Doctor Who and the Pirates

Main Range #43

Released: April 2003

Listened: 6/29/20

This rather oddly named story also has a very unusual structure. Evelyn drops in on Sally, one of her old students, and insists on telling her a story about an encounter she had with pirates, although Sally clearly doesn’t want to hear it. For the most part, the story is absurd, half Pirates of the Caribbean and half Pirates of Penzance. The pirates seem to be the worst sort of cliche. Evelyn’s storytelling skills aren’t very impressive, either, for a history professor. There is some mighty fine singing, from Colin Baker and Helen Goldwyn, many-time Big Finish director, but here playing Sally. The part 2 cliffhanger is probably one of the best Big Finish has ever produced. And the ending has some of the sharpest tonal whiplash the show has ever seen. I’m not sure I would recommend this to new listeners, because it departs so much from the standard formula. But because it does that departure successfully, the story as a whole succeeds.