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Philip Hinchcliffe Presents #1
Doctor Who: The Ghosts of Gralstead & The Devil's Armada
Philip Hinchcliffe, acclaimed producer of Doctor Who (1975-77) returns to tell new stories for the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
"The starting point was there were a few basic ideas that were kicking around for another series, had we made it," says Phlip. "I thought this project would be fun to be involved with, and I've tried to and tell stories that are in the same spirit as the ones Robert Holmes and I were telling."
The Ghosts of Gralstead (Six episodes)
The Doctor and Leela return to Victorian London, in the year 1860.
At St Clarence’s Hospital, respected surgeon Sir Edward Scrivener requires the bodies of the dead… At Doctor McDivett’s Exhibition of Living Wonders and Curiosities, miracles are afoot… And in Gralstead House, the ghost will walk again. Mordrega has come to Earth...
The Devil's Armada (Four episodes)
The TARDIS lands in Sissenden Village in the sixteenth century. Catholic priests are hunted, so-called witches are drowned in the ducking stool, and in the shadows the Vituperon are watching… and waiting...
"The starting point was there were a few basic ideas that were kicking around for another series, had we made it," says Phlip. "I thought this project would be fun to be involved with, and I've tried to and tell stories that are in the same spirit as the ones Robert Holmes and I were telling."
The Ghosts of Gralstead (Six episodes)
The Doctor and Leela return to Victorian London, in the year 1860.
At St Clarence’s Hospital, respected surgeon Sir Edward Scrivener requires the bodies of the dead… At Doctor McDivett’s Exhibition of Living Wonders and Curiosities, miracles are afoot… And in Gralstead House, the ghost will walk again. Mordrega has come to Earth...
The Devil's Armada (Four episodes)
The TARDIS lands in Sissenden Village in the sixteenth century. Catholic priests are hunted, so-called witches are drowned in the ducking stool, and in the shadows the Vituperon are watching… and waiting...
Audio CD
First published September 1, 2014
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About the author
Philip Hinchcliffe
19 books15 followersPhilip Hinchcliffe was producer of Doctor Who from 1975 to 1977. He also novelised stories.
He appeared on camera only once in the series, as one of the faces that appears in the Doctor's mental battle with Morbius.
He appeared on camera only once in the series, as one of the faces that appears in the Doctor's mental battle with Morbius.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 21, 2014
These were very enjoyable adventures. Both stories were spooky historical adventures set in England. The first Victorian the second Elizabethan. The only real problem with the current 4th doctor adventures series is that they are only an hour long in two parts. These stories were a six parter and a four parter and as such felt much more like original Tom Baker episodes brought to audio.
The ghosts of Gralstead was Victorian England 40 years earlier than Talons. Leela learned the ways of the Toffs. I loved her interactions with the African warrior brought to England. His predicament probably wasn't given the treatment it deserved but it was handled much better than it would have been in the 70s. He did make a wonderful potential partner for Leela. (They definitely had more in common than her and Andred!) The plot was full of lovely developments and twists and turns and really showed to advantage how a six part story works. There were an awful lot of Victorian stereotypes but mostly done in a fun way that added to the story.
The devils amada was also enjoyable. I did wonder how Tom felt playing in an adventure where the Catholics were the good guys! They were clearly trying to do something different with the period but it just felt a bit strange to have Catholics on the side of Elizabeth against a Catholic monarch. There didn't seem to be as much of a story as the first serial and the minor characters weren't as interesting. But it was still fun.
Overall a very enjoyable box set.
The ghosts of Gralstead was Victorian England 40 years earlier than Talons. Leela learned the ways of the Toffs. I loved her interactions with the African warrior brought to England. His predicament probably wasn't given the treatment it deserved but it was handled much better than it would have been in the 70s. He did make a wonderful potential partner for Leela. (They definitely had more in common than her and Andred!) The plot was full of lovely developments and twists and turns and really showed to advantage how a six part story works. There were an awful lot of Victorian stereotypes but mostly done in a fun way that added to the story.
The devils amada was also enjoyable. I did wonder how Tom felt playing in an adventure where the Catholics were the good guys! They were clearly trying to do something different with the period but it just felt a bit strange to have Catholics on the side of Elizabeth against a Catholic monarch. There didn't seem to be as much of a story as the first serial and the minor characters weren't as interesting. But it was still fun.
Overall a very enjoyable box set.
