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Missy
Missy, Vol. 4: Bad Influence
Missy... alone, unleashed, and unfettered. What does she get up to when the Doctor isn’t around? Sometimes, Missy isn’t the only bad person in the room. Sometimes, she meets others with their own naughty plans. And whoever they might be - medieval thieves, wayward students, renowned assassins - Missy will bring out the worst in them.
4.1 Missy and The Time Assassin by David Quantick - Missy gets to meet a hero. But James Blakelock, Time Assassin doesn’t quite live up to the legend – although he is very easy on the eye. Although she has places to be and species to annihilate, Missy can’t help herself, so she tags along on James’ next mission. After all, a little bit of assassination never hurt anyone.
4.2 Bad Apple Brigade by Freddie Valdosta - Missy finds herself stranded on Brownsea Island with a troop of girls sent there to improve themselves. But these girls are troublemakers, and Missy has a few lessons to teach them. Only, they’re not alone. Something lurking in the woods has history with Missy – but for her, that might be the future.
4.3 The Baron Robbers by Lou Morgan - Bored and stranded in the 14th Century, Missy is looking for a way out. Any way at all. Luckily the spectacular ruby owned by Edward, the famed Black Prince, might be just what she needs to get her broken vortex manipulator working again. But someone else is after the ruby too – and the question is, who wants it more… and how low are they prepared to go to get it?
4.1 Missy and The Time Assassin by David Quantick - Missy gets to meet a hero. But James Blakelock, Time Assassin doesn’t quite live up to the legend – although he is very easy on the eye. Although she has places to be and species to annihilate, Missy can’t help herself, so she tags along on James’ next mission. After all, a little bit of assassination never hurt anyone.
4.2 Bad Apple Brigade by Freddie Valdosta - Missy finds herself stranded on Brownsea Island with a troop of girls sent there to improve themselves. But these girls are troublemakers, and Missy has a few lessons to teach them. Only, they’re not alone. Something lurking in the woods has history with Missy – but for her, that might be the future.
4.3 The Baron Robbers by Lou Morgan - Bored and stranded in the 14th Century, Missy is looking for a way out. Any way at all. Luckily the spectacular ruby owned by Edward, the famed Black Prince, might be just what she needs to get her broken vortex manipulator working again. But someone else is after the ruby too – and the question is, who wants it more… and how low are they prepared to go to get it?
- GenresDoctor WhoAudiobook
Audio CD
First published May 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 3, 2025
This is a fun release, even if not very deep or special.
All in all, I felt entertained, and that is what counts.
It is pure popcorn entertainment, there is no depth and not much substance.
But sometimes, this is what one needs.
Michelle Gomez does a great job and I liked her performance, it is as over-the-top as always.
I also liked the little side-drama with her ex-husband, the tree person. Yes, this was silly, but still, good for a laugh.
In fact, I liked this better than Missy and the Monk.
One little nitpick, however, was the joke about starting WW1.
I thought that was a bit inappropriate.
All in all, I felt entertained, and that is what counts.
It is pure popcorn entertainment, there is no depth and not much substance.
But sometimes, this is what one needs.
Michelle Gomez does a great job and I liked her performance, it is as over-the-top as always.
I also liked the little side-drama with her ex-husband, the tree person. Yes, this was silly, but still, good for a laugh.
In fact, I liked this better than Missy and the Monk.
One little nitpick, however, was the joke about starting WW1.
I thought that was a bit inappropriate.
March 22, 2026
Three unconnected stories on the loose theme of Missy encountering other people with criminal back stories.
