Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, particularly noted for work in the field of cult film and television. Barnes served as the editor of Judge Dredd Megazine from 2001 until December 2005, during which time the title saw a considerable increase in the number of new strip pages. Among other strips, Barnes originally commissioned The Simping Detective. He also wrote a handful of Judge Dredd stories involving alternate universes or featuring a young Dredd.
He worked for five years at Doctor Who Magazine and progressed from writing strips to becoming joint editor in 1998 and sole editor from 2000 until 2002. He subsequently contributed the ongoing Fact of Fiction series of articles to the magazine. Barnes has also written or co-written a number of Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions.
He has written a number of books on cult films (including James Bond, Quentin Tarantino and Sherlock Holmes) and his book The Hammer Story, co-written with Marcus Hearn, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction in 1997.
VERY good audio. Such wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey story. So many feels that this is the last adventure of Eight and Charley. Wah! I'm looking forward to her travels with the Sixth Doctor then. Definitely recommended.
This was enjoyable. Not much to say, it kept me entertained while I was doing some work at home in the evening. I do enjoy the 8th Doctor, and I'm glad that they gave him these stories.
I think I would have benefitted from listening to the one prior, so that I was more familiar with his companion, as it has to do with when companions and the Doctor's comes to part. But otherwise, still quite enjoyable.
Enjoyable, but not as good as I thought it would be. I jumped straight from Absolution onto this, and that definitely worked well - listening to these stories immediately back-to-back is definitely the way to go, and the best part of these two stories is the character drama - Eight and Charley breaking up is ripe for depth, and I think they actually explore it to maybe its fullest potential. Having the Cybermen return here was a good way of things coming full circle again, seeing as they were the villains during Charley's first trip in the TARDIS, but their role here isn't exactly groundbreaking in any way - its a fine Cyberman story, but nothing particularly noteworthy for them.
Definitely listen to the Extras and the cast interviews, about half of it was just Danny Webb and Paul McGann talking about Alien 3. (and it sounds like Paul is really enjoying his sandwich)
I'm not ready for Charley to leave! My main complaint about this story is the constant jumping back and forth between time periods; it was confusing at times. The surprise epilogue was so good!
So here we are at the final Eight/Charley story, and it's bittersweet, because after finally getting shut of C'rizz (Absolution) it feels as if the Eight/Charley combination is back in fine form.
The Divergent Universe arc (Scherzo through The Next Life) was a slog. Charley was short-tempered and irritable, and Paul McGann's Doctor sounded like he was just going through the motions. Add newcomer C'rizz to the mix, and everyone just seemed unhappy and bored. Furthermore, C'rizz, the killer with the chameleon skin -- and psychology -- was character who very rarely seemed to work.
Even after leaving the Divergent Universe, the stories were a bit uneven, although Paul McGann did show a new energy, and Charley was less annoying, too.
But now here, at the end, The Girl Who Never Was demonstrated why the original combination of Eight and Charley having adventures was so enjoyable.
The Doctor has returned to earth to drop off Charley in Singapore -- her original destination way back in Storm Warning before the Doctor rescued her from the R101 airship disaster -- and she's ready to leave, and she's reluctant to leave. The Doctor is having the same mixed emotions, and there's tension everywhere, especially when Charley discovers that the Doctor has landed them in 2008 instead of 1930.
Tracking down the "temporal hump" that caused the Tardis to slip off-course, the Doctor and Charley discover a ship adrift at sea, some shady characters conducting an apparent salvage operation, and an elderly woman who claims to be Charlotte Pollard.
Obviously there's some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff going on, and when Charley is whisked back to 1942 by the Tardis (leaving the Doctor in 2008), things start to click in place.
The CD cover blows the surprise of the presence of Cybermen in the story, so I'm not spoiling anything by mentioning that they show up, too. Combined with the puzzle of elderly-Charley and the salvage of a WWII-era treasure, there's almost too much plot going on, but the story is such an enjoyable change of pace for the Doctor and Charley that I'm not going to complain.
The final parting of Doctor and Companion is cleverly done. But listen for a scene after the closing music that signals the start of the next stage of Charley's adventures.
This story goes crazyyy I am just so bewitched by the aspect of Charley and Eight’s dynamic highlighted here.
I wish we had gotten more time with the way they were interacting? Especially at the beginning and end. Obviously I understand why we can’t, but it’s really enthralling to hear them both handle what’s going on.
The episode itself is good, the cast is memorable and you know me I’ll never say no to a Cyberman story. All in all this one’s hard for me to talk about because I am still pondering how it ended. What a way to wrap a companion arc, I’m really shook up over that one.
Absolutely solid. Really entertaining stuff, a worthy send off for this arc of Who.
Nothing like revisiting your audio Library,this was the ending to Charley and Eights adventures and starring the wonderful vocals of Anne Massey. It is always great to go back and relisten to stuff with the passage of years and realise what a great combination Charley and 8 are,especially when you get the recent releases of the pair,you sometimes wonder why they stopped.We are a fickle bunch.
