The Doctor, Liv and Helen have been marooned – is there anything they can do to stop Padrac, the Sonomancer and the Eleven from fulfilling their plans?

If you’ve been following the Eighth Doctor saga from the start of Dark Eyes through to now, there are moments within this box set that will have you cheering, as threads (some plot, some emotional, some thematic) are pulled together. I’m always just a little cynical about claims that everything is set up by producers (hello The X-Files, Babylon 5, Lost etc.) but the core team on this, led by David Richardson, have very much fulfilled the promise of the earlier stories, with key moments based on events that have been layered in across the box sets.

The set kicks off with John Dorney’s Ship in a Bottle, as the three time travellers appear to be stuck with no chance of escape. Dorney writes to each of the characters’ – and the actors’ – strengths, with some powerful moments of high drama. It’s not the first time the Eighth Doctor has been in a similar sort of situation, and it’s interesting to go back to those early days with Charley and see just how this incarnation of the Time Lord has grown and changed over the years.

Matt Fitton’s Songs of Love puts the spotlight firmly on the three leading ladies – Nicola Walker, Hattie Morahan and guest star Alex Kingston, whose River Song ducks and dives on Gallifrey with the best of them as she helps Liv and Helen. The scene between the two TARDIS travellers when truths are reluctantly revealed is one of their best.

The Doctor is reunited with Liv and Helen in time for Fitton’s neatly titled The Side of the Angels, with guest appearances from Rufus Hound’s Monk and Carolyn Pickles’ Cardinal Ollistra (although I’m a little surprised that the cast list gives away a key surprise – I’ve learned not to look at these till after I’ve listened to the story!). There’s some very interesting foreshadowing going on here of events in future incarnations, without it feeling like you’re being battered round the head with a piece of wood with the writer saying, “See, this is where he gets the idea from.”

Dorney’s finale, Stop the Clock, is simply magnificent. It’s not a story that you could listen to without knowing what’s come before, but for those of us who have travelled alongside the Eighth Doctor, it brings it all together, helped by great work from all the actors involved. Mark Bonnar’s Eleven, Robert Bathurst’s Padrac, and Emma Cunniffe’s Sonomancer are razor sharp, as are Paul McGann, Nicola Walker and Hattie Morahan – all credit to director Ken Bentley for bringing them all together in a way that balances the intrinsic melodrama of the situation (it’s the End of Everything As We Know It!!!!!!!!!) with the very personal elements that are at its core. The sound design by Benji Clifford, Richard Fox & Lauren Yason across the sets is uniformly excellent, as is the music from Jamie Robertson.

Verdict: A perfect culmination for  the Doom Coalition. 10/10

Paul Simpson