The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Professor Bernice Summerfield

"The battle for the liberation of the Braxiatel Collection begins tonight!"

Firstly, I think it's important to stress how much more rewarding it is to experience the audio formerly known as The Axis Of Evil - but now revealed under its true title of Death And The Daleks - after reading the short story anthology Life During Wartime. It's definitely possible to enjoy both separately but this audio resolves the story begun in the anthology, giving it an instance of closure, and the knowledge of how the characters have arrived at this point and what they have endured in the build up to the beginning of the play during the occupation of the Braxiatel Collection will make Death And The Daleks an infinitely more rewarding experience.

This review will also contain spoilers for Life During Wartime.

For over a year, Big Finish advertised this story under a false title to maintain the secret that the Daleks would be making their first appearance in the Professor Bernice Summerfield range, the latest in the line to showcase a Doctor Who monster. And with character creator Paul Cornell back in the writer's chair for this special double-CD release all the ingredients are there to make this potentially the most exciting Benny audio, well, ever. And yet I'm glad that Big Finish chose to conceal the true nature of the story, as Death And The Daleks (what an uninspiring generic title that is though) is a fitting resolution to the Fifth Axis occupation storyline but doesn't quite live up to the promise of the story where Benny finally comes face to face with the Daleks, which was a prospect denied before due to licensing concerns. During Benny's prime run in the New Adventures, the Daleks often made their presence felt off-stage without actually appearing and so the chance for a more direct meeting is a salivating possibility.

Why is it so appealing? In his author notes, Cornell states that the Daleks are "monsters that are very personal" to Benny, which considering they exterminated her mother when Benny was only a child, is very true. Given that Life During Wartime reveals the head of the Fifth Axis to be her father, Isaac Summerfield, everything is laid out for a story thoroughly woven into Benny's past and her future as she fights for her family and her home.

As a direct continuation of Life During Wartime, Cornell recognises that it's possible to come to this story without knowledge of the events of the book anthology by devising a clever way to recap the events of the occupation without burdening the listener with an information overload. It gives a flavour of the book anthology, showing how the characters have faired whilst allowing some typical Benny self-awareness in recognising the convention of modern genre series to provide a recap of the story at the beginning of each episode - something that has even come to Doctor Who with the dawn of Zagreus. This is all part of a narrative framing device allowing Benny to retrospectively tell the story of the occupation to the assembled historians and such. While this future scenario takes the sting out of the immediateness of the threat in that we know Benny will survive and the Axis will be overthrown, it allows a degree of intimacy as Benny can characteristically reflect upon her thoughts and actions in little bursts of narration throughout the drama in the same manner that her diary entries always used to do.

There are two main elements which the themes of the plot are built around namely Benny discovering the true power behind the Fifth Axis and also the story of how ordinary people, who have suffered oppression, can learn to fight back for restoration of their freedom. While this last element is very much the main focus, and rightly so given that the whole of Life During Wartime developed the scenario of the occupation so brilliantly, the introduction of the Daleks seems almost a secondary consideration despite the fact that their latest scheme to conquer and destroy makes perfect sense in the context of the overall tapestry of the storyline. As well as raising questions of conflicting ideologies as all great Dalek stories do, Death And The Daleks is very much about love and war, the irony of which is not lost on Cornell given that he returns Benny to the setting of his novel with that name, and how this emotion can instil great strength in turbulent times. Many of the characters are motivated by love, be it for people or beliefs and concepts. It is explored directly through Jason and Benny and their once again burgeoning affection as well as through the lovers Ms Clarisa Jones and Bernard Moskof, whose relationship crosses the boundaries between the occupied and the occupiers.

Strangely enough the Braxiatel Collection occupation is oddly reminiscent of Big Finish's greatest triumph in their Bernice Summerfield audio range, the adaptation of Lance Parkin's Just War set on Guernsey after the Nazis had seized control. The most significant difference is that here the danger is much more close and personal to Benny. Rather than strangers being in the line of fire, it's her home, her friends and her son Peter whose lives are threatened. Life During Wartime explored the finer points of adjustment to finding your home invaded by a group of fascists intent on imposing their philosophy upon you whilst restricting your own freedom of choice and thought. In Death And The Daleks, there is an immediate intuition that this aggression will not stand and that the cycle of terrorism and enforced brutality that the resistance have initiated cannot go on much longer, despite the leading Axis officer's assertions that everything remains normal. It's almost inevitable in stories such as this that the invaders will get their just desserts and freedom will triumph over subjugation, but it's how it's done that is interesting and Cornell's script shows the human potential for compassion proves mightier than its power to hate and destroy.

