What happens if a conspiracy theory stumbles on the truth?

This is something very different for Doctor Who audio, and as different from the parent show as Torchwood and Class were in their day. Imagine if the series had returned in 2005 with a script that focused on Clive Finch and his investigations into the Doctor, and what we saw of the Doctor was the TARDIS outside Hendrik’s and maybe a blurry image by the London Eye… Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor is central to the story, but more in the way that Tennant’s was to Love & Monsters, a story that’s a clear influence on the concept if not the execution. This is a spin-off; it’s not the 2022 equivalent of Slipback or Dreamland, new stories being told in a different medium while the show’s off-air.

This opener has a great deal to do – in its 20-odd minutes, it’s got to establish when we are (2022 – but is it post-Covid? Post-Flux? Time will tell), that we’re in the Doctor Who universe (there’s a lovely shoutout that makes that clear even before the arrival of one of the principal guest stars), but, far more importantly, who we’re going to be spending the next 10 weeks with. Charlie Craggs, Lois Chimimba and Holly Quin-Ankrah play the trio behind The Blue Box Files – Cleo, Abby and Shawna – and Juno Dawson’s script introduces them in broad strokes, with a little bit of telling rather than showing. As with any drama, who these people are and how they present is important to the story being told but it’s not the be-all and end-all – drama is about how you deal with circumstances, not purely who you are – and we’re going to see the Doctor from a perspective that may be new to a lot of people.

We get a very clear idea of the various locations, and there’s an audio conceit – courtesy of sound designers David Thomas and Arlie Adlington – that reminds me of the way in which the switch between alters is being manifested on Moon Knight. Directors Ella Watts and James Robinson keep it pacey, and build the tension to a cliffhanger that promises to move the story further into Who territory.

Verdict: A pilot needs to grab your attention and make you want to know more – and this achieves that. 7/10

Paul Simpson