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Big Finish: Monthly Range #10
Doctor Who: Winter for the Adept
When a teleportation accident goes badly wrong, Nyssa finds herself stranded on the freezing slopes of the Swiss Alps in 1963. But is it mere coincidence that she finds shelter in a snowbound school haunted by a malevolent poltergeist?
When the Doctor arrives, Nyssa and the other inhabitants of the school soon discover that the ghost is merely part of a darker, deeper and more deadly game involving rogue psi talents and something else... Something not of this Earth.
Chronological Placement: This story takes place between the television adventures, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity.
When the Doctor arrives, Nyssa and the other inhabitants of the school soon discover that the ghost is merely part of a darker, deeper and more deadly game involving rogue psi talents and something else... Something not of this Earth.
Chronological Placement: This story takes place between the television adventures, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity.
Audio CD
First published July 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
April 5, 2019
A really great atmospheric adventure featuring The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa in a secluded snowbound girls academy in the Swiss alps.
Strange poltergeist activity plagues the school, whilst the wintry setting really adds to the tension.
The first part has a real Doctor-lite feel as Nyssa had initially been transported to the location of the story during one of the Doctors experiments, it’s a great way to set the scene as Sarah Sutton has the chance to shine.
The secluded mountain setting gave a great horror vibe to this story, all of the supporting cast are good but it’s Davison and Sutton who stand out. It’s nice the Big Finish are able to give these characters stories together.
It’s a perfect story for audio.
Strange poltergeist activity plagues the school, whilst the wintry setting really adds to the tension.
The first part has a real Doctor-lite feel as Nyssa had initially been transported to the location of the story during one of the Doctors experiments, it’s a great way to set the scene as Sarah Sutton has the chance to shine.
The secluded mountain setting gave a great horror vibe to this story, all of the supporting cast are good but it’s Davison and Sutton who stand out. It’s nice the Big Finish are able to give these characters stories together.
It’s a perfect story for audio.
July 8, 2017
Now here's an enjoyable journey back in time in two ways. First of all we journey back to the year 2000 when this audio story was released by Big Finish. Today they have a huge range of Doctor Who stories, but way back then this was just number 10.
Then we journey back in time to the frozen Swiss Alps in 1963, where this fifth Doctor adventure takes place.
There's a good cast with Peter Davison as The Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa & plenty of good support including Babylon 5 star Peter Jurasik. Writer Andrew Cartmel conjures up an excellent unnerving atmosphere & the story has a certain magic that has been lacking from the Doctor Who TV series for the last few years. Check it out.....it's a bit of a gem.
Then we journey back in time to the frozen Swiss Alps in 1963, where this fifth Doctor adventure takes place.
There's a good cast with Peter Davison as The Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa & plenty of good support including Babylon 5 star Peter Jurasik. Writer Andrew Cartmel conjures up an excellent unnerving atmosphere & the story has a certain magic that has been lacking from the Doctor Who TV series for the last few years. Check it out.....it's a bit of a gem.
February 22, 2023
"We're wondering if you ever had any... unusual experiences?"
August 3, 2013
Brilliant! By far my favourite so far, along with The Marian Conspiracy of course.
The Fifth Doctor sends Nyssa off into a snowdrift in Switzerland, which leaves her understandably rather testy for the duration of this adventure. She stumbles into a snowbound girl's academy where some very strange psychic disturbances are being felt.
The Doctor shows up shortly, causing a Satanic panic in the devout principal. The girl Allison's awe-struck reaction to the appearance of the old Police Box and its inhabitant is handled most endearingly. I hate beating up on the Moff - oh, who am I kidding, I love it - but this is how you do it, not with a simpering Amy Pond trying to smooch the Doctor and flinging herself seductively across her bed. Anyway, there's all sorts of thrilling stuff going on, some great, great voice acting and sound effects and music and this episode really showcases how adept (hah!) Big Finish are getting at their chosen format.
The Doctor is characterised very well, he loathes violence, feels that if you take skepticism too far you could cut your throat with Occam's razor, he likes a good cup of tea, he hates having to explain what he's up to until he's absolutely certain, he doesn't like Nyssa being sarcastic about the Tardis' accuracy.
The ghost of the mountaineer is another wonderful piece of writing, always tagging along unseen, fleeing with the rest when the Doctor tells everyone to evade impending danger and getting very bashful when asked how it feels to haunt a girl's school. And he's a haunted ghost too!
The psychic daisy chain is a great conception, very classic SPR stuff. The final reveal with another alien race that bleeds worlds dry and moves on is standard Whovian fare, but well played and adding a suitably science-fictional conclusion to what is a classical ghost story for the most part.
All in all, a real triumph and the clincher in my decision to persevere listening to these dramas.
The Fifth Doctor sends Nyssa off into a snowdrift in Switzerland, which leaves her understandably rather testy for the duration of this adventure. She stumbles into a snowbound girl's academy where some very strange psychic disturbances are being felt.
The Doctor shows up shortly, causing a Satanic panic in the devout principal. The girl Allison's awe-struck reaction to the appearance of the old Police Box and its inhabitant is handled most endearingly. I hate beating up on the Moff - oh, who am I kidding, I love it - but this is how you do it, not with a simpering Amy Pond trying to smooch the Doctor and flinging herself seductively across her bed. Anyway, there's all sorts of thrilling stuff going on, some great, great voice acting and sound effects and music and this episode really showcases how adept (hah!) Big Finish are getting at their chosen format.
The Doctor is characterised very well, he loathes violence, feels that if you take skepticism too far you could cut your throat with Occam's razor, he likes a good cup of tea, he hates having to explain what he's up to until he's absolutely certain, he doesn't like Nyssa being sarcastic about the Tardis' accuracy.
The ghost of the mountaineer is another wonderful piece of writing, always tagging along unseen, fleeing with the rest when the Doctor tells everyone to evade impending danger and getting very bashful when asked how it feels to haunt a girl's school. And he's a haunted ghost too!
The psychic daisy chain is a great conception, very classic SPR stuff. The final reveal with another alien race that bleeds worlds dry and moves on is standard Whovian fare, but well played and adding a suitably science-fictional conclusion to what is a classical ghost story for the most part.
All in all, a real triumph and the clincher in my decision to persevere listening to these dramas.
February 19, 2023
Brilliant
April 3, 2023
A simply wonderful story with peter davison and ghosts and the hint of the paranormal! What a joy 🤗
Read
April 8, 2009A rather peculiar tale of the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa dealing with poltergeists in a Swiss finishing school. The Doctor himself barely appears until the end of the first of the four short episodes, and almost everyone is putting on silly accents. Really not very convincing in the end.
February 16, 2020
The tenth Big Finish Audio Adventure of this series, starring Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, has a lot of potential to be a memorable episode, but this potential is ultimately sidelined in favour of a half baked yet overly complicated alien plot.
It is a shame that this story didn’t totally translate completely upon listening because it contained several elements that had great potential. The opening moments, where an elderly Alison looks at her diary and recalls the day the Doctor arrives at the boarding school she was at, feels reminiscent of the First Doctor TV adventure Marco Polo, except this stylistic choice was bizarrely only utilised in the opening and closing seconds. The isolated school in the snow could have created some very spooky moments by itself but, apart from the occasional wardrobe and window moving in Part 1, lacks atmosphere. Finally, there was a character with so much potential in the form of Miss Tremayne, the Scottish God-fearing headmistress, but she is bumped off in favour of a rather dull alien invasion narrative crammed into the final part. There were some choices made during the story that I do question as it could have been the first Peter Davison Big Finish adventure that I found memorable if these elements were more prominent.
The narrative also makes itself unnecessarily complicated for no reason at all. Nyssa is accidentally teleported to the Swiss Alps during one of the Doctor’s experiments and I actually liked the first part because it contained very little of the Doctor – it allowed Nyssa to be able to have more characterisation I found. When the Doctor arrived though, there was essentially three parts with not much happening, since the listeners and Nyssa are both waiting for the Doctor to reveal what they were trying to find with the experiments in the first place. When the plot kicked on towards the end of Part Three, it went from a slightly atmospheric ghost story to a generic alien invasion. There is then a needlessly complicated explanation as to why the poltergeist activity is taken place, the ghost turns out to be underwhelming and the alien threat, when revealed, appear and are dispatched of very quickly. A more straightforward narrative, possibly with a greater frequency of the stylistic choices I suggested above, could have made this episode more successful than what it was.
