It’s a lovely idea – take everyone away for the turn of the year to celebrate a pools win…

Tim Foley wraps up this box set with a story that complements Rob Valentine’s opener, exploring an area of genre that in the 80s was very much the province of Sapphire & Steel. A spooky house with a ‘history’, an enigmatic character who knows more about what’s going on than he’s initially willing to explain, things happening out of order (in more than one sense of that phrase), instructions that are as clear as mud but which must be followed…but Foley gives this a twist that fits it neatly into the storytelling tone of the 9th Doctor’s era, giving Christopher Eccleston some wonderfully melancholy moments.

There’s been some complaints about Big Finish not giving the Ninth Doctor a dedicated companion of his own – after all, the Eleventh is getting one for the new series of stories coming up, and the Twelfth has had a number from different companies – but this element sets the stories apart neatly. His unwillingness to travel with someone doesn’t mean that this Doctor doesn’t get involved (much as he might try to make that the case) and although Mandy Litherland would seem like a perfect fit, there’s good reason why that doesn’t happen.

Foley doesn’t rush things – we get to know the people whose lives are going to be affected by the Doctor (and compare how this incarnation handles the introduction compared with his rather more manic eleventh self in a moderately similar situation) and a scene that could have seemed a bit mawkish towards the end comes across as anything but (and one that hit home personally at the moment) given how we’ve come to know the affected pair. Helen Goldwyn’s direction is at its strongest in these emotional scenes, allowing them to be the heart of the story, helped by Iain Meadows’ at times creepy sound design.

Verdict: A strong showcase for the Ninth Doctor range. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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