Thursday, September 15, 2022

126. ALFIE SHAW - A Voice From The Wilderness Years


This week we are joined by Big Finish producer, script editor and writer, Alfie Shaw. We chat about how he came to be working for the company, some of his projects over the years, and some of his exciting projects yet to come. 

You can catch our exclusive chat with Alfie on the forthcoming Eleventh Doctor series featuring Jacob Dudman here - https://www.sirensofaudio.com/2022/08/geronimo.html

For details on all the stories you heard trailers for in this episode, visit https://www.bigfinish.com/ 


Philip recommends The War Master: Self Defence - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-war-master-self-defence-2542

Dwayne recommends Doctor Who: Wave of Destruction - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-wave-of-destruction-993



Original theme composed by Joe Kraemer | http://www.joekraemer.com/about/


Email: sirensofaudio@gmail.com

Website: https://www.sirensofaudio.com/

Audio Feedback: https://anchor.fm/sirensofaudio

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrU3MLlOeJTLnAbLl35QgeQ


Clips and music are copyright BBC and Big Finish. No infringement is intended.

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Review | Missy and the Monk by James Goss, Johnny Candon and James Kettle

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I am not sure there is a more delightful pairing at Big Finish at the moment than Missy, played by the delectable and unpredictable Michelle Gomez and the Monk played with charm and self deprecation by Rufus Hound. 

These two are hilarious together and you never know what they are about to do or how they will play the lines they are given. The situations they move through are often absurd but yet the listener is engaged in every ridiculous plot and scheme. Verging constantly on madness there is still always threat through the humour and yet you just keep warming to them. The audience is left in the dilemma of not wanting them to succeed and yet, you do. 

The madness starts with Body and Soulless by James Goss. How Mr Goss has managed to write so many scripts this year that hit it out of the park is beyond me. His trademark humour is present throughout as Missy starts the story with just the Monk's brain - kept in her carpet handbag. A cross between crazy Mary Poppins and the Brain of Morbius these two threaten the existence of an entire planet as they play out there life taking games. 

Johnny Candon’s first script for Big Finish, War Seed allows for a bit more sanity as Missy has something to prove - which she just can’t manage. 

And once again James Kettle shows what a great story teller he is in Two Monks, One Mistress. Set in Renaissance, Italy it is the perfect place for the Monk and a Nun. When timelords cross timelines fun and disaster follow. Gemma Whelan enters the mix with panache. 

This box set is so much fun but will make you feel guilty while unable to keep from smiling. Joe Kraemer's music and sound design is spectacular and as always director Ken Bentley gets amazing performances out of all his cast. Looking forward to hearing what comes next. 


Philip Edney

Thursday, September 8, 2022

125. SUSANNAH HARKER - House of Sapphire


Our guest this week is BAFTA Nominee Susannah Harker, best known to Big Finish fans as Sapphire in the audio adventures of Sapphire and Steel. Susannah also appeared in the audio adaptation of Shada featuring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.


For an entry into the draw to win a brand new sealed copy of Doctor Who: Shada starring Paul McGann with Susannah Harker, do the following:

1. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, like and share the episdode. (For podcast listeners, link to our channel is below, or simply search for "The Sirens of Audio" in the YouTube search bar. 

2. Tell us in the comments what your definitive version of Shada is and why. 

3. For an extra entry into the draw, write a 5-star review in Apple podcasts and let us know you have done so by email to sirensofaudio@gmail.com

Winner will be announced on our October 2022 "Randomoids" episode, usually released on the third or fourth Thursday of the month.  


Philip recommends House of Cards (UK) - https://www.amazon.com.au/House-Cards-Trilogy-Ian-Richardson/dp/B009Z59ZNE/

Dwayne recommends Doctor Who: Dark Eyes - The Complete Series - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-dark-eyes-1-792




Original theme composed by Joe Kraemer | http://www.joekraemer.com/about/


Email: sirensofaudio@gmail.com

Website: https://www.sirensofaudio.com/

Audio Feedback: https://anchor.fm/sirensofaudio

Twitter: http://twitter.com/audiosirens

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audiosirens/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audiosirens

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrU3MLlOeJTLnAbLl35QgeQ


Clips and music are copyright BBC and Big Finish. No infringement is intended.

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Review | Torchwood: Curios by James Goss

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A curio is a rare, unusual or intriguing object. And with this story, Torchwood gets a new curio added to the range. 

James Goss is the master story craftsman when it comes to Torchwood and with Curios has once again managed to switch tones and time zones. Set during the 2nd World War, important artefacts were sent down mines to protect them from the bombs and hide them from possible invasion. But there is much in the Torchwood archives that should never be touched. And more down the mine than anyone is expecting. 