The voice acting, for the most part, is merely adequate. I did enjoy Part 1 for the reason that it allowed Sarah Sutton a chance to expand Nyssa beyond the subtle portrayal that viewers saw when the characters saw in the TV series. It was also good to see her angry with the Doctor for the majority of the adventure for having her almost as his pawn by teleporting her to the Swiss Alps. As for the Fifth Doctor himself, I feel like a broken record in every one of these reviews, because I still don’t think that the writers are giving Peter Davison the correct material to allow the character to bloom. The only thing I can remember from his character in this episode is that he was always keeping things from the other characters. Other than that, there are okay portrayals of the two school girls, Miss Tremayne I have mentioned above as the best character, and a rather stereotypical representation of a French teacher. The villains of this episode also sound like every other, save for a squelching noise that I don’t want to imagine.
Winter for the Adept had the raw materials to be the best Fifth Doctor Big Finish audio adventure to date. However, some mystifying choices turned this from a creepy ghost story to a dull alien invasion one. It is not bad by any means but it disappointed me upon reflection.
It is a shame that this story didn’t totally translate completely upon listening because it contained several elements that had great potential. The opening moments, where an elderly Alison looks at her diary and recalls the day the Doctor arrives at the boarding school she was at, feels reminiscent of the First Doctor TV adventure Marco Polo, except this stylistic choice was bizarrely only utilised in the opening and closing seconds. The isolated school in the snow could have created some very spooky moments by itself but, apart from the occasional wardrobe and window moving in Part 1, lacks atmosphere. Finally, there was a character with so much potential in the form of Miss Tremayne, the Scottish God-fearing headmistress, but she is bumped off in favour of a rather dull alien invasion narrative crammed into the final part. There were some choices made during the story that I do question as it could have been the first Peter Davison Big Finish adventure that I found memorable if these elements were more prominent.
The narrative also makes itself unnecessarily complicated for no reason at all. Nyssa is accidentally teleported to the Swiss Alps during one of the Doctor’s experiments and I actually liked the first part because it contained very little of the Doctor – it allowed Nyssa to be able to have more characterisation I found. When the Doctor arrived though, there was essentially three parts with not much happening, since the listeners and Nyssa are both waiting for the Doctor to reveal what they were trying to find with the experiments in the first place. When the plot kicked on towards the end of Part Three, it went from a slightly atmospheric ghost story to a generic alien invasion. There is then a needlessly complicated explanation as to why the poltergeist activity is taken place, the ghost turns out to be underwhelming and the alien threat, when revealed, appear and are dispatched of very quickly. A more straightforward narrative, possibly with a greater frequency of the stylistic choices I suggested above, could have made this episode more successful than what it was.
The voice acting, for the most part, is merely adequate. I did enjoy Part 1 for the reason that it allowed Sarah Sutton a chance to expand Nyssa beyond the subtle portrayal that viewers saw when the characters saw in the TV series. It was also good to see her angry with the Doctor for the majority of the adventure for having her almost as his pawn by teleporting her to the Swiss Alps. As for the Fifth Doctor himself, I feel like a broken record in every one of these reviews, because I still don’t think that the writers are giving Peter Davison the correct material to allow the character to bloom. The only thing I can remember from his character in this episode is that he was always keeping things from the other characters. Other than that, there are okay portrayals of the two school girls, Miss Tremayne I have mentioned above as the best character, and a rather stereotypical representation of a French teacher. The villains of this episode also sound like every other, save for a squelching noise that I don’t want to imagine.
Winter for the Adept had the raw materials to be the best Fifth Doctor Big Finish audio adventure to date. However, some mystifying choices turned this from a creepy ghost story to a dull alien invasion one. It is not bad by any means but it disappointed me upon reflection.
November 3, 2025
For a story by the beloved Andrew Cartmel, I did have some expectations for the quality of the story. Unfortunately this one feels far from his 7th Doctor masterplan, instead being just a boring and really forgettable story. The first criticism that jumps out is that there is no villain until the last episode, and the first three episodes are just ‘spooky stuff happens’. I can only really take so many things like flying knives and rattling window shutters before I completely lose all interest in a story. This being a Tardis team I don’t care for greatly really didn’t help, as even though Peter Davison gives a very respectable performance in the story; there is nothing memorable or interesting in any of his dialogue whatsoever. The same could be said for Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, as these characters really do just fill the small role of exposition; plus the occasional comedic aside or ‘witty’ dialogue to add some fun to the plot.
