The Unzal Incursion

Third Doctor Adventures #7.1

Released: 18 May 2021

Listened: 5/28/21

This story is a major step forward for Big Finish. Daisy Ashford, Caroline John’s daughter, first played Liz in “Primord,” but this was the first recorded story where she has a larger role. It’s also the first story in which the Doctor, the Brigadier, and Liz are all played by recast actors, meaning all of the main characters are recast. Big Finish has built very slowly and respectfully to this point, and the audience seems to have accepted that. And for the most part, Daisy Ashford, Tim Treloar, and John Culshaw are all believable as the characters they play. Even listening to them in the middle of this project, you can quickly accept them as the real thing. As for the story, it’s reasonable, and mostly a product of its time. There’s an alien race who wants to invade, and of course they start by trying to take over Britain. They do so by mind-controlling large chunks of the military, in the guise of a training program, which of course includes some UNIT officers. Which raises the question of why Benton and Yates aren’t in this story, but having their original actors might make things awkward. That leaves the Doctor, the Brig, and Liz on the run for a large chunk of the story, with no one to turn to for help, which neatly explains the smallish cast. Not much that happens in the story is particularly surprising, but some of the casting is. Sergeant Nicki Attah is the main non-commissioned UNIT member, and no matter how enlightened UNIT was in 1970, having a black woman in charge of the troops seems a bit forward. The two primary agents of the invading aliens are also women, all of which is good casting, but doesn’t necessarily fit with the period it’s set in. Still, I support this kind of casting; there’s no need to be bound by the period in which the show is set. It’s a good start for Daisy Ashford.