‘SNARE’

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Soul Snare with the Ninth Doctor and Rose

I’m glad Big Finish have done some Big Finish audios with the Ninth Doctor and Rose! 🙂

It’s something I’ve wanted to happen for a long time and at long last, Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper have reunited to reprise their roles as the Ninth Doctor and Rose from the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s something I didn’t think would ever happen.

The Ninth Doctor era is particularly special to me, especially when I first introduced to ‘Doctor Who’ through Series 1 of the new TV series with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. 2005 was the year that the new ‘Doctor Who‘ TV series began for many fans like me.

Mind you, it wasn’t until 2006 that ‘Doctor Who’ became significant to me, especially as I watched Series 1 properly with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper before getting into Series 2 with David Tennant and Billie Piper. A lot has happened to me since those days.

Beforehand, David Tennant and Billie Piper reunited to do some Big Finish audios, which were released in 2017. Billie Piper has also done some Big Finish audios portraying Rose Tyler during the time she spent jumping between universes in Series 4 of the new show. 🙂

Christopher Eccleston reprised his role as the Ninth Doctor in 2020 with the first of ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ called ‘Ravagers’ released in 2021. He did eleven more box set stories featuring his Doctor going solo before reuniting with Billie Piper for some tales.

I admit, I’ve not heard all of the preceding ‘Ninth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish before ‘Snare’, as I’ve heard the ‘Ravagers’, ‘Respond to All Calls’, ‘Lost Warriors’, ‘Old Friends’ and ‘Back to Earth’ box sets so far. I’ve yet to hear the rest of the solo Ninth Doctor stories.

Hopefully, I will get back to checking out the rest of solo Ninth Doctor stories by Big Finish in ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ series. It’s just, for this side-step, I wanted to check out these Ninth Doctor and Rose stories, having watched and enjoyed the duo in the TV series.

Plus, I felt with the solo Ninth Doctor box set stories that something was missing when checking them out, especially as there wasn’t a permanent companion the Ninth Doctor travelled with. He has met Bernice Summerfield and River Song, of course, in those tales.

But there didn’t seem to be much to go on with the anthologies in those box sets containing standalone episodes. The depiction of the Ninth Doctor travelling alone pre-‘Rose’ was fascinating to listen to, but it wasn’t something that maintained my interest. 😐

The missing element in those audio stories was of course Billie Piper as Rose. And because these brand-new audio stories contained Billie Piper reunited with Christopher Eccleston, it was hard to resist purchasing these audios on CD and checking out them. 🙂

Plus, with the audios being released in 2025 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series when it came out in 2005, it was very fitting to hear these stories to commemorate the occasion. Time will tell as to whether the stories are all worthwhile.

The placement for these audio stories is interesting, as they take place between ‘Father’s Day’ and ‘The Empty Child’/’The Doctor Dances’. At this point, Rose is in an emotional place. She witnessed the death of her dad Pete Tyler and she’s now recovering from that.

According to producer Matt Fitton, something is being set up throughout this audio stories featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose as much as something is being set up throughout the audio stories featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz. Should be interesting to check out.

I’ve had my own take on the Ninth Doctor and Rose as characters in my own ‘Doctor Who’ stories, including the ‘Zorbius’ story ‘The Child of Death’ as well as having them in multi-Doctor stories like ‘The Prime Factor’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. Such happy times!

At this point, I’ve yet to met Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper at a convention. Hopefully when the time comes, I’ll get a chance to meet them at some point whether individually or separately. I’ve heard nice things said about them. Hopefully, they’re true.

Anyway, the first ‘Ninth Doctor Adventure’ featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose is called ‘Snare’ by Tim Foley. I’ve just enjoyed ‘Vampire Weekend’ by Tim Foley, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz. ‘Snare’ is an equally good audio story to listen to by Tim Foley.

The story itself is directed by Helen Goldwyn, who has directed numerous Big Finish audios over the years, including ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Star Cops’ and ‘Timeslip’. It’s nice she gets to direct this first ‘Doctor Who’ audio story with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

Camille Coduri also makes a return appearance as Jackie Tyler, Rose’s mum in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Hearing Camille Coduri back as Jackie with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose does make the listening experience pretty worthwhile.

In ‘Snare’, the story introduces us to Kevin, an old friend of Rose’s, who returns to his late father’s flat on the Powell Estate where Rose lives. He’s joined by his photographer friend Marlene. I assumed Marlene was Kevin’s girlfriend, but it didn’t turn out to be the case. 😐

Upon entering his late father’s flat, Kevin and Marlene find a neon jungle in the bathroom. Kevin goes to Tylers’ residence for help where he’s reunited with Jackie. Also, Rose and the Doctor have been staying in flat for quite some time, and Kevin reunites with Rose. 🙂

The Doctor is keen to solve the mystery when he hears of the neon plants in Kevin’s flat. It’s interesting that the Doctor is staying with Rose and Jackie at their flat, considering the Ninth Doctor isn’t one for being domestic. It’s quite a change of character for him here. 🙂

Of course, the Doctor determines the plants are alien and works out how they happen to be in Kevin’s flat in the first place. Rose is apprehensive about the fact that Kevin’s father died since she didn’t know anything about it in the time she’s been away in the TARDIS. 😐

I like how Rose gets to reunite with Kevin in this story, especially when they spend some time in the park. It was funny to hear Rose and Kevin playing on the seesaw. I can just imagine Rose doing that from listening to the story and I wish it was shown via a TV sense.

