As a treat for Lucie’s birthday, the Doctor plays TARDIS roulette, landing at random coordinates – arriving at a colony world with a retro roller derby event due…

Alice Cavender captures the early relationship between the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller perfectly in this second story – how they function on their own, and together, but perhaps more importantly, how each reacts knowing the other is around and, most likely, in peril. Lucie’s slightly reckless streak was apparent from the start, and finding herself on a world where she’s ‘bionic’ (presumably having caught the 70s series on reruns at some point!) she makes the most of it… as does Cavender in the scripting, with Lucie able to outdo even her usual antics.

The aliens in this story have every reason to be annoyed at the humans, and Cavender comes up with a different sort of biology for them that is at the heart of the plot. It’s not something that I can recall turning up in Doctor Who before – which, given the multiple species over the past six decades, is some achievement – but works very well in context. Their names also have a fun derivation – Tom Alexander’s character name in particular seems to be there to lead to a gag, but is treated totally seriously.

Nick Briggs’ direction, Iain Meadows’ sound design and Jamie Robertson’s score blend well with the roller derby scenes in particular standing out.

Verdict: Intriguing alien concepts and good characterisation make for a strong tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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