You really don’t need to know anything about Benny to enjoy The Shadow of the Scourge. I’d say give it a go. 
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I plan to listen to the her solo series 1 anyway, so I’ll hit that MR after that, but thanks for heads up! I really wish this site had timescale’s prerequisites system 
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It is something which is hopefully coming to the site in the future but ‘prerequisites’ is a tricky area as different people have different opinions on what is definitely necessary.
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Is there any specific thread for it? I have a spreadsheet that I started way before this site existed for the exact same purpose - tracking and ranking DW stories.
The way to handle this that made the most sense to me is “hard” and “soft” prerequsits. Hard for stuff without which the story would make no sense, direct links and callbacks. Soft for things that would enhance your experience, but are not necessary, like character introductions
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I’m sure @shauny would be happy for some help in this area - he loves a spreadsheet. But he is spinning a banquet hall’s worth of plates at the moment so it might not be something which comes to the site any time soon.
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This is Robert Shearman’s BF debut and the first of his several superb stories. The Holy Terror is a masterpiece: engaging, emotionally riveting, mysterious, tense, funny, and scary. The softer Six is in top form here, and I love Frobisher. The guest cast is altogether superb, and every character feels well-developed.
I love how Shearman slowly turns the story from a simple religious and political intrigue into something much more sinister and horrifying. The killer child in the second half is probably the scariest “monster” ever in a BF audio, and Childeriic is a pure maniac. And the eventual revelation of the truth always hits hard.
Yes, I love this story. It’s a perfect 100/100 for me!
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I love this audio so much, Shearman is such a fantastic writer and this is one of the few early main range stories I own on CD i love it that much
Equal parts wacky and terrifying, Shearman is a master of the balancing act
All hail the big talking bird
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Just finished a re-listen to this. Even though I had this on CD at release, I don’t think I listened to it at the time. I did listen a couple of years ago and thought it was ‘meh’. This time I think it is ‘Good’. It didn’t blow me away, but it was enjoyable/creative. I still find Frobisher annoying, and what he adds to the story could have been handled by any companion. The fact that he is a shapeshifter, in the form of a penguin, didn’t mean anything other than a couple of jokes.
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Just listened to this (playing catch-up!).
The first part was really hilarious, and I love Frobisher!!
It got more interesting as it went on, then it went totally crazy and I knew there was going to be some kind of fictional world involved, at first I thought they were in the Land of Fiction.
The ending, and the annoying child, knock it down a few points, but the first half was just brilliant. It’s a 4/5 from me!
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Halfway through this. It’s a really good story, but I do think it loses something on a second or third listen because you know what’s coming. That said, it’s still a great story that covers a range of topics, such as religion, tradition for tradition’s sake, and father/son relationships, brilliantly.
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Finished this today and it is just so very good writing. The last episode, while quite dark, is very powerful. The things Shearman has to say about family and about sons idolizing their fathers and fathers disappointing their sons is just… wow! This was one of a handful of stories pitched to Tom Baker to entice him into Big Finish and I’m so glad Tom didn’t bite on this one, because I don’t think Tom could’ve conveyed the kindness and pure gentleness that Colin oozes in that final episode. This story, along with the Six/Evelyn run, shows just how good Colin’s Doctor could’ve been on TV if he’d gotten writers who cared enough to really explore his character. While I think I enjoy Chimes of Midnight and Jubilee more, this is an excellent story by one of the best Doctor Who writers ever and excellent example to share with those who don’t like Colin’s Doctor on TV.
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I also think that the guest cast is excellent in this. The actor playing Childrick especially.
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Well as one of the “group of fans who didn’t count the comics” (the DWM ones of the time - I’m more open to them now after starting on the Titan ones) I hadn’t been looking forward to this one at all.
I had always regarded Frobisher as a silly cartoon character who would never have worked on TV and exemplified everything I disliked about the comics. (I mean WHY did he persist in presenting as a penguin?)
But he came across fine enough here, and his appearance was instrumental to the story in that it was believable that the other characters would assume that a talking bird would be a god.
Speaking of characters, the first thing that struck me was how thoroughly dislikeable everyone was! I started off rooting for Livilla after the way Berengaria treated her in the first scene, only to quickly discover that she was every bit as bad herself, if not worse!
Even Pepin was perfectly OK with killing people.
It was obvious that there was something odd about Tacitus, but his actual identity still came as a surprise at the end.
Overall I did enjoy the story in the end, but I’m afraid it did take me a while to get into.
But I loved how the ending tied in so neatly with the beginning Frobisher scene so it was like the purpose of the whole adventure was to teach him a serious life lesson. (Clever TARDIS!)
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