Wilkommen. Bienvenue. Welcome… Im cabaret, au cabaret, to cabaret…

There’s an unmistakable feel of Kander & Ebb to James Goss’ opener for this final set of Bernice Summerfield adventures starring Lisa Bowerman alongside David Warner’s Unbound Doctor. Not just the version of Cabaret we all know with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, but the original stage show which is markedly different, and draws on the original Christopher Isherwood tales in more depth (and for which I was musical director in the 1980s for a gloriously decadent production!). Both Benny and the Doctor have good reason to dislike the Nazi regime – the events of Just War may be a long way in Benny’s past, but they will never be forgotten – and the combination of the encroaching horrors and the alien menace of the Cybermen is one that was merely touched on in Silver Nemesis but which is fully realised here. The Cyberprocessing isn’t shied away from – Rise of the Cybermen and Real Time each has nothing on being as much part of the upgrades as we are here: full marks to the actors involved (no spoilers), Steve Foxon’s sound design and Scott Handcock’s direction.

Warner’s Doctor has never been quite so menacing as he is when he believes that he may have done something that means Summerfield is lost to him; Bowerman’s Benny’s faith has never been quite so tested. Goss sets up a dynamic that will see them challenged a great deal – and, as the end of episode attests, with peril coming from multiple directions.

Verdict: A stunning, bleak start to this set. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order from Big Finish