A breath of fresh air for the TARDIS crew is anything but… and then Kamelion goes missing in York…

It’s an unusual idea to split the middle release of a trilogy into two distinct stories, but this length of tale was trialled during the Davison years (Black Orchid/The King’s Demons/The Awakening) and neither of the two tales recounted here would really justify four episodes without some considerable restructuring.

Believing his companions might be suffering cabin fever (although the previous adventure had seem them outside for the vast majority of the time), the Doctor lands in Wales, but below ground, around the time of a gas explosion down a mine. The tragedy is a matter of historical record, and writer Jamie Anderson is very careful not to downplay the grief and the effect that the deaths have on the mining community. We’re in broad strokes “boss bad, miners good” territory to an extent – there’s not enough time for too much nuance – with the focus firmly on how such raw grief can affect Kamelion. Lizzie Roper is excellent as the bereaved Eira, and Tim Treloar and Matthew Aubry are called upon for more than just the parts for which they’re credited. There’s a couple of narrative choices that you can see coming a long way off – one involving Kamelion’s actions I was thinking ‘Please don’t go down the …’ route just as it happened.

The second story, Power Game, set on “contemporary” Earth (although with no suggestion of Tegan wanting to cease her travels) is a nice tribute by Eddie Robson to the Adventure Game/Knightmare programmes of the period, with a clever use of Kamelion, and some very nice lines for Peter Davison’s Doctor – his description of his normal state of mind sums up this incarnation perfectly.

Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson play off each other well in both stories, with Jon Culshaw continuing to provide more depth for Kamelion than was feasible given the limitations of the robot on TV. It does feel, though, as if this trilogy is being centred very firmly on Kamelion and I wonder if this should end up being a one-off experiment so as not to alter the balance on board the Ship (and make you wonder even more why we didn’t see more of it in Season 21!)

Verdict: Two very contrasting tales that showcase this unusual TARDIS team well. 8/10

Paul Simpson