Rassilon has returned – which sounds like good news… but isn’t, necessarily…

The return of the President Eternal throws everything up in the air on Gallifrey, with new alliances needing to be formed in the wake of the changes that the resurrected Rassilon intends to make. And then someone arrives in a TARDIS from the future to add to the mayhem.

In addition to the many convoluted political elements, there’s also a clear sense of the passage of time in this story – Narvin is forced to realise that, at least in this body, he is aging and can’t do what he could some years back. We know what sort of ruler Rassilon will be thanks to his portrayal by Timothy Dalton in The End of Time, and the dictatorial regime kicks off here. You can read as much comment about the modern political system in David Llewellyn’s script as you choose. It’s a decade since we learned of the way in which Rassilon acts, and I’m quite intrigued as to how the Time War saga will knit together, given the disparate elements that we’re seeing across the Big Finish ranges – Terrence Hardiman is already bringing a very different energy to the saga…

Verdict: It’s not just the Daleks that the Time Lords need to fear… 8/10

Paul Simpson