Big Finish Productions The Ruler of the Universe The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield

Written by	Guy Adams and James Goss
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2017

Starring Lisa Bowerman and David Warner

Synopsis: Bernice Summerfield is still trapped in a dying universe with the wrong Doctor. Things have taken a turn for the worse - the Doctor has become President Of The Universe and, it turns out, he's a controversial choice for the job. While Bernice works to unearth the mythical Apocalypse Clock, the Doctor's immersed in the murky world of politics and the dark forces that are working against him. As battlefleets fight and terrible deals are done, the peoples of the universe wonder if they've made a terrible decision. Is the Doctor up to ruling the universe? Watching from the sidelines, the Master is quick to reassure everyone that he has no ambitions in that direction. And, meanwhile, the stars are going out...

• A Review by Thomas Tiley

A Review by Thomas Tiley 13/10/26

First time listening to the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield series in which everyone's favorite companion travels with the Doctor instead of solo or her own support cast, and from what I've seen, its not half bad. Bernice is stuck in a dying universe with an alternative Doctor. It was initially a little unusual to hear Benny with the Doctor, especially as this is the unbound Doctor from Sympathy for the Devil and Masters of War (played by David Warner), but I quickly got used to it. It felt odd to hear the Doctor Who theme and not Benny's, stranger still to have it as a boxset instead of individual CDs.

The first story, The City and the Clock, opens up the set and quickly fills you in on the background (useful for me as I haven't paid attention to her series for a while), the Doctor is the President of a dying universe and Bernice is digging up an ancient device that could save the day. Its nice to see Bernice doing the archeological stuff. Lisa Bowerman and David Warner have excellent chemistry and banter back and forth like they have been doing this stuff for ages and get along well considering he isn't her Doctor. He is grumpy, cantankerous, sarcastic (when a native complains about the Doctor touching his ancestors' technology, the Doctor gets in a dig about cultural appropriation) and just a little rude (with everyone basically), dismissive (believing the dig is just busy work for Bernice and not reading her dig reports) busy with the role of high office and it's a great take on the Doctor character, unique. The story is all right: alien planets, ancient civilizations, natives and weird ghosts haunting the ruins. I like the imagery of a great big, huge clock ticking away under the surface of the whole. A basic story to start of the collection and honestly, without the main duo, pretty forgettable.

Next is, Asking for a Friend, which brilliantly sees the Doctor undergoing therapy with Annette Badland's brilliant Guilana. It's a fun story, with the Doctor taking to therapy as easily as you'd expect (he tries to bribe her with food), and along the way you begin to notice details that are off: Guilana having a husband when she didn't, the decor of her office changing. It is primarily Doctor's story, how he copes with the pressure of office, meetings and paperwork (turns out he uses his TARDIS), the loss of his home, with Benny making only a few fleeting appearances and one uncomfortable moment for her when Guilana turns her therapist skills onto her. It's a fun story that as it goes along reminded me Moffat's short story Continuity Errors from Decalog 3: Consequences (the interviews at the end confirm that they did take the same idea as well). Unlike that story, there isn't a happy ending, Guilana isn't glad that her life has been reworked and shaped to the Doctor's liking to try and get out of therapy (as he put it, he tried to help her so she would like him), and as she points out, the life she now has isn't her own, the family she has are strangers to her. When Guilana confronts him with what he has done, he very droll, complaining it's her own fault, turning a serious moment very funny until it is not. A perfect story and well worth the listen to even if you aren't a Benny fan.

The third story, Truant, sees the Doctor run away from office to get caught up in some old-fashioned adventures, with Bernice hot in pursuit to bring him back. Unfortunately, his reputation proceeds him, and his adversaries always end up surrendering, much to his annoyance, until he and Benny get gassed in a taxi and wake up in a cell and have to stop an invasion. It's a very funny story, you should hear the glee in the Doctor's voice when he is getting captured and then hear him moan about the state of his adversaries for making everything so easy (he quickly deduces they are people he knows because they are taking care to disguise themselves, complains about how easy the cells are to escape, quickly works out the plan etc). Uncovering the plan of the bodysnatchers, it takes a twist mid way through that is great (the invasion went ahead as planned decades ago). Jonathan Bailey as the alien leader was very good in his role: indecisive and a little camp and very funny. Full of funny lines such as the Doctor complaining about political correctness or who should go investigate or when he highjacks a car (actually both carjacking scenes are funny: Bernice tricks the officer there to arrest her to giving her authorization, and the Doctor ends up with someone all too happy to drive him anywhere). The driver tells the Doctor his wife will be so excited to hear that he met the Doctor, which is great as well as is the one of the Woman in the Cabin shouting out about intruders and liberals. This along with the second story are the highlights of the boxset.

The final story, The True Saviour of the Universe, sees the Doctor in trouble for running away and being brought before the Mother Superior (Rowena Cooper) and the emergence of the Master (Mark Gatiss credited as Sam Kisgart in a retro-master move) and his plan. The creators referred to this story in the interviews as a remake of Logopolis with Cthulu and singing nuns, which make it sound cooler than it is, but is strangely accurate. Gatiss is very good in the role, very subdued and suave. Surprisingly nice and helpful to Bernice as well; they get on better than I thought they would. Of course, after he usurps the Doctor he reverts to form, tries to summon up a force he can't control (Terror of the Autons, The Daemons, etc not having occurred to this version beforehand) and gets hoist by his petard in an unusual way (he wanted to rule the universe, now he can, better get on with all the paerwork and meetings then). Strangely the Master sort of wins, in a way. It's a Master I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Rowena Cooper a the Nun does a good job, I like how she handles the Master and the Doctor. The scene where she and the assassin hood talk about her religion is fun as well (nuns chanting numbers reminding me of Logopolis and its monks) as when her nuns sing in numbers. Hattie Hayridge (Holly in Red Dwarf) as Ebbis the PR woman is funny in a dry sort of way as well, spinning stories to the press that contradict what we know or what she has said only moments beforehand such as when she says she stands by the Doctor only to endorse the Master (who hasn't been punished for his crimes because the Doctor didn't commission an investigation into said crimes therefore he's innocent until proved guilty, so it's fine for him to replace the Doctor, which proves that the Master is the best person to replace the irresponsible Doctor, etc).

Warner is subdued throughout, fitting in with the story's serious tone as he grapples with the difficulty of preventing the universe from ending, stepping in to save the Universe from the Master's meddling, unleashing forces he doesn't understand and finally saving the universe. The story ends with Bernice home but the Unbound Doctor stuck outside his native dimension.

A good series all in all. The first story is a slight dip in quality compared to the excellent middle stories, and Bernice is a strong influence throughout (save the second story). Overall, with good performance (Bowerman, Warner, Badland and Gatiss), some serious moments and some very funny, I would say this is well worth a listen to both to Bernice fans and Dr Who Big Finish fans in general.

All in all a very good collection, I would rate it a 9 out of 10