reviewed by Kathy Sullivan
"The Sirens of Time"
by Nicholas Briggs
"The Sirens Of Time" is a four part adventure (with cliffhangers!) written and directed by Nicholas Briggs. The first three parts are three different adventures for three Doctors, each noticing a time distortion, while Gallifrey faces a crisis. Sylvester McCoy's Doctor rescues a drowning girl on a prison planet, Peter Davison's Doctor is trapped on a ship just as it is torpedoed by a German U-Boat, and Colin Baker's Doctor finds himself on a doomed starcruiser. By part four the time distortion brings all three Doctors back to Gallifrey.
All the Doctors are well on form: devious, heroic, polite, sarcastic and manipulative in their own respective ways.
The storyline allows the other characters some good backstory and believability and there were nice touches of humor and fast action--earmarks of a Nick Briggs script. The sound effects are very effective, and the alien and monster voices were especially good. Sound design, post-production, music composition (aside from the theme music from seasons 11-17) were by Nicholas Briggs, and additional post production effects were by Nick Layton and Chris Corney.
I have several favorite lines (cut so as not to give away any details) such as: "Decent phone line", "big, stupid and ugly", and "Where's a handy ventilation shaft when you need one?"
As well as Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor, the cast list includes several regulars from the Benny and BBV audios: Andrew Fettes as Commander Raldeth and Schmidt; Anthony Keetch as Coordinator Vansell; Michael Wade as The President; Sarah Mowat as Elenya, Helen, Ellie, and Knight Commander Lyena; Maggie Stables as Ruthley; Colin McIntye as Sancroff; John Wadmore as Commandant, Lt. Zentner, Pilot Azmendah and Sub-commander Solanec; Mark Gatiss as Captain Schwieger, Captain, and Knight 2; and Nicholas Pegg as Delegate. Nicholas Briggs wrote, directed, and did the voice for a main character.
I quite enjoyed "The Sirens Of Time"; having each of the Doctors on their own was a good way of re-establishing what each was like without a companion to split the listener's attention. A good beginning for what promises to be a good series.
Recommended.