Written By: John Dorney, Matt Fitton

Starring: Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver, Warren Brown

Originally released : November 2016

Listened to: September 2026

Context: I am on a UNIT roll this year, so after a standard, contemporary WHO boxset listen I am returning to theUNIT sets, the aim being to get up to date (as I did with the Gallifrey series). I am begining to get into the swing of these sets and Kate, Osgood, Josh et al are making a great, modern, UNIT team for me. Onward…

Episodes:

3.1 House of Silents by Matt Fitton 

3.2 Square One by John Dorney

3.3 Silent Majority by John Dorney 

3.4 In Memory Alone by Matt Fitton

THE REVIEW

What I thought:

3.1 House of Silents by Matt Fitton – so this is a great start to this new UNIT boxset, with the Silence making their UNIT debut as the creepy and very difficult to beat protaganists of this boxset. We have the return of Colonel Shindi after his recuperation from the auton invasion in set 1, great to have him back as he is an interetsing edition to the UNIT team, especially in his fractuous relationship with Captain Josh Carter. We also have the introduction of Miss Vaersham, who is blind, lives alone….but not really, as she has a load of cats (and what tunrs out to be many silents in greenhouses!). This is a great start to the set, and sets the context for the challenge ahead for the team, remembering anything is happening at all?!?

3.2 Square One by John Dorney – ok so this is the story that is perhaps the slowest, as the team are going back and worth in remembering certain things, the rise of the sleazy politician Kenneth LeBlanc (great character) and we start to see the effect the Silence are having on Josh, great stuff.

3.3 Silent Majority by John Dorney – so back to the politics, with Josh still under the influence of the Silence, the Boris Johnson-esque halfwit Kenneth LeBlanc on the cusp of becoming prime minister. Osgood and Kate work hard to keep the silence in mind, with Sam Bishop the key player in realising that there is something terrible afoot. There is some great stuff between Osgood and Josh here, who still doesn’t realise he is being manipulated by the Silence. The reveal (and Kate finally makes the links to discover what is really going on) and then we get the assassination! Great episode.

3.4 In Memory Alone by Matt Fitton – so the previous episode already felt like a finale so I wasnt really sure what was happening here, but after listening to this one (and the rest of the episodes of course) it does make sense. The Silence are of course very difficult to get rid of, so despite the Earth-bound Silent (sort of?) seemingly been dealt with, it makes sense that we go to space to root them out there. I think that is the premise anyway. We have Osgood and Sam Bishop floating about (literally) working out whats going on, with the Silence back to try to regain a foothold/survive. We have the arrival of another set of potentially hostile aliens as well. It is quite tense this one, with our heroes only just getting the better of the creepy silence. Good ending to a really fun boxset.

Rating: 4 out of 5 memory wipes:I always like Silence stories, one of my all-time fav monsters, with the team in real jeopardy throughout. Really cool the way the UNIT team find a way to defeat the Silence’s lethal abilities.

What I felt:

A little overwhelmed initially, at the start of another long series of distinct WHO-related adventures but also happy to think I have such great company coming over Autumn and Winter commutes to work.

What am I left thinking?

• What is coming next?
• More New Who monsters inbound?

Memorable bits

• I now have in my head cannon a framed photo of the silence on Kates desk.

Cast

Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart)

Ingrid Oliver (Osgood)

Warren Brown (Lieutenant Sam Bishop)

John Banks (Mission Control / Captain / Soldier)

James Joyce (Captain Josh Carter)

Tracy Wiles (Jacqui McGee)

Nicholas Briggs (The Silence)

Ramon Tikaram (Colonel Shindi)

Tom Alexander (Cecil / Derek)

Aaron Neil (Homeless Man / News Reporter / David)

Joanna Wake (Miss Faversham)

Nicholas Day (Kenneth LeBlanc / Heston)

Nimmy March (Baroness Vance / Telokni)