The Minister of Chance – Radio Static Free Audiobook

Written by Radio Static
Read by Jenny Agutter; Gethin Anthony; Jed Brophy; Lauren Crace; Paul Darrow; Philip Glenister; Tamsin Greig; Peter Guinness; Sylvester McCoy; Paul McGann; Julian Radham;
Format: MP3

This is one of the best Doctor Who related audio dramas to be released by any company in the last five years. I would say that it is one of the best audio dramas I have ever heard in my life, be it Doctor Who or other worlds. Quite simply, this short but sweet little outing has been criminally ignored by the people who listen to Doctor Who audio dramas. So, I am putting this up on the site.

I generally put up two kinds of audio dramas: for-profit Big Finish audio dramas, and also sometimes I will put up “fan” produced Doctor Who audio dramas from other sources in the English speaking world. The Minister of Chance does not fit comfortably into a given category. It is by a brand new production outfit called Radio Static out of the UK.

I highly encourage anyone who downloads this torrent to go to the website at radiostatic.co.uk and purchase the radio drama. This is a brand new audio drama company that managed to get together an amazing cast of actors like Paul McGann (completely against type as the manipulative war mongering ambassador Durian), Sylvester McCoy as the Witch Prime, and Julian Radham as the Time Lord “The Minister.”

All hell breaks lose when the technologically advanced but backward reactionary Sezuans invade the peaceful preindustrial island country of Tanto, carried out by the morally bankrupt ambassador. Paul McGann is one of my favorite actors and not just my favorite doctor. He is so good as a truly hateful villain that you forget he’s the lovable 8th Doctor who told Charlie he loved her and slept with Bernice and was so very human as a Time Lord.

Tanto is invaded so they can use it for air bases in their war with another country. As it turns out, Durian’s move is highly popular back home and he’s soon ready to send the Witch Prime, the Sezuan’s bizarrely elected lead witch and president, packing and take over completely.

Another character that shines in Kitty, played by Lauren Crace. She starts out as a barmaid who likes “bashing” people. She meets The Minister, the Time Lord from Death Comes to Time in another regeneration. Even though she’s solid working class, she’s really quite smart and assists her friend The Professor, who got arrested by the Sezuans for teaching science. The Minister finds Kitty his reluctant companion in a series of adventures as they try to restore sanity and reason to things, not really succeeding in the end, but doing an okay job, all things considered.

This is not for young kids and is too complex for them. It has a lot of sex, a lot of strong language, and a lot of violence. It also blurs the lines of good and bad. The Sezuans are not all brutal tyrants but inevitably form friendships with the people they occupy. Religion take a HUGE hit in this little story in the bizarre beliefs of the Sezuans, who despite being very advanced don’t officially believe in science and cast meaningless spells to each other, knowing full well they do nothing.

I liked that you end up even feeling bad for Sylvester McCoy’s character, a kind of George Bush figure who just doesn’t have a backbone and lets the truly evili Durian and his general walk all over him and gets in way over his head. I’m American, so I saw Rumsfeld/Cheney in these two, but any two right-wing lunatics will do.

This is GREAT social commentary that doesn’t let the listener off the hook and tell you how to think. Nobody is very likable. The Minister is heroic but cantankerous and patronizing. Kitty is a strong female lead but makes such appallingly bad decisions like sleeping with an obvious spy (to us) that it’s hard to feel sorry for her.

And, in the end, the story doesn’t really resolve itself completely in classic Douglas Adams fashion and huge questions remain,

Please…if you like this story as much as I do…buy a copy of it from Amazon for a few bucks to support this new production company. The actors and writers all deserve it, and I see great things in the future from this company. Yes, Big Finish has it’s adult oriented series, but it has a virtual monopoly on audio dramas for Doctor Who. Be nice and support the little guy…so they will continue to make more completely wonderful audio dramas like The Minster of Chance!

The website has releases a few episodes of a new series that is free called The Light of September, and while it’s not in the Whoverse specifically (though it could be), it is also quite excellent. It should be noted that this was free on the website for the last year. And, if you own Kaldor City or Faction Paradox, go to the Magic Bullet website and buy some episodes as well. By doing this, more truly great audio dramas like The Minister of Chance can be made,

I thought this was better than anything from Big Finish since the wonderful River Song Diary last year! Support this great little company WWW.RADIOSTATIC.CO.UK!

Or, please don’t download my torrents…..yes, I am doing a guilt trip!