Masters of War is the latest in the BF Doctor Who Unbound series of audios, featuring David Warner as an alternate Third Doctor. I decided that before listening to it I would give the first Warner!Doctor story, Sympathy for the Devil, another go. I must say I appreciated its strengths even more two years on, with the Warner!Doctor / Gatiss!Master relationship sonewhat eerily mirrored by that between Nicholas Courtney’s failed Brigadier and his arrogant successor (played by David Tennant).
Unfortunately I didn’t think Masters of War matched up. There are some excellent performances – Terry Molloy as Davros, Courtney as the Brigadier, Briggs as the Daleks, Amy Pemberton as one of the Thals – but there’s a bit of a gap at the centre as Warner doesn’t quite seem to know what hs Doctor is really doing. The plot, too, disappointed
Oh, and I realise I didn’t say. I aspirate the h in wh- words like whine and whirl and (especially) wherefore. I pronounce aunt ‘ont’, not ant or aren’t.