The Stuff of Legend
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Big Finish Productions The Stuff of Legend |
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| Written by | Robert Valentine |  |
| Format | Compact Disc | |
| Released | 2024 |
| Starring Paul McGann |
| Synopsis: Something is afoot in the lonely Cornish village of Merrymaid Bay. Rumours of dead men working in the tin mines have sent a chill through the community, and it's up to the Doctor and Charley to get to the bottom of the mystery. Can the legends of the Bucca that haunts the mines be true? And just what awesome power do the Doctor's greatest enemies - the Daleks! - threaten to unleash upon the universe? |
A Review by Caz Bruzzone 19/6/25
The Stuff of Legend was performed and recorded live in September 2024, with an audience of roughly a thousand people. I really wish I could have been there --- but being an Australian student working in fast food, there wasn't really a feasible way for me to get there. However, using my fast-food working wages, I bought the live recording CD. I chose the live recording over the studio one, and I am very glad I did. Anybody who is debating whether to get the studio recording or live one, I strongly recommend the latter. The story on its own is still engaging; however, the interactive aspect of the crowd's cheers and the actor's/producer's commentary is gold. Plus, it was written to be a live show, after all.
I think the aspect I loved most were the references to other Doctor Who stories and plots. They weren't all too subtle, so if all of Big Finish's work were like it, it would get tiring very quickly. However, this was a live show --- the goal was to get the audience to laugh, to cheer. And who's going to show up for a recording of a not-super-well-known Doctor's audio story? Mostly, people who are giant Doctor Who nerds, plus a few who happened to be in the area and thought it looked interesting. The aforementioned nerds were definitely catered for with the references, with mentions of the proposed plot for the 8th Doctor's cancelled season(s), and the MC even brings up everybody's favourite, Zagreus!
The acting was also very impressive, even more so considering they were standing in bright lights in front of crowds of people. It was believable and smooth. Shoutout to Nicholas Briggs, playing (unsurprisingly) the Daleks, who had many conversations with himself. Once again, I wish I could have been there to see it, but until a video recording is released (if a video recording is released), I will just have to use my imagination. Also, despite the 24-year-gap between this and Storm Warning, there was not a noticeable nor significant change in Fisher or McGann's voices.
Regarding the story, it wasn't anything super amazing, but nor was it dull. It was fun, I personally found the explanation for the Bucca to be a little far-fetched, and the ending was very predictable. But overall, it still had an enjoyable plot. The dialogue was well written. I particularly liked when Charley and the Doctor were joking about the Saint Ives riddle, and none of the characters were so stultifying boring they'd make my head bleed. (Although, I'm not the biggest fan of the effects used for the Bucca's voice)
I also think that they collectively made good use of what they had available on stage. Having Charley inside a Dalek was great fun to listen to, and since they already needed a way for the Daleks to speak live, there was no reason not to have Fisher use it too. Plus, it resulted in some more of my favourite lines of dialogue.
Overall, The Stuff of Legend was engaging to listen to, and I would strongly recommend anybody reading this to go buy it, if you haven't already. It mightn't carry deep or profound messages (although I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find some), yet it is an enjoyable listen, and I'm glad I stayed up later than I maybe should have to finish it.
I Was a Dying Roboman by Niall Jones 15/11/25
Cadogan Hall in West London is a striking building. All columns and arches, it was built as a church for the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1907 in what I am reliably informed is the Byzantine Revival style. While stained glass and the case of an organ act as further reminders of the building's ecclesiastical roots, since 2004 it has served as a music venue and is home to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. There are various things you would expect from a place like this: a glance at the 'what's on' page of its website lists, among other things, a performance of Mozart's Requiem, a screening of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times accompanied by a live orchestra and, perhaps more surprisingly, a bilingual comedy show called F*** Me, I'm French. What you don't expect to see, though, is a Dalek.
A Dalek, however, is what would have greeted you if you had visited Cadogan Hall on 14 or 15 September 2024. Fortunately, this wasn't the beginning of an alien invasion, but a prop for a live recording of the Big Finish audio drama The Stuff of Legend.
Live recordings aren't something that Big Finish tends to do. In fact, every single other Big Finish audio drama has been recorded solely in the studio, a scene at a time, allowing for re-recording and pickups. The Stuff of Legend was different, however. This was the company's 25th-anniversary story, and while a version was recorded in the usual way, it was also performed in front of a live audience, with this recording later being released as a CD and download. Among this audience? Myself, my dad and my brother.
In his introductory remarks, director Barnaby Edwards describes the Big Finish modus operandi as 'great stories, small casts, lots of doubling'. Indeed, the story features only nine actors, with several taking on multiple roles. Unlike other anniversary or self-consciously 'special' stories, such as The Five Doctors, The Power of the Doctor or Big Finish's own Zagreus, The Stuff of Legend avoids the temptation to think that bigger means better. Instead, the scale of the story is kept relatively small (although the stakes are reliably world-ending) and there is little continuity.
As a celebration of Big Finish's take on Doctor Who, The Stuff of Legend focuses on elements that are specific to --- or at least have strong connections with --- its output. The story reunites the classic audio combo of Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor and India Fisher's 'Edwardian adventuress', Charley Pollard. Ranged against them are the Daleks, voiced by Big Finish stalwart Nicholas Briggs, and the Master, played by Alex MacQueen --- an incarnation unique to audio.
The story takes place in Cornwall, in 1963, where the TARDIS has been drawn. Looking for shelter from a storm --- and having witnessed the disturbing sight of a man throwing himself off a cliff --- the Doctor and Charley find themselves in a local inn, where they discover that much of the population of the village has mysteriously disappeared. Joined by enthusiastic folklore student Emily Barnfather, they set out to investigate and find themselves uncovering not one, but two sinister alien plans.
The broad outline of the plot may be familiar to fans, but The Stuff of Legend elevates itself from the average through its evocative use of its adopted locale. Abandoned tin mines, old smugglers' passages and, most important of all, Cornish folklore all feature heavily in the story. The idea of taking elements from real-life geography, history or mythology and building a plot around them is not new, but Cornwall is a region that has often been neglected by Doctor Who and, in this story, it acts as a suitably atmospheric setting.
Having had the privilege of seeing the story recorded live, two things stand out. The first is that watching actors read scripts into a microphone is, far from being dull, in fact highly engaging. It showcases the craft of voice acting, as the live nature of the performance leaves no room for error. If you fluff a line (which no-one did), you just have to keep going, like an actor in a play.
Related to this is the extent to which the actors are performing. As well as directing the story, Barnaby Edwards plays innkeeper Jago Penrose and the Master's obsequious butler, Foley. Having heard Edwards address the audience in his naturally plummy accent, it was something of a shock to hear him slip so easily into a Cornish brogue as Jago. Accents are something that most actors just learn to do, but it's still impressive to hear. Less clear from listening to the recording is the physical nature of the actors' performances. If the Doctor runs, then Paul McGann runs; if the characters are hurtling down a mine shaft, then the actors act as if they really are hurtling.
While the Live Show edition of The Stuff of Legend allows a much wider audience to enjoy the specifics of the Cadogan Hall recording --- from the Daleks' threat to exterminate anyone who fails to turn off their phone at the beginning, to the audience participation at the end --- certain elements, such as the physicality of the performances, are lost in translation. Accompanying the story is a soundtrack of the audience's responses, its cheers and laughter; listening back, however, it's not always clear what these are in response to. For example, what's so funny about the Doctor opening an umbrella? The answer lies in the use of Foley, provided live by Gabriel Clark. Foley usually involves creating sound effects through the creative use of everyday objects. Sometimes, however, the correspondence between a sound and its creation can be a little more direct. For example, the sound of an umbrella opening can be evoked by… opening an umbrella. Seeing this happen was, for some mysterious reason, extremely funny. Fortunately, not all the humour is lost in translation. The story doesn't take itself too seriously, and there are a good number of jokes, the highlight being the appearance of a certain highly specialised Dalek.
There is something almost ludicrous about Big Finish's range of Doctor Who audio dramas reaching its silver jubilee. After all, it's only one year shy of the 26 years during which Doctor Who was originally broadcast. Along with the novels published by Virgin and BBC Books, Big Finish helped to keep Doctor Who alive during the Wilderness Years, but they continued to release stories even after the show returned to television. Although such longevity is impressive, it also means that it has become increasingly unclear what the audio dramas are for. Originally, they were the closest things fans could get to a new series of Doctor Who, with the Eighth Doctor stories (of which this technically forms part) acting as a plausible template for a relaunch of the series. Running concurrently with the television series, however, the audio dramas become mere merchandise --- at times very good merchandise, but never exactly necessary, which, given the sheer number of audio dramas that have now been released, is surely a good thing for fans' bank balances.
On the face of it, The Stuff of Legend is the kind of story that could have been made at almost any time in Big Finish's history. It's a lot of fun but not exactly revolutionary. That might just be the point, however. Big Finish are constantly reminding its listeners that they 'love stories' and, while it has released more innovative titles, such as The Chimes of Midnight or Jubilee, it is best-known for efficiently producing (some might say churning out) enjoyable but unchallenging Doctor Who stories. That The Stuff of Legend falls into this category (albeit at the upper end) feels entirely appropriate. It celebrates Big Finish, not by stuffing its plot full of returning characters and impenetrable continuity references, but by simply providing a good example of the things that it does well.