The morality of war is an area Cornell is very interested in exploring and he offers many different viewpoints which are crucial to the success of the story as it's all essentially a matter of perspective. The Fifth Axis believes in humanity's own inherent genetic superiority over all other forms of life and their supporters believe wholeheartedly in this abhorrently fascist outlook. To them they are the force for good and those who oppose them are terrorists, trying to break the order they have strived to create. But the most interesting perspective comes from the characters who are suffering the occupation, how do they cope with life during wartime? Do they make a stand like Bev Tarrant, actively participating in the resistance and killing as many Axis members as they can? Do they collaborate? The majority of those residents take the same position that Benny did, initially. Resenting their oppressors rightly so but fearing the consequences of what would happen if they dabbled in a spot of insurrection.

Even though the cast list for Death And The Daleks is considerably bigger than usual for these Benny plays, it is still limited in comparison to Life During Wartime's capacity to introduce additional supporting characters which means that the differing viewpoints in this play have to be shown entirely through one character, but because several people appear here in a drama for the first time, such as Mr Crofton and Ms Jones, they can be used to encompass the view of the common people. Crofton because his desire to kill every last Axis member comes from their actions in destroying the last tangible memory of his long since deceased wife and Ms Jones as she represents those thought of as collaborators because of her relationship with an Axis member, regardless of the fact that she doesn't share the ideology of the Fifth Axis but has just happened to fall in love with someone who does. As Benny says, the idea of who or who isn't a traitor is particularly complex here. Perhaps the least successful viewpoint though is of the Fifth Axis, as their philosophy is so extreme and authoritarian that it is impossible to sympathise given that the characters who embody the regime are painted in such harsh strokes.

As already noted, the Daleks are a very personal monster to Benny yet this doesn't really show in the story, which is perhaps its greatest failing. The defining event of her relationship with them isn't even referenced, which considering some of the other detailed continuity with other New Adventures that does get referenced seems ludicrous in the extreme. While Benny doesn't show regret or anger directly at what happened, she confronts the Daleks with her usual cutting witticisms which has the superficial effect of showing how little she fears them, but looking deeper we know that the best authors use Benny's humour as a defence mechanism, rather than just an excuse to have her making wisecracks every few minutes, and Cornell as her creator understands this perfectly. By disparaging "the most vicious killers in the galaxy" she isn't trying to undermine the powerful image of the Daleks, the subtext of the script and the subtleties of Lisa Bowerman's performance show Benny is trying to avoid having to deal with the emotionally wrought nature of the confrontation honestly. But given that there are no allusions made, listeners who are not so au fait with Benny's full backstory may miss out of knowing why she acts in this manner and the failure to explore this further in a more confrontational approach undermines one of the most significant reasons for the Daleks presence.

Even though Big Finish's resident Dalek maestro Nicholas Briggs takes a backseat role here, with his monopoly on directing their stories broken as producer and series regular director Gary Russell takes command, the Daleks are physically well handed and come across as a credible and menacing threat. Where the problem lies is in the nature of their involvement in the script. Their connection to the Fifth Axis is a logical and ingenious extension of the Dalek ideal, even though something similar had been attempted previously and more dynamically in Rob Shearman's Doctor Who: Jubilee. But by the end of the play they feel almost as if their inclusion was a supplemental thought to the occupation storyline where you feel Cornell's main interest lies. The Daleks take quite a while before making their presence known, and when they finally appear it is very effective for its simplicity, but given that the revised title makes it clear they feature it seems futile to use them as a surprise development as the listener is already expecting their appearance so it can't come as a shock. The most unsatisfying aspect of their contribution to the play is that they become a redundant consideration in the denouement as the Fifth Axis get their inevitable comeuppance but the Daleks, as a whole, do not. While the inhabitants of the Braxiatel Collection celebrate their newfound freedom the real threat that caused its deprivation is still out there, plotting and scheming more dreams of conquest and destruction, and no ones seem to care. It's a plot element badly lacking a resolution although the most positive spin on this is that it could have been deliberate for further development in a future audio or novel.

