An accident in the Vortex leads to the culpable party being arrested – except on Thrantas, that means the TARDIS itself…

The history of the Seventh Doctor is, to put it mildly, a little confusing between his appearances in Survival and the TV Movie. Virgin continued his story in the New Adventures, initially with Ace, then with Benny, and later with Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej, Adjudicators who found themselves on the wrong side of events. Their opening story, Original Sin, was penned by Andy Lane and it’s Lane who returns for this new set of adventures, told in amongst the New Adventures saga, as part of Big Finish’s 20th anniversary celebrations of their Doctor Who licence.

Along with plenty of words with an “r” in them for Sylvester McCoy to wrap his tongue around, Lane stays true to the spirit of these 25 year old adventures (although luckily we don’t get a segment in cyberspace, one of its most overused tropes). Roz and Chris are sent off with a pair of Thrantan law officers whose working relationship in some ways mirrors theirs, while the Doctor defends the TARDIS in a legal system where the judge makes its decision by looking into the future…

There’s some quite clunky exposition at times (although to be fair, that could be deliberate to match the era it’s recreating) and a rather cliched reporter who aids the Time Lord, but all involved (including sound engineer Joe Meiners who has to provide “dialogue” for two machines!) provide a pace and energy so you don’t necessarily query what you’ve heard at the time.

Verdict: An interesting start to the set. 7/10

Paul Simpson