Review by Cavan Gilbey

I’ve sort of been holding off doing this review for one central reason; this is the last time we will ever hear Murray Melvin as Billis Manger. I assumed that Cuckoo in the second Among Us set would have been the last time but Big Finish surprised us with the reveal of Sigil by Ash Darby, who has been a really strong recent writer that Big Finish has brought into the Torchwood range. So I went into this knowing it would be a bittersweet story, and I honestly think the ending is as good as you can get in terms of celebrating Melvin as a performer and everything he brought to the character of Billis. Sam is an artist who is obsessed with drawing the design of an ancient sigil, however when she sees this symbol out in the wild on a statue. As her obsession with the symbol and its history grows she experiences a series of horrific nightmares, which strains her relationship with Emil her boyfriend. The only man who has any answers is Billis Manger, the owner of a little local antique shop.

There’s a sense that this story is really paying homage to gothic horror and even the Hammer Horror style of gothic adaptations. Darby’s narrative feels like it is ripped straight from the pages of Poe or Le Fanu with this subtle supernatural threat punctuating a story about single-minded obsession or generational religious indoctrination. Sam is a really interesting character who we can never quite get a sense of, because in one moment she’s so vulnerable before becoming very confident and obsessive. Even Billis himself has this performative nature to his characterisation here as he is very obviously trying to appear as this kindly, even doddery, old man who simply wants to be a friend to Sam. Of course we know he’s going to reveal himself at some point but there is always this creepy sense of the uncanny when you hear Billis being genuinely nice and considerate. 

Darby’s pacing throughout the story is really solid, even at over an hour I never thought this story was grinding to an unnecessary halt at any point. This really helps the moments of horror hit hard, especially a scene early on where Sam is choking on crows’ feathers that aren’t there which is so visceral and horrible and the sound design and direction from Hrycek-Robinson and  Lisa Bowerman respectively gets the harshness of the moment nailed perfectly. As for the ending, without spoiling anything, it does a good job at saying that Billis will always be around in a way that is suitably sinister and creepy.

This is one of Melvin’s best performances as Billis, especially when considering that he’s playing a Billis who is putting on an act and playing a character themselves.  There are some really creepy moments here that Melvin leans in to perfectly, especially in the moment where he meets Emil in his shop after Sam has started to breakdown. The push and pull dynamic of Melivn and Angus Imrie in that scene is compelling and I do wish they had more chances to meet during the story. The breakout star from this is Gabrielle Brooks as Sam. Brooks turns in a really great performance as she goes through so many layers of Sam’s character. From the beleaguered artist, to the obsessive fanatic and there are moments where you can tell her vulnerability is put on to lure Billis into befriending her near the end of the story that are so well played. 

As the final story in Billis’ run with Big Finish this is a brilliant finale that perfectly demonstrates why we love him as a villain, but crucially this also a perfect encapsulation of why Murray Melivn was an amazing actor. I think the best way of ending this is to give a recommendation to watch a film that Murray Melvin starred in called A Taste Of Honey, he’s amazing in it and you can tell from even his earliest career moments that he would be a great performer. Also buy this episode, its great.

9/10

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