Desperate to try to put things right, the Eighth Doctor embarks on a risky venture in the recent past…

Matt Fitton takes up the pen for this first instalment of the final Stranded box set, picking up on the devastation wrought by the death of Andy Davidson in the previous adventure. The Doctor has a “plan” (that has echoes of a 12th Doctor scenario) which involves travelling back just a short time – but when Helen goes with him, she encounters Tania… at a point that they didn’t meet before, with all the ramifications that that brings for the “present-day” version of the Torchwood agent. Liv thinks there’s just one person who might be able to help – but he’s not who she’s expecting.

The presence of Colin Baker as the Curator isn’t a surprise, and in the same way that Tom Baker both was and wasn’t playing the Doctor when he portrayed the Curator both on screen in The Day of the Doctor and in previous audios, so Colin Baker both is and isn’t the Sixth Doctor. There’s certainly sides to him that derive from that incarnation’s traits – a willingness to jump in and engage with events, in particular – but it’s separate enough not to be confusing.

As is fitting, given we’re in the home straight for this series, we get confirmation of the identity of one of the key players, and there’s clarification with regard to how this fits within the chronology of the Doctor Who universe (and starts to explain a lack of COVID references in the stories to date), as well as putting some of the other pieces together.

Verdict: Answers are finally starting to arrive. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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