In Review: Big Finish: Doctor Who: The Early Adventures – Entanglement

Cambridge, England, the mid-1930s. When the Doctor, Steven, and Vicki get separated from the TARDIS they are forced to spend some time amongst the ancient spires of Sedgwick College. The college is mid-way through a leadership crisis following the unexplained disappearance of the Master of Sedgwick, Sir Isaiah Hardy. An election for his replacement is now taking place.

What has become of Sir Isaiah Hardy and why are the Procter behaving so oddly?

Review: Written by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky ‘Entanglement’ gives the Doctor and his friends a mystery to solve.

The Story

When The Doctor, Vicky and Steven land in Cambridge of 1937 they find themselves with a mystery. The campus of Sedgwick is in chaos with students prone to unexplained bouts of violence and the Procter’s are behaving in mysterious ways.

When Vicky disappears. The Doctor and Steven find that there is something very dark and sinister going on.

This story has a lot of fun character beats and some solid plot twists. That said though I found the Procters behavior a little obvious and felt it was somewhat telegraphed.

Most of the stories mysteries start to unravel in episode 3 and 4 when things take on somewhat of an unexpected turn.

Fans will likely appreciate the twists and be screaming by the close due to a rather unexpected cliffhanger, which will likely find resolution in next months release.

The Acting

As always Peter Purvis is superb in voicing both The First Doctor and Steven throughout the episode and Maureen O’Brien continues to channel the wide-eyed adventurous spirit of Vicky, which I remember from the few First Doctor adventures that I watched back in the day.

In terms of the guest cast. It was Philip Fox and Richard Braine that impressed me the most as Professor Charles Lewis and Professor Linus Woolf respectively.

Overall

While I did find a few of the story elements to be rather predictable. The story is saved by some wonderful acting performances and fantastic character beats and the main twist at the end, which you’ll not see coming.

I felt the Proctors would have been a lot more effective were it not so obvious in regards to what they are. Perhaps having them act a tad more human in the earlier parts of the story might have made them more effective.

Despite my few niggles. This is a pretty entertaining story with some wonderful soundscapes and a fairly nice soundtrack.