Effect and Cause

Main Range #270

Released: 10 November 2020

Listened: 11/10/20

The final part of this eight-part story is by John Dorney, but even by his own admission, it’s less twisty than one of his stories normally is, because the other writers have done most of the high concepts. The Doctor figures out what’s going on, and there are finally Daleks doing something other than intoning ominously in the background. Precisely what that is, I can’t say, and the explanation for the repeated characters is something of a surprise, but not really a big shock. If you’re looking for a major tie-in to the Time War, I’m afraid you won’t find it. On the whole, it’s a bit of a let-down. Maybe listening to it at another time, it won’t be so obvious, but this story really shows that it was made in lockdown with limited resources, and while I salute Big Finish for not interrupting their monthly schedule, it didn’t result in brilliance.