One of the creepiest characters to be created for Torchwood is Bilis Manger. Putting him deep underground, in the dark, makes him creepier still. And as usual Murray Melvin performs Bilis with a servility that drips evil. You can’t hate Manger but every scene he is in leaves you feeling more and more uncomfortable. An amazing performance.  But his performance is backed by all the cast, especially Rosie Baker. 

Scott Handcock, as always, has directed the story perfectly and it has a similar feel to Hitchcock’s Psycho. A cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets and an atmosphere of foreboding. 

Expect to be scared. 


Philip Edney

Thursday, September 1, 2022

124. ROB HARVEY - Get With The PROGram


This time our guest is a composer who recently blew us away with his score for the Russell T. Davies Sixth Doctor Lost Story "Mind of the Hodiac" earlier this year. Rob Harvey is going from strength to strength with Big Finish as a sound designer and musician, and we are very excited to share this chat with another of the "young guns" of Big Finish. 



Philip recommends Torchwood: The Dollhouse - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/torchwood-the-dollhouse-1496

Dwayne recommends the BBC audio version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - https://youtu.be/HhNSR0WaYzc



Original theme composed by Joe Kraemer | http://www.joekraemer.com/about/



Background music by Rob Harvey | https://rob-harvey-composer.com/



Email: sirensofaudio@gmail.com

Website: https://www.sirensofaudio.com/

Audio Feedback: https://anchor.fm/sirensofaudio

Twitter: http://twitter.com/audiosirens

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audiosirens/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audiosirens

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrU3MLlOeJTLnAbLl35QgeQ


Clips and music are copyright BBC and Big Finish. No infringement is intended.

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Review | Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Adapted by Nicholas Briggs

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The first time the story of Jekyll and Hyde really got it's hooks into me were in the 1988 television series Jack The Ripper, starring Michael Caine. A play of the Stevenson classic featured in the series starring Armand Assante in the role of an American actor who could change his facial features mid-scene and in full view of the audience, to complete the transition from Jekyll to Hyde. I was utterly transfixed and terrified, and with my love of Victorian England already fuelled by such television as Doctor Who's The Talons of Weng-Chiang and Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, here was another story from an era that holds more mystique to me than almost any other. 

Most adaptations of the Stevenson story are very liberal in their story changes. The Jack The Ripper series had the Lanyon scene (with Lanyon coincidentally played by Weng-Chiang's Litefoot himself, Trevor Baxter) incorrectly showing Jekyll changing into Hyde when the story was the other way round, and the same company who made the series went on to make their own adaption of Jekyll and Hyde with Michael Caine in the tite role. That too had many elements that weren't in the original story and Caine's casting in itself was to say the least, interesting...

It was a great surprise to me to finally hear many years ago, an abridged reading by Tom Baker to discover how much I simply adored the language of Stevenson in the hands of an actor who was not only my hero, but had a voice that dripped both honey and menace, relished in equal measure by me. The simple music and sound effects added to this reading invoked so much horror that I wasn't able to listen to it at night.

So with my adoration of the source material and of Big Finish, a company who in my opinion deserve much more recognition of their non-Doctor Who output than they appear to receive, I was so very excited to discover towards the end of 2021 that an adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde was being released in 2022. But not until August! The wait has been painful, but the time has finally arrived for the release to see the light of day. 

One thing about the Big Finish Classics range I love is that they try very hard to stick as close to the source material as they can. I appreciated this in particular with their version of Frankenstein. What a difficult book this must have been to adapt closely. After all, it is basically a series of letters between people. Jekyll and Hyde is similar with a couple of major letters contained within, but it's not quite as correspondance heavy as Frankenstein. 

Knowing this version of Jekyll and Hyde had been adapted for the stage I assumed it would begin at the beginning with the conversation between Utterson and Enfield. However, I was surprised that it began at the death of Sir Danvers, an event that takes place quite a way into the original story, and then flashes back to that conversation. Initially I thought this was just trying to be original in it's own way, but beginning the story at this point was vital in properly introducing the "team" of the play, namely Utterson and Inspector Newcomen. There is a very good reason the Inspector is so heavily involved with the plot here as opposed to the book. But more of that later. 

I love the way the script has been adapted with dialogue lifted word for word from the original story. It's Stevenson's language and the way he has his characters communicate with each other that appeals to me, so to hear the words being perfomed verbatim, sometimes in ways I least expect, is both refreshing and deeply satisfying.

Director Nick Briggs has managed some dream casting here, with Barnaby Kay as Utterson, the solicitor torn between his moral duty to respect his client's legal rights and deep concern for his friend's physical and mental decline. August 2022 seems to be the month of Barnaby Kay at Big Finish, with him playing the lead in the audio version of U.F.O. and his first River Song script having been released too. 

