Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Thirteen O’Clock from Big Finish Review

Ah, so there was a reason why they couldn’t leave the Powell Estate! In Thirteen O’Clock from Big Finish, the latest adventures with the Ninth Doctor and Rose, an old friend turns up, and so does an old enemy. Get ready for rhymes, magic, and yet another unique look at Rose Tyler’s home turf.

Now, first up, apologies. I skipped the review of the previous audio in the series, so for those interested, here are my brief thoughts…

Pandamonium, written by Katherine Armitage, was exactly that. This chaotic hoot of a story explores what happens when a local community is inundated with a wave of historical figures; a superb idea. It’s a race against time for the Doctor and Rose to find what’s behind it all, and it’s simply another fun and engaging listen. I would highly recommend it. And if you want some more character development for Rose, which builds directly on the episode Father’s Day, then this is one you will definitely want to listen to.

OK, so now you know what time it is… It’s Thirteen O’Clock!

Back to the Powell Estate

The Doctor and Rose return once more to the Powell Estate, but now the Doctor has a dreadful suspicion about the malevolent power that keeps pulling them back. The estate is shrouded in a strange fog, most of the residents have vanished, and the sinister Mrs Crook guards the ominous Flat 13.

What’s more, Saffron Windrose has arrived in search of the Doctor, because once he helped her face a nightmarish entity at a railway station called Underbridge… and it’s happening again.

This is another strong entry in what has proven to be a strong series. I was getting a little concerned about the reliance on the Powell Estate as a setting, but I must admit, I was thoroughly gobsmacked when I realised that this repetition was intentional, resulting from a mysterious power that would not allow the Doctor and Rose to leave.

I did not expect it to weave into the narrative so significantly, in much the same way as the phrase “Bad Wolf” cropping up over and over in the 2005 series. Very nicely done!

What intrigued me the most about Thirteen O’Clock, written by Robert Valentine, were the elements that had been lifted from previous audios. Saffron Windrose, an audio-only ally of the Ninth Doctor, and the Grimminy-Grew return, having both been introduced in 2022’s Station to Station (also written by Valentine).

While this is personally my first introduction to these characters, I found Saffron Windrose to be a solid character reprised by Indigo Griffiths, who works great with the Doctor and Rose. The script was teetering on the edge of doing something similar to Rose’s initial jealousy of Sarah Jane Smith in 2006’s School Reunion, but thankfully, Rose and Saffron had a nice rapport fairly quickly.

The Grimminy-Grew

As for the Grimminy-Grew, it is an insane monster, the power of which presents about as much threat to the Ninth Doctor as a fleet of Daleks. All in all, I am definitely interested in listening to the earlier Ninth Doctor adventures after listening to this one. Furthermore, there were references to previous entries in this current run of audios, with Rose wondering if her altered home had anything to do with Mr Fingers from The Last Days of the Powell Estate, or Hellion from Dare You.

Embedding aspects of the other audio dramas into the narrative makes the world of expanded media Doctor Who feel lived in, and with it, the entire canon across audio, television and different platforms feels much richer. I don’t know about you, but it makes me wanna set aside several evenings where I can dive right into it all.

I definitely thought the concept of a version of the Powell Estate where everything isn’t ‘quite right’ is a good one. The threat of the Grimminy-Grew is elevated by the inclusion of Mrs Crook, whose rhyming, maniacal laughter and desire for souls make her an impactful threat. Kudos to Sophie Thompson, who voiced her and pitched the performance just right.

Time for a Change of Locale?

Despite my praise around how the repetition of the Powell Estate plays into the story, I definitely think we should stray away from it now. I think this story has definitely scraped what was left from that barrel. But one thing I hope does continue is the ability of these scripts to explore facets of the Ninth Doctor and Rose in new and harrowing ways.

For instance, we all know from the TV show that Rose is bored with her life on Earth. But in Thirteen O’Clock, Mrs Crook challenges Rose on this. She says that her desire to travel with the Doctor is purely selfish and not rooted in any genuine concern for the welfare of the people they save along the way. Rose denies this, and, of course, we, as the audience, have seen evidence of her altruistic nature.

But it is interesting that Rose’s undeniable self-interest in joining the Doctor, mainly around escaping a lacklustre life and bringing her father back from the dead, is used to throw her off balance here. It takes an existing strand of character development and does something new with it, which I am all here for.

I am equally enthused about how the Doctor is tested when he encounters Mrs Crook one-on-one. While it is yet another instance of his survivor’s guilt around the Time War getting triggered, when Mrs Crook asks the Doctor about what it feels like to wipe out his own people, the answer made me stop in my tracks. I have to share it with you now…

If you want to know how it made me feel, go to hell, and find out for yourself.

My goodness. What. A. Line.

If we keep getting writing of this calibre in the six outstanding entries in this series of twelve audios, that show us different angles of characters we already know so well, this series will keep marching forward, entertaining and enthralling us in equal measure.