Just an ordinary day for temp Stacey – except for the weird man waving something in her face when she gets to work, and an encounter with the new HR manager…

You sort of know that there’s going to be a connection between this story and the ongoing WOTAN saga from the start, but Tim Foley very successfully wrong foots the listener on a number of occasions.

If you’ve not listened to the story yet, and are intending to, then stop reading now, and just accept that it’s a clever conclusion and merits the 9/10 it’s going to get at the bottom of the page.

There’s a very nice contrast between this story and Matt Fitton’s start to the set. In Fitton’s tale, WOTAN really is rather behind the times. But move on a few weeks/months, and it’s come up with something that is the precise opposite, using “people” as biological machines in the same way that it tried to use its War Machines and later Law Machines. Even if you didn’t quite believe it was destroyed at the end of the first story, this wasn’t what you’d expect,

This of course presents an interesting viewpoint on Yvonne Hartman, whose gifts for manipulation are ever to the fore. She needs Stacey’s help but is also aware of the fate that awaits her – and perhaps the best “Yvonne” moment is when she goes to coordinate the emergency response at the end, leaving Stacey with Ianto. Gareth David-Lloyd shows multiple facets to Ianto during this story, trying (perhaps slightly futilely) to remind Yvonne of her conscience, as well as unavoidably becoming emotionally attached to Stacey. Erstwhile audio companion Niky Wardley (the Eighth Doctor’s Tamsin Drew) gives a nuanced and layered performance as the temp who’s far more than she believes.

Throughout the set, Barnaby Edwards’ direction, Iain Meadows’ sound design and Blair Mowat’s music score have been spot on, and I’m looking forward to the next set of retro adventures!

Verdict: A sometimes surprising but highly appropriate conclusion. 9/10

Paul Simpson