In The Year That Never Was, Martha Jones had an impossible task. Now, we find out how impossible.

This welcome return to a hole in Who’s history gives us some interesting background and context to the Toclafane invasion, filtered, as it has to be, through the current world situation. It’s impossible not to see Martha, travelling with not-quite-close-friend Holly (Serin Ibrahim) and Francine Jones herself (Adjoa Andoh) as a socially distanced group of freedom fighters. It’s not heavy handed, at all, but it’s also surprisingly resonant.

That’s especially true of James Goss’ ‘The Last Diner’. Martha tells her stories to a group at a diner who congregate there whenever they can sneak out of work. Led by Karen (Marina Sirtis on top form), the group are fractious and grumpy even before Francine arrived. Barely alive thanks to the Toclafane’s brutal transport system she’s the exact person Martha needs to see. But not, it turns out, who she needs to hear. The familial tension inherent in their relationship is made even worse by the presence of Holly. Both are reminders of Martha’s old life. Both are less than impressed with her new life. Neither feel trustworthy. It’s a smart story, and a bleak one too, that establishes the stakes and emphasizes just how much pressure Martha’s under.

‘Silver Medal’ by Tim Foley builds on that tension as the three discover a forest camp apparently free of the Toclafane. As they dig deeper, the three discover the weirdly, brutally competitive world of the camp. At the exact moment you think it’s far too on the nose as a critique of capitalism, Foley twists the knife for us and the characters. No one is quite a villain, no one is a hero and as Martha tells a story of an adventure she had with the Doctor in the same spot a century earlier, we realize again this is a tragedy. One that this time, Martha is able to blunt and, ultimately, helps to begin healing. Nothing is easy, nothing is safe but nothing is without hope, even here.

The tension inherent in the set up plays out In Matt Fitton’s ‘Deceived’. As Martha and friends make it to Vegas, they discover not all Toclafane are the same and the truth about one of Martha’s companions is revealed. Julie Graham and Gethin Strand have great fun as Beecham and Strand, the two feral Apprentice contestants at the heart of their misery. Graham especially is great as the endlessly, offhandedly evil Beecham. The payoff is also well earned too, simultaneously re-setting Martha to how we see her on the show and twisting the knife one more time.

Verdict: This isn’t an easy listen, the tension and unease of the premise committed to in every way. The domestic problems of the Jones family playing out against the bleakest of canvasses and the darkest moment in humanity’s history pushed back by three, frightened, determined women and the stories they carry. Complex, unblinking and impressive from start to finish. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart

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