The Doctor is acting very strangely and, as Sarah Jane and the Brigadier investigate, they find out why. A threat is coming, one that has conquered Earth in the future and is tied to Sarah Jane’s earliest journey in the TARDIS…

The second engagement in this four episode war is, kind of, the first. Tim Foley’s script does some clever things with two different kinds of time. This is the Third Doctor preparing for the Fourth and it’s also a welcome, elegant, sequel to the first ever appearance of the Sontarans and mention of the Rutans. Foley builds something new in the crater left at the end of The Time Warrior that also plugs into the Third Doctor’s story, moves this arc along, builds on The Battle of Giant’s Causeway and gives all three leads some really fun things to do.

It also boasts one of the strongest supporting casts in a long time. Nicholas Boulton’s Captain Saint is a dashing hero with a hint of brittle to him and Lucy Goldie’s Sergeant Moss is introduced as a great thug and gets more nuance as she goes on. Best of all is Jeremy Ang Jones’ Stanley, a young man forced to grow up too fast and who embodies the conflict at the core of the story. He’s a character I’d like to see again and honestly, we might.

The core trio here do the heavy lifting, and do so in some very unusual ways. Tim Treloar’s Third Doctor is at his most mercurial here and, along with Foley and director Ken Bentley, give us a new perspective on this Doctor. His quick, sharp wit, occasional cruelty and deep love for his friends all combine here in a manner that’s very touching and also leads to a truly fantastic punchline.

A big part of that is Jon Culshaw’s Brigadier, again slightly more pressed than we’ve seen him before but having a lot of fun with it. This is the Brigadier, very slightly, off the leash. He’s not UNIT here, he’s a soldier and his professionalism is key to the story. Culshaw plays the Brigadier with a different kind of practical intelligence and it drives this story along.

But Sadie Miller’s Sarah Jane steals the show and drives the plot. Foley and Bentley let her be an actual journalist and Miller plays her with a rock solid foundation of intelligence and skill. In the interviews at the end of the story, Culshaw and Miller talk about how fun this dynamic is and they’re not wrong. Again, I’d love to see more of this.

Verdict: A great outing for the Third Doctor and a neatly done expansion and progression of the first story; this is excellent fun. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

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