The Grey Man of the Mountain

Main Range #272

Released: 8 December 2020

Listened: 12/13/20

This story, a very recent release at the time of this writing, is the Christmas story for 2020. I’m placing it here because Ace is acting fairly “young,” craving adventure and carrying Nitro-9. The writing is clearly meant to evoke Season 26 as well, with Ace picking up a “temporary companion” of her own (with a hint of same-sex attraction), as she often did in 1989. It’s set in a contemporary time period with ubiquitous cell phones and streaming channels, but the exact year isn’t specified, in a nod to the UNIT dating controversy. Why bring up UNIT? Because the Brigadier is here! This is the first appearance of the Brig as played by Jon Culshaw in the Main Range, and he sounds pretty good. There are a few moments when you can tell, especially early on when the Brig is making polite conversation instead of barking orders or dropping wry observations, but the rest of the time, it might as well be Nicholas Courtney. The Brig is post-”Battlefield,” having taken up a more active role again, serving as a kind of advance troubleshooter for UNIT (possibly connecting to “Minuet in Hell”), so he recognizes Ace and the Doctor readily enough. If I have any complaints, it’s that his relationship with Ace is rather distant, which is a bummer. However, Ace and her new friend spend most of the story separated from the Doctor and the Brig. The story itself is a little thin, in favor of the characterization. It involves “Scottish Yetis” who inspire fear and paranoia in those who look at them, so the Doctor spends a good chunk of the story being unhinged. It’s not so much a Christmas story as a story that happens to take place around Christmas. I’m not completely convinced that we need more Brigadier stories outside the Third Doctor era, but Big Finish is certainly doing them respectfully, so I have no problem with that.