The Doctor and Mathew arrive on a mysterious, abandoned spaceship. Except, of course, it’s not abandoned. Eric Drazen, hard-changing tycoon, has plans to turn it into a hotel. But other people have plans for the ship. And for the Doctor…

This is fun. It’s also difficult to talk about without ruining some things you really should come to cold, so bear with me while I do a little tap dancing.

The basic plot here is familiar, and cleverly updated. There’s hints of Elon Musk and Alan Sugar to Drazen and Matthew Holness walks a fine line expertly between overt comic relief machismo and business dudebro. The fact there’s rather more to him than first appears is all the more impressive and Drazen stand out as one of the more interesting supporting characters Big Finish have introduced.

He’s not alone either. Mathew, played by George Sear, is an earnest and determined hero in the mould of some of Doctor Who’s best male companions. Esther Brak, played by Suzie Riddell, is a fun and nuanced journalist and Willoway  played by Ruth Sillers, is flat out brilliant, An interior designer from a gaseous race, she’s fascinated by the solid world. There’s an extended sequence which is pretty much just her and the Doctor having a chat that is honestly my favourite thing Big Finish have done all year (aside from Torchwood’s “We Always Make It Out Alive’ which is an early contender for release of the year for me). Willoway is a gentle, fun, alien character who I’d love to see more of, either as herself or as a trailhead for more characters of this type.

Even the villains of the piece are unusually nuanced and fun and understandable. Better still, their plan, as it evolves, is revealed to be more insidious and frightening than anyone previously thought. This, in turn, leads to a couple of surprises you don’t see coming in the final hour and a resolution that feels both very different and very much in keeping with the Sixth Doctor era.

Verdict: Cheerfully strange, character-driven, darkly funny and ambitious, this is something of a sleeper hit in the making. Worth it, especially if you don’t normally bother with Sixth Doctor releases. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart