Whispers of Terror [AUDIO/1999.11.?]

★★★☆☆

  It's rather odd to go back and listen to the Sixth Doctor's first standalone Big Finish release, and hear him as this rather petulant and abrasive sort who treats companion Peri badly. Then you remember that the Big Finish renaissance hasn't happened yet, and that this was the public understanding of Sixie at the time, and you start wondering either, 'I wonder what got the ball rolling to change the Sixth Doctor's demeanor?' or 'Thank God Jaqueline Rayner came along, eh?' It's simply a bit grating to me, the depiction of Six here, because he's a bit ruder and less charming than he actually was during the TV series proper. It's as if this was written by a detractor of this particular incarnation who wanted to send him up in spectacular fashion. 

  Minor nitpick aside, Whispers of Terror is a continuation of Big Finish trying their hand at creating stories that take advantange of the audio format, and it's a very good experiment. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, despite the way they are written, show great chemistry (something the company would be sure to highlight in the years to come with better material for them), and Justin Richards crafts a claustrophobic conceptual horror story which also works as a political thriller. It's easy listening now to point out that they hadn't perfected their impeccable sound design at that point -- the Visteen Krane audio ghost effects (whispers and such) sound superimposed rather than be a natural part of the aural landscape -- but it's good to hear Gary Russell grow as a director. These early Big Finish releases tend to be entertaining regardless of the degree to which they are refined, and Whispers of Terror is no different.