There really isn’t much of a plot here is a big problem, the story starts strong with the idea of Nyssa being sent ahead on her own because the Doctor cocked up a science experiment. From there it really is just people from the past moaning and arguing, something I don’t really want to fill two hours of my time with. When the villains do show up they are some of the most generic and boring sci-fi mashup of powers and they add zero suspense to the narrative, no horror, and certainly no drama. The supporting cast really do give a great performance, but they do little else but react to the spooky things happening around them, so it’s hardly like they can carve themselves out as loveable people worth investing your attention in. The sound design is on the weaker side in this story, with a considerable amount of moments that almost make you laugh as Big Finish clearly use stock sound effects to create a tense atmosphere; an idea that doesn’t work in the slightest.
This story is quite old and is from the days before Big Finish really bothered with background scores. The relative absence of music did render the scenes that are supposed to be high tension; no more than actors describing things that happen to them in absolute silence. I think the general production of this story is a mess, and the fact the story is quite short for the traditional two hour monthly range says a lot. I imagine the loss of about 20 minutes really is just because Cartmel really couldn’t find any more random scenes to include for no good reason. This isn’t a story I hate at all but I genuinely can find little merit in it at all, the only good thing being a rare example of the 5th Doctor getting good characterisation. Nyssa comes away from this seeming as bland and uninteresting as ever, which is a shame as Cartmel really did amazing things creating strong female characters is in the 80s. Here the strong female characters are all the ones bar the stuff with the actual companion, an odd choice for sure.
Winter for the Adept really was just one of the common examples of audio dramas that feel flat and lifeless. I came away feeling so uninterested and the lack of anything memorable or any actual fun in the story really was why. There are very few twists but the ones that are there really weren’t predictable and so on, they were just completely lacking in any drama or suspense; something that really made me grow more distant from the story and the development of these characters.
There really isn’t much of a plot here is a big problem, the story starts strong with the idea of Nyssa being sent ahead on her own because the Doctor cocked up a science experiment. From there it really is just people from the past moaning and arguing, something I don’t really want to fill two hours of my time with. When the villains do show up they are some of the most generic and boring sci-fi mashup of powers and they add zero suspense to the narrative, no horror, and certainly no drama. The supporting cast really do give a great performance, but they do little else but react to the spooky things happening around them, so it’s hardly like they can carve themselves out as loveable people worth investing your attention in. The sound design is on the weaker side in this story, with a considerable amount of moments that almost make you laugh as Big Finish clearly use stock sound effects to create a tense atmosphere; an idea that doesn’t work in the slightest.
This story is quite old and is from the days before Big Finish really bothered with background scores. The relative absence of music did render the scenes that are supposed to be high tension; no more than actors describing things that happen to them in absolute silence. I think the general production of this story is a mess, and the fact the story is quite short for the traditional two hour monthly range says a lot. I imagine the loss of about 20 minutes really is just because Cartmel really couldn’t find any more random scenes to include for no good reason. This isn’t a story I hate at all but I genuinely can find little merit in it at all, the only good thing being a rare example of the 5th Doctor getting good characterisation. Nyssa comes away from this seeming as bland and uninteresting as ever, which is a shame as Cartmel really did amazing things creating strong female characters is in the 80s. Here the strong female characters are all the ones bar the stuff with the actual companion, an odd choice for sure.
Winter for the Adept really was just one of the common examples of audio dramas that feel flat and lifeless. I came away feeling so uninterested and the lack of anything memorable or any actual fun in the story really was why. There are very few twists but the ones that are there really weren’t predictable and so on, they were just completely lacking in any drama or suspense; something that really made me grow more distant from the story and the development of these characters.
June 19, 2025
In a way, you can look at this as a loose extension of the VNA's Psi Powers arc, but I do stress the word "loose". It's written by Andrew Cartmel as well, so it has promise.
It's also a very atmospheric story by early BF standards and makes for a great yet rational ghost story.
