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The Seventh Doctor Adventures
Doctor Who: Past Forward
With the Angels part 1 by John Dorney (two parts) - When the Doctor’s latest attempt to return Harry and Naomi home goes awry, they find themselves recruited by UNIT for a special mission. A mission involving a new and terrifying breed of Weeping Angel. Amid betrayal and manipulation, the Doctor and friends are trapped by a destiny they cannot escape. The future is calling... and so is the past.
Catastrophix by Lizzie Hopley (two parts) - Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross are on Earth at two different points in a timeline that has gone badly wrong. Back in his own time with UNIT, Harry is in the Lake District, unaware of the horrors to come. Four decades on, Naomi is adrift on an ocean in an apocalyptic nightmare. What is causing the Earth’s unnatural end? As the Doctor scours the years, he meets someone from his past with the tools to help - a mechanic called Ray.
With the Angels part 2 by John Dorney (two parts) - A billionaire's birthday party on a super-yacht is the setting for the final battle with the Angels. And the Doctor is on the guest list. The Bladukas family have no idea how dangerous these creatures are. But they’re about to find out. Can an old friend help the Doctor prevent a tragedy?
**Please note: The collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies**
Catastrophix by Lizzie Hopley (two parts) - Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross are on Earth at two different points in a timeline that has gone badly wrong. Back in his own time with UNIT, Harry is in the Lake District, unaware of the horrors to come. Four decades on, Naomi is adrift on an ocean in an apocalyptic nightmare. What is causing the Earth’s unnatural end? As the Doctor scours the years, he meets someone from his past with the tools to help - a mechanic called Ray.
With the Angels part 2 by John Dorney (two parts) - A billionaire's birthday party on a super-yacht is the setting for the final battle with the Angels. And the Doctor is on the guest list. The Bladukas family have no idea how dangerous these creatures are. But they’re about to find out. Can an old friend help the Doctor prevent a tragedy?
**Please note: The collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies**
- GenresDoctor WhoAudiobook
Audio CD
First published June 10, 2025
10 people want to read
About the author
John Dorney
166 books26 followersJohn Dorney is a British writer and actor best known for stage roles including the National Theatre, the BBC Radio 4 sitcom My First Planet; and his scripts for the Big Finish Doctor Who range. His script 'Solitaire' was rated the most popular Doctor Who Companion Chronicle of 2010 on the Timescales website and was the runner up in Unreality Sci-fi net's poll for Story of the Year 2010-11.
As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.
He trained at LAMDA.
As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.
He trained at LAMDA.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2025
Mini weeping angels posing as chess pieces ? Count me right in.
The box set's structure is fantastic and unique. The weeping angel two-parter is interluded with a multi-timeline apocalyptic/conspiracy story which still ties into the wider box set arc.
Credit to all the actors. Sylvester McCoy brings his A-game, Christopher Naylor does a great impression of Harry and Eleanor Crooks is great too. Same can be said for Sara Griffiths, and a huge welcome back to her after a long time.
With The Angels (Part 1):
Mini Weeping Angels! How fun! A fantastic way to reinvent their fear factor, and they even get to bump off... Well, everyone really. Except for the Doctor. Even Harry and Naomi weren't safe and end up sent opposite directions in time; their goodbye to each other is quick, but it's also perfectly sentimental and rounds out their time as BF companions brilliantly.
However, the scene setting in this story moves around a lot without much description, so it's hard to envision a lot of the UNIT base because it's not really described.
Catastrophix:
I loved the way this was told. We see the beginning and the ending of the same story progressing in alternating scenes. It's very timey wimey and, again, McCoy delivers a fantastic performance and really captures this deceitful Seventh Doctor vibe.
It's not just another end of the world story, it's one where we see the very start of that chaos as well, but to make sure it's original, it goes a step further and interweaves both ends together with a great supporting cast and a chance for Harry and Naomi to take individual spotlights one last time while the Doctor plays overseer. Brilliant.
And the villains, the Catastrophix company, are great. Staging world-ending disasters purposefully to rake in money from desperate survivors before fixing things and doing it all again. A great concept.
We also wave goodbye to Harry and Naomi properly here, both endings written fittingly, and we also welcome Ray to the TARDIS in proper (sort of already teased by "The Krillitane Relic" in Classic Doctors New Monsters Vol. 5), taking us into a new era of the Seventh Doctor's life, and I'm very happy that Sara Griffiths finally got this chance which didn't materalise for her 40 years ago.
With The Angels (Part 2):
It's all right, but sadly not as interesting as the first two stories. I think the problem is it rehashed the chess set weeping angels and by this time that had already been done and used up by the first half of this story, and again, the Seventh Doctor plays the role of overseer as he did the rest of this box set, so unfortunately, as much as I'd like to say I enjoyed this story as well, it relied too much on concepts already exhausted by the first two stories in this set to really give me much excitement.
I think 'Catastrophix' also really overshadows this one, because after having an apocalyptic-level threat, the main enemy here is a a billionaire's salty son - both threats, naturally, being at completely different ends of the villain spectrum.
Now, the big thing with this story is, the Seventh Doctor is now 20 years older and wiser than he was at the beginning of this box set, so it could be interesting to see how this possibly changes him going forward, and also maybe even allows a gap for some other solo 7th Doctor adventures.
Overall:
A good box set, that's for sure. The first two stories carry my 4/5 star rating, whilst the last is what holds it down. It started out really strong and exciting, then carried on that way, but by the third and final story I think it had already worn itself out a bit.
'Catastrophix' was easily the best, and the first part of 'With The Angels' was great set-up, but by the time we return to that stage, it's just a bit flat.
And one final word just on the cover art, what we have is beautiful and I do really love the parallel of Naomi and Harry, but... Where is Ray? Where are the Weeping Angels? Why is the background some futuristic city which doesn't even appear in any of the stories? I think it's lacking quite a few significant images which would've been more appropriate.
The box set's structure is fantastic and unique. The weeping angel two-parter is interluded with a multi-timeline apocalyptic/conspiracy story which still ties into the wider box set arc.
Credit to all the actors. Sylvester McCoy brings his A-game, Christopher Naylor does a great impression of Harry and Eleanor Crooks is great too. Same can be said for Sara Griffiths, and a huge welcome back to her after a long time.
With The Angels (Part 1):
Mini Weeping Angels! How fun! A fantastic way to reinvent their fear factor, and they even get to bump off... Well, everyone really. Except for the Doctor. Even Harry and Naomi weren't safe and end up sent opposite directions in time; their goodbye to each other is quick, but it's also perfectly sentimental and rounds out their time as BF companions brilliantly.
However, the scene setting in this story moves around a lot without much description, so it's hard to envision a lot of the UNIT base because it's not really described.
Catastrophix:
I loved the way this was told. We see the beginning and the ending of the same story progressing in alternating scenes. It's very timey wimey and, again, McCoy delivers a fantastic performance and really captures this deceitful Seventh Doctor vibe.
It's not just another end of the world story, it's one where we see the very start of that chaos as well, but to make sure it's original, it goes a step further and interweaves both ends together with a great supporting cast and a chance for Harry and Naomi to take individual spotlights one last time while the Doctor plays overseer. Brilliant.
And the villains, the Catastrophix company, are great. Staging world-ending disasters purposefully to rake in money from desperate survivors before fixing things and doing it all again. A great concept.
We also wave goodbye to Harry and Naomi properly here, both endings written fittingly, and we also welcome Ray to the TARDIS in proper (sort of already teased by "The Krillitane Relic" in Classic Doctors New Monsters Vol. 5), taking us into a new era of the Seventh Doctor's life, and I'm very happy that Sara Griffiths finally got this chance which didn't materalise for her 40 years ago.
