Mel has delivered the TARDIS to President Dogbolter – but will she ever be free of his schemes?

The final story in this trilogy for the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Mel sees them joined by Sean Carlsen’s Narvin who’s investigating the theft of a TARDIS, and, much to his own chagrin, has to assist the Doctor. Guy Adams has fun with one of the DWM strip bad guys, Dogbolter, last heard in Big Finish nearly 20 years ago in Robert Shearman’s The Maltese Penguin. It’s a story that embraces those comic book roots, with Toby Longworth continuing his Sydney Greenstreet evocation with the character of Dogbolter and Wayne Forrester as his Peter Lorre-esque robotic helper, Hob, both of whom seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, particularly in the scenes with Bonnie Langford.

There are some obvious political parallels in the tale, especially in the account of Dogbolter’s rise to power, but the story never becomes preachy. Instead, it takes a sharp left turn at the end of the first episode, in a way that allows Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Sean Carlsen to play similar but different characters to normal, while Jules de Jongh’s Krasi Captain gets to turn the tables on Dogbolter.

It’s another outing for the Jamie Anderson / Joe Kraemer / Josh Arakelian team on directing, sound design and music duties and as always with this line-up, there’s a suitably epic feel to the experience. It’s one of those stories whose tone turns on a dime, and all the necessary elements alter appropriately.

Verdict: Funny and also heartstring-tugging when it needs to be – an enjoyable conclusion. 8/10

Paul Simpson