The Eighth Doctor arrives on board a luxury cruise liner – but, as always, there’s no time for a holiday…

This first prequel episode to the War Doctor box sets – originally intended as a one-off set, but later expanded to a full quartet – starts off as you’d expect, with Paul McGann’s Doctor, complete with new companion, trying to see the wonders of the universe, but becoming inveigled into something distinctly less wonderful. John Dorney expertly guides expectations before pulling the rug out from beneath the listener’s “feet” – apart from the pre-credits sequence (which we know of old may not have relevance for some time to come within the main story), there’s nothing initially to suggest this has anything to do with the conflict between Time Lords and Daleks. Until it seems as if the Doctor’s companion’s name has been mistakenly given… There’s that disconcerting moment when you wonder if the quality control at Big Finish took the day off when this script went through… and then you realise what’s going on.

And from that moment, things heat up a great deal. The Doctor’s new companion for this set gets a very dramatic introduction, and there’s plenty of time for the Daleks to demonstrate exactly how they intend to win the war.

There are strong performances all around under Ken Bentley’s direction, with Benji Clifford’s sound design and Jamie Robertson’s music blending well – I particularly liked the way in which the Dalek control room sound was allowed to linger just for a moment before the scene began.

Verdict: An intriguing start to what’s clearly going to be an epic tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson