An archaeological dig has a hapless new recruit – the happily married Mrs Summerfield…

April McCaffrey’s engaging tale starts off with a few impossible things – the Doctor and Benny married; Benny being a complete novice on a dig – and doles out the explanations as the listener needs them. The planet they’re on has various unusual qualities, and its inhabitants stay on the straight and narrow – or find themselves on the wrong side of the law, simply for being different.

McCaffrey and script editor Simon Guerrier have created some intriguing characters – from a war veteran with unusual attributes to a detective whose job feels topsy turvy when looked at from a normal perspective. There’s reasons for all of this, and it’s perhaps only in the last few minutes, when these are revealed, that things become a bit cliched – although they need to in order to justify a great final TARDIS scene between the Doctor and Bernice.

David Warner’s Doctor is becoming more fleshed out by this box set than ever before – it would be fascinating to go back to the original two unbound tales now to see where he started – and there’s no question that he makes an excellent foil for Benny. There’s good work throughout this from the guest cast – Sam Hallion is given a lot to deal with, in particular, and Scott Handcock ensures that the last part never goes as over the top as it easily could.

Verdict: There’s an assuredness about the scripting that carries the listener even through moments that feel very familiar. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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