‘The Five Companions’ (Audio)

‘THE FIVE COMPANIONS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Doctor, Nyssa, Ian, Steven, Sara and Polly vs. Daleks and Sontarans

Tim Bradley’s CD cover of ‘The Five Companions’ signed by Sarah Sutton, William Russell, Peter Purves, Anneke Wills and Dan Starkey

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at ‘Big Finish Day 6’, Slough, January 2015

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at ‘Big Finish Day 6’, Slough, January 2015

Tim Bradley with William Russell at the ‘Bournemouth Film & Comic Con 2015’, August 2015

Tim Bradley with Peter Purves at ‘Pandorica 2015’, Bristol, September 2015

Tim Bradley with Anneke Wills at ‘Pandorica 2015’, Bristol, September 2015

Tim Bradley with Dan Starkey at the ‘Bournemouth Film & Comic Con 2015’, August 2015

This is a lovely Christmas treat from Big Finish!

I love ‘The Five Companions’ very much! This is the 2011 subscriber’s special of the ‘Doctor Who’ audio range from Big Finish. This is an exciting action-packed adventure by Eddie Robson and features Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor with five companions, taking place during ‘The Five Doctors’.

The five companions are as follows. There’s Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and Anneke Wills as Polly Wright. There are also two sets of monsters featured in this audio and these include the Daleks and the Sontarans.

I wanted to have this subscriber’s special very much from Big Finish. But you can only purchase this audio from the Big Finish website via a 12-month subscription of main range audios either with the Paul McGann story ‘Army of Death’ or as a special free gift. So you can’t purchase this from Amazon!

However I managed to purchase ‘The Five Companions’ when I subscribed via Big Finish in 2011 and I’m very glad I did. ‘The Five Companions’ is worth having, since it is full of nostalgia and it features an exciting adventure with the Fifth Doctor and his companions against two well-known monsters.

I’ve had the CD cover of ‘The Five Companions’ signed by the lovely Sarah Sutton at ‘Big Finish Day 6’ in Slough, January 2015; by William Russell and Dan Starkey at the ‘Bournemouth Film and Comic Con’ in August 2015; and by Peter Purves and Anneke Wills at ‘Pandorica 2015’ in Bristol, September 2015.

As I said before, ‘The Five Companions’ is set during the events of ‘The Five Doctors’, the 20th anniversary special of ‘Doctor Who’. Ian, Steven, Sara, Polly and Nyssa are trapped in an alternative Death Zone with Daleks, Sontarans and dinosaurs in it. They don’t know how or why they got there.

The Fifth Doctor turns up and hopes to keep his companions alive. ‘The Five Companions’ was a joy to listen to for me! I was surprised Nyssa was the only young companion and Ian, Steven, Sara and Polly were older. But then this adventure is presumably set after their initial travels with the Doctor.

Jean Marsh, Peter Purves, Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Anneke Wills in ‘The Five Companion’.

I was delighted to hear Sarah Sutton as Nyssa in this audio. It’s nice that Sarah as Nyssa gets to be in a story with her Doctor and with four classic companions when they face Daleks and Sontarans. It’s also good that Nyssa is in a story set during ‘The Five Doctors’, which was a tale she wasn’t in herself.

This story takes place sometime after Nyssa left the Doctor in ‘Terminus’ and presumably before she reunites with him again in ‘Cobwebs’. I loved it when Nyssa reunites with her Doctor and I also liked it when Nyssa gets to have an adventure with Ian. Those two have some nice scenes together in this.

William Russell and Peter Purves in ‘The Five Companions’.

William Russell as Ian was a joy to listen to. I was so pleased to hear that Ian had married Barbara and I enjoyed Ian’s interaction with the Fifth Doctor; being reunited with Steven and sharing an adventure with Nyssa. I also liked the moment when Ian hid inside a Dalek from the first Dalek story.

I enjoyed Peter Purves as Steven Taylor in this adventure. Steven is the first companion who encounters a Dalek at the beginning and is rescued by Ian. I liked how a reference is made to Steven’s last adventure with the Doctor in ‘The Savages’ and how he interacts and reunites with Ian and Sara.

Jean Marsh and Anneke Wills in ‘The Five Companions’.

Jean Marsh reprises her role as Sara Kingdom in this adventure. I was surprised to hear Sara in this adventure, since I thought she was aged to death in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. But apparently there’s been some story going on in the ‘Companion Chronicles’ of how Sara managed to survive that death.

Anneke Wills was equally joyful to listen to as Polly. I liked how she meets up with Sara dodging dinosaurs and Daleks. I liked her scenes with the Fifth Doctor and it turned out she was an inspiration for him. It was great to hear Polly and Ben are still together after travelling in the TARDIS.

I was pleased to hear Peter Davison as the Doctor in this adventure. This adventure occurs when the Doctor used the transmat to escape the Cybermen during ‘The Five Doctors’. I liked the Doctor’s interaction with his companions and when he shows concern as he’s trying to keep his friends alive.

Left photo: Jean Marsh and Peter Purves in ‘The Five Companions’. Right photo: Director Ken Bentley, Nicholas Briggs, Sarah Sutton, Peter Purves, Jean Marsh, William Russell, recordist Toby Hrycek-Robinson, Anneke Wills, producer David Richardson and Dan Starkey in ‘The Five Companions’.

It was great to hear the Daleks in this adventure and they’re voiced again by Nicholas Briggs. All five companions have met the Daleks in their travels with the Doctor. Ian met them in the first Dalek story, Steven and Sara faced them in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, Polly in ‘The Power of the Daleks’ and Nyssa in the Big Finish audios including ‘The Mutant Phase’; ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’ and ‘Plague of the Daleks’ as well as ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ story called ‘Doom of the Daleks’. 😀

I equally enjoyed the Sontarans, who are all voiced amazingly by Dan Starkey. Dan plays the Sontarans in the new series of ‘Doctor Who’. I was fascinated that Steven knew about the Sontarans already and Nyssa also seems to know them already as, for her, this must take place before ‘Heroes of Sontar’.

The CD extras are as follows. There’s a ‘coming soon’ trailer for the ‘Companion Chronicle’ called ‘The Anachronauts’ with Peter Purves and Jean Marsh. There are also behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews with Sarah Sutton and Nicholas Briggs, William Russell and Peter Purves, Jean Marsh and Anneke Wills, Dan Starkey, etc.

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘Army of Death’ via a 6 or 12 CD/Download subscription with ‘The Five Companions’, you’ll get the following extras. As well as this story in the post, there is also a PDF script for ‘The Five Companions’.

The Five Companions! From left to right: Anneke Wills, William Russell, Jean Marsh, Peter Purves and Sarah Sutton.

‘The Five Companions’ has been a tremendously enjoyable ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure for me! This was my Christmas present for 2011 and I was pleased to hear the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Ian, Steven, Sara and Polly in it, fighting Daleks and Sontarans. It was a pleasurable, listening experience!

‘The Five Companions’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Five Doctors’ (TV) For Nyssa was ‘The Darkening Eye’ (Audio) For Ian was ‘Transit of Venus’ (Audio) For Steven was ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ For Sara was ‘The Guardian of the Solar System’ (Audio) For Polly was ‘The Forbidden Time’ (Audio) For the Daleks was ‘The Five Doctors’ (TV)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘The Eight Doctors’ (Book) For Nyssa is ‘Asylum’ (Book) For Ian is ‘The Time Museum’ (Audio) For Steven is ‘The War to End All Wars’ (Audio) For Polly is ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ (SJA) (Webcast) For the Daleks is ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ (TV)
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