Back in December 2004, Big Finish Productions and Doctor Who Magazine collaborated on yet another free audio CD. Unlike previous adventures such as Last of the Titans, The Ratings War, and Living Legend, it was not a Doctor Who story. Rather, it was intended to draw listeners to two of Big Finish's ongoing Doctor Who spin-off ranges via the use of Doctor Who monsters in two half-hour adventures.

The first of these is The Coup by Simon Guerrier. It’s written as a prequel to the UNIT series, and it sets up several of the characters and situations to appear in those stories, especially Nicholas Courtney as Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. The good old Brigadier is speaking at the ceremony where responsibility for "weird threats" in the United Kingdom is being transferred from UNIT to an organization called ICIS. Only last night, a group of Silurians attacked Tower Bridge, and who knows what they’ll do at the handover…

The other story here is Silver Living by Colin Brake. It's in the Professor Bernice Summerfield line, falling at the end of the fifth series, and it's got two actors but three characters: Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, Nicholas Briggs as Lynton Jellis, and Nicholas Briggs as the Cyberman. Benny is called to Tysir IV to help investigate a mysterious tomb, and who should that tomb belong to but a race of sleeping silver giants…

Both The Coup and Silver Lining are nice little pieces, though given their limited time, neither really grabs enough to attract a newcomer to either range, I don’t think. They're more treats for already established long-time Big Finish listeners.

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