The TARDIS materialises on the RMS Oceanic as round the world traveller Nellie Bly heads towards the end of her odyssey…

Sarah Ward provides us with a two-part purely historical tale – bar, of course the presence of the TARDIS in the first place – that uses the real life story of Nellie Bly (or rather Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman) to good effect. We meet journalist Nellie in the closing stages of her attempt to beat Phileas Fogg’s record and get around the world in less than 80 days, and a great many of the details here, particularly when Nellie is talking about her career, are accurate. We don’t know for certain that there was someone trying to put her off, as we have here, but it’s not too much of a leap – there certainly was a rival, whose fate is as the Doctor explains at the end of the tale.

It’s a story that gives a bit more time to Janet Fielding’s Tegan than is  often the case, with the Australian bonding with Nellie, and ending up in trouble as a result. Ward resists the temptation to go too over the top  “1920s silent movie” style, although we need some peril for the cliffhanger if nothing else. Sydney Feder gives a spirited performance as Nellie and Scott Handcock keeps things rattling along.

Verdict: Land ahoy! A different sort of race against time for the 5th Doctor and his friends. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order from Big Finish