There's a real sense of going back to the beginning for Benny, which is deliberate given Cornell's statement in his notes that "we wanted to connect all of Benny's history together and move on with it" and explains why the story is a full on continuity fest embracing all aspects of Benny's New Adventures heritage from the return of the living (but robotised) dad, revisiting the planet Heaven where she first met the Doctor and numerous references to a whole host of other NA's and Big Finish stories. What's perhaps most surprising is the whole-hearted recognition that this is very much set within the Doctor Who universe with the Doctor getting several proper mentions - no "Doc" abbreviation this time as in The Bellotron Incident! - and blantant acknowledgment of Braxiatel's Time Lord status too. While Paul Cornell has perhaps taken inspiration from Lawrence Miles' Faction Paradox Protocols CD series in how to file off the names of recognisable Doctor Who elements such as Brax's "Time Ship" and the references to his "people", the use of bona fide sound effects gives the listener no doubt whatsoever as to what they really are and add to the atmosphere of authenticity. Despite a potential continuity overload, most of it is justified in the context of the story - the only real exception to this being the gratuitous guided tour of the former camping site of Jan and his followers on Heaven. It certainly had the effect of making me want to go back and re-read Love And War but added little to my enjoyment of this particular adventure...

As Death And The Daleks is a special double CD drama, it features a much larger cast than usual for the Benny series which helps to give the story a greater sense of scale and this is something that the performers and the directors realise and all lift their game accordingly. At the heart of it is Lisa Bowerman, who delivers another impeccable performance as Benny, demonstrating the warmth, the humour, the determination and the inherent tenderness of the character with the style and panache we are accustomed too but the effect is even more pronounced than usual, given that Cornell knows the character so instinctively well. Most of this is summed up beautifully in her compassionate reaction to leaving Adrian as she tells him she loves him, despite being certain that she doesn't, so that he can hold onto that if he is deported to an Axis slave world.

Stephen Fewell has been playing Jason Kane almost as long as Lisa Bowerman has played Benny and yet he's often failed to convey Jason's natural decentness as his shiftier, devious aspects have been emphasised more in his performance. But here is the first time he's really struck the balance well by showing a kind of rugged nobility that proves Jason is a better man that he's often given credit for and this in turn makes the idea of a resurgence in the relationship between him and Benny all the more credible. While it's almost a clich� that wartime can bring individuals closer together, this is almost inverted by Benny's continual refusal to talk to Jason about themselves and her decision over whether she will choose her ex-husband or the father of her child from her two suitors. On paper that sounds awfully melodramatic and soap-opera like, but Cornell's writing is very truthful and genuine. As for Benny's ultimate choice here, it remains to be seen whether it will prove a beneficial one to the range as the original dramatic reasons for ending Benny's marriage - that it was more interesting to follow an individual character rather than a happily married couple in this genre - still stands, but time will tell...

The last time Big Finish put the regular band of characters back together in The Mirror Effect, Miles Richardson stole every scene he appeared in as Irving Braxiatel and while he's had brief cameo roles in all three of the preceding stories of the fourth season of Benny's audio adventures, the chance for him to become more involved is a possibility worth savouring. Given the nature of the plot for Life During Wartime, Braxiatel is rather confined during the early phases of the story as the Axis leaders try and force him into revealing the location of his time equipment which they are sure he has, but during the actual rebellion against the oppressive regime, Richardson does extremely well. He conveys the almost ambivalent attitude Braxiatel holds towards the Axis exceptionally as it shows the strength of his character - he has infinite patience and knows that the torture and tyranny of the Fifth Axis is only a minor inconvenience he has to bear until they are inevitably defeated. But as with Stewart Sheargold's superlative earlier story, the dark side of Braxiatel's character emerges again as the rage and resentment of loosing control of his own destiny explodes dramatically when he experiences outrage at being manipulated himself.

Ian Collier was an excellent choice to play Benny's father, Admiral Isaac Summerfield. He has such a distinctive voice that gives him the gravitas to convince as a battle-hardened veteran soldier needs but he also excels at showing Isaac's feelings towards his daughter and his grandson. Louise Faulkner and Harry Myers are good, if underused while Nicholas Briggs (who also voices the Daleks, as usual) and Beverly Cressman bring the gardener Mr Crofton and administrator Ms Jones to life successfully in their first audio appearances.

