Jo Jones and Jack Harkness return to Llanfairfach…

There’s an interesting comment in the extras to this release about given a Torchwood vibe to a Doctor Who sequel that would seem to have applied far more to last month’s release (the Fendahl tale) than this. For a large part of the time, this feels far more like a Doctor Who story, albeit one with a harder edge than normal – and that’s by no means a negative criticism. In this cleverly titled story (it’s far, far more than just an inversion of the TV story’s name) David Llewellyn has taken the events of The Green Death and extrapolated what could have happened next, taking into account what we learned in Jo’s appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures. If you don’t know the 1973 original (and…er… why not?) then elements of this may feel a bit odd, but Llewellyn is constrained to a certain extent by what Robert Sloman set up there.

John Barrowman, Katy Manning and Stewart Bevan (who’s sadly not playing Cliff here; you’ve got to look at the YouTube promo for Season 10 to see that) all give very strong performances – there’s a lovely level of flirting between Harkness and Jo that gets a very new series pay off (both in terms of its execution and the perhaps dodgy science behind it). Richard Fox’s sound design and the music from Ben Foster and Blair Mowat combine well, and director Scott Handcock ensures that the pace and peril are maintained.

Verdict: One of those stories that makes you want to go and rewatch the original again so you can relisten to this and appreciate it even more. 9/10

Paul Simpson