Missy and the Time Assassin
The first story is a comedy, which sees Missy teamed up with an inept “time assassin” who tries to rid history of tyrants but repeatedly makes things worse by his presence. This being Missy, it’s a black comedy, and there are quite a few deaths along the way. Aside from the assassin’s failings, a lot of the humour comes from how Missy interacts with him, initially admiring him for what he appears to have done, and then trying to nudge him in what is (from her perspective) a more productive direction. (There are also repeated references to him being good-looking – he’s played by Paterson Joseph, but obviously that doesn’t come across on the audio). The story hops from planet to planet, across different periods of history, a disparate collection of scenes tied together by the characterisation of the two leads, but coalesces into a larger plot towards the end. How well it works may depend on your sense of humour, but anybody who’s a fan of Missy’s more humorous moments is probably in the right audience. 4 stars.
Bad Apple Brigade
In the second episode, Missy arrives on Brownsea Island off the coast of Dorset in 1922. The miscreants here are a group of three troubled teenage girls sent on a camping trip by their Reform School. The group soon comes under threat from a mysterious entity living in the woods that cover most of the island. It’s the sort of setup that would be played for horror in a typical Doctor Who story and there are some elements of that. For the most part, though, the presence of Missy and, in particular, how she turns out to relate to the ‘monster’, mean that we get rather more comedy beats. Furthermore, desperate though the situation the girls find themselves in becomes, the fact that Missy isn’t particularly bothered by it takes the edge off some of the tension. It’s a middling story with some nice ideas, and that makes the girls more sympathetic than it might, but that doesn’t quite live up to its full potential. 3.5 stars.
The Baron Robbers
The third story returns to a more purely comedic tone. Here, Missy is stranded in 14th-century England and has to steal a gemstone to repair her vortex manipulator. This leads to her becoming involved with a couple of amateurish thieves, with additional comedy beats from her dealings with the baron who owns the gemstone and a disguised alien. Plus, Edward the Black Prince, while largely in the background, is played as somewhat foppish, which he probably wasn’t in real life. It’s not a heist story in the usual sense, with the plan being basic, more a tale of double-dealing and backstabbing with a healthy dose of Missy’s induced chaos. The humour doesn’t, at least for me, hit quite as well as in the first episode in this collection, but it helps keep this collection distinct from, say, the War Master audios. 3.5 stars.
Missy and the Time Assassin
The first story is a comedy, which sees Missy teamed up with an inept “time assassin” who tries to rid history of tyrants but repeatedly makes things worse by his presence. This being Missy, it’s a black comedy, and there are quite a few deaths along the way. Aside from the assassin’s failings, a lot of the humour comes from how Missy interacts with him, initially admiring him for what he appears to have done, and then trying to nudge him in what is (from her perspective) a more productive direction. (There are also repeated references to him being good-looking – he’s played by Paterson Joseph, but obviously that doesn’t come across on the audio). The story hops from planet to planet, across different periods of history, a disparate collection of scenes tied together by the characterisation of the two leads, but coalesces into a larger plot towards the end. How well it works may depend on your sense of humour, but anybody who’s a fan of Missy’s more humorous moments is probably in the right audience. 4 stars.
Bad Apple Brigade
In the second episode, Missy arrives on Brownsea Island off the coast of Dorset in 1922. The miscreants here are a group of three troubled teenage girls sent on a camping trip by their Reform School. The group soon comes under threat from a mysterious entity living in the woods that cover most of the island. It’s the sort of setup that would be played for horror in a typical Doctor Who story and there are some elements of that. For the most part, though, the presence of Missy and, in particular, how she turns out to relate to the ‘monster’, mean that we get rather more comedy beats. Furthermore, desperate though the situation the girls find themselves in becomes, the fact that Missy isn’t particularly bothered by it takes the edge off some of the tension. It’s a middling story with some nice ideas, and that makes the girls more sympathetic than it might, but that doesn’t quite live up to its full potential. 3.5 stars.
