BBC Sounds

You’re only as young as you… look.

Lusus’ final victim is another familiar name, as we find out what may have prompted Julia to leave Marcus.

Poor Julia has some unfortunate genes she’s desperate to escape from that make her look older than her youthful 27 years – but you can’t stop the march of time. When she is, strangely, booked in to a ‘dentist’ for a revolutionary new anti-ageing treatment, we can guess where this is heading. That predictability takes nothing from the deep sense of unease you’ll feel as the dentist tells her she’ll be a ‘new woman’. I suppose that’s technically true, as old age is indeed new to Julia… there follows an interesting observation on the way in which the elderly can sometimes be treated in our society, even though we now have laws designed to prevent age-related discrimination.

The narrative arc of the series also comes full circle as we discover the history of the building in which that sinister dentist door sits, and a strange picture on the wall that I’m sure would be filled with many faces we know, as we once again hear those calming waves crashing. The building’s days may be numbered, but that door, I fear, will find a new home.

This has been a darkly satisfying series, designed to work its way under the skin of our modern-day anxieties and societal pressures. Its approach has been imaginative and clever, subtle and unique. With characters and scenarios that are possibly too accessible, but that’s clearly the point – and it works.

Verdict: Don’t have nightmares… you never know when they might come true. 9/10