The script itself is pretty good and we get a satisfying conclusion. A story which remains decent from the start of Part 1 through to the end of Part 4; rare for early Main Range stories.
As for the supporting cast, half are forgettable and the other half are great, especially Perill, as played by India Fisher before she became Charley Pollard.
I thought it very similar to "Land of the Dead", with an icey-arctic setting, limited cast members, and some of gestalt/hybrid entity or beings involved. Having these elements twice in a row just felt a bit creatively bankrupt to me. Even without listening to those stories back to back, they are still among the first Fifth Doctor stories in the main range, so naturally the setting feels a bit redundant. They are also consecutive stories for Nyssa's chronology as well, so you're getting the same deal twice if you're following her BF journey.
Final note, there's also a funny outtake attached to the end of this release and it's even soundtracked. It's brilliant.
It's also a very atmospheric story by early BF standards and makes for a great yet rational ghost story.
The script itself is pretty good and we get a satisfying conclusion. A story which remains decent from the start of Part 1 through to the end of Part 4; rare for early Main Range stories.
As for the supporting cast, half are forgettable and the other half are great, especially Perill, as played by India Fisher before she became Charley Pollard.
I thought it very similar to "Land of the Dead", with an icey-arctic setting, limited cast members, and some of gestalt/hybrid entity or beings involved. Having these elements twice in a row just felt a bit creatively bankrupt to me. Even without listening to those stories back to back, they are still among the first Fifth Doctor stories in the main range, so naturally the setting feels a bit redundant. They are also consecutive stories for Nyssa's chronology as well, so you're getting the same deal twice if you're following her BF journey.
Final note, there's also a funny outtake attached to the end of this release and it's even soundtracked. It's brilliant.
January 15, 2021
Part1
1963年12月22日、スイスの雪山にターディスの中から唐突に強制テレポートさせられてしまったニッサ。凍えているところをレスキュー隊のサンドスに保護され、近くの女学校に案内される。サンドスは学校に残留している職員と生徒たちを避難させる任務の途中だった。学校を管理するトレーメンにアリソンとペリルという二人の少女が学校から脱走したと聞き、ニッサをおいて再び捜索に赴く。学校のオーナーのマーパーサントから、この学校に幽霊が出没する話をきくニッサ。幽霊などいないと信じないニッサだが、ポルターガイストが起こり、追いかけてくる家具に追い詰められ、あわやというところで、ターディスが出没し、難を逃れる。一連のポルターガイストはターディスが原因なのかと尋ねるアリソンにドクターはまちがいなくこの学校は何かに取り憑かれていると断言。
Part２
一刻も立ち去りたいニッサをよそにドクターはポルターガイストの原因をしらべる捜査を開始。サントスはドクターの関与を疑う。捜査できるのはサントスが呼んだ救援ヘリコプターが到着するまで。ドクターはお手製のスペシャルブレンド茶で背後にひそむ存在をあぶりだそうとする。
Part３
ポルターガイストのせいでヘリコプターが墜落。ドクターはアリスンにはテレパスの能力が、ペリルにも祖父の代から遺伝的に受け継がれたサイコキネシスの能力があると見抜き、ポルターガイストはその合わせ技で起こったど推理する。しかし、その話をきいたトレーメンが二人を魔女として殺そうとする。サントスに命を救われた二人。しかし、二人が意識を失っている間もポルターガイストが起こったことから、要因となっている存在がもう一つ存在するとドクターは考え、サントスと協力をして探ることにする。
