The road to hell is paved with good intentions…

Where possible, I try not to look at who’s written or directed a particular audio before I listen to it to avoid any subconscious bias (positively or, very rarely, negatively). There are some people’s work, however, that you can tell pretty much within the first few minutes – and James Goss is one such. This story’s blending of the mundane with the Machiavellian, the emotional with the genre tropes gives it away quickly, and as ever Goss doesn’t disappoint.

Jonny Green, Emily Barber and Robert Daws all bring their A game in a story that focuses far more on Cole, the Master’s “companion” (for want of a better word), as he tries to save just one planet that he chooses – apparently – at random. The Master is there in the background, doling out sage advice, occasionally bending the rules a little, and you almost… almost… could believe that he’s being as benevolent as it seems. But we know that, for all his faults, the Master can play a long game – the length of time establishing Reverend Magister in The Daemons, for instance, or Harold Saxon’s far from instant rise to power in the 21st century show – and that attribute isn’t missing in this incarnation.

Someone recently complained on social media about reviews that say “there’s a twist coming” because subconsciously they’re on the lookout for it from the off. But a story like this one, that entwines itself around you as you listen, takes you so far in one direction that you might be tempted to forget whose box set this is…

Verdict: A terrific piece of drama. 10/10

Paul Simpson