Big Finish Audio Review: Jago And Litefoot Get A Little Help

Jago & Litefoot Series Three is a pretty decent addition to the audio series reuniting the two Victorian investigators of infernal incidents with an old friend in the shape of Leela, portrayed by Louise Jameson. Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter reprise their celebrated roles of Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot in this new collection of episodes released by Big Finish Productions. Lisa Bowerman returns as Ellie, their favorite barmaid. Conrad Asquith reprises his role as Sergeant Quick. There are four episodes to discuss briefly here.

Just to review, the Jago & Litefoot series is a spinoff of Doctor Who. They met during the television serial entitled The Talons of Weng-Chiang during Tom Baker’s era in the role of the Doctor. Louise Jameson returns to lend a hand in this series as Leela. Leela has been sent from Gallifrey to help close some time breaches which have been plaguing Victorian London. It’s fun to hear them banter back and forth once again.

The first story to discuss is Dead Men’s Tales by Justin Richards. Beings known as Wet Men have been lurking around the streets and alleys of London. They have risen from the Thames looking for a lost member of their crew. The idea of ghosts from the future are first explored here.’

Leela gets to go undercover as a barmaid under the tutelage of Ellie Higson, portrayed by Lisa Bowerman, and the moments is hilarious. Jameson is quite an experienced actress and handles the moment quite deftly.

Anyway, it’s a fairly interesting story, but Richards has done better in the past.

The Man at the End of the Garden by Matthew Sweet explores the idea of a fairy tale coming alive. It was an okay script, but it was not that memorable. I did like that Big Finish actually cast a child for the role of a little girl at the center of the problem. They do not always do that. Eden Monteath is the name of the young actress, and she did a good job. The cast interviews at the end revealed that she took the part seriously but likely had fun as everyone attests to happening when recording at the studio.

Jago and Litefoot get a taste of the future in John Dorney’s Swan Song. More ghosts from the future haunt the New Regency Theater, which was recently bequeathed to Henry Gordon Jago. In the future, a lab will be built where time experiments are being conducted. This was a much more engaging story than its predecessors, but that’s not surprising considering it’s from Dorney.

Finally, another long time Doctor Who contributor, Andy Lane wraps up this set with Chronoclasm where the mastermind behind the disturbances is revealed. Philip Bretherton steps from the shadows as Elliot Payne. Jago, Litefoot, and Leela get some unexpected help from another Henry Gordon Jago.

It’s another competent script from a talented writer, but Lane has also done better in previous works.

Overall, it was an enjoyable listening experience, but the inclusion of Leela just seems like such an obvious move. Still, Louise Jameson does that part so well, so it was still nice to have her join in the hijinks.

The set serves the purpose of being enjoyment accompaniment in the car, but there is not much that I found to stand out other than the guest appearances.