Steven and the Doctor arrive on Earth in the 1950s – and Steven ends up as a straight man…

Paul Morris and Ian Atkins’ unusual story is one of those that regularly twists tonally on a sixpence (appropriately – or even on half a sixpence?). There’s some good comedy, some deliberately appalling humour, tragedy and of course, an alien invasion to face. Albeit one that is being done rather differently from usual.

Once again the companion is separated from the Doctor for the majority of the tale – as Susan and Vicki were in the earlier stories in this set – and sensibly, there’s reference made to the previous story set in this time period, when Steven was stuck on Earth along with Sara Kingdom. The portrayal of the First Doctor is intriguingly like William Hartnell’s performance in The Three Doctors – a combination of frustration and anger at being caught somewhere, unable to do more than simply advise those more in the thick of it.

Morris and Atkins’ script pays homage to a lot of the comedians of the period, those caught between the days of variety and the oncoming of television, and there are a lot of lines, particularly from comedian Teddy, that are quotes from real-life comics of the era. There are shoutouts to everyone from Flanagan & Allen and Jewell & Wariss to Eric and Ernie (inevitably – the line about the box comes from a TV review of them that Eric kept in his wallet until he died), and a lot of more obscure ones who I’ve not thought about in years.

You almost forget at times in the first episode that there is an alien invasion involved (and with a different title, the suspense might have stayed longer – equally, it’s a great name for the play!), with Peter Purves and Stephen Critchlow giving terrific performances.

Verdict: Those who know (or remember) that period will love the amount of clever homage; for everyone else, it’s an intriguing well-told tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Volume Three from Big Finish