‘BUYING TIME’/’THE WRONG WOMAN’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Tenth Doctor reunites with Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven
The Tenth Doctor has gotten himself caught up in the ‘Dalek Universe’!
It’s taken me a while to get around to this point. I’ve been checking out the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ stories of ‘Doctor Who’ as well as ‘The Syndicate Master Plan’ season with Tom Baker’s Doctor. And I still haven’t got around to checking out ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ with Christopher Eccleston.
But here I am checking out the ‘Dalek Universe’ audio stories with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. Beforehand, I listened to ‘The Dalek Protocol’ with Tom Baker’s Doctor, which sets up the ‘Dalek Universe’ season. This is something I’ve been looking forward to very much.
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic happened, David Tennant has been able to play the Tenth Doctor in more audio adventures compared to pre-2020. This helps from working at home. I’m amazed that David’s Doctor has been able to enjoy more audio adventures and explore his Doctor at Big Finish. 🙂
The ‘Dalek Universe’ season of ‘Doctor Who’ audios is the closest we’ll have to getting a full-length season of brand-new Tenth Doctor stories as opposed to collections that contain three audio adventures. Yes, there are nine episodes instead of thirteen, but they are so worthwhile to listen to.
It was also intriguing to hear David Tennant’s Doctor joined by Jane Slavin as Anya Kingdom and Joe Sims as Mark Seven. This is why I listened to ‘The Syndicate Master Plan’ and ‘The Dalek Protocol’ first in order to get an idea of what the characters would be like before I listened to ‘Dalek Universe’.
The first three episodes of the ‘Dalek Universe’ season with David Tennant comprise of two stories. A two-part adventure by John Dorney called ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’ and a one-part adventure by Andrew Smith called ‘The House of Kingdom’. I was looking forward to hearing these. 🙂
‘BUYING TIME’ (Part 1)
In the first story of ‘Dalek Universe’ called ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’, we begin with the Tenth Doctor narrating a monologue. This was included the first teaser trailer for ‘Dalek Universe’. 🙂
I actually like how the monologue sets up where the Tenth Doctor is at in his lifetime and the namedropping of Rose and Donna helps. This emphasises the sadness the Doctor is going through. 🙂
By the way, it takes a while for the Daleks to appear prominently in ‘Dalek Universe’, as they don’t seem to be in the first box set. Mind you, there are some references to previous Dalek adventures. 🙂
The story takes place in the far future – the 41st century to be exact. Anya Kingdom of the Space Security Service is on a mission to find a crashed spaceship on a jungle planet with her fellow comrades. 🙂
The fellow comrades include Juliet Aubrey as her commander Esther Malkin and Chris Jarman as Vesht. But as they investigate, they find nearly all of the crew dead and in a very mysterious manner.
There appears to be one survivor however. This happens to be David Tennant’s Doctor. David’s Doctor recognises Anya when he reunites with her. She didn’t expect to find him aboard the ship. 😐
It’s interesting to hear how Anya Kingdom has been doing since she stopped travelling in the TARDIS with Tom Baker’s Doctor as Ann Kelso. There’s even a mention of her previous alias by the Doctor. 🙂
It turns out that Anya is looking for something specific on the planet the spaceship crashed onto. That happens to be Mark Seven, who rescues the Doctor, Anya and her comrades from the Visians. 🙂
Yes! The Visians of the planet Mira from ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ are in this story. In fact, that’s the name of the planet the Doctor, Anya, Mark and the others are on. They’re actually on the planet Mira! 🙂
David Tennant in ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’.
I enjoyed David’s Doctor’s reaction to the fact that he, Anya and the others were on the planet Mira. The Doctor is annoyed when Esther cuts out the lights, as it was the best defence against the Visians.
