The Eighth Doctor discovers Cardinal Ollistra has acquired some very dangerous new “allies”…

The situation’s rather more complicated than that summary might make it seem – we’re in the middle of the Time War and the Doctor responds to a distress call from a human space station at the same time as Cardinal Ollistra arrives to find out what’s happening with a very, very, very dangerous experiment. And, as always happens when Ollistra and the Doctor are together – whichever incarnation he’s in – things start off badly and get worse very quickly.

Matt Fitton’s story is a good counterpoint to John Dorney’s opener for the box set, with certain elements from that story playing into the behaviour of the Vashta Narada, and the scale of the piece being on a very different level. Paul McGann’s Doctor doesn’t want to get involved with anything connected to the Time War, and you can see the universe-weary figure of Night of the Doctor getting ever closer. McGann and Jacqueline Pearce bounce off each other well – another reason to look forward to the Time War set of adventures featuring the Eighth Doctor that can’t be far off now.

As he’s done throughout the set, director Barnaby Edwards keeps a firm hand on the pulse of the story, allowing some of the more horrific moments to really bed in, without letting it become overly melodramatic.

Verdict: A fitting end to another excellent set. 9/10

Paul Simpson