The Seventh Doctor is disturbed by a rather too familiar intruder in the TARDIS.

This is a rather different tale, marking Stephen Wyatt’s return to Doctor Who after decades, and his first story for Big Finish. It’s both a prequel and a sequel (at least for the Doctor) to The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, along the way dropping in on Paradise Towers, charting the coming together of the Circus at the hands of a rather different (ring)Master than we met in the 1988 series.

The timeframes are a little confusing at first, but it holds together, with the various strands brought into line in the final episode. Script editor Matt Fitton ensures that everything is tied up that needs to be so that The Greatest Show… isn’t undermined in any way while still allowing this story to stand (pretty much) alone.

Samuel Clemens’ direction and Steve Foxon’s sound design match the slightly more theatrical nature of the script. Sylvester McCoy’s on his own – or interacting with a robot – for quite a bit of this, which leads to a rather different performance from usual; the returnees from Greatest Show are playing much younger versions of their screen characters (with some recastings necessitated by time). James Dreyfus’ Master is suitably manipulative from behind the scenes, and the interactions between the two Time Lords are intriguing.

Verdict: A different sort of tale for the 7th Doctor. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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