I also liked it when the Tenth Doctor interacted with Anya and Mark and how they reconnected, making references to ‘The Perfect Prisoners’ and ‘The Dalek Protocol’. It was enjoyable to listen to. 🙂
The Doctor was clearly unhappy about Anya Kingdom not turning out to be Ann Kelso after all. There’s also tension between him and Mark concerning what happened to Mark in ‘The Dalek Protocol’. 🙂
Very soon, the Doctor, Anya and Mark work as a team in order to uncover the mystery of Sheldrake Industries, run by George Sheldrake himself. Oh incidentally, the Doctor is without his TARDIS in this.
At this point in the story, I don’t know what’s become of the TARDIS and how the Doctor is struggling to remember what happened to him and how he first ended up in a spaceship on the planet Mira. 🙂
I like the references to the Visians and the planet Mira, especially in how the Visians are invisible. They sound vicious, especially when visitors come to their planet and the Visians end up killing them.
Mark Gatiss guest stars as George Sheldrake in the audio story. You may know him well for being a writer and actor in ‘Doctor Who’, as well as being a writer and actor in the BBC ‘Sherlock’ TV show. 🙂
As the Doctor, Anya and Mark uncover more about what’s going on with Skeldrake Industries and their involvement with Earth and Mira, the Doctor soon finds himself meeting a dangerous pastor. 😐
Chris Jarman plays the Pastor in the story. I’m not sure what his angle is here and why he eventually ended up shooting the Doctor with a weapon, but the mystery soon unravels as the tale progresses.
Anya and Mark find the Doctor in great pain and very soon…he regenerates. Huh? Didn’t they do this trick at the end of ‘The Stolen Earth’? You can’t repeat the same trick done in these stories, can you?
Once regenerated, the Doctor turns out to be…a woman…played by Gemma Whelan. At present, I’m baffled by what’s going on. I assumed David Tennant was going to be in the rest of ‘Dalek Universe’.
Is there more than there seems to be on what’s going on? Pretty intriguing that John Dorney utilises the same trick Russell T. Davies used in ‘The Stolen Earth’, but utilised it for the start of ‘Dalek Universe’.
‘THE WRONG WOMAN’ (Part 2)
In the second episode of the two-part opening story of ‘Dalek Universe’, it seems that Gemma Whelan is the new Doctor now. I liked how she interacted with Anya and Mark early on in the story.
Gemma Whelan’s ‘Doctor’ is enjoyable in being eccentric, when she’s changing clothes and keeping up to date with what’s going on in sorting out Skeldrake Industries and stopping their time tunnels. 🙂
Anya ends up going with Gemma Whelan’s ‘Doctor’ to sort out the crisis, as they journey from SSS Headquarters to Skeldrake Industries itself. Meanwhile, Mark assists Esther Malkin at the SSS HQ. 😐
As this occurs, Anya keeps experiencing temporal shifts and receives messages from David Tennant’s Doctor. But how can that be? Surely David’s Doctor died and regenerated into Gemma Whelan here.
Maybe this is a future incarnation of the Doctor who became David Tennant again. It’s possible. After all, David Tennant could easily become the Fourteenth Doctor judging by the 2022 rumours. 😀
Gemma Whelan in ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’.
But it turns out that Gemma Whelan isn’t the Doctor at all. She happens to be a female incarnation of…the Meddling Monk. Or specifically, the Nun! I greatly enjoyed this revelation in the audio tale. 🙂
It’s explained how the Nun managed to trick Anya and Mark with the Doctor regenerating into her when she meets up with David’s Doctor, whom she’s trapped in her TARDIS. It’s straight-forward. 😀
The Nun used a device to pass herself off as Chris Jarman as the Pastor before she shot the Doctor and trapped him in her TARDIS. She also utilised the device to impersonate the Doctor in the story. 🙂
David Tennant gets to play the Nun for a bit when she uses the device to put on the Doctor disguise when talking to the Doctor in her TARDIS. I enjoyed how the previous cliffhanger gets resolved here.
Incidentally, the Nun’s TARDIS happens to be a ‘holy book’, which she manages to get into when escaping Skeldrake Industries. The notion of a TARDIS taking on the shape of a book is very amusing.
