The Doctor, Ben and Polly are rather startled to find a dinosaur in future Dorset…

This is the sort of story that you might have a bit of difficulty fitting into other eras of Doctor Who (you can imagine Christopher H. Bidmead having a fainting fit when contemplating some of the  ‘science’ involved) but which works very well in a period where the TARDIS team encounter Professor Zaroff… In fact, you can well imagine Elliot Chapman channelling Zaroff for some of Zoltan Clarkson’s more outrageous lines.

And yes, that is Elliot Chapman, as in Ben Jackson – who I genuinely didn’t recognise in the dual role of the Clarkson twins (although I’d realised it was the same actor for both!). Producer Ian Atkins has also, sensibly, brought Frazer Hines in as the Doctor for this story, despite it being set before Jamie’s arrival on board the TARDIS – much as I’ve enjoyed Anneke’s version of Troughton’s Doctor, this makes the story flow better. Writer Julian Richards gets the Doctor and Ben offstage for a good part of the time, leaving Polly and scientist Andrew Clarkson together, and once again giving Polly much more agency than she often had on screen. Director Lisa Bowerman keeps the tension high while still allowing the characters breathing space for development.

The story also reminded me of some of the Marvel tales of the late 1970s and early 1980s featuring the talking Pteranodon Sauron, a foe of the X-Men – although I think Marvel might have balked at the ending of a story that depicts man’s best friend in quite such a way!

Verdict: A tense, enjoyable tale – just don’t think too much about the science involved! 8/10

Paul Simpson