The universe’s greatest explorers meet in the Eternity Club. Drahvin Queen Grisella (Naana Agyei-Ampadu), The Suspension of Geren who isn’t solid but is very chatty (Victoria Gee), legendary and increasingly confused cyborg 312 (Simon Kane), Draconian battle academic Professor Altazar (Shai Metheson0, Sontaran general Starll (Dan Starkey), a wide variety of robotic butler (David O’Mahony), Derek (Derek Elroy) and Secretary Pym (Nickolas Grace). Professor Bernice Summerfield (Lisa Bowerman) has just joined their ranks and needs some answers. And a seat…

What a lovely idea! Not just the setting but the format. Two half hour one-off stories per set, this is a great way of diving headlong into the new status quo for Benny and the tone is set very well from the start. Goss’ script has an impish, playful quality to it that’s somewhere between Ludwig and the first half hour of Ghostbusters. Bowerman is typically superb as the Whoniverse’s least flappable academic and her fundamentally reassuring presence becomes the foundation for the story’s two plotlines. The first sees Garce’s pleasingly grumpy secretary assign Bernice to some weirdly menial tasks that allow us to meet the large cast and set up a future mystery with Cusack’s cameo as a very different member of the club. That focus, and O’Mahony’s direction helps with this, gives us a lot of time with this group of people but also space for a mystery that provides further context for them. The cast are great as the amiably catty explorers, with Kane’s 312 and Gee’s cheerful non-solid gossip early standouts. But what really hits is that they’re a closed unit. There’s literally nowhere for Bernice to sit.

So why is she there at all?

That mystery looks set to be explored through individual spotlights and the first mystery centres on 312. Kane is great, swinging from good natured and humble to poignantly unsure to the sort of passive aggression that singes the carpet in staff lounges, nursing homes and break rooms all over the galaxy. Goss smartly wrongfoots us as to what 312 is and what he’s done. In a sense this is the most Doctor Who a Bernice story has been for a while. Good people doing their best and it being enough. Just this once, everyone remembers.

Verdict: It’s great stuff, brilliantly played, snappily directed and very well written with superb, dark, playful music from Shane O’Byrne. The format agrees with it hugely too and the result is a great pilot episode for this new direction and a great story in its own right. Next time, field trip! 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

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