Winter for the Adept is a decidedly low key affair, in comparison to the other Big Finish audios - and it is structured very strangely.
One of the key reasons the Audios appeal to me, is their classic structure with crashing cliffhangers. None of this applies to Winter for the Adept, which sidelines the Doctor in episode one, leads you up many blind alleys as to what the nature of the threat is, and when you finally discover what's going on, most of what has gone on before does not make sense. All this framed within the reminiscences of an old woman, make you feel that this tape was rushed into production earlier than it should have been.
With the Doctor absent for much of the first episode it is up to Nyssa to drive the action, and Sarah Sutton is more than up to the task. However, with so many female characters (five) to one male - and three of these characters being young British women (Nyssa included!), it can be hard to distinguish who is talking. It over complicates the plot to have two young girls at the boarding school, when one would have done, and when one is involved in a decidedly inappropriate love affair, you can feel the padding slipping in. One of the actresses has just been signed to be the McGann Audio companion, and her selection I feel is unfortunate - yet another plummy voiced Pommie (Brit) that displays the Audios unfortunate tendency to over parocialise the Britishness of the show (if I have to hear the Doctor say "this must be Earth" because they've landed in another rain sodden English wood, like the whole world is London and it's environs!).
However, there is also a sound attempt to broaden the characterisation of Nyssa and the Doctor. Most of this is taken from the hectoring Nyssa gave the Doctor at the beginning of Arc of Infinity (fix the scanner, fix the audio, why doesn't the "state of grace" work). Although it has a tendency to be a bit naggy, it was played quite well, with the affection the actors have for their roles and for each other showing through - and is essential in that it reminds the audience why Nyssa and the Doctor are separated at the beginning, which becomes integral to the plot by episode 4. There is a classic scene when Nyssa asks the Doctor for an explanation, receives a mouthful of technobabble in response, and she (in classic Nyssa style) pauses for breath and says "Did you just make that up?".
On the other hand the villains when they are finally revealed, suffer by having a very childish name which makes them difficult to take seriously - and all the spooky goings on in the earlier episodes appear to be a bit of a red herring. Overall, I was disappointed as the standard was not up to prior releases, but it still held the attention, mostly due to it featuring my favourite TARDIS team (which might have unduly raised my expectations) - and a good guest spot by Babylon 5's Londo Mollari - but you'd never recognise that it was the same actor! However, knowing that the Doctor & Nyssa will be back in a few months, and will be facing the Daleks, will keep me still a dedicated listener.
