After the Doctor apparently collapses, he, Tegan and Nyssa find themselves embroiled with some very old friends of the Time Lord…

Matt Fitton’s opener for this first of two collections sets up the central conceit that allows the series to celebrate Peter Davison’s fortieth anniversary as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor – something pulls the Doctor along his own timeline, so while he comes from the very tail end of Four to Doomsday, this story is set nearly a season later, after Arc of Infinity. This of course presents difficulties for the characters in terms of the Doctor’s foreknowledge of the future, particularly when their latest enemies become apparent.

This is by no means the first time that another story has “interacted” with the classic The Tomb of the Cybermen – starting with the TV series’ own Attack of the Cybermen. Big Finish has returned to Telos with the Fourth Doctor and Leela, and the recent Companion Chronicles for the Second Doctor squeezes a story into the fade to black at the start of episode 1. This time, it’s a direct sequel, with the characters who survived the encounter in the Tomb on board ship – and it’s fair to say that Fitton gives us a new perspective on some of them.

Barbara Flynn and Tamzin Outhwaite give us two strong characters, while Christopher Timothy’s Professor Parry feels as if it’s a natural continuation of the original with Ronan Summers adding a bit more dimension to Captain Hopper. It’s a story that needs to rattle along much of the time, and Ken Bentley maintains the pace well, Lee Adams’ sound design evokes the spirit of the original, as well as the Alien-esque atmosphere of the opening pair of episodes.

Verdict: An enjoyable Cyber-romp with a neat core idea. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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