Good Night, Sweet Ladies

"I never thought I'd grow old."

Writer: Una McCormack

Format: Audio

Released: June 2014

Series: New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 1.02

Featuring: Benny

Synopsis

Bernice has come to the Moon of Adolin on a desperate mission. Instead, she finds an abandoned labyrinth, two confused survivors, and something ancient that needs her help.

Verdict

Good Night, Sweet Ladies was another excellent audio adventure to continue the first series of the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield! This is shaping up to be an excellent boxset and I really enjoyed the immediate continuation we got from The Revolution with Benny on board the ship and quickly crash landing on Adolin in her search for Ace. The enigmatic feel of the audio was outstanding and certainly one of the highlights for me, and I loved how the atmosphere was perfect for the story that was being told. The deserted Moon made for a brilliant setting and the fact that there were people there to greet Benny when she was certainly expecting to meet nobody was great. Claire was a hugely intriguing character and right from then off it was clear that there was something more to her than what first appeared. The fact that Steven Day didn't know who she was and she'd only turned up when Benny's ship began to crash land extended that position for me. She also knew Benny's name which was cleverly integrated into the introductions. I wasn't expecting a Dalek to show up and when that did happen it thrust the audio into action in a big and exciting way. It was excellent stuff. I loved how Benny sold the fear sparked by the Dalek but then used her knowledge to ascertain that this particular one was damaged and weak. Steven got to the point of nearly feeling sorry for it which said a lot, but once he was paralysed by one his opinion soon shifted! I thought it was wonderful to have a repeat of what we saw in The Daleks where Ian was paralysed temporarily by a Dalek blast as it's nice to know that this is a somewhat regular occurrence. It also did well in showcasing that the Dalek was weak which I liked. Benny realising that the Dalek had always been blind was terrific and it certainly explained why they hadn't been killed, although the potential emotional thoughts behind why the Dalek wasn't killing them were an interesting prospect! Adolin showing numerous signs that Ace had been present was fantastic and I really loved how Benny recognised her explosives signature. That was a nice touch and the keypad sequence where she opened the door was a lot of fun. Claire explaining that the Dalek was actually her guardian on the way to finding Ace was a great move and the mental torment that came from her with the ghosts and her turning out to be a manifestation of Benny's mother was incredibly powerful. That was audibly difficult for Benny and it was hard to hear the choice she was presented between her mum and Ace. Of course, Ace was real so there was only one option but it was still very difficult. I liked the little recorded message from Ace where she warned off anyone from following her to the eery sounding forbidden world and whilst it was obvious that Benny wouldn't be adhering to that request, Benny's decision to follow her was fun and again sets us up very nicely for the next episode. I'm a huge fan of the direction this series is going in and I'm really interested in finding out just what Ace is up to. Benny being close behind her is great and I'm sure they're going to meet up in the next story before a big finale with the Doctor joining them to bring everything full circle. But for now, this was a brilliant audio to continue the series!

Rating: 9/10