Every now and then with
Big Finish, after a run of already absolutely superb stories, you get one that
is even that extra bit special. For me The Hunting Ground by AK Benedict is one
of those stories. Colin Baker to begin with is on the top of his game here, its
lovely in the bonus interviews at the end of the story to hear the writer
herself show such warmth and love for this most undervalued and underrated
Doctor. So good to hear that the writers love his oh so colourful and sparkly
Doctor. And it ain’t hard to see why AK says what she does about Colin's
sublime take on the role.
Colin gets to spar
magnificently with the delightful Amy Beth Hayes as Yrsa Kristjansdottir. And
one for certain can yet again that Amy should absolutely be a companion for his
Doctor, oh boy yes, she should. She's a great cop, with a firm and logical head
on her shoulders and takes care of herself well within this superb tale. She
also gets to act some touching and stirring moments of pathos whilst trying to
discover why her Dad was murdered, and whom committed the murder. In fact, I
would go as far as to say that Amy has given one of my favourite performances
of a character for a very long time in a Big Finish audio. Yes, I kid you not
her strength of character yet her caring nature make her one heck of a
character. Oh, Big Finish when you restart the Doctors in their own box sets in
2022 please please, please, don’t let Amy Beth pass you by again. It would be
absolutely incredible hearing her be yet another new companion for Old Sixie.
I always love stories that
are set in bleak and harsh landscapes too. And the sound and the score for this
story work very very, well indeed. The feel of this being set in Iceland feels
totally authentic, but then again one has come to expect no less from the great
Big Finish productions. The Hunter is a rather unpleasant and vulgar creation
too, played with zeal and aplomb by Michael Griffiths. That he turns out to be
not a wholly black hearted psychopath in the end though does make his final
scenes in the play saddening and stirring. It’s good that some writers seem to
grasp the point that the best villains are written in shades of grey sometimes,
and not just black and white. Yes, his ending is actually saddening in the end
and gives yet another added touch of emotional impact to an already emotionally
rich story.
You can tell that AK knows
her stuff about crime writing too. This tale flows along superbly well. A
succinct and tight plot which never has any overtly distracting humour to ruin
the tone of the story. It does though have a vein of light relief, this time in
the amusing form of the two headed alien being Marfick. Both heads are
brilliantly portrayed by Will Hislop and Joe Jameson. Both of these guys never
verge on stupid either, and they make a memorable and decent and even lovable
character indeed who’s obsessed with all things administration!
Michael Griffiths also
gets to portray Yrsa's father and it’s great to hear an actor being given two
such polar opposite roles within a story. And Michael delivers fantastically
for both roles. The story of her father's death is one that is extremely well
portrayed. Malcolm James as the slimy creep Sigdor too really impresses with
his performance. And we also get a very commendable performer in Harriet
Colling's Frida too.
This story brings its
twists and turns well, and has some moments I genuinely found quite surprising
and brilliant to listen to. Margaret Ashley particularly as the DCI comes over
very well as a character who isn't wholly ripe but at least still has a firm
grip on her humanity, and throughout the story this comes over extremely well
again indeed. The story has some great cliffhangers and the resolutions of
those cliffhangers too are brilliant and inventive and all come together to
make one of the most enjoyable and lovely stories I've heard in a while from
Big Finish. In fact, this may even be my favourite Big Finish outing for quite
some time, and that truly is saying something with the fantastic array of
stories we've been getting from Big Finish for the last few years in all their
ranges.
A story rich with strong
characters, highly charged performances and some sublime scoring and sound
design, The Hunting Ground truly is a total winner of a tale and I please hope
that Big Finish have the sense not to let the chance of Amy Beth's Yrsa pass
them by. I for one definitely want her to be a new companion. Honestly, I must
even admit that shes made an even bigger impression on me than even Constance
or Flip did in their debuts, and I adore both those characters to pieces. Sorry
but I don’t care if I’m gushing. Its only due to the simple fact that AK has
written a first class Old Sixie adventure where her writing of his character is
absolutely spot on and Colin sinks his teeth into the role yet again and runs
with it with the lovely Yrsa at his side. Honestly the vein of brilliant
characters Big Finish create never cease to amaze me.
Wolves, Hunters, murderous
intrigue and even some superb moments of intense pathos. Honestly what more
could one ask from a story? Oh boy am I glad Big Finish gave us a jewel of an
adventure such as this. This is one of those very rare cases where every single
element of a story works perfectly and comes together to make a belter of a
story.
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