Review by Daniel Mansfield

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The Eternity Club series concludes with this fourth and final instalment, which consists of a two-part finale by Tim Foley.

While better than Eternity Club 3, this set doesn’t quite hit the heights of the first two releases in the series, its two stories, Sanctuary and Liturgy of Death, feeling a little flat as a finale to this eight-part saga.

The performances of the cast are all on point, particularly those of Lisa Bowerman, Niamh Cusack and Diane Pilkington, but it doesn’t feel like much of a finale for the characters as none of them really had much of an arc. The only major storyline was the identity of the Oldest, which is resolved here in an interestingly ambiguous way, but without any other character based threads to wrap up, this feels heavily plot-driven, and not in a good way.

I had hoped that having such a big ensemble of characters meant this series would explore each of them, giving them their own storylines across the four boxsets, but that has unfortunately turned out not to be the case. By the end of this set, the characters feel pretty much the same as we met them, never really evolving past their main characteristics and quirks to feel fully-formed or satisfying.

I understand that The Eternity Club was meant as a kind of palate cleanser for the Benny range, light and frothy adventures with interesting side characters, but similar ranges like The Paternoster Gang have shown that it’s possible to balance a more irreverent tone with character work, intriguing storylines and adventures you can get your teeth into. Sadly such a balance hasn’t been achieved with this series.

I can’t in good faith give this set less than three stars, because what’s here is solid enough, but, overall, I’ve been left feeling rather disappointed by this release and, indeed this series, as a whole. Here’s hoping Benny’s next adventures, whenever they may materialise, feel more well-rounded than this.

The Eternity Club 4 is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com