Short Circuits: Get Rich or Die Trying

"My colleague here is looking for a new assistant."

Writer: Alex Hewitt (from a story by Natasha Siegel)

Format: Audio

Released: September 2026

Series: Circuit Breaker #12.2

Featuring: Andrew

Synopsis

Meet Andrew – a young man with a good job, a mysterious benefactor and a painful past he wouldn't wish on anybody. Following a coded message to the Jurassic Coast, where a team of palaeontologists are digging up a dinosaur skeleton, Andrew encounters a stranger who gives him a so-called time-travel device. Before he knows what's happened, Andrew is plunged back through history, all the way to the Jurassic period itself. 

Why has he been sent here? Who is his anonymous benefactor? And is he the victim of a sinister experiment? Only time will tell...

Verdict

Get Rich or Die Trying was a pretty average story to conclude the Short Circuits set of Short Trips that brings the Circuit Breaker multimedia adventure to an end. It has been a terrific ride to follow the Fugitive Doctor on her journey of exploration at UNIT and interjecting with her future as objects from who knows when in her timeline were all part of a trap laid by a unique Sontaran in the form of the Conductor. I must say, I'm all for content and Big Finish puts out so much but I really do question the necessity of this release. I don't think the timing works well at all as whilst this does have the feeling of an epilogue, it's a prequel depicting how UNIT picked up Andrew to work alongside them. I feel like we had enough of his backstory revealed in Full Circuit so I was expecting more motive here but I don't feel like I got that. I thought the premise of using time travel for financial gains was excellent though and it's always been something I am fascinated by. I think it's one of the first things I would do if time travel ability somehow found its way to me and it would just be fun to pull off some audacious bets! I work in finance though so maybe investing in stocks like was happening here would be a more subtle way to get rich. I certainly wouldn't be risking anything that might involve me dying trying as the story title suggests here. I thought Dan Starkey was fine as the narrator and he always does a good job. He's engaging, but I'm just not sure he was suited to the roles in the adventure. Omari Douglas as the voice of Andrew would have been so much better. I just want to reiterate that this doesn't mean Starkey did a bad job by any means! He always delivers. I thought the link to the Jurassic period was fun stuff though and it's a little far from 1991 indeed! The image of an undiscovered dinosaur skeleton was intriguing and I'm actually semi-well versed when it comes to dinosaurs because my little boy is absolutely obsessed with them! He's always got the latest Jurassic World movie on the television and he loves to test us on the names of different dinosaurs. He's a little genius on that topic so anytime dinosaurs play a role I'm invested. I thought Andrew going backwards in history was sold more in the synopsis than actually occurred in the story which was a tad disappointing and it was just a reminder to myself of why I try and avoid reading story details prior to listening. The mystery of the benefactor was fine but it doesn't have the same mystery given that Andrew's story is already complete and the role of the Conductor is known. It serves as a good aid to somewhat understanding his personality, but again I just question the timing of the release. It is difficult to judge this in isolation when we already know what comes of Andrew and his role in the whole arc across so many different formats. I thought the scene at the end with Osgood and Kate arriving to recruit Andrew was good and it was fun to hear Starkey's impression of them. Overall, I just don't think it was needed but it wasn't bad at all. It just failed to fully engage me which is a bit of a shame. 

Rating: 6/10