The Winged Coven

"She's been dabbling in the darker arts."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: April 2019

Series: BBC Audio 06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Mrs Wibbsey

Synopsis 

When the Doctor returns to Nest Cottage, in the village of Hexford, England, he discovers strange things afoot in the local woods. Together with the redoubtable Mrs Wibbsey he discovers the local postmistress in an almost desiccated state, and witness sinister behaviour at the local mini-mart.

The old team investigate a new shop that has opened in the village, run by the glamorously beguiling Camilla Cookson. Soon they realise that a secret society has formed in Hexford under their very noses. But what role has Mrs Wibbsey herself unwittingly played in all of this? It may be time for a few confessions to be heard.

Recruiting Mike Yates, Tish Made and Deirdre Whatsit to the cause, the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey set out to penetrate the winged coven – but what they discover at its heart is the greatest horror of all.

Verdict 

The Winged Coven was another strong audio to, at this moment in time, conclude the adventures of the Fourth Doctor at Nest Cottage! It’s been an eventful ride and it’s quite staggering to think that the extended series has lasted for seventeen episodes now, and it’s been quite the run! His relationship with Mrs Wibbsey is tremendous and it was lovely to have her back in the narration role. Susan Jameson is magnificent and once again starred in bringing Wibbsey back to life. I was quite surprised that it had been another two years now since she’d last seen the Doctor and I would assume that would be since the events of The Thing From the Sea, and a lot had happened since then! It was good that in what I assume will be the final story in the series that Mike Yates featured. It was nice to know that he had now retired to Hexford and was potentially in a relationship. The arrangement of his living conditions was fun to discuss and I liked that things stayed ambitious. It was good though to have him here and he played a big part. I thought it was great to have witches involved in events at Hexford and Wibbsey being suspicious of them in the village was brilliant. She’s like a hawk when it comes to protecting her village and when danger was around, she could spot it. I thought the cake shop was a good front for the coven and Wibbsey knew that it couldn’t possibly just be that. It wouldn’t be profitable with the population of Hexford so it was hiding something. Queues were forming to get a cake but I did like how the Doctor even commented on the decoration being there to hide something. It was just too elaborate. I thought the impression of the Doctor was decent if not spectacular but the effort was there so I certainly appreciated that. The makeup of the coven was very strong with Cookson being a strong lead witch. She wasn’t afraid to step up to Wibbsey and even suggesting that she was disliked in the village because of her dedication and loyalty towards the Doctor was brilliant. It was a powerful moment and sent her into a strong defence as she did actually care very much about Hexford. Vera and Wanda completing the coven was very good and together the trio was certainly one to be feared! Having the Doctor dealing with the darker arts is always good stuff, but it seems his bigger issue in this story was actually with his housekeeper. His reaction when he found out that Mrs Wibbsey had been using some of his advanced equipment was tremendous and fantastically in line with the personality of the Fourth Doctor. I thought this incarnation was written very well here. The emergence of the owl was strong and I very much enjoyed the pace and excitement of the conclusion. That’s often missing from the BBC Audio range so that was most welcomed. The fate of Cookson was rather extraordinary as the owl she had worshipped and claimed to be serving ended up eating her! It was a clean consumption in just three bites which was some graphic description, but I was impressed with the imagery presented throughout this audio. It felt visual and matched up nicely with the CD artwork. Overall, a really strong audio! A most enjoyable listen.  

Rating: 8/10