An advert at Luna University brings two of its most renowned professors to a mysterious planet that’s suddenly appeared out of nowhere…

And so Big Finish’s celebration of 20 years of their Doctor Who licence kicks off with a meeting that fans have been requesting, pretty much ever since Silence in the Library was first broadcast over 10 years ago – Professor River Song and Professor Bernice Summerfield. Their meeting is as feisty as you’d expect (particularly with James Goss penning the script), but everything is thrown into confusion by the arrival of the Eighth Doctor… complete with new companion. Someone much younger than either of the professors, someone who’s not become jaded by the downsides of time travel. Someone who genuinely wants to be there.

I don’t intend to make these reviews of The Legacy of Time to be spoiler-filled (although I suspect there won’t be too much option by the time I get to the finale), so the secrets of the planet they’re on are there for you to discover – along with the reasons for some of what seem to be cliched moments. Alexandria Riley (best known as Ng – Not Gwen! – in the Torchwood continuation series) does a great job as Ria and you understand precisely why the Doctor has chosen to travel with someone who feels like a throwback almost to the TV Comic strip, given the catastrophic events surrounding him.

Alex Kingston and Lisa Bowerman are on sparkling form as River and Benny, and you have to hope that this is just the first of a number of encounters – particularly given one piece of backstory almost casually dropped in. Oh – and make sure you keep listening after the closing credits…

Verdict: A terrific start to an epic tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order The Legacy of Time from Big Finish