The TARDIS brings the travellers to a new Earth-like world whose inhabitants have never had to face things that the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara take for granted…

There’s a bittersweet feel to John Dorney’s opener for this new collection of stories featuring the first TARDIS crew, played by the Adventure in Space and Time cast. Dorney takes his time introducing us to the society on the planet, with the male and female travellers separated and encountering different sides of the community. The first cliffhanger is very nicely constructed, feeling very much in period (a later era of the show would likely conclude with the actual shocking event rather than the reaction of the crew).

There’s a certain sad inevitability about the progression of events, all of which build from the characters – both the regular TARDIS crew and those they meet. Everyone listening to this will have encountered death among their own friends and families, and the questions that small children ask in that first encounter are extrapolated from cleverly for an adult, yet equally innocent, society. The final scene (excluding the lead-in to the next story) is truly tragic.

Dorney handles all the regular characters well, and the cast respond to Nicholas Briggs’ direction with some great performances. Tracy Wiles and Michelle Morris are similarly strong as the key natives, with enough vocal tweaks from Howard Carter to emphasise their alien nature without losing the subtlety of performance. Carter also provides a very different score to the usual accompaniment that works well in the slower-paced tale.

Verdict: A thought-provoking clever tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson