One of the more anticipated spinoffs from Doctor Who in the Big Finish range is well-worth the wait.
The character of Jenny first appeared in a Tennant-era episode called The Doctor’s Daughter and was played by Georgia Moffett (daughter of Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison). History will show that Moffett and Tennant got along so well they became husband and wife in real life! Now known as Georgia Tennant, she brings back the character that truly deserved her own adventures and the team at Big Finish have delivered some fine scripts.
Tennant not only plays the lead but is executive producer on the series showing how dear the character is for her. The set, as a whole, treads the line between humour and drama well and finds a very distinct feel that is a little different from the Doctor Who range.
The four stories, written by Matt Fitton, John Dorney, Christian Brassington and Adrian Poynton are enjoyable, if not overly original. In the first story we find Jenny becoming the victim of a space-scam and along the way meeting a stranger called Noah (played with great subtlety and honesty by Harry Potter’s Sean Biggerstaff). The two set off on a series of adventures all the while being pursued by a cyborg bounty hunter known as the COLT-5000 (played, in a genius stroke of casting, by legendary actress Siân Phillips). This set also sees the Ood appear for the first time in a Big Finish audio (voiced by Silas Carson who did the voice on the original TV episodes that featured them) in a weird episode set in British suburbia.
Other supporting cast in the series include Pik-Sen Lin (Old Woman) who appeared alongside Jon Pertwee’s Doctor while she was pregnant with her daughter Sara Houghton, who also appears on this set as Alitta. Both performances are excellent, as are Sarah Woodward (Vesh Taralesh), Clare Corbett (Lukaku), Arabella Weir (Angie Glazebrook), Olivia Darnley (Emily Cole), John Dorney (John Macguire), and Paul Courtenay Hyu (Po). Director Barnaby Edwards does a stellar job keeping on top of the action and getting the best out of his cast.
This is a set that is great fun and very enjoyable. It is worth it for the riveting performance by Georgia Tennant and the immense feeling of joy that leaps out of the speakers from the cast who clearly are having an absolute blast. Let’s hope Big Finish commission another series sooner rather than later!
Reviewed by Rodney Hrvatin
Twitter: @Wagnerfan74
Rating out of 10: 9
Distributed by: Big Finish Productions
Released: June 2018
RRP: $41 CD, $20 Digital Download
More News
