Forced to make an emergency materialisation, the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara find an unpleasant future for humanity.

If you’re looking for a laugh a minute, knockabout comedy with fun aliens – maybe played by members of the Crackerjack team – then you’ve come to the wrong place. Guy Adams’ script is perhaps one of the grimmest stories put out by Big Finish, a dystopia where our travellers inadvertently make wrong choices and assumptions and face a dictatorship that is relentlessly self-centred and evil. Peter Cushing played a version of Hartnell’s Doctor on the big screen; this is much nearer to 1984.

In and of itself it’s not a bad thing, and kudos to all involved for playing it with absolute conviction – Clive Wood’s Daddy Dominus and Phil Mulryne’s Bruddle Medicus are neatly paired with Amanda Hurwitz’s Mummy Martial and Susie Emmet’s Sissy Cruciatu, and one false note from any of them, or Phyllida Nash’s Brooskin, would send this story spiralling. Ken Bentley keeps things very tight, and Howard Carter’s sound design layers in plenty to reinforce the credibility.

It’s one of those stories – which is true to the period – where the TARDIS crew are separated, and there’s never really a moment where they could just leave. David Bradley and Claudia Grant’s rapport as the Doctor and Susan shines, and Jamie Glover and Jemma Powell have very much created their own takes on Ian and Barbara that are still recognisably the TV characters but have an extra edge.

Verdict: Don’t go in expecting any respite – this is grim from start to finish – but it is a well told and executed tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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