“Warlock’s Cross” is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions starring Sylvester McCoy, settling quite nicely yet again in his role as the Seventh Doctor. Steve Lyons, a long-time contributor to Doctor Who lore, provides the final entry into what has apparently dubbed as the UNIT trilogy featuring the damaged Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins, played by Blake Harrison. Hopkins has encountered two previous versions of the Doctor in “The Helliax Rift” and “Hour of the Cybermen”. Tracey Childs also returns as Dr. Elizabeth Klein, everyone’s favorite temporally misplaced former Nazi from an alternative timeline. Yeah…this is why I love the series. It can get so insane trying to explain these things.
Anyway, the Doctor comes across a group of malcontents protesting the apparent mistreatment of visitors from the stars, trying to take down UNIT, or United Nations Intelligence Taskforce for the uninitiated. After being imprisoned yet again, the Doctor has a bit of an uneasy alliance with Hopkins and UNIT when they investigate the presence of a long-buried spacecraft with troubling psychic influences that feed on doubts and hidden fears.
I am not sure I would call this Lyons’ greatest contribution to the series, but it gets the job done. McCoy is still quite energetic and intriguing with his take on the Doctor, certainly one of the more manipulative and dangerous incarnations of the Time Lord. Of course, this Doctor can often seem more innocuous at times, but we fans know better. I know some Big Finish fans are huge Klein fans, but I sort of thought her story was done. I am not sure her inclusion in this added that much to it. Hopkins is a rather intriguing character, however there could also be a danger of him being a bit overused as well. To be fair, it has been a few years since Klein’s last appearance in the range. I just am not someone who wistfully hopes some other reason could be concocted for her to make another return.
This is a reasonably enjoyable episode in which the chemistry of the cast led by McCoy’s energy helps considerably.
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