The House on the Edge of Chaos [AUDIO/2019.7.10]

★★★☆☆

  This Lucie Miller boxset is proving to be quite the winner. Unsurprisingly, a great big aspect of its success with me is Sheridan Smith herself, who gives her character the exact same amount of enthusiasm and fun and emotional truthfulness as she did all those years ago. Just listen to her sticking it up to the ruling class, waving away mummy's boys with a proverbial airy wave of the hand, and being more than a match for the Doctor's ponciness. Smith is having a wonderful time, so is Paul McGann, and I'm here to gobble their stories up gladly.

  Eddie Robson's The House on the Edge of Chaos relies a lot on their chemistry (which is odd to think about, since they technically spend a lot of time apart), and thankfully these two talented actors bring that chemistry and then some. The story itself is very much in the vein of Immortal Beloved or No More Lies, focusing on interpersonal relationships and the strains of love at the heart of world-ending, dangerous events -- so it's not only faithful to Series 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures audios, it's also a pretty darn entertaining ride as well. I could tell that with more time to explore the world of this house and the ruling family which doomed it from the beginning, it would've gone even higher in my estimation... but as it is, I'll still take it wholesale.