Drummond – a place where the Doctor can find the parts he needs to mend the scanner, and Leela can foment a revolution… And where an old foe lies in wait…

The two-part finale to this season of Tom Baker and Louise Jameson stories kicks off with this release from Guy Adams, in which Baker seems to be having an inordinate amount of fun, despite the fact that everyone (with the odd exception) seems to be determined to kill the Doctor. There’s a rather wonderful moment when the Doctor disguises himself to escape detection but doesn’t quite think through all the ramifications… leading to a gag that works better on audio than it would do visually.

It’s not all fun and games though: there’s a very well played argument between the Doctor and Leela that shows just how much the characters have been developed in their time with Big Finish. There’s a rather different role for John Dorney – and another return for Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh (after his appearance in the New Adventures with the Seventh Doctor and Benny). Jamie Robertson’s to be commended for his faithful sound design for the last of the Osirans, in particular, and for some very encompassing air bike effects!

Verdict: Quite deliberately something of a runaround, this puts the pieces nicely in place for the finale. 8/10

Paul Simpson