Counter-Measures Series 1

By: Paul Finch, Matt Fitton, Ian Potter, Justin Richards

Narrated by: Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Karen Gledhill, Hugh Ross

Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

After the mysterious events at Coal Hill School, the British government has created the Counter-Measures group, a specialist team that investigates strange phenomena and dangerous technology. Their first missions will involve a haunted warehouse, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence, a mysterious new town and a threat to the future of the country....

Four full-cast audio dramas plus a behind-the-scenes documentary.

Threshold by Paul Finch.

A missing scientist and ghostly phenomena bring Gilmore and Allison to a factory in Bermondsey and the discovery of a science that should not exist. As Rachel Jensen returns to help them, a new future for Counter-Measures is set in motion....

Artificial Intelligence by Matt Fitton.

Investigating a suicide at the Sen-Gen facility, the group discovers a new weapon in the Cold War - and Gilmore meets an old flame. Meanwhile Rachel discovers that she can't trust anyone, not even the sound of her own voice....

The Pelage Project by Ian Potter.

A case of industrial pollution leads the group to the new industrial town Pelage and a dangerous meeting with its leader, Ken Temple. And deep within the plant, it appears that an alien invasion is already underway....

State of Emergency by Justin Richards.

There are creatures from another dimension on the streets and traitors in the halls of Westminster. When the government is in jeopardy, Rachel, Allison and Gilmore take on a faction staging a very un-British coup....

Written by: Paul Finch, Matt Fitton, Ian Potter and Justin Richards. Directed by: Ken Bentley.

©2012 Big Finish Productions (P)2012 Big Finish Productions

Great book!

I just finished listening to this and went and purchase the other two right away. I love the different voice and stories.

Another great spin-off of Doctor Who!

This was well performed and written as all the big finish plays tend to be. It was great fun, seeing what the characters of remembrance of the Daleks did after that story.

Offshoot from BBC’s Doctor Who series

Just listened to all of the available series on Audible, 1-3, back-to-back.

The story follows the Counter-Measures team solving mysterious events, similar to ‘The X-Files’. Based during the 1960’s, it has a period ‘The Avengers-esque’ soundscape to match.

The first series is OK, but a bit of a mess in places; within the behind the scenes documentary it is acknowledged they learnt what worked and what needed changing. And am happy to say that series 2+3 are both much improved.

The main issue with Counter-Measures, for me, is the delivery of one actor’s lines. So often they’re flat, lack emotion, or are poorly timed which results in them jarring with the flow of dialogue. It does improve in the latter half of series 3 so am hopefully once Audible gets Series 4 it’ll be a 5* all round review.

* Series 1 - July 2012
* Series 2 - June 2013
* Series 3 - July 2014
----------------------------
Not yet available on Audible:
* Series 4 - July 2015

Then it morphs into ‘The New Counter-Measures’:

* Who Killed Toby Kinsella - July 2016 (duration 2 hours)
* Series 1 - December 2016


And one last thing to say is, Hugh Ross is fantastic as Sir Toby Kinsella. He’s got a great voice.

What's with the 1970 sound effects??

Would you try another book written by the authors or narrated by the narrators?

no

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

it was a dramatization and I could hardly hear it over the sound effects - I tried re-downloading thinking my copy was corrupt!

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

not if they have the same terrible sound effects

What character would you cut from Counter-Measures Series 1?

the sound effects - Very distracting and for me it took away any pleasure from the story

Any additional comments?

Terrible - what a waste of a couple of good actors!

overpowered by sound effects

this could have been very enjoyable except its completely overpowered by sound effects and music. its as though they let a couple of eight year olds loose in the radiophonic workshop. I had to abandon the first story as found it impossible to listen to. shame as the acting is fun. if you have resilient eardrums, go ahead.

Bad sound res

If you could sum up Counter-Measures Series 1 in three words, what would they be?

Poor, sound quality

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the story but it is ruined some what by the poor sound quality that audible provides.

Any additional comments?

Had i brought this from the big finish website the audio quality would have been twice the resolution

Good start

Would you listen to Counter-Measures Series 1 again? Why?

Yes, good Avengers style fun!

If you’ve listened to books by the authors before, how does this one compare?

Big Finish productions can be very mediocre and lack heart but this was actually good and I'd listen to others in the series.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Some bad line readings but also some good performances.

Any additional comments?

Worth a pop!

What a unit ;)

Went in blind, Part 1 okay, but by mid 2 realised I was invested in these characters, the situations... what an unexpected treat. Grown up but never graphic, horrific and haunting, at times, yet always a class act. The leads prove themselves worthy of that designation in a great company, the guest cast, particularly Stephen Greif, pack a punch, too. Solid, involving entertainment. Boxset 2 waiting in the wings already - couldn't resist. It's not Doctor Who, btw. Nor is it - despite the pun - UNIT lite. It is it's own thing and worth every lovely minute. A salute to Counter Measures - respect is most certainly due :)

Very Enjoyable.

I was immersed from the start. Fabulous well remembered characters funded by the British government of 1963. A new spin-off that has a unique niche of it's own. Smashing stuff.😀👍

Like retro 60s sci-fi...? Give it a punt !

I had never heard of this series, but after a little background reading found out it came out of a single Dr Who episode from (I think) the late 80s. While written and broadcast from 2012, the whole thing is set in the 60s and does indeed do a good job of actually sounding like it was written and produced in that era.... except perhaps from the point of view that two women would not likely have been cast in the leading roles in this type of drama back then.

Series 1 includes a set of "production notes and cast interviews" at the end, which explains a lot of the way the series came about, the feel they wanted to achieve, etc, which is interesting if you haven't heard of the series before.

The 4 episodes of Series 1 are quite diverse, but all Sci-Fi-y in nature. I think my favourite is the final episode dealing with the Wilson Government of the mid-60s... I vaguely recall the resignation of Wilson when I was very young, so "sort of" identify with this, if you see what I mean.

For all the blog-chat and cast interviews about similarities with Dr Who, UNIT, etc, I have to say that I found major parts of this to remind me of "Doomwatch", an early 70s BBC TV series. There are definite parallels in "The Pelage Project". The series also has an element of the "Quatermass" series (from the late 50s) about it, too.

Like other reviewers (on Audible and on other internet sites) I totally agree that part of the audiobook suffer from shockingly bad audio reproduction, so much so that it sounds like some characters are behind a door in a different room delivering their lines. If this really was a 1960s production, that might be excusable, if not acceptable, but this was produced in 2012. Some put this down to the Audible version of the media... I don't know. But a "remastering" should really be considered to correct this short-coming.

In spite of this, I will be getting series Two.

Enjoy.