In the Doctor’s absence, River Song becomes Liz Shaw’s new assistant…

Lizbeth Myles starts off this new box set of adventures for River which throws her into one of the often underrated seasons of classic Doctor Who – the start of the Doctor’s exile to Earth, and his time at UNIT. It’s an area that’s always been ripe for new stories, given that we have no idea how long Liz Shaw and the Doctor worked together before she’d had enough and gone back to Cambridge, and both the book series and Big Finish have added to the adventures. With Daisy Ashford now playing the part her mother took on screen, and really capturing the character well here, there’s even more opportunities.

Myles doesn’t waste time setting the scene  – we’re only in the fourth minute when River encounters the Brigadier by which point the battle lines have already been drawn. Liz feels slighted that the Brigadier feels she needs help (after all, she was the scientific advisor for a few short hours before the Doctor dropped into the woods) so the relationship between River and her is necessarily a little fraught. But when the two doctors are sent to investigate a young man apparently aged to death, and the usual sort of shenanigans start to ensue, the ice begins to melt, and a strong partnership is formed.

Alex Kingston is clearly something of a force of nature, as is her character, and she pitches her performance at the required levels. Jon Culshaw gives us a Brigadier much earlier in his career with the Doctor – some of the interactions with his soldiers and the public are more brusque than we might sometimes identify with the character – and Myles doesn’t try to soften the edges of any of the core team from the era.

There are great turns from the main guest stars – Abigail McKern’s Beatrice feels like a spiritual sister of Amelia Rumford at first, and Michael Chance’s Sir Edward is exactly the sort of puffed-up character that the early 1970s adventures featured – and Howard Carter’s sound design and score add to the period feel.

Verdict: An excellent start to the latest set. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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