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Big Finish: Monthly Range #133
Doctor Who: City of Spires
Arriving in a hail of musket fire, the Doctor unexpectedly finds himself in the highlands of Scotland, where the ruthless Black Donald and his band of rebels are fighting the Redcoats. But the highland warriors no longer fight for the Jacobite cause and the English officers answer only to the mysterious Overlord. What has happened to Scotland and why are its moors littered with advanced, oil-pumping technology?
Reunited with his faithful companion Jamie McCrimmon, the Doctor must venture into the sinister City of Spires to find the answers. But standing in his way is the deadly Red Cap...
Reunited with his faithful companion Jamie McCrimmon, the Doctor must venture into the sinister City of Spires to find the answers. But standing in his way is the deadly Red Cap...
2 pages, Audio CD
First published April 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 19, 2012
I started listening to this play months back. I finished it last week because I decided I wanted to hear the next two. That's not a good sign, is it? Alas, while I can tell that everyone, especially Colin Baker, is firing on maximum, giving top-tier performances, I'm just not taken in. I've listened to this entire trilogy now and it's difficult to comment on one play without considering the other two, so these reviews may contain some spoilers. I apologise, but I can't best communicate how I feel about all this without taking in the "whole picture", and without giving specific examples where they're needed. That said, I'll go easy here because this is the first one.
And it all feels like a dream. Having listened to the trilogy now, in retrospect, this makes a sort of sense, but whereas a dream-like feel in certain films for example works to marvelous effect, here I'm not so sure. It's not that I expect realism from Doctor Who; it's that things just seem to run like some kind of clockwork machine of destiny through the whole play, as though things were just happening for their own sake and because this is Doctor Who and they're supposed to be like this. That's not entirely right, though; reactions are a bit awry, especially from the Doctor, who seems barely to acknowledge that things are very out of order in this late 18th century Scottish setting. I don't think they need to overplay the outrage and indignation of which Colin Baker is certainly very capable, but I'd expect more from him than this. It almost feels like I'm listening to a Davison story. It seems like he already knows what's going on and is just playing it quiet, but now I know that isn't true, so it's all down to Baker's acting, which puts forward a sort of "I suspect this but I'm not going to tell you about it" feel. Oddly, it's the same sort of sensation I got while listening to him play off Charlie a couple of years back, especially after she became Nila, and there it was a red herring too...the Sixth Doctor was more hopelessly in the dark than anybody in the audience! I'm not sure if Colin is getting a little weary of the incredulous things he's asked to do and believe in these scripts lately, but something is showing in his performances...namely, it's the intelligent and sharp sixth Doctor that I want to see, actually being channeled, probably unconsciously, through his performance, and not the uncharacteristically thick Doctor that the scripts are suddenly asking him to be. I used to assert that the Sixth Doctor adventures were almost always the most gripping in Big Finish's canon, but with the last couple of trilogies in particular the scripts just seem to be a bit floppy and unsatisfying. Colin is still wonderful, though, make no mistake, but I think he ought to be getting better material than this.
Each script is, of course, full of tasty morsels and some Doctor Who grateness. That's the thing, though...this isn't meant to be "Doctor Who: The Greatest Hits", a collection of bits that doesn't add up to anything much, and sadly that's been the impression I often get from these story arcs. I love epic tales, I want long stories, consequences for actions....but I only want all those things if they can be pulled off with style and class.
Jamie is back. He's going to get into the TARDIS at the end of this one and travel with the Sixth Doctor. Cool...everybody knew about this beforehand anyway as it was hyped to hell. Except, Jamie doesn't remember anything. He doesn't even remember Doctor Who and the Highlanders (!). That's supposed to be a tip-off that something is wrong. He's a suspicious old highlander, hardened to fighting, who doesn't even remember the Second Doctor, Ben, Polly or the TARDIS, let alone the Cybermen or the Time Lords. He doesn't have much of a rapport with Colin Baker here because the Sixth Doctor wants things to go back to the way they were in the old days, but to Jamie, there simply aren't any. I suspect this is supposed to be a theme of the series. Still, Six's affection for Jamie seems very genuine and is rather heartwarming.
