Review by Daniel Mansfield

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After the Fugitive Doctor’s triumphant debut in Coda last November, Classic Doctors, New Monsters: Faithful Friends breaks new ground with the first appearance of a Thirteenth Doctor alien in a Big Finish production: the Lupari.

Tim Foley‘s script, The Dying Breed, takes us to the Lupari homeworld for the first time, as the Fourth Doctor, Leela and K-9 face scrutiny by the dog-headed warriors after an attack on the Great Lord Garzan’s son. Foley’s script is a fairly standard affair, but gives us a nice insight into Lupari culture, the ideas about what the Lupari homeworld actually is being particularly effective, even if they aren’t explored in great detail.

Leela and K-9 are the perfect companions to come face-to-face with the Lupari, with one being a proud warrior and the other being, well, a dog. They get some good material here, with Leela developing a rivalry with a female Lupar by the name of Kira (Selina Jones) and K-9 being taken in by Lord Garzan (Peter Guinness) as one of the Lupari’s own.

The story itself, though, feels a little sluggish, even with the inimitable Miriam Margolyes guest starring as a Lupari soothsayer. As a first outing for the Lupari at Big Finish, this is a good effort, but The Dying Breed is by no means up there with the best of Tim Foley‘s scripts, nor the best of the Classic Doctors, New Monsters series.

But before all that, we have The Krillitane Feint, a gripping base-under-siege story starring the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, which, coupled with sequel The Krillitane Relic, is comfortably the best story in the set. Writer John Dorney makes excellent use of the Krillitanes’ ability to evolve by assimilating the traits of conquered species, giving us two different takes on the monsters that feel more than just a rehash of their first appearance in School Reunion.

The second part also treats us to unexpected new partnerships for the Seventh Doctor, which are a joy to experience. Sarah Griffiths reprises her role as Ray from Delta and the Bannermen, joining the TARDIS crew in an understated but promising return. While her character’s introduction isn’t elaborated on and her role here is limited, it’s great to hear her back, and I hope Big Finish has more planned for her.

The highlight of the Seventh Doctor’s story, however, is his interaction with Second Doctor companion Zoe (Wendy Padbury). Sylvester McCoy delivers a wistful, guilt-laden performance as the Doctor grapples with Zoe’s Time Lord-induced memory wipe, a burden that is shown to have weighed on him over the many years since they last met.

And rounding things off is another Foley script, Five Hundred Ways to Leave Your Lover, which pits the Eighth Doctor and his… boyfriend (!!) against Twelfth Doctor foe the Monks. A rom-com set in a variety of exciting locations, this script excels in its portrayal of the relationship between the Doctor and Chris (Charlie Condou), but there’s no denying the Monks are the weak link in the story. I never really enjoyed them on TV, feeling they were a bit lackluster after their initial appearance in Extremis, so it’s no surprise I wasn’t thrilled by their return here. They feel like a bit of a one-trick pony, and the story’s twist isn’t that surprising given what we know about them, which is a shame, as their portrayal by Timothy Bentinck is excellent.

Comprising a base-under-siege story, a rollicking adventure on an alien world, a tense character piece and a screwball comedy, Faithful Friends is, overall, a success, and this is down to the variety of stories and performances it gives us. While no Classic Doctors, New Monsters set has quite hit the heights of The Stuff of Nightmares for me, this definitely comes a close second.

Faithful Friends is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com