A desperate attempt to stop a space mission brings UNIT’s scientific adviser face to face with her past…

Alfie Shaw gives us the final story for this first set, and while there’s a self-contained story in here it’s also serving to set up a lot of what’s in store for Bambera, Savarin and Rix as well as the listener in the months to come. We start with what feels like the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers before taking a hard swerve into another classic SF screen tale from that same period – or do we? We’re never totally sure what’s going on and indeed some of the answers we think we get aren’t necessarily the right ones – don’t assume the story is over just because UNIT has wrapped up its investigation. The love that TV of the 1990s showed for paranoia and disillusionment is at play here. An alien that can jump between people means no one is necessarily who they seem… (and that’s as far as any spoilers are going!)

Angela Bruce, Alex Jordan and Yemisi Oyinloye feel like they’ve been a team for much longer than just the couple of hours we’ve heard from them so far and Scott Handcock’s direction prevents what could occasionally become melodramatic from going (too far) over the top. Jack Townley’s sound design and Borna Matosic’s score continue to give this range its own feel, and I hope that it can stay apart from the rest of the Big Finish Doctor Who worlds for a bit to cement that – sure, at some point the 7th Doctor/Ace/River Song are bound to appear, but producer Emily Cook and her team are creating something a little different here, and I’d like to see it grow.

Verdict: Some hard choices for the team in another enjoyable tale. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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