The Soers' Ditch

"We don't have werewolves in London."

Writer: Carl Rowens 

Format: Audio

Released: April 2020

Series: Class Vol 3.01

Featuring: April, Ram, Charlie, Matteusz

Synopsis

After a disastrous double date night, Charlie, April, Ram and Matteusz find themselves transported to another level of reality. Can they survive the Soers' ritualistic traditions? And more importantly, can they save their friendships?

Verdict

The Soers' Ditch was an excellent start to the third volume of audio adventures for Class from Big Finish! I must admit that the perception of this series in my head is not the best and when we have two main characters like Tanya and Miss Quill being recast, I was very trepidatious about actually purchasing the sets but when they came on offer I couldn't resist. I have already sold them on eBay at nearly full money back so I can't complain with the downloads! And thankfully, this one didn't have any recasted characters with the quartet of April, Ram, Charlie and Matteusz. I liked the idea of them having a double date as that just seemed something so simple for students of this age to be doing in an evening. But the evening soon developed from friendly competition at bowling into a game of a very different kind. I really enjoyed the unique approach of going sideways by having the Class characters in a slightly different realm or dimension. That was refreshing and was a fun way to make the audios stand out. Whilst Shoreditch was actually very important to the story, the contemporary version we saw on screen was not the main setting for this one which was good. I liked how we were in a different reality and it was a very subtle shift to get there from the listener's perspective. The Soers were an intriguing race and them being divided into Urbans and Ruralists was well done. Splitting the main cast with April and Ram on one side and Charlie and Matteusz on the other was a nice approach. The hunter and prey style of story was excellent and whilst taking this approach, there was plenty of time to ponder and provide some strong dialogue. The relationship between Charlie and Mattuesz in particular was strengthened here and they really did proclaim their love. Matteusz was determined to get out and promised Charlie they would simply because he loved them. The presence of werewolves was fun and I liked how hidden they were for much of the story as it enhanced their fear factor and the anticipation of their presence. Agen was a fun character and I liked the confusion and hysteria that came from Charlie as a Prince of Rhodia not being human. His threats of bringing the Shadow Proclamation in was really nice continuity with wider Doctor Who and the fact they were actually half an hour away was excellent by the end! It was a little easy for Matteusz to find the flag that was the aim of the hunt at the end, but the fact there was one at all surprised the pair! The use of Ram's artificial leg coming into play on more than one occasion was very good and I really do enjoy his relationship with April. I'm a big fan of hers anyway. Her wanting to edit the Wikipedia page to showcase the events they experienced here was amusing, but the history of Shore Ditch and how that came from the Soers' Ditch and the game they were a part of in this story was magnificent. That tied things up very nicely. The ending with Matriarch and Patriarch and the punishment rolled out after being shunned from Earth after centuries of presence was eery and I do wonder if they will make a return. Overall though, an excellent start to the series! 

Rating: 9/10