Rani Takes On The World: The Revenge of Wormwood from Big Finish Review

Following their return last April in ‘Beyond Bannerman Road’, Rani and Clyde from The Sarah Jane Adventures are back in action. This time facing off against their old enemy, Mrs. Woormwood and the Bane. But she isn’t the only returning character…

Things get off to a strong start with Lizbeth Myles’ Time Schisms! which sees the return of Luke Smith played once again by Tommy Knight. Rani bumps into him and the rest of UNIT when she is investigating reports of a time traveller working in a country post office. It’s a brilliant premise for an SJA adventure and it’s great fun to listen to.

It’s clear how much fun Myles had writing this story as it feels like an unseen episode of SJA had it continued. And it’s great to hear Tommy Knight back and getting plenty to do, though I must admit it takes me a minute to enjoy Knight’s performance. To me, he’s not the world’s greatest actor but Myles keeps things interesting by pitting him against Rani, often in conflict with UNIT.

The previous boxset spent a lot of time rebuilding the relationship between Rani and Clyde and they do the same thing here. Things are a little frostier between Rani and Luke, more than it was on television but Myles makes sure the status quo is restored by the end.

The story itself is a lot of fun too, the first half takes on a more investigative form as Rani makes her way through the mysteries of the little English country town and tries to avoid being stopped by UNIT and her old friend. But the second half really cranks things into high gear, with characters not being who you were expecting them to be and its a credit to Myles’ writing skills that some of the twists on offer here don’t make the story fall into complete absurdity. It’s a strong opening adventure which successfully reintroduces us to the world of SJA while introducing us to the ongoing plot for this boxset and gives us some twists and turns which feel genuinely unique.

Alison Winter’s The Star-Crossed Diversion feels like a refreshing change of pace as Rani and Clyde find themselves stranded in an alternate Earth where the population have been conquered by their old enemies, the Bane! It’s a much more Doctor Who story than an SJA one, with some strong high concepts and mysteries.

It’s a story which owes a lot of its successes to the performances also. Anjli Mohindra and Daniel Anthony are fantastic as Rani and Clyde and both bring their complete A-game to this story. Milo Twomey is brilliant as the villainous Bane Uncle Crispin and fits nicely into the legacy of SJA and Madison Bulleyment is also great as Jude, a good Bane who befriends Rani and Clyde and ultimately helps them stop the invasion even though it means the death of her timeline.

It’s a shame then that something falls a little flat as it feels like a story which seems to promise a lot but doesn’t deliver a lot. Much of the story is taken up by Clyde and Rani realising that the Bane here has control of Mr Smith but Alexander Armstrong is nowhere to be found and also absent is Samantha Bond as Mrs. Wormwood – despite her presence looming large over the proceedings on offer. Ultimately it’s a shame that this feels like a diversion from the main plot, albeit an entertaining one but there were one or two little characters or Easter Eggs that could have been thrown in to really make this set feel like a celebration of SJA.

Things come to a conclusion with Jonathan Morris’ The Ghost of Bannerman Road which finally sees Rani, Clyde and Luke taking on Mrs. Wormwood. Morris handles all the plot threads from the previous stories with ease and plays with the past of SJA with the characters confronting old regrets and feelings as well as effortlessly bringing Mrs. Wormwood back to life. Samantha Bond devours the material she’s given here clearly enjoying the fact she gets to play a sort of A Christmas Carol version of her old character as she infiltrates the dreams of Rani and Clyde in a way that would make A Nightmare on Elm Street proud!

Where the story falls apart is in its handling of Luke who is side-lined for most of it and gets absolutely no scenes with Mrs. Wormwood despite having the biggest connection to her out of all the characters. He spends most of the story unconscious in a bush! It’s not a good look for the character but given Knight’s somewhat stilted performance here, it’s a minor quibble.

Morris deftly handles through the will-they/won’t-they? relationship between Rani and Clyde as they both have to face the feelings they have for one another. Fans have long speculated that the characters had fancied one another in the television series so it’s nice to see that being explored here, even if Mrs. Wormwood is only really used to bring the pair together and there’s no real threat from her despite her getting to play Freddy Krueger.

The Revenge of Wormwood is a mixed bag. It’s good and fun and a great way of spending a few hours of your day. What it ultimately boils down to though is it’s a nice healthy dose of nostalgia for fans of SJA and it does honour the show perfectly. My only issue with the ending was that it didn’t go out on the SJA theme tune which it was much deserving of, but as Rani’s last speech implies these stories will continue so let’s hope that Big Finish bring the crew back for more in the near future!