Arriving in Victorian London, the time travellers are caught up in a series of unexplained deaths.

Justin Richards is an old hand at telling tales featuring Troughton’s Doctor so it’s no surprise that this early Second Doctor story feels very authentic (barring an odd reference to the HADS in front of Jamie). There’s a nice camaraderie developing between the crew that there simply wasn’t time on television to expand upon, with good repartee between Elliot Chapman’s Ben, Anneke Wills’ Polly and Frazer Hines’ Jamie and the Doctor. One thing that hadn’t crossed my mind before was the relative youth of both Jamie and Ben, and how well they could handle themselves in a situation – as demonstrated amply here.

Richards plays with lots of the tropes of Victorian literature, including the long-running court case, and the villainous members of the underworld – for some reason, Hywel Bennett’s performance in the original Neverwhere production kept coming to mind when I heard Ewen Bailey and Alan Blyton’s interaction. Jamie’s affections for Miss Morton are nicely handled, and Lisa Bowerman keeps the pace varied with Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s sound design and music effortlessly switching from playful to suspenseful as required.

Verdict: A highly enjoyable Victorian (melo)drama. 9/10

Paul Simpson