The Masters of Luxor (Doctor Who: The Lost Stories) (Audiobook)

It almost seems surprising that has taken this long for Big Finish to get around to doing The Masters Of Luxor as part of their Doctor Who - The Lost Stories range. It is the oldest "lost story" after all, having been originally commissioned to be the second ever story for the series as well as having had its script published in book form in the early 1990s. So, after forty-nine years, we can finally hear the story with two of the original actors, William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, who would have been in it. So has it been worth the wait?

Unlike the usual full-cast audio dramas that Big Finish normally releases for Doctor Who, this production of The Masters of Luxor was done instead as an "enhanced talking book". To explain the format, Robinson took the Coburn script and turned it into what is effectively prose. This prose is read by actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford (who reprise their respective roles as Ian and Susan from the television series, as well as narrating the story and also taking the parts of the First Doctor and Barbara). Joining them is actor Joseph Kloska who reads in the various robots as well as The Perfect One and Tabon. The result gives this version of the story the most unique feel of its three versions: a cross between a novelization of the scripts and one of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles releases.

The adaptation by writer Nigel Robinson (who adapted the scripts for the First Doctor Box-set) of the original Anthony Coburn scripts is largely faithful. Robinson keeps the six episode structure of the story and also retains the originally written cliffhangers. But instead of keeping the story in its originally intended placement, the story is shifted to after the previous First Doctor stories in the Lost Stories range