Purity Unleashed is a Doctor Who audio anthology starring Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. Helen Goldwyn serves as director in all three stories in this collection. Imogen Stubbs returns as the dubiously motivated Patricia McBride. Leah Brotherhood, Sophie-Louise Dann, Luke R Francis, and Jonny Weldon are included in the cast throughout this trilogy.
In the most recent sets, the Doctor and Mel have befriended a disabled, yet more than competent, marine biologist named Hebe Harrison, who ends joining them in the TARDIS. Consequences of some of their more recent adventures ended up having Hebe erased from existence with only the Doctor and Mel able to remember her. Of course, they like her well enough to correct the disruption to recover her, but that’s going to take three stories to accomplish.
Matthew Sweet starts off the crusade with Broadway Belongs to Me. The Doctor and Mel arrive in New York during the 1930’s where they meet future versions of themselves, and Mel finds herself cast in a Broadway play that should not exist. This one is supposed to explore the Fascism occurring in that period. Although Sweet doesn’t disrespect the seriousness of the subject, this ends up being absolutely hilarious when the real nature of the forces behind the play is revealed. Every now and then, Big Finish turns a story into a bit of a musical, and but they don’t overuse the gimmick. Anyway, not only are the twists pretty clever; they did also elicit a bit actual laughing out loud.
Chris Chapman brings his script, Purification, to the table, and the Doctor and Mel find a more serious and familiar adversary in 1910 New Zealand. The Doctor finds that this disruption centers on a famous expedition to Antarctica led by Captain Scott of the Terra Nova. It was a pretty good idea, but it just basically seems to serve only as a means to peel back some of the secrets of the plot. Imogen Stubbs shows up in this story as one of these people who may try to be well-meaning, but her obsessions end up getting the better of her, forcing the Doctor to intervene in a more dangerous manner than he would prefer.
Finally, Ian Potter closes out this set with Time-Burst where the Doctor and Mel have what may be their final confrontation with Patricia McBride and her fancy Time Suit in Sheffield, 1864 on the eve of a catastrophic flood. The Doctor is flitting between two time zones unwillingly. Everything is coming apart at the seams, and McBride is more of a loose cannon than ever. It’s a pretty good finale, however it appears that Big Finish is not quite done with Hebe Harrison.
My favorite in this trilogy appears to be the first one, although none of the entries come close to being bad. Of course, the chemistry and enthusiasm shared between Baker and Langford is what really makes this work. I struggled with liking Colin Baker’s Doctor during his television era, but Big Finish has spent the last twenty years improving on his development, so I look forward to hearing new Colin Baker episodes, and this set did nothing to dampen that anticipation. As I find myself noting in many of these musings, this isn’t quite a masterpiece, but it’s solidly entertaining, and the first story in particular is quite funny.
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