The Forsaken

It's 1942, and the Japanese are invading Singapore. The British are resisting and on an island near the colony the last remnants of a British force are awaiting evacuation. The TARDIS lands in a deserted village and the travelers are taken to await evacuation with the survivors, but it becomes clear eventually that there is some other unearthly presence on the island on a killing spree. The stakes are high as always but for Ben they are slightly more so, as he discovers they are sharing the island with a certain Private James Jackson, and if he doesn't make it out alive, there will never be a Ben Jackson.

A few entries back I bemoaned the lack of Ben Jackson related tales; Big Finish have given us Polly lore up the wazoo, which is not surprising because up until now Anneke Wills has been the main "voice" of this era of the series when it came to narration and perspective. But now that Elliot Chapman has joined the cast in this respect, Ben can be represented just the same. While it is not a deep dive into some hidden tragedy in Ben's life - we already know that his father died of a heart attack, and the novelization of The Highlanders mentioned how his father taught him how to swim so their relationship was not complicated - it's still something of a balancing act for him to have some personal stakes for a change. Ben is all too aware of how time travel works, and it's in his best interests to make sure his father survives, but it doesn't really go anywhere beyond that with a real credible threat to Ben's future, so it just seems a bit... selfish?

How about our alien threat? It looks like Death, possibly unintentionally, but its power comes from the fear it creates in its victims, and it has some pretty fearsome claws it make sure it finishes the job properly. The TARDIS travellers, though, are used to this sort of thing and eventually can resist it; the Doctor merely stares it down and tells it off, prompting a stunned reply of "...what?" from it, Jamie and Ben intend to physically hunt it down and sort it out, and Polly, when cornered by it, goes the other way and gets angry and fights it off herself. I wouldn't call it the most effective alien they have ever come across, even if it does have all the physical traits one would expect, complete with heavy breathing like an obscene phone call. Reminds me a bit of something I saw on a Wonder Woman episode called a Zardour.

So with a so-so monster presence and some lost opportunities for more character fun with Ben, The Forsaken isn't exactly a "meh" audio, just not as punchy and exciting as it could have been. I would however make sure to point out that it was still a fun adventure for the TARDIS regulars, and their relatively short-lived supporting cast, and the incidental music used for transition between scenes was very effective, sounding suspenseful and exotic all at the same time.

This TARDIS crew have one more outing before the end of their days together...

NEXT EPISODE: THE MOUTHLESS DEAD