Cuddlesome

"A good old fashioned furry friend never goes out of date."

Writer: Nigel Fairs

Format: Audio

Released: March 2008

Series: DWM Bonus 06

Featuring: Fifth Doctor

Synopsis 

Do you remember the Eighties? The Rubik's cube... Duran Duran... deelyboppers... and the Cuddlesomes: pink vampire hamsters, the must-have toy of 23 Christmases ago.

For so long now, the Cuddlesomes have been forgotten, lying in attics and junk shops. But now they're waking up. And they want to give us all a cuddle. A long, slow, deadly cuddle...

Landing in an England gripped by a strange new plague, the Doctor is soon on the Cuddlesomes' trail. But the toys are just part of a twisted plan to wipe out a whole generation...

Verdict  

Cuddlesome was a great audio adventure and an absolute steal being for free! I’m quite saddened that we don’t get original freebies from Doctor Who Magazine these days, but it’s safe to say that Big Finish is very much established now and doesn’t really need to promote in that way. Sure, DWM does get a number of freebies these days but I’ve often already bought them and there just feels something special about the exclusivity. By now, some fifteen years later, I’m lucky enough to get to listen to the story for free on SoundCloud and I actually couldn’t believe that I hadn’t listened to it already! I’ve always just assumed that I had but on a blog search it was clear that I hadn’t and after listening I was certain that was the case. It was good to have the Fifth Doctor travelling solo and this was definitely a strong performance from Peter Davison in the role. I really liked the chat age of Angela in that missing companion role and she would certainly have potential to become a fully fledged companion in the future. I was a big fan of hers and she was almost like a slightly more energetic version of Evelyn with her being older than the typical companion. The contemporary setting for the Fifth Doctor was fun and tying back to his era of the 1980s was excellent. I thought Ronald Turvey was a very strong character as the man who invented the Cuddlesome but he was incredibly troubled. It was actually quite sad to learn of his childhood and journey into university with his childish demeanour meaning that he didn’t exactly fit in as a fresher. He was bullied and degraded and that would set him off on a plan to eradicate people like that. I thought it was fascinating that he didn’t exactly want to use the Cuddlesome to kill children, but to kill what they will become. That was quite horrifying and his childish like nature with a failure to have grown up made him a really strong villain. Of course, it was more the Tinghus behind him that was the enemy but it took advantage of the childishness of Turvey which was pretty devious. The voice of the Cuddlesomes was freaky and I didn’t exactly think they were suited to being a children’s toy! Hearing one of them with John was pretty disturbing I must say. It was good though for people to be feeling retro and nostalgic about the Cuddlesomes as they returned to the market and all of those locked up in attics or storage were now coming back for revenge. That was frightening! The link between Turvey and the Tinghus was interesting to explore but I couldn’t help feel a little sorry that once that was broken it resulted in both being dead. Angela’s relationship with the Doctor was good and I thought the ending was rather fun with the Doctor returning three years after he initially smashed her greenhouse just to return her hammer! John having left her was not a big surprise but she was hardly bothered by it! She was quite okay with moving on with things and less impressed by the Doctor destroying her greenhouse once again! They weren’t exactly cheap. Overall, this was a really strong listen with a good emotional pull at its heart and some great characters! You really can’t go wrong with this for free. A hidden gem. 

Rating: 8/10