Part４
ポルターガイストの原因が、ペリルとアリソン、さらには昔雪崩で亡くなった登山家ハーデイングの幽霊の合わせ技で起こったことが判明。しかし、３人が同じ場所に集まったのは偶然ではなく意図的にあつめられたとドクターは説明し、ニッサ、ペリル、アリソン、ハーデイングと協力して、この騒動の黒幕の正体を暴くことに。
感想
幽霊やポルターガイスト、不気味な出だしとは裏腹に全般的にけっこう愉快な仕上がり。怖いもの知らずの女子学生アリソンとペリル、ニッサと女性陣にやりこまれて、たじたじのドクター。特にニッサには押されっぱなしのドクターが面白いような、気の毒なような。気のいい幽霊ハーデイングとドクターたちのやりとりも楽しい。シリアスになりすぎすことなく、ストーリーもわかりやすく、英語も比較的聴きとりやすく気楽に楽しめてよかった。
1963年12月22日、スイスの雪山にターディスの中から唐突に強制テレポートさせられてしまったニッサ。凍えているところをレスキュー隊のサンドスに保護され、近くの女学校に案内される。サンドスは学校に残留している職員と生徒たちを避難させる任務の途中だった。学校を管理するトレーメンにアリソンとペリルという二人の少女が学校から脱走したと聞き、ニッサをおいて再び捜索に赴く。学校のオーナーのマーパーサントから、この学校に幽霊が出没する話をきくニッサ。幽霊などいないと信じないニッサだが、ポルターガイストが起こり、追いかけてくる家具に追い詰められ、あわやというところで、ターディスが出没し、難を逃れる。一連のポルターガイストはターディスが原因なのかと尋ねるアリソンにドクターはまちがいなくこの学校は何かに取り憑かれていると断言。
Part２
一刻も立ち去りたいニッサをよそにドクターはポルターガイストの原因をしらべる捜査を開始。サントスはドクターの関与を疑う。捜査できるのはサントスが呼んだ救援ヘリコプターが到着するまで。ドクターはお手製のスペシャルブレンド茶で背後にひそむ存在をあぶりだそうとする。
Part３
ポルターガイストのせいでヘリコプターが墜落。ドクターはアリスンにはテレパスの能力が、ペリルにも祖父の代から遺伝的に受け継がれたサイコキネシスの能力があると見抜き、ポルターガイストはその合わせ技で起こったど推理する。しかし、その話をきいたトレーメンが二人を魔女として殺そうとする。サントスに命を救われた二人。しかし、二人が意識を失っている間もポルターガイストが起こったことから、要因となっている存在がもう一つ存在するとドクターは考え、サントスと協力をして探ることにする。
Part４
ポルターガイストの原因が、ペリルとアリソン、さらには昔雪崩で亡くなった登山家ハーデイングの幽霊の合わせ技で起こったことが判明。しかし、３人が同じ場所に集まったのは偶然ではなく意図的にあつめられたとドクターは説明し、ニッサ、ペリル、アリソン、ハーデイングと協力して、この騒動の黒幕の正体を暴くことに。
感想
幽霊やポルターガイスト、不気味な出だしとは裏腹に全般的にけっこう愉快な仕上がり。怖いもの知らずの女子学生アリソンとペリル、ニッサと女性陣にやりこまれて、たじたじのドクター。特にニッサには押されっぱなしのドクターが面白いような、気の毒なような。気のいい幽霊ハーデイングとドクターたちのやりとりも楽しい。シリアスになりすぎすことなく、ストーリーもわかりやすく、英語も比較的聴きとりやすく気楽に楽しめてよかった。
January 8, 2020
This Fifth Doctor adventure starts in a most unusual manner - with Nyssa somehow having been teleported from the TARDIS to a different time period on Earth. And the whole thing initially ties to a sort of poltergeist situation that naturally is more than it seems to be.
The structure of this story serves the central mystery well and when the Doctor eventually links up with Nyssa and the other characters, he sets off straight away to investigate the mysterious phenomenon with his golf bag of tools in tow. I liked how the many things that he discovers in his investigation could all explain the ghost to some degree, but in the end the answer is a lot more complicated.
It's a solid little adventure and one with a fun bits for everyone and that nice Classic Who feel.
The structure of this story serves the central mystery well and when the Doctor eventually links up with Nyssa and the other characters, he sets off straight away to investigate the mysterious phenomenon with his golf bag of tools in tow. I liked how the many things that he discovers in his investigation could all explain the ghost to some degree, but in the end the answer is a lot more complicated.
It's a solid little adventure and one with a fun bits for everyone and that nice Classic Who feel.