With The Angels (Part 2):
It's all right, but sadly not as interesting as the first two stories. I think the problem is it rehashed the chess set weeping angels and by this time that had already been done and used up by the first half of this story, and again, the Seventh Doctor plays the role of overseer as he did the rest of this box set, so unfortunately, as much as I'd like to say I enjoyed this story as well, it relied too much on concepts already exhausted by the first two stories in this set to really give me much excitement.
I think 'Catastrophix' also really overshadows this one, because after having an apocalyptic-level threat, the main enemy here is a a billionaire's salty son - both threats, naturally, being at completely different ends of the villain spectrum.
Now, the big thing with this story is, the Seventh Doctor is now 20 years older and wiser than he was at the beginning of this box set, so it could be interesting to see how this possibly changes him going forward, and also maybe even allows a gap for some other solo 7th Doctor adventures.
Overall:
A good box set, that's for sure. The first two stories carry my 4/5 star rating, whilst the last is what holds it down. It started out really strong and exciting, then carried on that way, but by the third and final story I think it had already worn itself out a bit.
'Catastrophix' was easily the best, and the first part of 'With The Angels' was great set-up, but by the time we return to that stage, it's just a bit flat.
And one final word just on the cover art, what we have is beautiful and I do really love the parallel of Naomi and Harry, but... Where is Ray? Where are the Weeping Angels? Why is the background some futuristic city which doesn't even appear in any of the stories? I think it's lacking quite a few significant images which would've been more appropriate.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2025
The three episodes here are quite tied together, and comprise a fitting send-off for Harry and Naomi, as well as a (re)introduction of Ray (from "Delta and the Bannermen") now much older, who I assume we will see traveling with Seven in future episodes. (Actually, she's already popped up in this year's "Classic Doctors/New Monsters" in an episode clearly set after these.)
It's "timey-wimey" and so one has to pay close attention, and uses the Weeping Angels in a clever way -- perhaps the best use of the Weeping Angels in a Big Finish release so far. I feel like not enough information was provided about the Catastrophix corporation, its origins or purpose, and the episode of that title felt resolved too . . . easily? But that's just the middle part of this rather inside-out trilogy.
Of Harry and Naomi adventures with Doctors 4 and then 7, I think I liked this set best. I know this isn't the last we see of Harry Sullivan (who's now half of the new "Smith and Sullivan" series), but I hope it's not the last we see of Naomi Cross. And I'm looking forward to more adventures with Ray.
It's "timey-wimey" and so one has to pay close attention, and uses the Weeping Angels in a clever way -- perhaps the best use of the Weeping Angels in a Big Finish release so far. I feel like not enough information was provided about the Catastrophix corporation, its origins or purpose, and the episode of that title felt resolved too . . . easily? But that's just the middle part of this rather inside-out trilogy.
Of Harry and Naomi adventures with Doctors 4 and then 7, I think I liked this set best. I know this isn't the last we see of Harry Sullivan (who's now half of the new "Smith and Sullivan" series), but I hope it's not the last we see of Naomi Cross. And I'm looking forward to more adventures with Ray.
July 11, 2025
Harry and Naomi's adventures are coming to a close. I've really enjoyed these audios, but I'm honestly intrigued to see how these adventures conclude and find out what's next for the 7th Doctor.
With The Angels Part One:
The Doctor's next attempt to take Harry and Naomi home takes them to London 1999. Before they can try again, UNIT picks them up on an emergency mission. But how did UNIT know to find them? What are they up to? A dangerous chessboard is being sold for auction and a power-hungry billionaire is hell bent on getting it, no matter what. The Doctor's been forced into a game with The Weeping Angels, but this one might cost the lives of his friends.
John Dorney opens this set with an intense and dramatic couple of episodes that bring forth the 7th Doctor's more manipulative and gloomy sides, as he's forced into a game that may have terrifying consequences. This is a terrifying and emotional opening story that does something new with the Weeping Angels while also setting up Harry and Naomi's departure, a brilliant opening that has me excited to find out what happens next. 10/10
Catastrophix:
Harry's back in his own time, working at UNIT. But Naomi is in a rogue timeline where the world is ending. The Doctor with a vortex manipulator must figure out what happened and fix it, but he needs the help of an old friend. This may be the end, but it's also the start of a new beginning.
