Tom Baker’s return to the world of Doctor Who audios in Hornet’s Nest was met with a mixed reception, but judging by The Relics of Time, the first instalment in the five-part series Demon Quest, writer Paul Magrs took on board many of the criticisms. Rather than a tale narrated by one of the characters, this is much nearer a radio play with narrator, with Baker and Susan Jameson sharing the stage for much of this. Trapping the TARDIS so it can only move in time rather than space is a neat idea, by no means the only one in this story. A strong start. 8/10

The Demon of Paris, narrated mainly by Jameson’s Mrs Wibsey, maintains the standard of the first instalment, with a gripping tale involving the arty world of the late 19th Century, as Toulouse-Lautrec comes under suspicion of committing grisly murders. Baker clearly enjoys rolling his tongue around Paul Magrs’ dialogue, making this great fun.  8/10

A Shard of Ice features a terrific cover by June Hudson. Narrated by Samuel West’s character Albert Tiermann, it’s an atmospheric story set on an icebound German plain that rattles along. West and fellow guest star Jan Francis make this an eerie pleasure. 7/10

Everyone involved with the fourth episode Starfall seems to be having great fun with the 1970s New York setting and the various comicbook ideas that are explored, with Magrs producing some great one-liners and new takes on the genre. 7/10

Sepulchre wraps everything up, but feels a little unsatisfactory: it’s linked too closely in with Hornet’s Nest (something that the rest of the series managed successfully to avoid). It’s good to hear Baker, Richard Franklin and Jameson working together, and there’s some suitably timey-wimey shenanigans (as well as a very Star Trek solution to one major problem) but let’s hope that the third series spreads its wings a little more. 7/10

Verdict: An improvement on Hornet’s Nest, which hangs together well.  7/10

Paul Simpson

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