July 21, 2021
The 10th Doctor Who Monthly Adventure from Big Finish, this is a slow one. Taking place in and around a Swiss girl’s school in December 1963, Winter for the Adept is slow burn of a ghost story. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa fit well into this kind of story, with a small guest cast and atmospheric goings-on. The plot revolves around psychic abilities and a potential alien invasion. It’s a nice mystery, just not my cup of tea. It’s slow, almost hypnotic in its storytelling. Written by former script editor Andrew Cartmel, it could just as easily be a Seventh Doctor story. Having the Fifth Doctor injects a kindness into the Doctor that might not have been there with the Seventh. Also introduced here, is India Fisher as Peril Bellamy. Fisher is better known in later releases as companion Charlotte Pollard, but that's another story. In this, Fisher plays a mischievous girl but still rather different from Charley. Things wrap up nicely in part four, with everything taken care of and all questions answered. A nice slow, atmospheric ghost story. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy this. While it is a good, enjoyable story, it’s also just not my cup of tea.
May 22, 2024
Winter for the Adept is another dud for the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. The initial story is interesting, and there are good ideas sprinkled throughout. But sadly, it just doesn't turn into anything good. It just turns into laborious scenes of people discovering something and talking about it in a room. The characterisation seems off as well. Nyssa, for some reason, is a whiny mess here.
The guest cast does a good job with what they are given, but really even they can't save it. It was interesting hearing Peter Jurasik in a role other than Londo in Babylon 5.
Overall, I think it's just a boring, and forgetful adventure that fails to live up to its initial idea.
The guest cast does a good job with what they are given, but really even they can't save it. It was interesting hearing Peter Jurasik in a role other than Londo in Babylon 5.
Overall, I think it's just a boring, and forgetful adventure that fails to live up to its initial idea.
October 6, 2019
Second time listening, and more enjoyable than I remembered the first listen being. An interesting story, with some intriguing twists and turns, some I foresaw and some I didn't. As only Nyssa and the Doctor, got to hear more of Nyssa in this one and it is for the good, she is an interesting character with interesting talents and knowledge of her own, with a general ignorance of human culture as well. Nyssa and the Doctor both in good form here, as are the supporting cast, though hard to hear India Fisher as anything other than Charlotte Pollard :) Good story all round.
December 1, 2021
Unlike the print books which very rarely have a dud, the audio books seem more miss than hit at the moment. However I have decided to listen to them from the beginning so the current ones on my playlist are from 2000 so that may factor in. They also feature the first eight doctors and to be quite honest after new Who the older Dr's do pale in comparison. I will be keeping on with these so hopefully they will get better.
June 13, 2022
A Five and Nyssa story, which as I've said before is not my favourite combination. And this story was just boring. All of the side-characters were super annoying, the mystery wasn't intriguing, and the plot was dull and had way too many ideas that it didn't have time to explore properly. At least it was well acted and the plot was coherent, though it was basically an exposition relay race.
June 10, 2017
A thoroughly competent story that, while not having anything special, just gets on with the job. A particular highlight is Nyssa's constant and blatant annoyance with the Doctor, along with the first appearance of India Fisher in Big Finish audio dramas.
February 16, 2018
A Classic Who story with the TARDIS arriving at a nearly deserted and snowed-in girl's school in the Swiss Alps just in time to forestall an inter-dimensional invasion. The premise certainly isn't original but the dialogue (and the actors delivering it) are both quite enjoyable. 3 1/2 stars.
March 25, 2021
It was a good short story. Nyssa never stood out to me when she was part of the Tardis trio with Adric & Tegan so it was nice that she got a chance to shine as her and the Fifth Doctor try to solve a ghostly mystery.
July 29, 2019
This one is oddly great. The begining and arrival of the Doctor were only issues. But I figured it out in the end.
September 30, 2019
Really enjoyed this one. Thought everyone was in character and the writing was very good.
February 16, 2020
Crítica | Big Finish Mensal #8 a 10: Red Dawn, The Spectre of Lanyon Moor e Winter for the Adept: https://www.planocritico.com/critica-...
December 23, 2021
The ghost stuff was actually pretty good.
April 29, 2022
charley? charley pollard, is that you?
August 29, 2022
The outtakes are a wonderful addition. I’ve said what I wanted in comments.
September 22, 2022
Bit of a disappointing one, trying to bring some of the horror of Fourth to Davison and it just doesn't really work.
December 27, 2022
This story was kind of dated and didn’t really hold my attention. It was enjoyable enough but I definitely would recommend it to someone.
January 6, 2024
I love a good "ghost" story.
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