Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Quin Dilemma from Big Finish Review

Following their anniversary celebrations of the Sontaran’s first appearance, this year also marks forty years since the Sixth Doctor first arrived at the end of The Caves of Androzani. To celebrate forty years of the Sixth Doctor, Big Finish is releasing several celebratory releases, the first of which, The Quin Dilemma sees the Doctor, alongside his companions coming together across this outing.

The first story of the set is a single twenty-minute opener, written by Jaqueline Raynor called The Exaltation, which sets up the plot for the next five episodes. King Otho of Arunopal is stepping down but can’t decide which of his sons to make his successor due to some timey wimey problems explored later in the set. To settle this he gives them a task, the first son who brings him the head of the Doctor, who he blames for his wife’s disappearance many years ago, will be crowned as the new ruler.

Of course, much of the opening episode sets up things to come. It introduces us to Zeta, a character who will play a large part in the final episodes, though so long as you’re paying attention, it isn’t hard to work out who Zeta is and what her relationship with the Quin is. But that’s a minor quibble as it’s clear how well she works alongside the leads for this episode Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. It’s a shame she never gets to become a companion.

Throughout the next five episodes we’re treated to a number of different pairings for the Sixth Doctor and his companions, we’ve got Six and a younger Peri alongside H G Wells from Timelash in Escape from Holy Island, an entertaining little historical romp if a little too brief from Chris Chapman, a two-part story, Sibling Rivalry/Children of the Revolution from Robert Valentine which sees the Doctor alongside popular audio companions Constance Clarke and Flip facing off against the Sontarans and a quieter and more contemplative outing for the Doctor and an older Peri in The Thousand Year Thaw, again from Chris Chapman.

The thread of course throughout each episode is one of the Quin brothers finding the Doctor at different points in time and kidnapping them, leaving his companions behind to try and work out where he’s gone. All these stories are fun but The Thousand Year Thaw is the best of the bunch, effortlessly exploring the relationship between the Doctor and Peri in a way that other stories only wish they could have done.

Of course, it’s lovely to hear all these Doctor and Companion pairings again, especially as there are some companions we haven’t heard from recently. Bonnie Langford has been enjoying a renaissance of Mel lately on audio and television. She does a great job bridging the gaps between the opening and closing episodes. I was most excited about hearing Miranda Raison and Lisa Greenwood coming back as Constance and Flip, two characters I adored on their original travels with the Doctor and they both too put in fantastic performances, even if their story with the Sontarans isn’t the most interesting of the bunch.

And then there’s Nicola Bryant who is amazing once again as Peri Brown, playing her at two different points in time for her character. She proves her mantle by leading armies into battle while she later shares her feelings with the Doctor about her initial misgivings travelling with him after his regeneration.

It’s great to hear this exploration of her character especially as it allows us to see how much both she and the Sixth Doctor have improved under the writers at Big Finish. Philip Labey does a great job too of playing HG Wells travelling with the Doctor after Timelash but he doesn’t get much to do and unfortunately comes to feel like a stand-in for either Evelyn Smythe or Frobisher. However, it was a good enough inclusion to hope we get some more stories with this trio in the future.

Speaking of companions I have to admit that there were a few glaring omissions. Evelyn Smythe wouldn’t be able to be included due to the death of the late great Maggie Stables some years ago, but, strangely, we don’t get a return of Frobisher, the shapeshifting penguin who travelled with both the Doctor and Peri in the comics and on the early audios.

The final scenes with all the companions working together would have been hilarious if they all saw a walking-talking penguin, there could have been some fun there. Also strangely absent is the Sixth Doctor’s latest travelling companion Hebe Harrison, of course, this could be because the actress Ruth Madson is currently working on the new series of Doctor Who, but even a little cameo would have been nice.

However, things come to a head in Jaqueline Raynor’s finale The Firstborn which sees a number of Sixth Doctor’s and companions come together to stop the Quin plan. Actor Jonnie Broadbent does a terrific job at playing each of the Quin’s, such a good job I thought they were all played by different actors, however, he does suffer because he doesn’t get much to do throughout the set, despite it being about him.

The Firstborn does prove how underused he and his characters were as each Quin doesn’t get enough room to have a character to leave an impression upon the listener. Instead, they all have the same character traits and their dislike of the Doctor isn’t a good enough reason to hope they come across as interesting.

As a result, The Firstborn is a bit more of a struggle to get through, even though we get a fantastic performance from Colin Baker not only plays the current Sixth Doctor but different versions of the same character throughout his timeline. He does a brilliant job of differentiating each Doctor making it easy to know where each story is supposed to come from and hearing all the different versions of him working together was a lot of fun.

The Quin Dilemma might come across as a bit uneven, however, there are some good stories here and it’s a worthy celebration of the Sixth Doctor as we explore the character through different periods in his timeline and shows us how brilliant Colin Baker was as the Doctor. He’s loud and bombastic but kind and caring, verbose but heroic, in many ways he was the best of the Doctor and long may his adventures continue.

You can pick up The Quin Dilemma from Big Finish on both digital and CD now.