4,5 ( )

Bowerman is less well served in the latest Companion Chronicle, Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code, a two-hander between her and Charley Hayes (who has I think the unusual distinction of having appeared on Doctor Who in the form of a bump in her mother's tummy, visible to the careful observer of Wendy Padbury's cameo in The Five Doctors). Unfortunately the plot is slow to get going, has the Seventh Doctor rather uncharacteristically taking a public role as a mediator, depends rather heavily on a particular interpretation of what the Tardis translation circuits actually do, and then packs far too much exposition of What The Story Was Actually About into the last three minutes. The crew express the hope in the extra tracks that this will attract more listeners to the Bernice Summerfield range, but I'm inclined to doubt it. ( )

Though a few of the Companion Chronicles have featured characters who were not actually companions, Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code sets a new record for the series, as it is the first installment to feature a narrator who never actually appeared on-screen. This adventure stars Lisa Bowerman, who has played the Seventh Doctor's former companion Bernice Summerfield in a variety of adventures for Big Finish Productions since 1998. She's only very rarely appeared in Doctor Who stories, however, so this story marks a rare opportunity.

The slow movement and sudden resolution of the Bernice plot and the jarring addition of the cliché Doctor plot mean that Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code never engages the listener, and though Bowerman is her usually brilliant self, neither she nor guest actor Charlie Hayes have strong material to work with. Bowerman and director John Ainsworth opine on the extras that they hope this story will attract more listeners to the Bernice Summerfield range, but it’s hard to believe that it actually will after this uninvolving outing.

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