The Meddling Monks Part Three

"Did somebody say six?"

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: June 2026

Series: Dark Gallifrey 5.03

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, The Monk, The Nun

Synopsis

Monky Puzzle

An international jigsaw competition has come to town. Do the Monk and the Nun have time to compete before the arrival of a very special guest? There's only one way to find out. What could possibly go wrong?

Monky About

What's it all about? Well, it's a Big Finish finale so there's bound to be explosions, and chases with perhaps a starry cameo and a threat to all life on Earth. What could possibly go wrong?

Verdict

The Meddling Monks concluded the fifth series of Dark Gallifrey in intriguing and very good style! This felt different to the first two (or four depending on how you want to look at it!) parts and that isn't too much of a surprise given this was the finale. A Big Finish finale indeed! This was a lot of fun and I think it was the right call to inject the Doctor into the series. It makes sense and whilst it was tongue and cheek acknowledged that once he arrives he steals the show and takes all of the focus and attention, it is the Whoniverse after all and he's always the main character. I thought the format was intriguing and I had initially intended on following my blogging style for the first two releases in having two blogs for each with the separate titles, but this one caught me off guard and had its own twist! The story titled Monky Puzzle feels like a big red herring because we never actually had the Monk and Nun entering a jigsaw competition. It potentially should have been recognised as not something that was actually going to happen but given how whacky this instalment of Dark Gallifrey has been and the comical nature of the Monk, I thought anything could be possible! I was really taken aback though with the end credits coming at like six minutes for the first part and I felt it was still going to be two separate blogs because the Big Finish app had the parts at twenty-nine minutes each and I didn't feel there was any kind of obvious point where the first part ended. The flow was great! It was a really entertaining listen and I thought the introduction of the Doctor was tremendous. I wouldn't have thought that the sixth incarnation would be the most obvious choice for a sitcom style adventure, but he slotted in very nicely! Having John introduce him as Colin Baker felt like breaking the fourth wall a little too much in my opinion, but it was nice that he answered the call of the Nun! Touching upon Dark Gallifrey as something without naming it was good and I liked that this Doctor was from before it whilst they were after it and searching for it. What would they do with it if they found it? I guess we'll never know. I thought the Doctor arriving signalling that things were going to take a more serious turn was very good and he provided logic to the surroundings of then Monk and the Nun. He realised they were within a sitcom but specifically one for the radio broadcasting format. I thought that was neat and they soon realised that everything around them was all sound and not heard, only inferred. That tied in very nicely with the audio format for the listener experience. It's certainly unique to have an audio about an audio! John's origins being touched upon but not entirely understood was good and I think it's right to keep a being like him that was so focused on laughter and against everything being serious as ambiguous. The Doctor utilising the format to his advantage and summoning his TARDIS was excellent. He played his surroundings for his own comic effect. I thought the twist of him only being able to take one incarnation back was good and it just had to the Nun because he hadn't met her yet and that was played out well. The Monk was left behind but he was delighted that the sitcom effect was over! Playing around with being something out of time yet in time was good and I did like the incomprehensible nature of some of the story's elements. That's part of the fun. Overall, a great episode to conclude what has been a whacky release indeed! I don't think we'll get anything like this ever again! 

Rating: 8/10