December 27, 2014
Well, I felt that these two stories were not bad at all . . . but not great, either. Just good old-fashioned Doctor Who . . .
September 24, 2018
It’s hard to imagine that anyone buying a release with this title won’t already know the background, but just in case: Philip Hinchcliffe was the producer/showrunner for
Doctor Who
at the beginning of the Fourth Doctor’s run, one of the most highly acclaimed periods in the classic show’s history. Under pressure from moral campaigners who felt he was making the show too scary for its intended audience, however, the BBC suddenly removed him at the end of his third season.
The two stories in this box set both derive from plans that he had for his fourth season, had it ever happened. They never got as far as a formal outline, let alone a script, so we can’t really say that this is what we would have got had Hinchcliffe remained in charge for another year - even allowing for the difference in format. But here, with the assistance of a modern writer more used to working with audio, he gives a good stab at revisiting the style of the era that he shaped together with then script editor Robert Holmes.
The Ghosts of Gralstead - We’re certainly in full gothic mode with the first offering, which runs to an unusually long three hours. The Doctor and Leela arrive in 1860s London, and become involved with a tale involving body-snatchers, freak shows, and a family curse, among other things. It is, of course, immediately reminiscent of The Talons of Weng-Chiang, although it’s set thirty years earlier (the Doctor says ‘forty’ in the script, but he seems to have mis-calculated). Indeed, while the plot is quite different, there are more similarities than merely the setting, with the thematic links including some Robert Holmes-like commentaries on social division.
The longer running time allows a larger cast than usual, with quite a number of guest actors. The first two hours are rich with setting and characterisation, and don’t at all seem to drag. It is, however, a little weaker in the final third, with one 30-minute segment being devoted to what feels like something a of a side-quest to bulk out the length – it is directly relevant to the plot, but, for example, uses a different villain to the main story. This is followed by an ending that is, arguably, a little overdone, moving away from some of the more character-based story we have had up to this point.
Leela gets to do a lot in this story, showing many of her skills, not just those involving combat, and is treated respectfully by the authors. It's interesting to note that she's given a love interest here who actually makes sense (obviously, it can't go anywhere, but at least you can believe it, which is more than can be said for Andred in the TV series).
Despite this, it undeniably has the feel of a Hinchcliffe-era story and has plenty of the dark, gothic elements, it was noted for – but perhaps with more gore than they would have got away with at the time.
The Devil's Armada - The Doctor and Leela arrive in Elizabethan England at around the same time as the Spanish Armada, and become involved not only with the abortive invasion attempt, but also the anti-Papist hysteria surrounding it. It's worth noting that co-author Platt wrote Flames of Cadiz, involving the Armada from the Spanish perspective, only a year or two earlier than this, and, indeed, that story is referenced again here. But that was a straight historical, which, given the conceit that this is a season 15 story "that might have been" won't work here, so, instead there's aliens involved.
In fact, while the tone has some of the darkness of Hinchcliffe's era, it's also reminiscent of The Daemons, and even, perhaps, of The Massacre. It's at its best dealing with the human side of the story, with the monster just egging things on from the background, and falls a little flatter once the creature actually has to move into the foreground. Leela is also slightly less effective here than in the first story, too often held back and out of her depth, but at least she gets into a rapier fight.
Even so, it's a good story, with a decent resolution at the end, a decent secondary villain, and a foreboding atmosphere.
The two stories in this box set both derive from plans that he had for his fourth season, had it ever happened. They never got as far as a formal outline, let alone a script, so we can’t really say that this is what we would have got had Hinchcliffe remained in charge for another year - even allowing for the difference in format. But here, with the assistance of a modern writer more used to working with audio, he gives a good stab at revisiting the style of the era that he shaped together with then script editor Robert Holmes.
The Ghosts of Gralstead - We’re certainly in full gothic mode with the first offering, which runs to an unusually long three hours. The Doctor and Leela arrive in 1860s London, and become involved with a tale involving body-snatchers, freak shows, and a family curse, among other things. It is, of course, immediately reminiscent of The Talons of Weng-Chiang, although it’s set thirty years earlier (the Doctor says ‘forty’ in the script, but he seems to have mis-calculated). Indeed, while the plot is quite different, there are more similarities than merely the setting, with the thematic links including some Robert Holmes-like commentaries on social division.
