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Unlike previous Doctor Who Magazine freebies, The Mists of Time is actually an entry in The Companion Chronicles, narrated by Katy Manning in this case, reprising her role as Jo Grant. The story sees Jo arriving on an alien outpost under mysterious circumstances-- though the outpost's sole inhabitant, a man named Calder, reminds her that she's been there before, and invites her to tell him the tale. She does so, and what unfolds is a nicely atmospheric tale of the third Doctor and Jo investigating the mysterious goings-on at a dig sponsored by the Space Archaeology Group. People have been vanishing, but what's more: ghosts have been sighted about, ghosts of people from Jo’s grandfather to whole armies of futuristic soldiers.

Between a solid script, strong acting, and excellent sound design, The Mists of Time certainly comes together to create what is probably one of the better Companion Chronicles so far. And it's certainly the best DWM free story by a wide margin: Big Finish hardly could have asked for a better advertisement for their range than this. It's sure to please new and old listeners alike.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.

We lucky subscribers to Doctor Who Monthly get to download this for free from Big Finish's website: a new Companion Chronicle, filling the gap I guess between the third and fourth seasons of the regular BF releases, starring Katy Manning as Jo Grant: The Mists of Time, by Jonathan Morris. It's quite a decent story - not up to Morris's impressive best, but exploits both the audio format, and Manning's ability to mimic both her own younger self and also Pertwee and the other characters, rather well.(And a second actor, Andrew Whipp, is an incidental future archaeologist whose importance to proceedings only gradually emerges.) The ending was signalled a little too far in advance for my taste, and I didn't quite buy the Awful Secret of the Time. Lords, but I imagine Big Finish will get a few more subscriptions out of this one. ( )