“The thing about Time Lords is… they can’t all be heroes.”

With this one line, Big Finish sets the table for Dark Gallifrey, a new range of audio drama trilogies focusing largely on the villains of the Doctor Who universe. It’s a bold move, but in a fandom that embraces the series’ baddies as much as its heroes, it’s sure to pay off.

The first trilogy focuses on the (for now) defeated Time Lord Morbius, and Part One sets out the players and the pawns in an ever so slightly, but needfully, languid pace. The war on Karn has ended and the last Time Lord warship, the Proteus, prepares to return home victorious; but a bizarrely shrinking ship, travel through the vortex, and the prisoners of war onboard may make that more than a little tricky.

The cast, it should be said from the off, are fantastic. They hit the sweet spot of what we’ll call ‘Saturday tea-time acting’ with aplomb. What’s the audio equivalent of chewing the scenery? We ask because Rachel Atkins must have chunks stuck in her teeth – she is fabulous as the beleaguered and newly regenerated, as well as re-gendered, ship’s captain.

And, Hywel Morgan as first mate Mr Middlewitch and Lara Lemon as the Sisterhood of Karn’s envoy to the ship make fine use of the expertly crafted script to really make their lines sing. It should be noted that there is very little of the actors describing their surroundings; rather, the exceptional soundscape and score do the work instead.

Part Two begins as the crew discover an island in the vortex and a fortress of ice containing more than its fair share of secrets and lies. This episode is all about Samuel West playing –spoilers! – with a deft flippancy that proves to be deeply unsettling. It’s always a little disparaging to call a performance one-note, but the low and menacing punch West brings to the performance ensures that note sings like a bird.

While Part One sets the players out on the chessboard, Part Two delights in putting each of the characters in check and some in checkmate. The pace here is, at times, a little difficult to keep up with, but Tim Foley’s tight script keeps everything on the right side of chaotic.

Both parts serve as a great opening to this first trilogy, with plenty of the twists, turns and surprises we’ve come to expect from Big Finish’s telling of the Whoniverse. It’s the little things here that the listener should pay attention to, as everything pays off to a degree with more answers to be revealed in Part Three, and with a certain Time Lord making an appearance, we can’t wait to see how it all pans out.