Turlough is kidnapped by someone determined to reunite him with his childhood sweetheart…

The second of this new trilogy of Fifth Doctor stories featuring Tegan, Turlough and an older Nyssa is focussed very heavily on Mark Strickson’s Turlough, someone who was rather overlooked in the initial reunion season. It plays on the listener’s knowledge of the character’s past, as revealed in his final TV story Planet of Fire, while not giving away anything that would negate either his or the Doctor’s later actions.

Stephen Cole’s script occasionally lapses into melodrama; it would certainly make a very effective Marvel Comic story, with some dialogue that is inevitable but which you’d hope someone of Cole’s experience would be able to find a way to circumvent. The episode endings are a little unfortunate: it’s almost impossible to make out the dialogue at the end of part two, while the “surprise” at the end of part three isn’t one at all.

However, there’s still a thrill at hearing this TARDIS team reunited after over 25 years, which papers over any cracks.  7/10

Paul Simpson

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