Old Friends: Way of the Burryman

"Suppose you tell me about the Haunting?"

Writer: Roy Gill

Format: Audio

Released: February 2022

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 4.02

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Brigadier

Synopsis

Young Sam Bishop is at a crossroads with girlfriend Fiona: she's staying in Scotland, he wants to travel the world. As the Burryman celebrations begin, ghosts haunt the Forth Bridge. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart arrives to investigate – and so does the Doctor...

Verdict

Way of the Burryman was an outstanding episode to continue the Old Friends fourth volume of Ninth Doctor Adventures! This might just be the best Ninth Doctor audio we've had from Big Finish so far and I'm so glad that the story that contained the Ninth Doctor and the Brigadier meeting for the first time was very high on quality. I liked how it started with the Brigadier and this was my first experience of Jon Culshaw taking on the role and I thought he did an admirable job. It was a shaky impression in parts, but for the most part I was very impressed. It felt authentic and that's all you can ask for. The Forth Bridge focus worked well and I liked the idea of hauntings. Having a young Sam Bishop feature was fun and it was a clever incorporation as it wouldn't have mattered at all if the listener had knowledge of him from the UNIT spinoff series or not. His mistaking the TARDIS for a coffee shop pop-up was tremendous and the Doctor's reaction was very fun. Christopher Eccleston was on top form as the Doctor here and he fitted right into the early 2000s at South Queensferry. His initial reaction to the Burryman and thinking it an alien monster was magnificent! The idea of ghosts fitted in well with the remote Scottish setting and the description of voices reliving their last moments was chilling. Of course, the cover gives away the return of the Mondasian Cybermen which is a shame but the metallic voices hinting at their presence was good. They'd been around a long time as the noises were getting worse in the last twelve months and this is why Commander Jane called in the Brigadier for his experience with the unordinary. I thought she was a strong character and posting Cameron alongside the Brigadier was great. He was a good character as a postgrad student that had seen a haunting and having the Doctor link up with Sam and Fiona to try and find his old chum was a terrific setup. Fiona was a good character and I liked how she and the Doctor bonded over stories. The story concerning the bridge itself was brilliant and I liked how it seemed to have memories held within with the cost of building it claiming so many lives. It was powerful stuff. The Brigadier being enticed by a ghost and nearly walking off a cliff was good danger and the Doctor saving him in the nick of time was great action! Their reunion was truly wonderful and I loved the Brigadier's focus on the new incarnation's haircut! His soldier comment was quickly shut down though and a stark reminder of where the Doctor is at during this point of his life. The relationship between Fiona and Sam was slightly less joyous as she was rooted in Scotland with a whole family history around the Forth Bridge whilst this was just a posting for Sam. The Doctor's desire to hear the tapes of the voices was good and Sam's itching followed by becoming a host from one of those held within the bridge was eery stuff. The threat of caisson disease was very real and quite scary, with the Brigadier wanting the Doctor to try and exorcise the bridge which just sounds all wrong. Fiona fighting against that because of the memories that would be lost was excellent, but the Doctor had a back in the form of the memory arch that would ensure the memories wouldn't be lost forever. The Doctor recalling the events of Fond Farewell was good and I liked how he admitted to the Brigadier why he sought him out and didn't want to leave things unsaid between them after all they'd experienced together. The arrival of Kreel the Cyberman was very good and I loved how it was a Mondasian so old that it still had a name. His conversation with Fiona was stellar and I liked how it saw itself as a found soul, a survivor, and was even laughter which was chilling. Her reaction to seeing the Cyberman was great and sold their threat, as if it needed doing. The Brigadier's words at the memorial of those memories being captured into the arch was tremendous and I liked that the EMP on the bridge was done quite quickly. The Brigadier recognising the Cyberman was fantastic and I loved that Kreel now claimed Earth as its home and saved all of the humans at the bridge so it wasn't alone. The Doctor realising he had met the other Cyberman that was part of the reconnaissance mission was intriguing and the message of the not coming Forth meant to the bridge which was fun confusion. The Cyberman keeping the Forth Generation as a new breed of Cybermen set us up for a superb cliffhanger to lead into the finale as the Doctor realised the bridge was a silo, these Cybermen were more metallic and with the memories initially keeping them dormant, the Doctor's wiping of them set Kreel and the Cybermen free. Overall, a sublime episode! 

Rating: 10/10