The Baron Robbers
The third story returns to a more purely comedic tone. Here, Missy is stranded in 14th-century England and has to steal a gemstone to repair her vortex manipulator. This leads to her becoming involved with a couple of amateurish thieves, with additional comedy beats from her dealings with the baron who owns the gemstone and a disguised alien. Plus, Edward the Black Prince, while largely in the background, is played as somewhat foppish, which he probably wasn’t in real life. It’s not a heist story in the usual sense, with the plan being basic, more a tale of double-dealing and backstabbing with a healthy dose of Missy’s induced chaos. The humour doesn’t, at least for me, hit quite as well as in the first episode in this collection, but it helps keep this collection distinct from, say, the War Master audios. 3.5 stars.
June 13, 2024
Missy 04: Bad Influence is my first foray into the Big Finish series, and as a result certainly won't be my last. Each episode had their own merits, a mixture of laughter and darkness and fantastic characters (all narrated by a brilliant cast), but I have to particularly review my favourite of the three.
Bad Apple Brigade by Freddie Valdosta, featuring Missy stranded on an island encountering a group of girls on a Reform School trip, was incredible from start to finish. Straight away, Missy's devious side is explored, a part of her character often underplayed, and I was open-mouthed with surprise before the opening music even began.
Valdosta sets an instantly sinister tone, balanced well with genuinely laugh out loud moments when Missy stumbles upon the group of girls (my favourite is Grace, but each has their own shining lines). Missy teaching the girls how to get their way with men--"I'm sowwy"--is a definite stand-out, and becomes relevant later on in the story too! But it is this sinister tone that carries the first half, with callbacks to the horror genre, especially when the characters split up. The tension is expertly paced, the writing sharp and self-aware.
Without spoiling it, the halfway mark has a brilliant twist on the typical expectation for this kind of narrative. A certain character absolutely steals the show, and is written to be both hilarious and heart-warming all at once. Because of this, I was on edge the entire time throughout the second half, which built up to a fantastic conclusion and left me wanting more. Absolutely the best of the three and one I'll return to again.
Also: shout-out to Lou Morgan's The Baron Robbers. The characters were great and it was very wittily written. As a history lover, I immensely enjoyed this one!
Bad Apple Brigade by Freddie Valdosta, featuring Missy stranded on an island encountering a group of girls on a Reform School trip, was incredible from start to finish. Straight away, Missy's devious side is explored, a part of her character often underplayed, and I was open-mouthed with surprise before the opening music even began.
Valdosta sets an instantly sinister tone, balanced well with genuinely laugh out loud moments when Missy stumbles upon the group of girls (my favourite is Grace, but each has their own shining lines). Missy teaching the girls how to get their way with men--"I'm sowwy"--is a definite stand-out, and becomes relevant later on in the story too! But it is this sinister tone that carries the first half, with callbacks to the horror genre, especially when the characters split up. The tension is expertly paced, the writing sharp and self-aware.
Without spoiling it, the halfway mark has a brilliant twist on the typical expectation for this kind of narrative. A certain character absolutely steals the show, and is written to be both hilarious and heart-warming all at once. Because of this, I was on edge the entire time throughout the second half, which built up to a fantastic conclusion and left me wanting more. Absolutely the best of the three and one I'll return to again.
Also: shout-out to Lou Morgan's The Baron Robbers. The characters were great and it was very wittily written. As a history lover, I immensely enjoyed this one!
June 3, 2024
Another great set of Missy adventures.
June 11, 2024
Michelle Gomez's Missy is just as enjoyable in audio form. The ending of the final story feels like a lead in to the next set.
November 9, 2024
Competently put together, but I’m not excited by these as much as before.
December 6, 2024
Missy and the Time Assassin 4
Bad Apple Brigade 4
The Baron Robbers 3
found on a podcast app
Bad Apple Brigade 4
The Baron Robbers 3
found on a podcast app
March 20, 2026
Okay, so this one was good, but disappointing, especially so as it’s the last box set in the Missy series (… so far… 👀)
After the fabulous first three sets, I had high hopes going into this final set, but it just didn’t do anything for me.
Episode 1 - Missy and the Time Assassin - 3 stars
I can’t say much about my thoughts on this one without spoilers, so all I can say is that (as per the synopsis) Missy meets a Time Assassin and… I didn’t like it.
