Start to Finish: 4.12 - Solitaire

Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd

A new Doctor, and an old enemy, in John Dorney's claustrophobic two-hander, Solitaire; arguably the first Companion Chronicle to feature one of Big Finish's original companions (The Prisoner's Dilemma was primarily narrated by Zara, but the only companion present was Ace).

There's a new game; a game you don't even know you're playing. You don't know the rules and you don't know the aim. Losing the game will result in forfeit. Failure to play will result in forfeit. And the Doctor may already have lost.

Charlotte Elspeth 'Charley' Pollard is in many ways the Rose Tyler of Big Finish - pretty, blonde, perky, adventurous, ever so in love with the Doctor and possibly just a little bit more special than all the others - although at her worst she has never been as annoying. She accompanied the Eight Doctor from his first Big Finish appearance (Storm Warning) through a gate to a timeless universe (Zagreus) and back (The Next Life), and finally left him in Hong Kong (The Girl Who Never Lived) after 27 plays, before returning for another 7 (paradoxically with the Sixth Doctor). Solitaire was her first appearance since the last of those Blue, Forgotten Planet, and her last until her entry in the 50th Anniversary Destiny of the Doctor series, which was followed by her own spin-off, launched this year (2014, in case the future historians out there can't read the date stamp).

Solitaire has no framing narrative. Instead, India Fisher (the voice of Master Chef) plays Charlie opposite David Bailie's Celestial Toymaker (Michael Gough, the original Toymaker, had retired from acting) in a three set play with two actors. The Toymaker taunts, Charley tries to solve his riddles, before the tables are turned. The Doctor appears as a ventriloquist's dummy (voiced by Fisher) and Bailie also voices 'the Game' with its stentorian announcements.

This is a pleasing little play, and a refreshing change in style. It fits neatly with the existing mythos surrounding the Toymaker and mixes whimsy with claustrophobic horror to good effect. It also ends on a flourish to launch the Chronicles from the end of series 4 to the start of series 5, which we'll cover next time in the form of the conclusion of the Sara Kingdom trilogy, The Guardian of the Solar System.