Daleks vs Movellans – whoever wins, we lose…

There’s a certain amount of truth to adapting the Alien vs Predator tagline (probably the best thing about the whole movie!) for this final story for the Counter Measures team – the Daleks spotted Movellan technology in this time period on Earth at the end of The Movellan Manoeuvre, and the Counter Measures team are caught in the middle of the fight. When you add the treacherous Lady Suzanne Clare to the mix, it’s a recipe for high drama.

It’s clear from the publicity that not all of the Counter Measures team are going to come out of Roland Moore’s script alive, and I’ll admit that it was not who I expected – but the way that it’s handled is absolutely true to the character, as is the aftermath. This doesn’t prevent there being further stories featuring the team set earlier – another crossover with the main range or for a celebratory season – but it does provide closure in a way that we’d not had before.

As always, there’s strong work from Karen Gledhill, Hugh Ross, Pamela Salem and Simon Williams (to list in alphabetical order), and Nick Briggs gets a chance to do more than just the multiple Daleks this time around. Ken Bentley’s direction adjusts tempo according to the differing requirements of the story – the coda especially is nicely judged. Joe Meiners’ sound design and Briggs’ music once again complement the actors’ performances neatly – Briggs has some interesting comments on composing for the series in the CD extras.

If this truly is the end for Counter Measures, then a tip of the hat to the team for building so successfully on the 1988 TV story – one of the definite feathers in producer David Richardson, director Ken Bentley and script editor John Dorney’s caps.

Verdict: A powerful ending to this phase of Counter Measures. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order The Dalek Gambit from Big Finish