The Black Hole

 The Black Hole by Simon Guerrier

I rather enjoyed The Black Hole. It's interesting plot's conceit is molded around a bit of fanwank that's shaped into something legitimate by the quality characterization, atmosphere and drama. In doing so it manages to have it's lovely little season 6b explanation Monk-madness possible Master origin story nonsense in a way that feels ultimately authentic to the era that it's existing in, and a story in it's own right. I think that's rather fun - that's the way to do fanwank, if you must have it at all. It's a rather strange beast, I can't think of too many audios like it, but it's propelled greatly by Frazier Hines and Deborah Watling, who, well, neither of whom sound very much like they did in the 60s, but still deliver excellent performances. The entire cast, actually, deliver rather delightful performances, Rufus Hound in his first round as The Monk, who while he can play off any Doctor well, from Stephen Noonan to Tim Treloar to Paul McGann, feels right at home with Hines as Troughton. Then there's the magnificent David Warner (RIP) as the narrator - an interesting choice, as most of the Early Adventures usually have the cast members doing the narration, but ultimately, Warner's different voice helps make it a lot more distinctive and less confusing. I can't imagine why they kept with cast members doing the narration for years after this, and only did it once, because despite the lack of a character role for Warner, it gives the entire story credibility and gravitas.  It may seem irrelevant to less obsessive Doctor Who fans than I, but the story has a hysterical hatred for the "post-War Games" season 6b explanation of Troughton's appearances in The Multidoctor tales, and I find it funny that it sets out in an attempt to erase it, one of the strange institutions of Doctor Who canon, and one that Big Finish itself has contributed to. It's really rather amusing that this one story stands against the tide, defiant to the dozens, positively dozens of other Troughton stories in the medium saying that he has a life after The War Games working for the Time Lords. I respect it for that, oddly. Simon Guerrier goes a little mad, and one could accuse The Black Hole of being a plot contrived around an explanation for such a thing, but I really think it manages to be much more than that. There's a lot of love to be had here, and while I can't say that it's an almighty classic worthy of study for thousands of years to come, I can say that it's damn good at what it sets out to do, and the best out of the Early Troughton Adventures I've done so far. It's got good pacing, good acting, good concepts and atmosphere, and you might not believe this total shocker, but if you put all that together, it's pretty good. 9/10