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The evil Master has stolen the Time Lords' file on the horrifying Doomsday Weapon with which, when he finds it, he can blast whole planets out of existence and make himself ruler of the Galaxy!

The Time Lords direct Doctor Who and Jo Grant in their TARDIS to a bleak planet in the year 2471, where they find colonists from Earth under threat from mysterious, savage, monster lizards with frightful claws!

And hidden upon the planet is the Doomsday Weapon, for which the Master is intently searching...

COMMENT - SPOILERS AHEAD

Jon Pertwee's THE DOOMSDAY WEAPON (originally titled for television, COLONY IN SPACE) by Malcolm Hulke read by Geoffrey Beevers demonstrates that the unabridged talking book format is alive and well, and that it is overlooked as an art form.

In the days of iPods (other Mpeg formats are available from retailers), and "I want it now" instant gratification multi-media entertainment, and abridged audio books, it is satisfying to have a leisurely meander through the full expanse of the English language.

Fantastic.

In a mastermind of marketing expertise, BBC AUDIO have begun to cater an audience, perhaps (just perhaps) a little older and probably more appreciative than the demographic that the NEW SERIES is aimed at. The mature DOCTOR WHO fans that, not only willing to spare nearly 5 hours listening to a story but eager to part with £17.99 for the honour.

Released at the same time, Caroline John reads another Hulke story, DOCTOR WHO AND THE CAVE MONSTERS (originally the TV broadcast, DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS ) forms the vanguard for the BBC's aural capitalisation of the programme's vast library of potential. Over 150 CLASSIC SERIES stories that could be (and many of them have) abridged - the true voice of storytelling.

[Future stories to be released in this format include THE GIANT ROBOT and THE DINOSAUR INVASION - and hopefully others throughout 2008].

Geoffrey Beevers is no stranger to CLASSIC SERIES DOCTOR WHO having starred as the Master in THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN (1980) - and several BIG FINISH audio plays - but here the depth of his chameleon voices is adept at the pummelling through the adventure.

The Time Lords have despatched the Doctor and his safe-cracking wise-cracking UNIT assistant, Jo Grant to a distant planet on which the Earth colonists are threatened with eviction by an interplanetary mining company (IMC) as it burrows deep into the crust.

However, the adventure takes an unfortunate twist as both the renegade Time Lord known as the Master and the original inhabitants of Planet Exarius stake their separate claims.

But the Master has bigger ambitions. The Doomsday Weapon. The ultimate weapon designed and created by the Keeper.

Will the weapon fall into the calculating hands of the Master or, more unnervingly, fall into the corporate hands of the IMC? And what secret is held within the planet?

Beevers, with the support of sound effects and music, treats the listener to a glorious, bewildering and engrossing entertainment for over five hours.