The Doctor and Lucie follow a distress call into a black hole…

There’s a sneaking suspicion at the back of my mind that this entire story was written around Nick Briggs wanting to be able to deliver the line “Lucie Bleedin’ Miller” as a Dalek… but even if that is the case, it doesn’t matter, as he’s provided a script that draws us back a dozen years to the early days of Sheridan Smith’s Lucie. I had the pleasure of interviewing her when she was performing in Little Shop of Horrors, not long after that season had been released, and it was abundantly clear that she really enjoyed playing the part, and was eagerly awaiting news of the character’s return to Big Finish. That joy is evident here in a story that gives her a lot of airtime and allows multiple facets of Lucie’s character to be shown.

Setting the stories between the first two seasons allows a return to the more carefree days between the Doctor and Lucie, and Paul McGann and Smith revive their partnership with apparent ease. It’s a testament to the strength of storytelling within the Big Finish Doctor Who universe that they can now produce their own “Missing Adventures” without it feeling as if they’re straining to fill non-existent gaps, and it’s a fine way to mark the company’s 20th anniversary of Doctor Who tales.

Verdict: She’s back and it’s as if she’s never been away – welcome back Lucie Miller. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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