Good fact: I love the Grel too! Am currently listening to The Glass Prison and I adore Sophia the Grel so much <3
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The length is definitely a “it’s not you, it’s me” thing.
When it comes to audios, I’m not really able to do much while listening to them without my concentration being lost. Two hours is a very long time for me to sit around “doing nothing”.
It’s difficult enough for me to pay attention to anything in a audio format (music being the one exception), so when I see a story that long I already know my thoughts are going to start wandering[1]
I loved the idea of this audio because panto is awesome (even though I’ve never been to one). But adaptation or not I felt like, after the initial shock of the transformations and meeting the characters, everything started going around in circles 
. Considering Six or Peri wasn’t involved, I still finished it, so that’s a plus in the title’s favor! I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday, and I did like this more than my original message probably came across 
and I may or may not start to get irritated by the voices and want the whole thing shut off. ↩︎
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It feels good to finally have listened to the one that started it all.
What a weird start ot BF and Benny audios - a bizarre fairytale mashup and pantomime with silly characters and great performances. Since panto isn’t something I’m overly familiar with, a lot of this didn’t land, but I appreciate the quirkiness of it (and the Brig as a talking cat!).
7/10
Oh No It Isn’t! is a charmingly chaotic first step into Big Finish’s world, as experimental as it is strange. The plot sometimes loses its way and the humour can be hit-and-miss depending on your familiarity with panto, but Lisa Bowerman’s performance, Jacqueline Rayner’s witty script, and the sheer audacity of the premise make this a memorable debut. It’s not perfect – more curious oddity than classic opener – but it’s a bold and fitting start for a character as unorthodox as Professor Summerfield.
Fun, flawed, and fabulously weird – and exactly the kind of gamble that would come to define Big Finish.
Feel free to read my full review below (spoilers hidden):
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I listened to this a year ago, my first entry in my BF Marathon From The Beginning 
.
Boy was it a struggle to get through. I can forgive early inconsistencies with sound levels and music, but it’s a Panto. I hate Pantomimes. I didn’t find any of it funny.
This one is also way, waaaay, too long.
Far from it being the worst offender in the first series of Benny, it is one I will never listen to again.
2/5
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That was my first Doctor Who BF.
And thanks a lot…
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I’m sorry but no. I tried, last year.
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Decided to give this a re-listen and am so glad I did. I am divided though on it as a story.
On the one hand it really is the oddest choice to start a new range of audios with. It’s camp, silly, packed with over-the-top performances and does rely on people being familiar with who Bernice is a bit too much.
On the other hand, it is actually a good example of what Benny does best - solving a mystery with the clues in front of her. The story actually develops at a really good pace (I do love that the cover boasts about the story being nearly two hours long) and it reveals it hand carefully and with Bernice working it out whilst having a fun time in the crazy world.
I know the panto stuff probably irritates some people but I’ve adored panto since I was a kid and I love the way it is woven into the story alongside general fairy tale tropes (another love of mine). It’s clever how the story shifts from one set of tropes to another and plays with the tropes a bit and the reveal that it’s all because of a dissertation on panto uploaded to a ship’s computer marries the weird reality and the ‘normal’ world of Bernice in a satisfactory way.
The over the top characters are huge fun and I adore Mark Gatiss channelling Kenneth Williams as the Vizier. Nick Briggs’ Julian Clary-esque fairy godfather is fun too. He also gives good Prince Charming and the rest of the cast are fun as various dwarves and dames.
Top of the list though are Lisa Bowerman and Nicholas Courtney as Benny and Wolsey. Nicholas Courtney is sublime as Wolsey, especially when he starts to have an existential crisis about not really being a talking pussy. He has a great line in dick jokes too.
But I think we undersell how brilliant Lisa Bowerman is in her first outing as Benny. She absolutely hits the ground running and owns the part. It really is no surprise that this series continues with Bowerman at the head of the ship. She is instantly likeable and pins Benny’s character immediately. She starts as she means to go on and I’m not sure she’s ever given a bad performance as Benny.
The Grel are a great creation too - all the ‘bad fact/report/query’ stuff is fun and I like the fact the script doesn’t try to force them into fairy tale roles but keeps them as outsiders like Bernice, but enlisting the help of villains to try to achieve their ends.
I think this is probably one of those stories you either love or hate and, you know what, I love it. 4/5
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You loved it but it didn’t get 5/5? 
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I don’t just hand out 5/5s willy nilly - and I know there is one even better story in this season.
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Checks for all of Mr. Delta’s 5 star ratings.
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43 in total. What’s your point Mr Ratings Police…?
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Just for my files…
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This is a classic,
Early Benny stuff is a bit of a drag to get through im finding. But this one is really good, entertaining.
8/10 easily
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Just to comment, when I said last week that I read “Oh No It Isn’t?”, I did actually listen to the audio afterwards. It was generally enjoyable, though I think the book went into more detail in the opening and some other spots. It was great getting to actually hear the characters, though…
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Should I read the book first? Considering getting it since it’s on sale
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I’ve never read the book (which is very unlike me) and one day I really think I should, but you don’t need to to listen to the audio.
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You don’t need to read the book first as they are pretty similar. The only main difference is that the book introduces some plot threads that continue throughout the series, which are excluded from the audio version.
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