The longer running time allows a larger cast than usual, with quite a number of guest actors. The first two hours are rich with setting and characterisation, and don’t at all seem to drag. It is, however, a little weaker in the final third, with one 30-minute segment being devoted to what feels like something a of a side-quest to bulk out the length – it is directly relevant to the plot, but, for example, uses a different villain to the main story. This is followed by an ending that is, arguably, a little overdone, moving away from some of the more character-based story we have had up to this point.
Leela gets to do a lot in this story, showing many of her skills, not just those involving combat, and is treated respectfully by the authors. It's interesting to note that she's given a love interest here who actually makes sense (obviously, it can't go anywhere, but at least you can believe it, which is more than can be said for Andred in the TV series).
Despite this, it undeniably has the feel of a Hinchcliffe-era story and has plenty of the dark, gothic elements, it was noted for – but perhaps with more gore than they would have got away with at the time.
The Devil's Armada - The Doctor and Leela arrive in Elizabethan England at around the same time as the Spanish Armada, and become involved not only with the abortive invasion attempt, but also the anti-Papist hysteria surrounding it. It's worth noting that co-author Platt wrote Flames of Cadiz, involving the Armada from the Spanish perspective, only a year or two earlier than this, and, indeed, that story is referenced again here. But that was a straight historical, which, given the conceit that this is a season 15 story "that might have been" won't work here, so, instead there's aliens involved.
In fact, while the tone has some of the darkness of Hinchcliffe's era, it's also reminiscent of The Daemons, and even, perhaps, of The Massacre. It's at its best dealing with the human side of the story, with the monster just egging things on from the background, and falls a little flatter once the creature actually has to move into the foreground. Leela is also slightly less effective here than in the first story, too often held back and out of her depth, but at least she gets into a rapier fight.
Even so, it's a good story, with a decent resolution at the end, a decent secondary villain, and a foreboding atmosphere.
September 15, 2021
Philip Hinchcliffe was the producer responsible for some of the early Tom Baker adventures of Doctor Who. Many of the stories of his era mixed Sci-Fi with horror and had the occasional homage to things like mummy movies and Frankenstein.
With that in mind he has helped Big Finish adapt two proposed but never before produced stories for the 4th Doctor range of Big Finish audio. Ghosts of Gralstead mixes a haunted house story with an alien invasion. Alien technology on Earth is the center of a faith healer's miracles, it is also part of an African ruler's "dark magic" There's also some bodysnatching involved.
Also at the center of this plot is the Doctor's continued efforts to educate Leela about history and culture. Leela's character development is furthered when she meets a kindred spirit in a deposed prince living as a manservant. This is excellent material for an entertaining Doctor Who adventure.
The Devil's Armada involves aliens who resemble demons crossing through a breech to Earth during a time of religious persecution and witch hunts.
This something else Doctor Who does well the "pseudo historical", a period piece featuring social issues of the period mixed with an alien threat that looks like a demon or monster that the locals mistake for something either mythlogical or biblical in nature.
Both of these stories capture the feel of the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who.
With that in mind he has helped Big Finish adapt two proposed but never before produced stories for the 4th Doctor range of Big Finish audio. Ghosts of Gralstead mixes a haunted house story with an alien invasion. Alien technology on Earth is the center of a faith healer's miracles, it is also part of an African ruler's "dark magic" There's also some bodysnatching involved.
Also at the center of this plot is the Doctor's continued efforts to educate Leela about history and culture. Leela's character development is furthered when she meets a kindred spirit in a deposed prince living as a manservant. This is excellent material for an entertaining Doctor Who adventure.
The Devil's Armada involves aliens who resemble demons crossing through a breech to Earth during a time of religious persecution and witch hunts.
This something else Doctor Who does well the "pseudo historical", a period piece featuring social issues of the period mixed with an alien threat that looks like a demon or monster that the locals mistake for something either mythlogical or biblical in nature.
Both of these stories capture the feel of the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who.
June 28, 2017
Zero stars for the cliche "The Ghosts of Gralstead". This Scooby Doo type storyline has been done to death in Big Finish productions and the voice actors are extremely irritating. The entire cast spends the episode yelling and the psuedo-African storyline is obnoxious. Mordrega the villain is eye rollingingly dumb and devours living people left and right. Not exactly a subtle threat to humanity. The story seemed very stretched with the Doctor and Leela dashing around London and the countryside, screaming into their mics.
