The 6th and 10th Doctors encounter the Weeping Angels on a planet whose inhabitants don’t need to see…

Lisa McMullin pens the script for this third (and final?) of the Out of Time stories, a series that was born of the early days of the pandemic and has seen David Tennant’s Doctor interacting with three of his predecessors. Both Tom Baker and Peter Davison’s incarnations brought out different sides of the 10th Doctor, and Colin Baker’s does similar here – particularly given the placement of the story in the later timeline. The usual banter between Doctors works particularly well here, and there’s a nice reworking of the end of the end of The Three Doctors as they part.

It’s also one of the best uses of the Angels on audio we’ve had so far. Given that they’re a species that you’d think would be least suited to the medium, the fact they can “borrow” the voices of those they’ve killed has been a boon to writers, and McMullin cleverly plays with both our and the Doctors’ expectations of what the Lonely Assassins can do. The world on which it’s set is also carefully thought through – how its inhabitants would operate with a different fifth sense to ours, and how simple instructions from a sighted person (such as a Time Lord under pressure) would just not make sense.

Director Ken Bentley and sound designer Howard Carter establish the Angels’ actions with clear aural cues and there are a number of tense sequences which would play out differently pretty much anywhere else in the universe. Baker and Tennant sound like they’re having fun, with Old Sixie’s reactions to this newcomer perfectly timed. The small guest cast – Ayesha Antoine, Clive Hayward and Joanna Van Kempen – similarly do a strong job, creating a credible society, not just in the broader strokes but in the smallest reactions.

Verdict: Marking 15 years since the Angels debuted, this is an excellent tale in every way. 10/10

Paul Simpson

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