Crofton has always been a very innocuous character throughout the Benny novels he's appeared in, which is recognised here by his determined rant "I was nobody here, but that was because I chose to be. They can't make me into nobody!" It was Cavan Scott and Mark Wright's skilful short story The Crystal Flower from the anthology which finally gave him some depth and Death And The Daleks features some excellent linking to this which is truly poignant, and demonstrates that in war the ordinary people can be as much heroes as those who brave the good fight. But as Crofton only appears in barely a handful of scenes, his fate really undermines the importance of reading Life During Wartime beforehand because despite Briggs' stirring anger the script assumes we know why he harbours such hatred towards the Fifth Axis and only obliquely hints at what actually happened. Without that knowledge, Crofton's death can be seen as incidental as he's just a minor supporting character, but when taken in the context of the whole occupation storyline, the significance of the final scene becomes much more emotional and sad. Ms Jones was described in The Dead Men Diaries (2000) as "a lady of an uncertain age" and Cressman seems initially too young and placid for the role but her softly spoken, understated performance is superb, giving her story of romance between the oppressor and the oppressed a real emotion, showing that love can blossom in the most unexpected places.

The Fifth Axis is represented by two of the most memorable characters from Life During Wartime. Their local commanding officer is Marshall Mushtaq Anson, who is played with suitable style from Michael Shallard, last seen as the devious but moral Cardinal Richelieu in Doctor Who: The Church And The Crown. The character of the Marshall isn't quite as subtle as it was in the anthology, but Shallard really brings to bear the power of his belief in the Axis ideal as he finds his rule over the Collection spiralling away from him. Joining him is Andrew Westfield as Bernard Moskof, the lover of Ms Jones who isn't adverse to a spot of brutally torturing Bev Tarrant. Westfield successfully conveys the way that Moskof is torn between his firm belief in the Axis and his love, and cleverly underplays the nature of the latter so there is a certain hollowness about his commitment to the Collection administrator, which is ultimately proved when he cannot betray his belief to be with her. He is Axis until the end.

Regular Professor Bernice Summerfield technical expert David Darlington is back again with post-production and sound design duties and he ensures that the scourge of Skaro are realised admirably in a typically atmospheric landscape of sound. While the usual Dalek effects are deployed, it is in the more basic areas where Darlington's work shines in creating a vividly serene ambience for the planet Heaven and also for keeping an iron grip on the frenzied climax which ensures that the listener is always attuned to what is occurring and preventing it from turning into a chaotic mess. His music is by turns dramatic and moving, which compliments the style of the script beautifully and heightens the tension when appropriate. Judging by the fine print around the outside of the CDs themselves, it appears that the music that closes the play (and features on the deeply disturbing and outstanding bonus play Closure which follows soon after, originally released as part of the ultra-rare Buried Treasures disc) is a new Benny theme from Darlington - it's inception is particularly apposite given that Death And The Daleks is a story all about moving forward but that said, it's not as immediately arresting as the Alistair Lock original yet it doesn't provoke the same violent gut-wrenching reaction that the hideous Adventure Is My Game song did. I'm sure this new one will grow on me with time...

Death And The Daleks is a very poignant thriller which concludes the fourth season of Benny plays in redoubtable style. One aspect of its success which is easy to overlook is its humour! Despite the doom-laden title, Death And The Daleks is also very, very funny at times and what's best about this is it all flows naturally from the script and doesn't seem forced in the slightest as it often has been previously in several past Benny audios. Taken as the second half of the story begun by Life During Wartime, these two together for a formidable duo and all credit is due to Paul Cornell and the other short story writers for creating such a deeply involving, moving and rewarding epic storyline. But by itself, Death And The Daleks doesn't quite live up to its potential because of the way it avoids dealing with its special guest stars more directly - particularly given Benny's personal connection. As the resolution of the Braxiatel Collection occupation, Cornell succeeds in his intentions brilliantly with thoughtful writing and skilful characterisation that the talented cast and crew relish in bringing to life magnificently to produce an entertaining and meaningful drama but the element it will get most noticed for, the Daleks, is by far its most disappointing feature. A superb Professor Bernice Summerfield story but sadly not quite such a good Dalek story.