Lizzie Hopley has written a very timey-wimey story that not only concludes Harry and Naomi's individual character arcs, but also introduces Ray into the fold. This is a really enjoyable story, but it's also a nice way to say goodbye to characters we've grown accustomed to, as well as saying hello to an old friend. 8/10
With The Angels Part Two:
A young idiotic billionaire has got what he wanted, a special present for his father's birthday. Maybe now, at his party, his father will let him take over the company. The Angels have a different idea. The pieces are all coming together and The Doctor's about to conclude a chess game that's been long in the making.
John Dorney concludes this set with another brilliant 2-parter that concludes the overall story. It's a terrific and clever script with moments of terror and haunting foreboding for the future. I admittedly have a theory where the whole stuff with Ray is leading up to and what it means for this incarnation of The Doctor. 10/10
Overall: 28/30
With The Angels Part One:
The Doctor's next attempt to take Harry and Naomi home takes them to London 1999. Before they can try again, UNIT picks them up on an emergency mission. But how did UNIT know to find them? What are they up to? A dangerous chessboard is being sold for auction and a power-hungry billionaire is hell bent on getting it, no matter what. The Doctor's been forced into a game with The Weeping Angels, but this one might cost the lives of his friends.
John Dorney opens this set with an intense and dramatic couple of episodes that bring forth the 7th Doctor's more manipulative and gloomy sides, as he's forced into a game that may have terrifying consequences. This is a terrifying and emotional opening story that does something new with the Weeping Angels while also setting up Harry and Naomi's departure, a brilliant opening that has me excited to find out what happens next. 10/10
Catastrophix:
Harry's back in his own time, working at UNIT. But Naomi is in a rogue timeline where the world is ending. The Doctor with a vortex manipulator must figure out what happened and fix it, but he needs the help of an old friend. This may be the end, but it's also the start of a new beginning.
Lizzie Hopley has written a very timey-wimey story that not only concludes Harry and Naomi's individual character arcs, but also introduces Ray into the fold. This is a really enjoyable story, but it's also a nice way to say goodbye to characters we've grown accustomed to, as well as saying hello to an old friend. 8/10
With The Angels Part Two:
A young idiotic billionaire has got what he wanted, a special present for his father's birthday. Maybe now, at his party, his father will let him take over the company. The Angels have a different idea. The pieces are all coming together and The Doctor's about to conclude a chess game that's been long in the making.
John Dorney concludes this set with another brilliant 2-parter that concludes the overall story. It's a terrific and clever script with moments of terror and haunting foreboding for the future. I admittedly have a theory where the whole stuff with Ray is leading up to and what it means for this incarnation of The Doctor. 10/10
Overall: 28/30
August 12, 2025
okay - this was so wiiiiiiiiiild. a dynamic structure for a boxset :)
1. with the angels part 1 and 2 - 4.5/5
was unsure about the beginning - but honestly got BETTER and BETTER.
2. catastrophix - 3.5/5
i love ray SO MUCH - so happy to see SG back on board. loved the concept of this one, and that it was woven into a major weeping angel story. more ray please!!!!
3. with the angels part 3 and 4 - 4.5/5
AMAZING!!!!!!! the stakes were HIGH and it was wrapped up well.
4.1/5
1. with the angels part 1 and 2 - 4.5/5
was unsure about the beginning - but honestly got BETTER and BETTER.
2. catastrophix - 3.5/5
i love ray SO MUCH - so happy to see SG back on board. loved the concept of this one, and that it was woven into a major weeping angel story. more ray please!!!!
3. with the angels part 3 and 4 - 4.5/5
AMAZING!!!!!!! the stakes were HIGH and it was wrapped up well.
4.1/5
August 2, 2025
Six stars
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews