An Audio Drama from Big Finish, 41st in the Main Monthly Line

Written by Austen Atkinson

Seeing that we’re moving into 2024, I figured I’d do another couple of reviews for some Big Finish audio dramas so as to not slip even further behind than I already am. As it stands, I am still 19 years out from today on these monthly “main line” adventures that ran from 1999 to 2021. I’m not sure that Doctor Who – Nekromanteia was the one that I should have jumped back into the line with because, frankly, it very well could be one of the worst I have listened to so far. It’s not so bad that it’s good, nor is it utterly baffling like a few previous installments. Doctor Who – Nekromanteia is simply just boring, has bad characters, and does some pretty questionable stuff with how it handles literally every character in the story.

I went into this blind and boy did I not realize how infamous this episode was. I did some further research and found out that Peter Davison’s personal hatred for this story caused him to request Big Finish never again hire Austen Atkinson to write more stories with him involved, threatening to walk if it happened again!

“In the depths of space a little known district harbours a terrible secret. Long known as a place of death, it claims thousands more lives as a great corporate space-fleet goes to war. As the fleet screams out in fear and pain, an irresistible voice calls out to three travellers and a macabre mind sets a deadly trap. The Doctor, Peri and Erimem face the terrors of Talderun and the wrath of a corporate empire as they struggle to understand the hideous secret of the domain of the dead — a district known in legend as Nekromanteia.”

So where do we start with the questionable plot points? For starters, Peri has a somewhat sexualized nude scene somewhat early on. Considering that Doctor Who, in every incarnation, is supposed to be a franchise for families to enjoy, stuff like this where the writers attempt to make it edgy and mature is never my thing. This is the same trend I have disliked about some of the books and audios set in the timeline of the Virgin New Adventures series, a nineties book line starring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. That series tried to mature the franchise, usually resulting in bleak stories with nihilistic plots. At least that is my experience with what I have read with these. I’m sure my limited experience is not the experience others have had, but we all have our individual opinions and “canons” for the franchise.

There’s another scene, a cliffhanger, where The Doctor gets his head cut off and is eaten by a coven of witches. This happens literally, it’s not an illusion or anything, he legitimately dies. This insane moment is done almost entirely for shock value and is resolved by way of a convoluted mess of “timey-wimey” nonsense involving him making a time duplicate of himself. Something like that is way out of character for the tone of the franchise, and honestly was somewhat annoying to listen to as it unfolded. Other fun tidbits included The Doctor helping to commit a bank robbery, and Erimem almost getting sexually assaulted. Yay! Family listening! The whole thing is way too dark and somewhat mean-spirited. It’s almost like the author wanted to see how far he could push the envelope, and he largely did it too much.

I decided to look into whether Austen Atkinson ever contributed more to this series, perhaps to avoid his future stories or at least prepare myself, and it seems like this episode basically blacklisted him from working on Doctor Who audio dramas. He was a popular writer at the time and did some other work for Big Finish including a series of stories based on The Tomorrow People franchise. Ten years later he resurfaced and became the Director and Producer of the animated reconstructed episodes of The Reign of Terror.

So, what can I say about this audio drama – yeah, I’d skip it. It’s not well-written, has some serious plot issues, is way too dark for the franchise, and honestly doesn’t make much sense. I truthfully don’t know why I listened to the whole thing other than to say, “I did it” and do this review with a good conscience. Here’s hoping the next one is better because you honestly can’t get much worse!

For those getting into these, just not this one (LOL), a lot of the older ones are really cheap HERE. Otherwise, I have been listening to these on Spotify in recent years. I have also heard these are on other services like Apple Music, so be sure to look around!

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