The fifth Doctor encounters trouble in the Vortex – and his daughter…

Ok, let’s get the cute bit of this out of the way – yes, it’s very meta to have the daughter of the actor playing the Doctor to be playing the daughter of the Doctor that he played, adding an extra level to the interplay between Peter Davison’s incarnation and Georgia Tennant’s Jenny. And you forget all about that particular familial issue as soon as you are pulled into Matt Fitton’s story.

For those who’ve not heard the box set featuring Jenny, this picks up during the adventures of the Doctor’s genetic daughter, as seen in the Series 4 episode, and she’s as enthusiastic and as well-tuned into everything regarding time as ever. It’s quite interesting comparing her with Ria, the companion created by the Doctor in the first episode of this set – both have a certain desire to please and to be in the Time Lord’s favour but Jenny has a strong will of her own and abilities that even she doesn’t really understand. Although I have an increasing suspicion that there’ll be some sort of reset for all the events of Legacy, this story more than most requires some juggling (and Fitton plays the card that I suspected he would have to).

And of course such an epic pairing requires a good antagonist. I’d half expected the Master to pop up – maybe the Alex Macqueen incarnation if we’re really mixing all the elements together as much as this story overall has been doing. However, the Nine is Big Finish’s own take on the not-totally-stable renegade Time Lord, and John Hefferman sounds as if he’s having great fun, with Ronni Ancona’s Thana making a strong foil.

Verdict: An enjoyable one-off encounter. 9/10

Paul Simpson