After the Daleks and the Ice Warriors, it's the turn of the Cybermen to do audio battle with the Doctor. In Sword of Orion, they find the eighth Doctor is as much a match for them as his previous incarnations were.

The Doctor and Charley have arrived in the future, at an intergalactic trading post in the Garazone system. Returning to the TARDIS, they discover it has been loaded aboard an interstellar scrap ship by mistake. Hitching a ride, they soon find themselves in even more trouble, accused of murder when the ship encounters a huge, apparently derelict star destroyer.

But aboard the star destroyer, something is stirring. The ship is not as abandoned as it first seems. For the Cybermen are beginning to awaken from a long sleep. And they need fresh recruits.

With the human race fighting a war with androids in a nearby system, someone wants to contact the occupants of the star destroyer to help their cause. But will the Cybermen be willing to help?

The second Season 27 story isn't as good as Storm Warning, but then again few stories could be. But it is very good nonetheless. Nicholas Briggs again does the multi-tasking job, writing, directing and playing a Cyberman. He has done well with all three.

Paul McGann is his usual comfortable self with the role of errant Time Lord, while India Fisher has slipped very well into the companion role as Charley Pollard. Bruce Montague is nasty and snarly as Grash, while Michelle Livingstone is very good as the mysterious Captain Deeva Jansen.

But it's the Cybermen that make the play. They are very impressive vocally, evoking the classic era of Cybermen stalking across our television screens once more. And the atmosphere conjured up by the sound effects people give an air of tension and menace aboard both ships. You're wondering who is going to be attacked next and by what.

This play is based on a fan-produced story from the mid-eighties, as are some of the others in the Big Finish range. It goes to show the depth of talent out there just waiting to be tapped.

All in all, Sword of Orion is a very competent addition to the Big Finish range. I look forward to more Cyber adventures in the near future, probably against some of the previous Doctors.