Rani Chandra is a successful journalist, a podcaster and now, a surprised best friend. Clyde Langer returns to her life with a partner, a baby just in time for a UFO to appear out of nowhere.

This is about as close to a perfect return for the character as you could imagine. Anjli Mohindra and Daniel Anthony are always great but they’re fantastic here. Mohindra’s Rani is cheerful, driven and deeply intimidated by stepping into Sarah Jane’s shoes even though she already has and they fit so perfectly she hasn’t noticed. Clyde is a fundamentally good guy, an imminent father and utterly terrified at the thought of being both. He’s a fantastic everyman and grounds the show without ever just being the comic relief. That being said, Anthony’s comic timing is central to one of the pillars of the box set: the existential terror they both feel at their adult lives arriving out of nowhere. Entwined with the grief they both still feel over the loss of Sarah Jane, this aspect is sensitively written and acted and really works. It also gives the first story especially a joyous undertone; this is fun and they know it and their embracing of the weirdness makes the revelation of what’s really going on all the more shocking.

There are two beats in this box set you really have to come to cold. One doesn’t work for me, and we’ll get to that but the other works brilliantly and sits at the core of ‘Here Today’, the opening story by Joseph Lidster. This is an event so large we see it through six people’s eyes: Rani, Clyde, Clyde’s girlfriend Phoenix, Rani’s producer Samira, super enthusiastic UNIT Private Matthew Reeves and Yvonne D’Alpra’s stoical, melancholy Patricia Miller. This feels like an ensemble, one where no one has all the answers and everyone’s doing their best. It’s doing a lot in a short space of time but it manages to be both breezy and resonantly kind. There’s a moment between Samira and Phoenix here that honestly made me tear up, not because it’s overwrought but because it’s sensible and calm and real. The world gets saved, of course, but the little moments before it does matter as much as the big moments of triumph.

‘Destination Wedding’ by James Goss picks up almost straight away and sees Rani and her mum Gita (the amazing Mina Anwar on top form) attending a school friend’s wedding. The island location is stunning, the guest list is essentially the entirety of Hollywood and everyone’s having a great time in amongst the endless photo calls and the disappearances… Goss has always been good at dark farce and that’s very much where this island is located. Anwar is especially good fun as the star-struck Gita and the ending, featuring a mass celebrity stampede gives her a chance to go over and above in the defence of a dame of the theatre. It’s absurd, and often very funny, but it’s also dark and has a piercingly clear gaze. This is a story about expectation, and the standards we all (and especially women) are held to. It’s sharp, angry, fun stuff and Will Bishop in particular shines as both the erstwhile groom, the splendidly named Kristoffay and a Receptionist who knows far more than he’s saying. Director Helen Goldwyn, excellent throughout, has a lot of fun with the crowd scenes here too.

This is where we get to some complicated territory. There’s a beat in ‘Destination Wedding’ which plays like a production choice rather than a narrative one. I’m being a little cagey because you need to hear it unfold but a choice is made concerning Rani and other characters that pays off in the third story and flies in the face of a lot of the thematic work here. It works, but it’s also the least interesting choice and that’s a shame in a set that works this hard.

In particular because the box set finale ‘The Witching Tree’ by Lizzy Hopley takes some big risks, all of which pay off. Rani is on location for the podcast, chasing an award and covering the story of a haunted restaurant built around a very odd tree. But Rani keeps losing time, and there are elements of the recordings she’s sending she can’t remember…

As a story this is great. Mohindra, who is excellent throughout, excels here as we see Rani at work and the sound design takes us into the podcast and back out to the world with some really neat touches. It also features a surprise, and very welcome, cameo by Tyler Steele. Johnny Green is excellent as Torchwood’s designated puppy and seating him here not only gives the story a welcome extra voice but does some very subtle worldbuilding. Much like the Rani story back in Eighth of March 2, this makes it clear her work isn’t going unnoticed and plugs her into the wider universe in a fun, neat way. Likewise the reference to the Blue Box Chronicles, the other in-universe Who podcast and the centre of season 1 of the excellent Ella Watts/Juno Dawson show Doctor Who: Redacted. This is also a real showcase for Naomi Clarke’s sound design and the subtle work done on Rani’s voice in spots is especially unsettling.

And yet, the ending here feels like the one bum note in the set. Again I’m going to be annoyingly obtuse but a choice is made which does one good thing and one very frustrating one. The good thing is Daniel Anthony, Tiegan Byrne and Raghad Chaar get lots of time in the spotlight and they’re all great. Chaar in particular is a very welcome addition to the show as Rani’s unflappable producer while Byrne’s Phoenix steals every scene she’s in and Anthony’s Clyde is cleverly moved into some nuanced, difficult territory.

And yet, again, where two of these characters end up is deeply frustrating. For a set that engages with the horrors of 30 and up and does so with such kindness and honesty, it feels especially disappointing. Life is complex, untidy, nuanced and there’s a trope deployed in the closing second here which is none of those things. It may well work as the series develops, but here it feels like the one risk that isn’t taken, in a show that excels every time it rolls the dice.

Verdict: Beyond Bannerman Road is a barnstorming return for one of the best casts in Doctor Who history that hits almost everything it aims for. There’s one element that really doesn’t work for me but you may well feel differently and it is very, very good to meet these characters again. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart

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