I’ll be perfectly honest folks, I’m not what you’d call the biggest fan of the Fifth Doctor, I always found him kind of bland and meek, the complete opposite of some of my favourites. But that’s mostly in the show, Big Finish have certainly done a lot to give him some personality and depth, so let’s go over some of my favourites.
The Caves of Androzani - No best of the Fifth Doctor is complete without this story, still the best regeneration story in the show’s history and Davidson’s finest hour as the Doctor. Something the show should really take a page from is that the story isn’t some big end of the universe extravaganza and the regeneration itself isn’t something that’s overshadowing the plot. The story is very small scale with the Doctor and Peri being caught up in an underground war between the local army and a terrorist with his band of androids, and the regeneration is purely accidental, something that seemed so harmless as touching a toxic plant but instead turns out to be slowly killing the Doctor right from the start. And the regeneration is another standard bearer for the show where the Doctor without hesitation sacrifices himself to save Peri and then comforts her as he slips away, no crying, no speeches, no yelling about doing “SO!!! MUCH!!! MORE!!!”.
Spare Parts - A frontrunner for Big Finish’s greatest audio of all time, Spare Parts depicts the origins of the Cybermen on their homeworld Mondas, but it’s more than just being Genesis of the Daleks with Cybermen. It really delves into this bleak world and it’s people on the brink of death and how that desire for survival pushes some into surgically removing their souls and replacing their individuality with the cold presicion of machine logic. I’d also call this Davidson’s best performance as the Doctor, he is on top form in this story.
The Kingmaker - I’m not a huge fan of the extended travels with Peri which included a new companion Erimem as I preffered the idea of Peri only having just joined the TARDIS in Planet of Fire and then being put through the traumatic ordeal of Caves of Andozani before losing the kind and sweet man she just met for the more loud and rude Sixth Doctor. Not to mention this added lore features my worst Doctor Who story of all time (Nekromanteia). But with that said I do love Erimem and the dynamic between her and Peri, having companions from two vastly different time periods makes for some great clashes in their ideals, beliefs and how they see the world. Something I keep wishing the show would attempt cos ya know variety would be nice after 20 years! And another thing I love about Erimem (a former pharoah of ancient Egypt) is she’s a fish out of water companion, but she does demonstrate that she’s quick to learn and understand how all these new worlds she visits work unlike other fish out of water companions like Katarina. The Kingmaker is the highlight of her travels with the Doctor as the trio look to solve the deaths of King Richard III’s nehews and find out if he really did the deed. Only to find themselves seperated from one another by two years. Not only is the story told in two different time periods but it’s also told slightly out of order with certain details being ommitted until the final twist. The cliffhanger reveal of who the villain is is a proper jaw dropping moment and it just gets crazier from then on and I loved ever second of it. Think of this more as Doctor Who written in the style of an episode of Blackadder.
The Elite - An edition of the Lost Stories and one of it’s strongest, there’s not much I can say as this features a great surprise reveal of the villain which isn’t indicated on the cover so I won’t give anything away. But it would’ve been quite a unique episode had it been made compared to other episodes of Classic Who at the time featuring said villain.
The Peterloo Massacre - This is pure historical nailed perfectly, it really surprised me seeing Paul Magrs name on the cover as his stories tend to be more upbeat and lighthearted, then I remembered the guy’s from Manchester and it all made sense. One of the worst days in the history of the UK and certainly the darkest in Manchester, I highly recommend this but be warned it’s not a pleasant listen with little to no moments of levity.
Time in Office - Something I’ve found with Big Finish giving the Fifth Doctor more personality is that he is one of the funnier Doctors, or at least he’s one of the Doctors that’s best suited to a comedy story. Lot’s of people would look at this cover and premise and think we were in for yet another Gallifrey story that tries to be big and epic, but what we get instead is something more silly and is clearly not taking itself seriously. You know what, I dig that! I’ve already seen this premise of the Doctor ruling Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time and Hell Bent and those stories sucked!!! I’m quite welcoming of a more fun take on this idea.
The Auton Infinity - Celebrating the Fifth Doctor’s 50th birthday we have The Auton Infinity, the conclusion to the very short story arc where the Fifth Doctor is moved up and down his own timeline, now he comes to an adventure towards the end of his life where UNIT are carrying out a fake alien invasion with soldiers in plastic masks, but of course things take a turn for the worse with the return of the plastic terrors and the appearance of their former ally, the Master. Written by Tim Foley, The Auton Infinity is a fantastic conclusion to the Forty story arc, it offers a great take on the origins of the Nestenes, features the first proper full cast appearance of the Anthony Ainley Master in a Fifth Doctor audio, and you can bet is a well done celebration of the Fifth Doctor’s life with characters, refrences and nods to episodes from all corners of his life. It even features one of my favoruite Fifth Doctor scenes with Peter Davidson really pouring his heart out about what this Doctor really means to him.
Pursuit of the Nightjar - Back to back Tim Foley stories, and I’ll throw in Merfolk Murders as an honourable mention. Tim Foley has rapidly become one of my favourite Doctor Who writers to the point where anything with his name on it is a guaranteed buy from me and his work on the Fifth Doctor in particular has just been stellar, I’m really looking forward to what he brings in Hooklight next year. Pursuit of the Nightjar is probably his best work with the Doctor and co onboard a spaceship that was one of his inspirations as a child, but very quickly things start to go wrong and we see the Doctor pushed to his emotional breaking point as something so important to his childhood is falling apart all around him and every attempt to fix things has no effect.
Goth Opera - Hopefully this is a sign that Big Finish are relaunching what was once a criminally short range, there’s a whole gold mine of novels that would make for great audios and Goth Opera stand as one of the best.
A much shorter list than previously but believe me, there’s a lot more great Fifth Doctor stories out there, these were just my absolute favourites. This came out late from what was supposed to be Friday so I’ll see you all again later today for the Sixth Doctor, take care folks!