The Doctor fetches some scanning equipment from the TARDIS and uses it to observe the plants, which vary from Earth flora to the extraterrestrial. Very soon, the Doctor, Rose, Jackie, Kevin and Marlene end up in a weird environment that happens to be a spaceship.

Christopher Eccleston is excellent as the Ninth Doctor in this audio adventure. Like I said, I like how this story sort-of tackles him being on Earth and spending time with Rose and Jackie for a bit. I think that this is something that’s going to be a theme throughout this audio series.

There are times where the Doctor can be a little insensitive, especially concerning how Kevin’s father, often named ‘Spider’ turned out, concerning his mental health. Rose tells him off for that and there’s a tense argument between them in the TARDIS in the drama.

Speaking of Rose, Billie Piper is equally excellent in this audio story. It’s interesting to explore Rose’s character following the events of ‘Father’s Day’ and how she connects to Kevin, who has recently lost his father. Billie also sounds just like she is in the TV series.

I did wonder if maybe Billie Piper’s recent surprise cameo at the end of ‘The Reality War’ would affect my listening experience of ‘Snare’. Surprisingly and thankfully, it didn’t, as Billie is able to play the down-to-earth nature of Rose Tyler’s character on audio superbly.

Camille Coduri is equally wonderful as Jackie Tyler in this audio story. I like how Jackie connects to Kevin in this story, since she’s known him for a long time and is quite motherly to him. The scenes between her and Rose are also enjoyable to listen to in this audio story.

It was funny when Jackie protested about having three cups of tea, including Rose’s and the Doctor’s, implying she would have to go to the toilet. I had to pause there, as it just made me laugh out loud. 😀 Apparently, Jackie planned to see the film ‘Titanic’ on TV. 😀

Alex Austin guest stars as Kevin in the audio story. For those who don’t know, Alex played Yedlarmi in the two-part story ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’/’The Timeless Children’. This is his first Big Finish audio, I believe. Hopefully, he’ll be doing more audios after this story.

It’s interesting how Kevin’s story was unveiled, especially when he becomes part of the adventure with the Doctor and Rose. The revelations of his father having mental illness were fascinating to uncover, especially when in communication with the Gardener in this story.

Hannah Brown guest stars as Marelene in this audio story. This is Hannah’s first ‘Doctor Who’ audio story by Big Finish, I believe. Outside of ‘Doctor Who’, she’s been in the ‘V UK’ audio series, including the stories ‘Visitation’ and ‘Occupation’, which I haven’t heard yet. 😐

Marlene is rather stuck-up and a keen photographer when wanting to photograph Kevin’s late father’s flat. I don’t think my character Billy Walker in my ‘Fifth Doctor’ series has taken as many photos as her. 😀 Hannah Brown also plays the Gardener in this audio story.

As the episode progress, the Gardener turns out to be Kevin’s father who ended up on the Soul Snare spaceship with its environment being a neon jungle. Interesting that Hannah Brown voiced the Gardener instead of a male actor, since it turned out to be Kevin’s father.

The story ends with the Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Kevin escaping the Soul Snare spaceship (sadly, Marelene got killed in this episode), whilst Kevin’s father as the Gardener flies the ship away. The Gardener requests that Kevin not know about what happened to his father.

The Doctor and Rose agree to this, but it doesn’t stop the Doctor from broadcasting to the Snare Soul ship via a radio for Kevin’s father to hear what his son has been doing since he left the Powell Estate and what he’s achieved. This is something the father is happy about.

‘Snare’ has been an enjoyable first audio episode to feature Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose. I enjoyed checking it out, as it’s nice to have Chris and Billie back together for the Big Finish audios after enjoying them a lot in the TV series.

Where this series of audios will go next is yet to be determined. I believe we’re going to spend more time on Earth with the Doctor and Rose staying with Jackie Tyler on the Powell Estate. Hopefully, there’ll be a variety to these audio stories as we progress through them.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of ‘Snare’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper and Camille Coduri, writer Tim Foley, producer/script editor Matt Fitton, director Helen Goldwyn, etc.

‘Snare’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Ninth Doctor was ‘Father’s Day’ (TV) For Rose was ‘Father’s Day’ (TV)	The next story For the Ninth Doctor is ‘The Last Days of the Powell Estate’ (Audio) For Rose is ‘The Last Days of the Powell Estate’ (Audio)
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