What is it about Barnaby Edwards that makes him so suited to performing this era? Fantastic as always and such a theatrical persona, he is the perfect Enfield (plus other roles), recounting with horror his first meeting with Hyde yet courageously defending the honour of the family of the young girl assaulted by him. 

John Heffernen plays the dual title roles beautifully, particularly Hyde. Don't imagine you've heard or seen all the ways Hyde can be played. This one is unique and so utterly terrifying on audio. The first meeting with Enfield will stand your hair on end. 

Robert Portal is a constant presence as Inspector Newcomen and I found myself thinking on first listen that the inspector was a little more present than I remembered.... 

Some audio drama can have a tendancy to cast similar voices. That is not the case here. All are unique and very distinctive. None more so than Clare Corbett. Clare plays all the female roles here but none more noticable to me than Mrs Poole, a character who was male in the original story. I would like to hold this production up as an example of what I believe to be real authentic inclusion. 

When Morgan Freeman was asked by a virtuous reporter many years ago whether he felt that there would come a time that racism would no longer be an issue, Freeman replied, "Yes, when people like you stop talking about it." I totally agree.

This is exactly what Nick Briggs has done with Jekyll and Hyde. He has gender-swapped a role, but not for the sake of it. It's a role that could easily be performed by either gender and it doesn't alter the story at all. What I respect most of all, is that this has been done without any mention of it by the cast and crew in the extras or anywhere else. There's no self-congratulation. There's no virtue signalling. It's just been done, and done extremely well. Without any fuss or fanfare. To me, this is true inclusion.

You may be surprised by what I consider to be the most outstanding performance in this play. And that is Nicholas Asbury as Dr Lanyon. Many times I've read the words of Utterson coming to visit the dying Lanyon at his home, and I've had the words read to me by Tom Baker no less, but nothing could prepare me for the power Asbury puts into his performance, particularly in this scene. The amount of inner turmoil that ultimately kills him on seeing Hyde's transformation as displayed here in this performance is enough to make your ears bleed and is nothing short of electrifying. Bravo Mr Asbury! 

A final word here must go to Benji Clifford on sound design. He brings Victorian London alive in beautiful subltle ways, and frightens you to to the core with the slightest of effects on Hyde's voice. He fascinates you with the sound of tea poring into eleagant china and makes you see a hideous monster become a man while you're eyes are closed. These are the plays that remind me why I love audio drama so much. Thanks for all your hard work and attention to detail Benji! 

Oh, and I must also mention how important it is to listen to the extras. It's where you get answers to nagging questions such as why Inspector Newcomen has such a major role. 

Despite the production issues and delays in this release getting to us, I can say it has been worth the wait. I have thoroughly devoured this and imagine it will be on very regular rotation. 

Thank you Nick Briggs and the whole cast and crew for bringing this story to such vivid life. I adore it! 


Dwayne Bunney

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Review | The Lost Resort and Other Stories by AK Benedict, Sarah Ward and Martyn Waites

The Lost Resort and other stories is one of the most emotionally charged box sets that Big Finish have released in a very long time. 

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AK Benedict is a writer generally known for the macabre and horror but in the first story of the set AK explores powerfully the issue of grief and loss. 

Following on directly from the previous stories the Doctor and his companions have just been reunited after the Doctor ran off and left them out of guilt. And relationships are still tense. 

The story takes place on Soresia. This is planet where the dead can continue to have an existence but is existing enough? The audience gets to explore death and loss through the experiences of the well drawn characters. 

All the cast give strong performances but the emotional heart lies with the return of Adric and excellent performances by Peter Davison and Matthew Waterhouse. The Doctor has been living the guilt of Adric dying for many stories, compounded by the near conversion of his latest companion Marc into a Cyberman. The Doctor and Adric get to have those conversations you can only have with people at the end of their lives. 

The greatest joy, and pain, of the story is Adric gets the proper hero ending he didn’t get in Earthshock. His death finally can finally have meaning. Expect tears. 

The Perils of Nellie Bly by Sarah Ward is a total contrast in comparison. A historic comedy with hilarious running around scenes and a race to the finish. Sydney Feder gives a lovely performance as the historic Nellie Bly and like all good historicals had me researching the story behind the story. 

Finally in Nightmare of the Daleks, Martyn Waites is tasked with ending the Marc arc which he does in an engaging and slightly disturbing way. George Watkins as Marc has had a great run as the ancient Roman companion with a thirst for knowledge and life. Parallels with Adric have been seen throughout and this final story creates a sad but satisfying conclusion to that journey. 

A great set of stories. But listen with tissues handy as you are going to need them. 


Philip Edney