Pulled out of his timestream by Gallifrey, the Doctor finds themself temporarily stabilised into their seventh incarnation and recruited by the General (Ken Bones) and Veklin. A message has come in from someone who has information on how to win the Time War: Davros. And the only thing he asks is that the Doctor break him out of prison…

Doctor Who has always had fun with negative space and this is really good fun. Jonathan Morris cleverly seats the story in the negative space between the overall Once and Future arc, the Time War and the Gallifrey arc. Beth Chalmers’ Veklin is huge fun here, her relentless competency and focus a neat counterpoint to McCoy’s artfully whimsical Seventh Doctor. There’s a pragmatism to their working relationship which is vastly enjoyable; Seven recognising Veklin’s skills and Veklin recognising that in a foxhole, the person next to you matters more than the person ordering you around. The pair spark very well off the always excellent Ken Bones too, and the General gets a surprising character arc here. It informs the last beat in The Day of the Doctor in a deeply elegant way; listen to this story, you get something extra for the scene which isn’t essential but does deepen it a surprising amount.

Helen Goldwyn is one of Big Finish’s best directors, cementing that reputation even further here, and she and Howard Carter’s sound design give the four lead actors especially a lot of space to play. Likewise the always excellent Terry Molloy and Nicholas Briggs who get to both spar delightfully and show us two sides of a particularly evil coin. Briggs’ Dalek Supreme is a monolithic implacable juggernaut of rage and determination. Molloy’s Davros is a Richelieu-esque figure of plausible, determined malice. Both are pushed to the limits here and both are nudged into defeat by Seven’s textbook ‘accidental’ approach. This one really is a game of chess but it’s only at the end do we see the Doctor started the game much earlier than everyone else.

Verdict: This is a tightly plotted, slightly stealthy crossover that gives every concept and character lots to do and provides a welcome step change for the Once and Future arc. Intensely confident and tremendously enjoyable. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

Click here to order from Big Finish