Big Finish Productions has a new collection of Twelfth Doctor audio dramas in the set entitled You Only Die Twice, and it’s okay. Jacob Dudman returns to mic doing his impression of Peter Capaldi’s version of the Time Lord. Lisa Bowerman serves as the director of this trilogy of episodes. Bhavnisha Parmer returns as Big Finish companion known as Keira Sanstrom. Nicholas Asbury is the main villain known as Belias, who apparently resembles the traditional depiction of Satan. Other guest cast members include Maggie Bain, Georgina Beedle, Robert Daws, Richard Braine, and Clare Corbett.
The Doctor gets whisked away by Time Agent Keira Sanstrom to help her find some stolen time weapons. The Doctor is an unwilling recruit of the Time Agency, but he manages to get a good adventure out of it.
Sunstrike by Georgia Cook is the first episode in this collection. The Doctor is sent to an auction among the galaxy’s worst villains at a resort. He meets someone known as the Quartermaster, played by Robert Daws.
This is apparently a riff on James Bond movies, and it is fairly amusing. Parmer ends up being a welcome return since her banter with the Doctor is rather charming.
Dudman does pretty well with capturing the gist of Capaldi’s interpretation of the role, but his impressions of David Tennant and Matt Smith are better.
The second episode is Never the End Is by Ben Tedds. The Doctor and Keira arrive in seventeenth century Austria where they meet a painter who has impossible visions, and they are not the only ones from the Time Agency on site.
The episode is not terrible due largely to the performances and sound engineering. It’s not all that memorable except for the cliffhanger which suggests a rather shocking betrayal.
Finally, Fio Trethewey brings this set to a close with You Only Die Twice where the Doctor goes head-to-head against Belias and is uncertain who are really is allies.
The set was pretty interesting, but I had a hard time seeing or hearing how it stands out all that much. Big Finish often has some real triumphs in its storytelling, but this one just ends up not being disastrous.
Still, Dudman’s performance is quite good, and the release is still worth trying out. I will likely give this one another listen, so I may end up enjoying it more once I understand the action sequences a little better. The boxset is not without its charm, but it is mildly disappointing.
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