Things have reached a pretty pass in the TARDIS – and an intervention, or at least help, is required for the Doctor and Peri…

There’s enough time spent in this story by Nev Fountain to round off this first box sets of adventures for the Doctor and an older (12 years older, we’re reliably informed in this tale) to make you seriously wonder whether the issues between the Time Lord and his companion really have reached breaking point. There’s certainly been moments of stress threaded through the first three stories in the set and it’s credible that they might have sought professional help (although I suspect Gag Halfrunt, Zaphod Beeblebrox’s psychiatrist, who sounds suspiciously like the Freuds here would have been as much use.)

Fountain builds up a fascinating theory regarding the Doctor’s relationship with his companions that could really only have been created by a real fan of the show – it’s the sort of thing that has underpinned treatises before now – but of course, as with so many such ideas, it may not necessarily hold up to the cold light of day. Inevitably, there are twists, and the Complex turns out to live up to its name.

Verdict: A clever tale that builds very much out of the characters of the Doctor and Peri – and how much, or little, each has changed. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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