There are some English soldiers (faceless), a mysterious oil refinery type place (coolest thing about the play, I guess), some Scottish rebels and an amusing bit of alien somethingorother meant to terrirorise the locals and keep them in line. The main villain seems almost like a carbon copy of the thing from the first story in the preceding trilogy of McCoy adventures, A Thousand Tiny Wings. I do listen to a good number of these plays, you know, guys; I notice these things.
And after all that I'm struggling to find things to say about City of Spires. This really ought not to be the case as this should have been something big...Jamie and the Doctor re-united, something running amok with time...but instead it all seems very normal, and, well, almost uneventful. Maybe it's just me; perhaps I wasn't in the right mood for this serial, or maybe the writing just lacks a certain sparkle to make it come to life, but almost nothing stood out to me about this adventure. There have been other Big Finish plays like this, but usually I can find something more to say about them. I'd skip it, except if you want to delve into the trilogy, you sort of need to hear all of them. Now there's another reason to do self-contained stories.
And it all feels like a dream. Having listened to the trilogy now, in retrospect, this makes a sort of sense, but whereas a dream-like feel in certain films for example works to marvelous effect, here I'm not so sure. It's not that I expect realism from Doctor Who; it's that things just seem to run like some kind of clockwork machine of destiny through the whole play, as though things were just happening for their own sake and because this is Doctor Who and they're supposed to be like this. That's not entirely right, though; reactions are a bit awry, especially from the Doctor, who seems barely to acknowledge that things are very out of order in this late 18th century Scottish setting. I don't think they need to overplay the outrage and indignation of which Colin Baker is certainly very capable, but I'd expect more from him than this. It almost feels like I'm listening to a Davison story. It seems like he already knows what's going on and is just playing it quiet, but now I know that isn't true, so it's all down to Baker's acting, which puts forward a sort of "I suspect this but I'm not going to tell you about it" feel. Oddly, it's the same sort of sensation I got while listening to him play off Charlie a couple of years back, especially after she became Nila, and there it was a red herring too...the Sixth Doctor was more hopelessly in the dark than anybody in the audience! I'm not sure if Colin is getting a little weary of the incredulous things he's asked to do and believe in these scripts lately, but something is showing in his performances...namely, it's the intelligent and sharp sixth Doctor that I want to see, actually being channeled, probably unconsciously, through his performance, and not the uncharacteristically thick Doctor that the scripts are suddenly asking him to be. I used to assert that the Sixth Doctor adventures were almost always the most gripping in Big Finish's canon, but with the last couple of trilogies in particular the scripts just seem to be a bit floppy and unsatisfying. Colin is still wonderful, though, make no mistake, but I think he ought to be getting better material than this.
Each script is, of course, full of tasty morsels and some Doctor Who grateness. That's the thing, though...this isn't meant to be "Doctor Who: The Greatest Hits", a collection of bits that doesn't add up to anything much, and sadly that's been the impression I often get from these story arcs. I love epic tales, I want long stories, consequences for actions....but I only want all those things if they can be pulled off with style and class.
Jamie is back. He's going to get into the TARDIS at the end of this one and travel with the Sixth Doctor. Cool...everybody knew about this beforehand anyway as it was hyped to hell. Except, Jamie doesn't remember anything. He doesn't even remember Doctor Who and the Highlanders (!). That's supposed to be a tip-off that something is wrong. He's a suspicious old highlander, hardened to fighting, who doesn't even remember the Second Doctor, Ben, Polly or the TARDIS, let alone the Cybermen or the Time Lords. He doesn't have much of a rapport with Colin Baker here because the Sixth Doctor wants things to go back to the way they were in the old days, but to Jamie, there simply aren't any. I suspect this is supposed to be a theme of the series. Still, Six's affection for Jamie seems very genuine and is rather heartwarming.
There are some English soldiers (faceless), a mysterious oil refinery type place (coolest thing about the play, I guess), some Scottish rebels and an amusing bit of alien somethingorother meant to terrirorise the locals and keep them in line. The main villain seems almost like a carbon copy of the thing from the first story in the preceding trilogy of McCoy adventures, A Thousand Tiny Wings. I do listen to a good number of these plays, you know, guys; I notice these things.
And after all that I'm struggling to find things to say about City of Spires. This really ought not to be the case as this should have been something big...Jamie and the Doctor re-united, something running amok with time...but instead it all seems very normal, and, well, almost uneventful. Maybe it's just me; perhaps I wasn't in the right mood for this serial, or maybe the writing just lacks a certain sparkle to make it come to life, but almost nothing stood out to me about this adventure. There have been other Big Finish plays like this, but usually I can find something more to say about them. I'd skip it, except if you want to delve into the trilogy, you sort of need to hear all of them. Now there's another reason to do self-contained stories.
October 4, 2022
I wasn’t as into this, but maybe that’s because I already know how this arc ends, having listened to the last installment of this trilogy nearly two years ago before being aware that it was part of a trilogy.
August 7, 2023
The return of Jamie McCrimmon! I had high hopes for this one. As Jamie is one of my absolute favorite companions, I was expecting this one to be a shoe-in for a favorite. Guess I set my hopes to high. It’s good, but it’s not spectacular.
November 6, 2023
Fun reintroduction of Jamie that slowly becomes a slow boring story that could have been half its length and not missed much. (Will update if the rest of this trilogy retroactively makes this story better(.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2025
Colin Baker and Frazer Hines make for good listening, undiminished by the passing years. The story, while diverting enough, exists mostly to reunite their characters, the Overlord proving a paltry adversary even by Doctor Who’s standards of dim villains with dubious schemes.
August 1, 2023
Enjoyed this older Jamie story.
April 1, 2025
I always like returning characters, but the first part of this story just didn't grab me. But "TTFN" was great :D
December 15, 2025
Great story with 6 and Jamie. I like how the plot is pretty low to the ground and keeps 6 and Jamie regularly engaged in dialogue with each other.
August 10, 2021
City of Spires is the start of a Big Finish Monthly Range trilogy (the Main Range moved to being primarily trilogies in 2009) and is the 133rd Main Range release. It sees the Sixth Doctor arrive in the Scottish Highlands where he reunites with former companion Jamie McCrimmon. Through the course of the story, there appears to something wrong with time. Of course, all is revealed in the final story of the trilogy, but I won't spoil that here. What we end up with is an enjoyable story. Colin Baker and Frazer Hines as the Doctor and Jamie respectively, shine in this. It's good, but the next two are better.
November 18, 2017
This is the first part of a trilogy of closely connected stories pairing the Sixth Doctor with former Second Doctor companion Jamie McCrimmon. The Doctor arrives in Scotland in 1780, at a time when the Jacobite cause is essentially dead and have been replaced by the Clearances as a cause of rebellion for the Highlanders. It becomes clear almost from the first few moments of the story, though, that all is not as it seems, and not just because there are monsters prowling in the glen.
This, unfortunately, is the biggest weakness of the story, which piles mystery upon mystery but never provides any meaningful answers. Now, of course, the reason for that is that those answers are being held over for the next two parts of the trilogy, but they're so prominent here that their lack of resolution makes the story feel somewhat unsatisfying - there's no cliffhanger, just a sense that we never had time to get to the bottom of anything.
The story itself is functional, being based around aliens taking over Scotland to (apparently) drill for oil, but little more than that. At times it's a little difficult to follow what's happening, as if it was more written for a visual medium than an audio one, although it does all come together in the end. On the other hand, while Georgia Moffat is given relatively little to do, Hines and Baker do an excellent job with their characters. Indeed, the pairing works better than might be expected, with Six proving an able replacement for Two, contrasting the Doctor's intellectualism with Jamie's straightforward approach.
Overall, though, the story works better as a starting point for the new trilogy than it does on its own, and is perhaps overly long for that particular role - things certainly speed up significantly in the other two parts.
This, unfortunately, is the biggest weakness of the story, which piles mystery upon mystery but never provides any meaningful answers. Now, of course, the reason for that is that those answers are being held over for the next two parts of the trilogy, but they're so prominent here that their lack of resolution makes the story feel somewhat unsatisfying - there's no cliffhanger, just a sense that we never had time to get to the bottom of anything.
