Doctor Who Audio Review: The Perils Of Progress

Doctor Who: Lethal Progress is somewhat disappointingly average collection of audio dramas directed by Helen Goldwyn and released by Big Finish Productions. Tom Baker back in the role as the Fourth Doctor does help it not be a complete waste of time. Sadie Miller is alongside the Doctor as Darah Jane Smith, an iconic role first played by her mother, Elisabeth Sladen.

The guest cast includes Alexander Cobb, Sean Connelly, Orlando Gibbs, Dawn Murphy, and Nisha Nayar. The casting was fine, but none of the three episodes in this set really resonated all that thoroughly with me.

Baker and Miller in the lead roles do make this still a worthwhile listening experience even if the episodes themselves were somewhat bland.

Tim Foley starts off with Green and Pleasant Planet in which the Doctor and Sarah meet a British space expedition on a strange world which contains a peculiar model village. The lifeforms are even stranger and become more lethal.

There are some interesting ideas here, but Foley just doesn’t present them all that coherently sometimes.

The Continuum by John Dorney places the Doctor and Sarah on a space station that is about to go through hyperspace, but there is a dangerous presence aboard, and the whole endeavor turns even more chaotic.

This story is a little better, and Dorney is considered one of the more reliable writers for Big Finish Productions. I appreciate where he was trying to take this story and what likely influenced this episode. It helps to think of the film Event Horizon which had a similar setting. Anyway, it seems a little too confusing for an audio play at times. I can respect the ambitious idea though. Dorney will likely impress me with his next contribution.

Finally, Lizzie Hopley brings this collection to a close with The Audience. The Doctor and Sarah visit a planet in which artificial beings who want to have real feelings use theater as a means to experience something more than just stark programming. The problem is that the plays get a little too real, and Sarah may be forced to give up her life for the sake of an unwanted role.

It’s a little bit of an overused idea in science fiction, but Hopley is not too bad in presenting her take on the concept.

Baker and Miller continue to display a solid chemistry. Tom Baker’s age is starting to show a bit in his performance. He kind of goes a little over the top, although I still enjoy his participation very much.

This release was recorded during the COVID lockdowns in 2021, so that may explain some of the dip in quality here. The set is not terrible, but it just came across as more mediocre than I am used to.

Not every release is going to be the great, and I get that. Tom Baker can still hold court in his performances. Sadie Miller does well in resurrecting the part originated by her mother,

The postproduction work is still well done. The stories just didn’t hold my interest all that consistently, but that’s going to happen from time to time, even with a stellar track record like Big Finish’s.