The Third Doctor and Sarah join the Brigadier at a remote research station – but find the answers to the questions raised lie long ago…

I’m a product of this era of Doctor Who – they say prime fandom is roughly when you’re 10, which is what I was when season 11 aired – and Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney felt part of my extended family. I was lucky enough to spend time with each later in life, and it’s with that background that I can confidently say that Tim Treloar, Sadie Miller and Jon Culshaw have now completely come into their own recreating the era. It helps that Robert Valentine’s script picks up on the strengths and weaknesses both of the characters and of the era – for one thing, we wouldn’t have had the strand in a broadcast story that the Brigadier gets here, I suspect, which is a shame for Courtney.

There’s a little air about this story of the last time the original trio worked together – on Barry Letts’ The Ghosts of N-Space – but Valentine wisely doesn’t try to add to the show’s mythology (no weird uncle for Sarah!). Instead he sets his story in two distinct arenas and takes into account the laws of cause and effect (not always necessarily in that order!), weaving in an established piece of British history but not claiming that it’s purely down to this. Barnaby Kay gives us a memorable villain, whether facing off against the Brigadier or the Doctor, and there’s nicely rounded parts for a strong supporting cast – Carolyn Seymour, Derek Griffiths and Robert Daws – as well as giving Nicholas Briggs a chance to vocalise a new monster (and the Icewalker).

Verdict: A great tale that works on all levels. 10/10

Paul Simpson

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