The story itself is functional, being based around aliens taking over Scotland to (apparently) drill for oil, but little more than that. At times it's a little difficult to follow what's happening, as if it was more written for a visual medium than an audio one, although it does all come together in the end. On the other hand, while Georgia Moffat is given relatively little to do, Hines and Baker do an excellent job with their characters. Indeed, the pairing works better than might be expected, with Six proving an able replacement for Two, contrasting the Doctor's intellectualism with Jamie's straightforward approach.
Overall, though, the story works better as a starting point for the new trilogy than it does on its own, and is perhaps overly long for that particular role - things certainly speed up significantly in the other two parts.
June 24, 2010
The Doctor arrives in a Scotland where some alien force is messing with the timeline, and meets a Jamie MacCrimmon who doesn't remember ever meeting a Doctor. (In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this Jamie comes from a timeline in which he and the Doctor never met.)
This is very much not a standalone story - at the end of the story, the immediate local threat is resolved, but we still don't know who's interfered with the timeline, and to what purpose, and there are a number of smaller details that haven't quite been tied up. Still, it's delightful to hear Jamie back, and I'm quite looking forward to the next installment in the story.
This is very much not a standalone story - at the end of the story, the immediate local threat is resolved, but we still don't know who's interfered with the timeline, and to what purpose, and there are a number of smaller details that haven't quite been tied up. Still, it's delightful to hear Jamie back, and I'm quite looking forward to the next installment in the story.
May 21, 2010
has the Sixth Doctor encountering Jamie in a strangely altered Scotland; the City of Spires of the title is none other than Grangemouth, turned into what appears to be an oil-producing metropolis in the eighteenth century. Or is it the ninteenth? And is it really. oil? And why doesn't Jamie even remember his meeting with the Doctor in 1745? None of these questions is actually answered, which I think is a new twist in Big Finish's generally successful shift to producing mini-seasons of each Doctor. A special shout-out to Georgia Moffett who plays a terribly posh but very confused young woman.
December 9, 2010
I loved this. It was so good to see Jamie in action once again and he and the 6th Doctor play off each other very well. The plot kept me guessing - and still is in places as some of the mystery of it continues into their next adventure.
I liked the way in which they did make it later to reflect the fact that Jamie is older now, and his position in his society and what he's done with his life. It's very OC for the character.
Wonderful stuff :) It takes me back to classic stories such as The Two Doctors which is one of my favourites.
I liked the way in which they did make it later to reflect the fact that Jamie is older now, and his position in his society and what he's done with his life. It's very OC for the character.
Wonderful stuff :) It takes me back to classic stories such as The Two Doctors which is one of my favourites.
August 9, 2014
The best thing abt this play is the title, I'm afraid. I only managed to get to the end bc of Jamie, Colin Baker being his usual good actor self & the kick of hearing "Jenny, the Doctor's daughter", 5th Doc's actual daughter & 10th Doc's wife in one charming package that is Georgia Moffet. And because I was stuck on a train w/ nothing better to do.
I'd recommend to skip this one but it seems to start a Sixie and Jamie arc...which is the only reason I give this a (very weak) 3/5.
I'd recommend to skip this one but it seems to start a Sixie and Jamie arc...which is the only reason I give this a (very weak) 3/5.
June 13, 2014
I must admit to have spoilt myself over this one by listening to the last of these three adventures of Jamie and Colin Baker's Doctor. Knowing what was going on took away the mystery and as such I just found it quite dull. I think even if I didn't know I still would have found the mixture of historical and all the anachronisms to be frustrating.
February 2, 2014
Someone said at a convention once that you can make Six work with almost anyone, and I find that to be true. The plot was interesting, but I was in this for the Six and Jamie interaction, and the audio didn't disappoint.
January 21, 2016
The Doctor ends up in the highlands of scotland and runs into Jamie who doesn't remember traveling with him. Jamie is fighting redcoats and a frenchman who is helping a man take mineral resources from the area. Or is it a man. Can the Doctor solve the problem of the time?
July 21, 2015
I was never a fan of the Doctor's highlander stories but it was a welcome blast from the past to see Jamie turn up over 40 years later.
March 16, 2016
Dixie meets Second Doctor Companion Jamie McCrimmon. Jamie doesn't remember him,
February 12, 2011
My first exposure to the sixth Doctor (audio or otherwise) and I quite liked him. Good story, too.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews