's never appeared in the TV series. Is it a good story? Let's find out!

Big Finish's sypnosis:

"October, 1930. His Majesty's Airship, the R101, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.

Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.

There's a storm coming. There's something unspeakable, something with wings, crawling across the stern. Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves. When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...

The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread."

Alan Barnes is a fantastic writer and this is a fantastic story of his, Gary Russell directed it really well, all the actors in it were brilliant, the setting (R101 Airship) was a brilliant choice and the Uncreators and Triskele were great aliens (I think having to imagine what they look like really does add to the magic!)

As for the characters,  I liked most of them - especially Lord Tamworth with the way he mistakes The Doctor and Charley for German spies from the Hindenburg Corporation. Rathbone was pretty cool too.

Another thing I like about the story is that The Doctor changes history a tiny bit, which results in a certain person appearing in most of the Eighth Doctor's future stories... But now for one thing I don't like: It got a little bit slow in places but if you get bored then I recommend taking a break and going back to it later as that's what I do!

Not that much happens in the story so I can't go into very much detail without spoiling the whole thing but what does happen is great and despite it's few flaws, it still manages to be a very good story that is highly worth listening to, especially for the amazing price of £2.99!

Overall, Storm Warning was an amazing first audio for the Eighth Doctor and it's much better than the infamous 1996 TV Movie and as much as I love Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, it's a huge shame that Paul McGann wasn't called back in 2005 as he is a great actor and didn't get anywhere near enough TV screen time as The Doctor!

If you want to start listening to the Big Finish stuff, this would definitely make a good first audio but if you're used to the 2005-present series, you might prefer to start with the Eighth Doctor Adventures range as they are only 60 minutes long while this is 120 minutes long.

  

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

You can buy Storm Warning for £2.99 download or £5.00 CD here.