Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Bad Terms From Big Finish Review

It’s time for the return of the Sixth Doctor and Peri with Bad Terms, which sees them sailing the seven seas before heading to an old school with more than a few revelations for the duo!

Saoirse of the Seven Seas by Nina Millns

Nina Milln’s opener, Saoirse of the Seven Seas, sees the Doctor and Peri drawn into a pirate adventure in the Irish Sea when ships start going missing. I enjoyed the little throwback to Doctor Who and the Pirates when the Doctor realises where they have landed and his annoyance at it, and Milln really has a great handle on the Doctor and Peri.

What has always been amazing about Big Finish’s treatment of the pair is how the Sixth Doctor and Peri have evolved beyond their constant bickering on television; here, you really get the sense that the pair like each other, which does add some layer of threat to them when they are separated later on.

Rebecca O’Mara does a brilliant job of bringing the fictional Saoirse to life, who is based on a couple of real-life pirate queens, making her formidable enough to wonder if she was a real person. She has an excellent chemistry with the Doctor and Captain Peri, and it’s a shame she doesn’t join them on their travels at the end of the story.

And Torchwood alum Gareth David-Lloyd is unrecognisable as Saoirse’s foe, the tyrannical Sir Kenneth Rushworth, the sort of character who you can’t wait to hear get his comeuppance.

Saoirse of the Seven Seas is a nice and contained story that might not be the action-packed swashbuckling adventure one might expect from a pirate story. But it’s a tale packed with a strong premise, great performances and some fun twists along the way. If there was one little problem, it’s that the threat feels quite generic, and while it might not be the most memorable of stories, it’s an enjoyable way to while away a summer afternoon.

Red for Danger! by Nev Fountain

Red for Danger! brings the two-story set to a close in a much more exciting way and promises some exciting stories to come in the future with the return of someone from the Doctor and Peri’s past. There is also a schoolboy with a connection to the Doctor, the pair could never have guessed, once again, Fountain plays in the Doctor Who sandbox with seemingly reckless abandon and crafts a story which is so fun.

From the school setting, which feels very familiar to that from Human Nature/The Family of Blood, the character of Malcolm is a throwback to an unused story from the 1960s and who the mysterious red-haired child is… well, you’ll just have to listen!

Of course, the script is littered with clues if you are listening and it makes one wonder what a previous Doctor thought of the location when they visited, but the story also feels very relevant to today with students really kicking off about aliens which feels very similar to real-life issues in the world today, proving that the Doctor is needed as much today as they were when the show began way back in 1963.

Red for Danger! is such a cheeky little nod to the past that it is as utterly audacious as it is completely Doctor Who. With great performances and a twist between the Doctor and Malcolm, which brings out a side of the Sixth Doctor that has never really been explored before. And with the exciting promise the final cliffhanger gives us, things are looking bright for the Sixth Doctor and Peri!

You can purchase Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Bad Terms from Big Finish on both CD and digital now.