“The Hunting Ground” is a Doctor Who audio play released by Big Finish Productions. AK Benedict is the author of this particular episode which stars Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.
The Doctor is traveling on his own when the TARDIS brings him to Iceland where he finds a frozen corpse of someone killed by alien technology. He is joined by Inspector Yrsa Kristjonsdittor, who initially suspects him of the crime. It does not take long for the Doctor to track down an alien hunter and then find himself as the prey yet again.
Amy Beth Hayes plays the intrepid inspector whose own painful past is also at the heart of the mystery, and she does a pretty good job. I thought there were echoes of a previous recurring character from Big Finish, DI Menzies. It’s often amusing when the Doctor has to convince the local constabulary of his good intentions in spite of his bizarre appearance.
Michael Griffiths plays the Hunter, who actually has a bit of a snarky wit to rival the Doctor’s. It makes a nice change to have an adversary who does something a bit more than bellow threats and boasts. Especially since the Hunter is described as being over twelve feet tall.
Yrsa also finds a conspiracy connected to the Hunter which led to the murder of her father. It was kind of interesting that she spent much of her time independent of the Doctor making her own discoveries.
Of course, the Doctor’s encounter with the two headed, persnickety accountant, Marfick, played by Joe Jameson and Will Hislop, was pretty entertaining as well. Jameson and Hislop were well cast as the bickering, hyperattentive accountants who are also having to elude the attentions of the Hunter.
It’s not always the easiest story to follow, but Baker’s performance is energetic enough for me to mind too much. There were some familiar elements that have been explored before in Doctor Who, however it was presented in a way that much of it still felt fresh. Baker is still a powerful presence in these things. This was a pretty grim story, yet the humor didn’t seem out of place. That’s one the charms of the series as a whole.
This turned out to be a solidly entertaining piece, and I would be interested to see AK Benedict contribute further to the range.
Reviews, Musings, and Other Things... 