I enjoyed the interaction between David Tennant’s Doctor and Gemma Whelan’s Nun. There are clearly echoes of William Hartnell’s Doctor and Peter Butterworth’s Monk between them in the tale.
I also find Gemma Whelan’s Nun to be a better villain than Michelle Gomez’s Missy. I know I’ve criticised her, but I can’t take Michelle Gomez’s Missy seriously compared to Gemma Whelan’s Nun.
It’s intriguing when it’s revealed that the Doctor actually kidnapped himself in order to come to Mira and meet up with Anya and Mark. The revelations on how that turned out are intriguing to listen to.
I like how the sadness of the Doctor’s longing to be with his people again is reinforced in this story. This is especially in meeting the Nun again, after what happened to him with John Simm’s Master. 🙂
When about to kidnap himself; there’s a moment where the Doctor is tempted to change his history, particularly with Rose Tyler. The Nun snaps him out of it. He soon does the deed to kidnap himself. 🙂
I liked it when the Doctor forgave Anya for what happened to Ann Kelso when she comes to him in response to his messages in the time tunnels. It’s a really nice sense of reconciliation between them.
Mark Gatiss in ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’.
I wish more was done in terms of Mark Gatiss as Sheldrake with him as one of the villains in the story. There’s a touch of it at the tale’s conclusion, but it’s overtaken by the Nun’s presence throughout. 😐
Chris Jarman also voices the Gorlan – silicate-based lifeforms that work for George Sheldrake as his security at Sheldrake Industries. They sound really vicious when sorting out the Doctor and friends. 🙂
The story concludes with the Doctor saying his farewells to Anya and Mark, as he’s about to return to Bury St. Edmonds where he was taken from. The farewells seem genuine between the three characters.
But just as the Doctor is about to go through a time tunnel, a Dalek, voiced by Nicholas Briggs, is about to come through. Shutting down the time tunnels, the Doctor realises he’s trapped where he is.
‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’ is a pretty enjoyable opening story in ‘Dalek Universe’, featuring the Tenth Doctor, Anya, Mark and the Nun. I’m currently curious regarding what will happen next. 🙂
‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’ rating – 8/10
| The previous story
For the Tenth Doctor was
For Anya was
For Mark Seven was
For the Daleks was |
The next story
For the Tenth Doctor is For Anya is For Mark Seven is For the Daleks is |
| Return to The Tenth Doctor’s Timeline | |
| Return to Ann/Anya’s Timeline | |
| Return to Mark Seven’s Timeline | |
| Return to The Daleks’ Timeline | |
| Return to The Doctors’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to The Companions’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to The Monsters’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to Doctor Who Timelines | |
| Return to Doctor Who | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Loved this series & this two part opener sets the mood from the get go, i like that if you know the backstory with Anya & Fourth Doctor it adds more dramatic weight although still works as a standalone adventure.
Good performances especially David Tennant who puts so much heart into his performances, he could’ve easily phoned it in for audio but his performance is as strong as it was on Tv.
A wonderful written review Tim, i always enjoy reading your reviews i maybe bit longer replying at minute as i battling mental health issues & not coping very well, my dad’s passing has taken it’s toll so I’m not engaging so much on the forums at the minute or reviewing although I’m ok to continue with Castravalva.
Hi Simon,
I hope to listen to more ‘Dalek Universe’ audios with David Tennant as well as ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ with Christopher Eccleston soon. Glad you enjoyed my review and glad you enjoyed this opening two-parter, as it sets up the ‘Dalek Universe’ series well.
It’s good David Tennant gets to do these Big Finish audios as the Tenth Doctor now and again with him being such a busy actor. No worries about replying to my reviews. I appreciate the mental health issues you have. I’m having to catch-up with reviews as well as our ‘Castrovalva’ discussion, so don’t be surprised if you find I’m not responding to any messages you send me.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