Anyways always a great relisten ,timey wimey,Cybermen and a new beginning for Charley with an older Doctor.
This is the final adventure that Charley Pollard has with the Eighth Doctor. Some time shenanigans go on, and the Cybermen are brought in as well. Ultimately, The Doctor and Charley are separated. I knew that this story would end with Charley meeting the Sixth Doctor and his theme music playing, but I wish that Colin Baker could have recorded a line or two for the ending. The story wasn't quite as poignant as I was expecting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
FINALLY I did it! I got through the Charlie era. Really good run of audios for the most part and some brilliant ideas. I hate that I've given 3 stars to most of these but that's because this app doesn't let me use half stars because some of these would have been 7/10s like this one. This was a pretty good last story as well. Can't wait to get to the 8th doctor adventures series as finally we can get to some stories with GOOD PACING. As 90% of these audios are way too long.
The plot is unnecessarily convoluted in places; so too is there cause for consternation in the lineage of Byron(s), the like-named but ostensibly distinct Australian ne’er-do-well(s). Still, there is something refreshing in a Doctor Who story scripted beyond the audience’s immediate needs.
This certainly made up for some of the lacklustre stories in Charley's arc. An excellent, twisty story, with the added bonus of rusting Cybermen. Now debating whether I should follow Charley's 6th Doctor adventures... I might have met the dude IRL - along with 5, 7 & 8- but I've never actually watched his episodes lol
This was a pretty good send off for Charlie, but it also sort of felt like this story could have been written without cybermen. Everything could have revolved around some other, less used outside force.
This is the final regular 8th Doctor story in Big Finish's main range of DW audio plays, wrapping up six years' worth of stories, prior to launching his own series with a clean slate. Mainly, of course, this means explaining what happened to Charley, and the story stands or falls on whether or not you care about the answer.
Fortunately, I did, but it does mean that you have to have some familiarity and investment with the character and her adventures for this play to work. This is about as far from a 'leaping in' point for the series as it's possible to get - and rightly so.
The story itself takes place in three different time zones, and works surprisingly well given that, for much of it, the two main characters are apart. It's an involving tale, with a reasonably complex plot that nonetheless manages to avoid becoming confusing.
But the core is Charley's fate, and that's certainly played upon here, with multiple red herrings recognising that, since it's the final instalment, there's no reason that she can't be killed off or have something equally unpleasant happen to her. Assuming that, at this many year's remove from the release date, you've somehow managed to avoid spoilers for the ending, you're probably going to be kept guessing throughout.
But I will say: do keep listening after the closing theme tune.
This is the last episode of the Charlie era. This story is somewhat all over the place as it goes for a 'past influencing the future' sort of narrative. Feels a bit lost at points but it's clear that this story is meant as a sort of 'last hurrah' for this era. It felt too light hearted for me to feel the stakes, however a lot of the comedy really worked for me. The ending is genuinely depressing, but the post credits scene sort of messes up the ending. Didn't feel a lot for anything of the side characters, except for the one with the funny accent, and I didn't fall for the twists.
This was a very good ending to Charley and the Doctor's travelling together. It was a fun adventure with all sorts of twists and turns. There was mistaken identity and then cybermen and lots of time travel. It was also fantastic that the cybermen voices were the singing cybermen voices of tenth planet. That was just lovely. A good adventure though I am also sad that the adventures of Charley and this Doctor are coming to an end.
Alan Barnes is always a writer who makes me sit up, so I was looking forward to The Girl Who Never Was. However I was a little disappointed. The elements are great - Anna Massey claiming to be an elderly Charley, Cybermen on an abandoned ship near Singapore, timewarping and decay - but it doesn't quite gel as well as Barnes at his best.
Gave it four stars because I think Charley and Eight, despite some tension in the beginning, were back in fine form for this, their last adventure together. I enjoyed their banter and teamwork, and the ending was appropriately timey-wimey and bittersweet. Onwards and upwards! Starting in on the Charley and Six run tonight or tomorrow.
An unusual farewell to arguably the definitive Eighth Doctor companion, Charley Pollard. Again, the guest cast knocks it out of the solar system (Amanda Root!!!). I also like the speaking cadences of the [REDACTED] who sound much more like I always thought they should sound. Bonus for fooling me utterly on someone's identity BTW!
With Czizz gone Charley couldn't handle it and decides to leave the Doctor. Before she and the Doctor part they get involved in the search for gold crossing several timelines and involves Cybermen. She does leave but not for long.
Charley wants to leave the TARDIS, so Eighth Doctor tries to take her back to the Singapore Hotel in 1931; where she was originally going when he picked her up. Of course, the TARDIS takes them to Singapore in 2008 where they encounter treasure hunters, a disappearing ship and Cybermen. Fun!
After the loss of C'rizz, Charley demands to be taken home. Instead, she and the Doctor end up split between 1942 and 2008, on board a mysterious lost battleship near Singapore.