With the news last week of a new companion for Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor, we look at one of his first companions, and a home-grown Big Finish favourite, Charlotte Pollard. One of the first Big Finish companions, she first joined the Tardis crew when rescued from certain death in Storm Warning, the 16th Main Range Doctor Who release. She then travelled with the Eighth Doctor, then the Sixth, and stormed into her own series back in 2014.

Her second solo series came out in March, and since then reviews have been stellar for a companion striding out on their own. “After dumping its heroes unceremoniously - and without an Oyster card - in the middle of the London Underground, Charlotte Pollard: Series Two sets off at warp speed and doesn’t touch the brake or lift its foot off the accelerator for its entire duration,” Tim Cundle at Mass Movement tells us, “It is, truth be told, an incredibly brisk and speedy tale of strange assassins known only as Identical Men, government cover-ups, insidious aeons old extra-terrestrial agendas and a genuinely gripping threat to humanity’s continued existence that subverts traditional Science Fiction tropes and opts instead to pursue a far more intelligent, meticulously planned and detailed approach to story-telling.”

“It’s as urban and as contemporary as it gets, and is very unnerving due to the familiarity for us if not for Charley & Robert, they are completely out of their time and out of their depth, and it all begins on Embankment Station….,” Planet Mondas tells regular Charley Pollard fans that Series 2 is quite different form its predeccessor, “Charlotte Pollard has come a long way from the R101, and I think that she has a long way to go yet.”

"One difference between a Charley adventure and a Doctor Who adventure is the less than strictly platonic relationship between characters, India Fisher and James Joyce have already created an excellent rapport between the two characters, as their relationship continually fluctuates,” praises Blogtor Who, “One minute they are united space/time travellers, the next they’ll be bickering – and every so often there’s even a hint of romance thrown in. It’s a much wider spectrum of emotions than the platonic Doctor and his companion, and right from the very beginning, this is taken full advantage of to demonstrate a new side to Charley Pollard. 9/10” 

We were able to catch up with writer and director of this series, Nicholas Briggs, about Series 2 - "It’s very rewarding that we’ve been getting some great reviews with Charlotte Pollard Series 2. I really stuck my neck out with this one and decided to do something very different, not only from Doctor Who, but from the first series of Charlotte Pollard. I wanted to give it a harder, more realistic edge, and really experiment with the kinds of stories you can tell on audio. The cast really took the challenge, with India Fisher and James Joyce really embracing the complexity of the relationship between Charley and her friend Robert Buchan. All of this really fires me up for Series 3, which will be going into the studio later this year."

We hope to give more details about Series 3 of Charlotte Pollard later in the year, in the meantime you can tune in to the adventures of Charlotte Pollard on CD for £30 or Download at £25.