Seeing (well, hearing) Missy fan-girling her way through this episode… over a Time Assassin… was downright painful. She practically says she had posters of this guy on her bedroom wall growing up (I mean, I don’t think she actually did, but that’s basically the idea of how she reacts upon meeting this guy).
There was a twist at some point, which made the story better, but the fan-girling was too much for me. This is Missy, we’re talking about. Missy. The Master. Missy! Why would she ever fan-girl over any plain old time assassin?? Please!
Episode 2 - Bad Apple Brigade - 3 stars
This episode was essentially a bad rehash of another episode, from an earlier box set, except it was set on an island with a few girl guides, instead of a military boarding school.
I didn’t like any of the characters (besides Missy, of course) and I didn’t much care what happened to anyone.
There is a timey wimey twist, with one of the characters knowing Missy from her future, and she hasn’t met them yet, which was interesting. But it all came too late in the story for me to actually care.
Episode 3 - The Baron Robbers - 2 stars
Okay, so this one is forgettable, which is not good.
I didn’t much enjoy listening to it, and I can’t even remember now what the story really was, beyond what the synopsis says, so that’s not a good sign at all. Especially as it’s the last story I listened to, so it should be the freshest in my mind. I couldn’t recommend this one, I’m afraid.
Overall, this was a disappointing box set. I’m always happy to have more Missy and Master stories, but this set just wasn’t it for me, unfortunately.
I do hope for more adventures in the Missy range. I’m sure Michelle Gomez would do more if she were asked, so hopefully someone at Big Finish will get onto writing some new adventures for her. Missy has a big range of time to utilise for her own adventures, and I’d love to see (well, hear) more of them.
However, I wouldn’t recommend this particular box set to anyone. There are three fabulous box sets in this series, before this one, but this set just wasn’t for me.
After the fabulous first three sets, I had high hopes going into this final set, but it just didn’t do anything for me.
Episode 1 - Missy and the Time Assassin - 3 stars
I can’t say much about my thoughts on this one without spoilers, so all I can say is that (as per the synopsis) Missy meets a Time Assassin and… I didn’t like it.
Seeing (well, hearing) Missy fan-girling her way through this episode… over a Time Assassin… was downright painful. She practically says she had posters of this guy on her bedroom wall growing up (I mean, I don’t think she actually did, but that’s basically the idea of how she reacts upon meeting this guy).
There was a twist at some point, which made the story better, but the fan-girling was too much for me. This is Missy, we’re talking about. Missy. The Master. Missy! Why would she ever fan-girl over any plain old time assassin?? Please!
Episode 2 - Bad Apple Brigade - 3 stars
This episode was essentially a bad rehash of another episode, from an earlier box set, except it was set on an island with a few girl guides, instead of a military boarding school.
I didn’t like any of the characters (besides Missy, of course) and I didn’t much care what happened to anyone.
There is a timey wimey twist, with one of the characters knowing Missy from her future, and she hasn’t met them yet, which was interesting. But it all came too late in the story for me to actually care.
Episode 3 - The Baron Robbers - 2 stars
Okay, so this one is forgettable, which is not good.
I didn’t much enjoy listening to it, and I can’t even remember now what the story really was, beyond what the synopsis says, so that’s not a good sign at all. Especially as it’s the last story I listened to, so it should be the freshest in my mind. I couldn’t recommend this one, I’m afraid.
Overall, this was a disappointing box set. I’m always happy to have more Missy and Master stories, but this set just wasn’t it for me, unfortunately.
I do hope for more adventures in the Missy range. I’m sure Michelle Gomez would do more if she were asked, so hopefully someone at Big Finish will get onto writing some new adventures for her. Missy has a big range of time to utilise for her own adventures, and I’d love to see (well, hear) more of them.
However, I wouldn’t recommend this particular box set to anyone. There are three fabulous box sets in this series, before this one, but this set just wasn’t for me.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews