The War Doctor: Agents of Chaos
MARTIN RUDDOCK
BIG FINISH
RRP £20 (CD and download
You can hardly blame the War Doctor for being so grumpy. He spends centuries fighting in a massive, traumatic conflict raging over different planes of reality, used as an unwilling pawn by the High Council of his own people, who vary from deeply untrustworthy to card-carrying genocidal maniacs. If he ever meets anyone he actually likes, it’s not for long. There are Daleks everywhere. There are no tea breaks or days off. He doesn’t even have time for a shave. His whole existence is about war.
Agents of Chaos, the third box set chronicling his travails during the Last Great Time War, throws the War Doctor into three distinct types of conflict. The opener, The Shadow Vortex, by David Llewellyn, is all espionage and intrigue. It’s also as close as it gets to a busman’s holiday for this incarnation, as he pursues a Dalek agent through the East Berlin of 1961. The Cold War is such a good fit for our reluctant hero, it’s a shame he doesn’t get to stay a little longer. He almost seems to enjoy the company of Lt Kruger (Timothy Speyer), the weary Stasi agent he’s paired with, as they chase down their quarry – one Lara Zannis, played with cool detachment by Neve McIntosh.