Synopsis: The death of a nameless traveller on a flight to the volcanic Hedistic islands would seem to have been natural. But when his young friend starts her own murder investigation, she uncovers a plot which threatens the safety of the entire planet...

• A Review by Stuart Gutteridge
• A Review by Richard Radcliffe

A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 27/2/99

Ghosts is the most recent audio CD to come from the stable of BBV. It is also highly enjoyable for a number of reasons. Nigel Fairs` script seems to be a homage to the X-Files genre.The basic plot sees Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred en route to another planet, but Sylvester`s seemingly natural death leads Sophie into an investigation uncovering some dark secrets along the way.

Herein lies one of the problems: Sophie`s character isn`t referred to as Alice until midway through the story, and Sylvester doesn`t mention the name Dominie until the end of the story. Even then no explanation is given; it is no secret that BBV were forced to change the names, but some sort of reason would`ve been appreciated (particularly by newcomers to the series, I should imagine.)

Another fault is the overuse of Alice: with two solo tales recently behind her, it would be fair to expect the action divided more equally between the two leads. Instead Sophie Aldred steps into the limelight once more. This does allow for greater character development however, which actually makes sense and gives an insight into the relationship between The Dominie and Alice.

Again the supporting cast prove to be excellent in their respective roles, the audio effects are simple and for the most part minimal, and the story reaches a satisfying conclusion. In summary Nigel Fairs has come up with a clever storyline, which is thought-provoking and as such is echoed in the end product.

A Review by Richard Radcliffe 18/8/02

Another in the series of Professor/Ace dramas by BBV (now called the Time Travellers) this feels like a drama too far for the team and Characters involved. The first 3 BBV dramas were new and exciting. They were also pretty good stories. The Ace Specials started well but deterioted. Guests For the Night was pretty good, but this saw BBV reach a low point.

Worried by Licensing the Doctor and Ace have now become the Dominie and Alice. It's was a necessary move I expect, but a shame because the series seems to lose its way. Make no mistake though, this is still the Doctor and Ace, and it is written by Nigel Fairs as such.

Ghosts features an assortment of characters, none of which you can get terribly excited about. Jacquos, Saul, Alistair and Maxington are all forgotten about shortly after you've listened to the Audio. The story is not the best. We're on a flight to some Volcanic Hedonistic Islands. The Dominie and Alice are on board, the Dominie fearful of a mistake he may have made in the past. When the Dominie is apparently killed Alice starts her own investigation, enlisting the help of Saul.

The predictability of Saul and Alice's relationship is a shame - it's been done many times before. It reminded me of Remembrance of the Daleks - Ace fell for a baddie there as well. Rehash of old ground, not promising. Of course the Dominie is not dead, and he enters the underground Caves of the Hedonistic Islands to uncover the aggressors and Threat to the Planet.

Politic intrigue is attempted in the drama, but I just didn't like the character of President Maxington. I also wasn't struck on the antagonist Madame Jacquos. I never got a sense of wonder at this alien World where we were supposed to be. The underground Caves never really took off in the atmosphere department. The Characters weren't interesting. Nigel Fairs has wrote some good BBV dramas - but this isn't one of them.

Ghosts never came alive for me at all. It was an Audio that I just couldn't get into. The worst BBV Audio so far. 4/10