Big Finish The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy A Benny Audio Adventure

Author	Paul Ebbs
Released	2002
Cover	Adrian Salmon

Starring: Lisa Bowerman as Professor Bernice Summerfield
Also featuring   Steven Wickman, David Benson, Toby Longworth, Steven Allen, Robert lock, Juliet Warner

Synopsis: Monsters, time anomalies and digging up famous latrines... but all Benny really wants to do is buy shoes.

• A Review by Jamas Enright

A Review by Jamas Enright 24/10/04

What do you get if you cross a giga-mart with time anomalies, shoe shopping, slobbering beasts and ancient latrines? Enormous fun! Benny arrives on the planet Baladroon for archaeology purposes. In no way is she there to buy shoes, but is caught up in events when time starts going haywire. Paul Ebbs has written a story that is fun from start to finish, a sheer joy to listen to. My only question is: given that this is a supermarket, where is the cheesy muzak? Actually, a more serious question: why exactly does the Gigamarket need to be in two temporal zones like that?

David Benson as Keelor is wonderful, borderline incompetent management, and his interaction with Benny is incredibly amusing (a bit of Mary-Sue-ing from Paul Ebbs, maybe?). Steven Wickham remains typecast as a small round ball, this time giving voice to Joseph the Porter (previously he was the Drone in Walking to Babylon), but he does it so well. Toby Longworth obviously enjoys playing Jaggon, possibly a bit too much. Steven Allen as Tarband manages to give the only straight performance of the whole audio.

If you've been following Benny in the books, but not the audios, I heartily recommend starting here, it's just too great. And there's even a bonus track! Boing!