Three stars for the enjoyable Elizabethan romp "The Devil's Armada". "The Devil's Armada" gives a Whovian twist to the 1588 would-be invasion of England with a little witch hunting thrown in for good measure. The Doctor and Leela must assist their Catholic friends in combating the virulent Protestant witch burner William Redcliffe. Meanwhile, the evil imps of Vituperon aka Vinegar Tom are working overtime to cause the downfall of Earth.
Three stars for the enjoyable Elizabethan romp "The Devil's Armada". "The Devil's Armada" gives a Whovian twist to the 1588 would-be invasion of England with a little witch hunting thrown in for good measure. The Doctor and Leela must assist their Catholic friends in combating the virulent Protestant witch burner William Redcliffe. Meanwhile, the evil imps of Vituperon aka Vinegar Tom are working overtime to cause the downfall of Earth.
November 12, 2018
Both stories evocative of the Hinchcliffe stories of the Fourth Doctor.
First story definitely a good 4 start, nice slow boil to it, with a few different locations and some amusing parts with Leela still looking to fit within society. Had a sense of impending doom, and a few twists and turns that made it hard (in a good way) to figure out quite what was going to happen. The Doctor and Leela good here, and some good side characters in this one as well, though I felt the Doctor was a bit callous towards some of them / other bystanders.
The second story was closer to 3 stars than 4 - wasn't a bad story, and had interesting parts, but didn't grab me as well. Had a good glimpse of Elizabethan England, and the religious strife they had there, but the overall threat seemed a bit hard to take seriously, with the more earthly threats coming across as more real.
First story definitely a good 4 start, nice slow boil to it, with a few different locations and some amusing parts with Leela still looking to fit within society. Had a sense of impending doom, and a few twists and turns that made it hard (in a good way) to figure out quite what was going to happen. The Doctor and Leela good here, and some good side characters in this one as well, though I felt the Doctor was a bit callous towards some of them / other bystanders.
The second story was closer to 3 stars than 4 - wasn't a bad story, and had interesting parts, but didn't grab me as well. Had a good glimpse of Elizabethan England, and the religious strife they had there, but the overall threat seemed a bit hard to take seriously, with the more earthly threats coming across as more real.
November 5, 2018
I'm guessing that these stories take place between seasons 14 and 15, seeing as how the former was the last season Hinchcliffe worked on, and Leela's the companion here. With this set, there's certainly a lot of quantity. The Ghosts of Gralstead feels like a six-part serial from the 1970s. I do honestly think it's longer than it needs to be. I was more interested in the four-parter The Devil's Armada. Part of it probably had to do with my Catholic background and being curious about these Catholic priests being hunted and everything else that was going on. Having a demonic villain meant having a bit of fun with the voice work. There's also a behind the scenes disc that provides some good info. The people who worked on these stories seem very enthusiastic about them.
July 14, 2017
The Philip Hinchcliffe era of Doctor Who is the one that I grew up watching and remember very fondly. This era was known for Gothic/Horror elements being used on the show. Big Finish has given Hinchcliffe the chance to recreate his era on the show with some old unused ideas from this time period. Tom Baker, as he always seems to do, effortlessly recreates his version of the Doctor. This collection will be enjoyed by fans of Baker and this period of the show in particular.
December 9, 2017
The Doctor and Leela have 2 historic adventures. In the first they are in Victorian England to fight an alien being trying to conquer the earth through a jewel owed by a family that can bring back the dead. The second adventure takes place during the reign of Elizabeth the first and has to do with devil worshipping.
September 29, 2020
Heerlijk ondat de verhalen kort zijn maakt dat het makkelijk om naar te luisteren. Dit verhaal is in meerdere delen opgesplitst en dus verlies je het niet uit het gehoor.
Heerlijk overigens dat ze het deuntje erbij houden.
Heerlijk overigens dat ze het deuntje erbij houden.
December 18, 2021
This was pretty cool. The first time I have listened to a Big Finish production. Definitely not the last. I got to get a couple of 4th Doctor stories with a companion I knew of, but hadn't really experienced--Leela. Great fun for me as I drove around today.
June 25, 2024
A fun double story. Love that The 4th doctor is able to voice himself still. I enjoyed the 2nd story more especially as it seemed to tie into the current Doctor story with Sutekh. The interviews after was nice to listen to as well. Will gladly read more of big finish
May 30, 2017
Exactly like watching an old Hinchcliffe/Baker serial from the classic Who era. Really loved the Ghosts story. Devil's is not bad either. Very enjoyable. Will be keeping this one for a repeat listening.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews