BBC Studios, out now

Post-Flux, the Doctor, Dan and Yaz encounter Daleks and Sea-Devils

The start of this disc sums up the problem with the latest Doctor Who Blu-ray release. On screen it says these are the Series 13 Specials; the voiceover proclaims the episode titles. Not quite knowing what it’s trying to achieve, and no one apparently checking things tally, would seem to be a theme.

The pre-publicity for this releases suggests that the disc has a 2 hour running time – another confirmation of the theory that the second of the two specials had some considerable editing done prior to transmission – but there’s actually only 105 minutes of feature content, and around 20 minutes of extras (which we’ve seen already online). Both specials look and sound good – from the Exterminator Daleks in Eve of the Daleks proclaiming they are not Nick, to the Chief Sea Devil in Legend – but woe betide if you want to switch between the commentary and the main soundtrack: there’s no easy branching available.

As to the commentaries, the participants aren’t listed on the box cover – or indeed anywhere at all – but they comprise the respective directors, joined by two guest cast members (Adjani Salmon and Nick Briggs for Eve of the Daleks; Crystal Yu and Craig Els for Legend of the Sea Devils). There’s no moderator so we get some silences, and without a Doctor, companion or showrunner, there’s less insight than you might hope (even the extras don’t feature anywhere near enough from Chris Chibnall, Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill or John Bishop).

As far as the episodes themselves go, they’re fair to middling mid-season entries that have had more attention because of the nature of their broadcast. Of the two, Eve stands up to repeated viewings better (although the creepy nature of Salmon’s character really does become increasingly clear the more you see it), whereas Legend’s gaping holes are even more obvious – it feels like the omnibus version of a Sea Devil story that’s achieved its edits by simply pulling x number of script pages out. Neither story is likely to feature in a Top 10 Whittaker episodes – but let’s hope her final special lives up to the promise of the trailer at the end of Legend…

Verdict: Very much one for completists only. 5/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk