A new tenant in Baker Street is making himself invaluable – and the police have come to visit Tania…

Things just seem to be settling down at the Doctor’s house at Baker Street as Lisa McMullin’s script begins – the Doctor has moved in with Liv and Helen; Liv is involved with Tania; and Mr Bird, the new tenant of the attic flat, is the sort of useful person to have around, who can always help with fixing anything that’s gone wrong. But then the televisions start working even when they’re unplugged, and they’re showing quite the wrong sort of programme.

That’s also the cue for Andy Davidson to arrive, in full uniform, at the door. It’s not clear – yet – how this ties in with the ongoing Torchwood continuation series, in which Tom Price’s policeman has stepped up into quite a different role. Andy’s always something of an “everyman” in the situation – which makes it interesting here, given that we have a number of “everymen” already in the set up. His links with Tania are clearly going to be an ongoing part of this saga.

The puzzle of the televisions gets the Doctor more engaged than he’s been for the last couple of stories, with some interesting mirroring of situations regarding surveillance. The scope of this box set is starting to widen beyond the purely domestic…

Verdict: An engaging conundrum for the Doctor, and plenty of hints of forces moving just out of sight. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Stranded volume 1 from Big Finish