1983……. and Doctor Who returns to our screens with an exciting adventure by Johnny Byrne -  featuring Time Lords, and the return of Tegan, set and filmed in Amsterdam….

 

Well,  two out of three isn’t bad. Arc of Infinity isn’t really very exciting. It has got Time Lords in it, and Tegan returns, having been left behind at the end of Time-Flight. And it’s in Amsterdam, because JNT got a good deal at the Travel Agent.

 

2016……. and Doctor Who returns to our speakers with an exciting adventure by Jonny Morris, with just the one Time Lord, dealing with Tegan’s return, set in Amsterdam…

 

The Waters of Amsterdam does what Arc of Infinity manifestly failed to do – use its location and make good use of Tegan.  Into the bargain, it’s also very good. Arc could have sketched in Tegan’s time away from the TARDIS, but didn’t, beyond binning the stewardess uniform and giving her a haircut. It could have also really have been set anywhere near water, as the location had zero relevance to the plot. It might as well have been set in Barnsley.

 

The story picks up directly from the end of Arc, and wastes no time putting all of this right. After a pointed shredding of Arc’s events, Tegan walks straight into her ex, Kyle (Tim Delap) – and it’s awkward. Their story is related by Tegan to Nyssa in flashback. It’s an unlikely romance, as Tegan is, frankly, Tegan, and Kyle’s just so nice. A bit too good to be true, there’s also something iffy about the way he keeps showing up.

 

Delap’s performance is excellent, Kyle is calm and endlessly reasonable without being drippy. It’s quickly established that he’s in love with Tegan, but she’s just not that into him.. We eavesdrop on their relationship from beginning to end, via chance meetings, dinners out, and Talking Heads tickets, and find out how Tegan lost her job in the process. Janet Fielding is great here, she has the sort of character development that Tegan was crying out for in the 80s beyond trauma and Mara-possession. Her attitude and caustic humour are present and correct as always, but giving Tegan a relationship that fails because she doesn’t want to be fawned over is her all over, and really works.

 

In the meantime, the Doctor explores the Rijkesmuseum and has fun playing the art critic when viewing Rembrandt’s work, kicking off a lovely running joke about how to pronounce ‘chiaroscuro’. He also notices that some of the old master’s pieces are of spacecraft. At the end of an episode of exploring and chewing the fat, they are suddenly all attacked by the Nyx, grotesque water creatures that spring from Amsterdam’s canals.

 

They escape with Kyle in tow to the same spot in the 17th century, where Amsterdam is in its pomp as a trading Capitol and the East India Company rule the roost. The Nyx are also here, and viciously attack anyone in their way. Tegan and Nyssa are quickly taken into the custody of the Mayor, and brought before the mysterious alien Countess Teldak (Elizabeth Morton) - whilst the Doctor and Kyle go to meet Rembrandt (a stand-out performance by Richard James), who is acting as a draughtsman for the ship she plans to escape from Earth in. The old master is proud, but also bitter and cynical about his debts and his lot in life – charging for portraits by the face, and painting Businessmen’s “Wives and Fancy Women”, before they plead bankruptcy. For him, the promise of posthumous recognition isn’t enough. Happily by the end of the story, he’s letting the light back through the shutters.

 

The Countess is charming, softly-spoken, and outwardly peaceful, a refugee from a dead world, and a fugitive from the Nyx. She’s a complex character, and it’s no great surprise that she turns out to be utterly amoral and ruthless, as the story goes from twist to twist, and Kyle’s true nature is revealed into the bargain. The Nyx are no angels either, but they have a code, and only kill when they see necessary. The Countess uses the Doctor’s compassion against him, and he’s tricked into taking her to an alternative 1983 where she’s manipulated events purely so she can go home and take her revenge.

 

Jonathan Morris’s script is excellent -  funny, moving, and clever in equal measure. It’s ironic that a recording studio could capture so much more of the atmosphere and ambience of Amsterdam than actually going there ever did, and Jamie Anderson’s direction and some clever sound design sells three distinct versions of the same place expertly. The only slight criticism is the voices of the Nyx – inventive, but sometimes quite hard to make out.

 

The Waters of Amsterdam is a superb example of how Big Finish can go back in time and make things right.

Doctor Who has had many proud milestones throughout its history, not least its 50th anniversary celebrations two years ago. Last year, Big Finish Productions also celebrated 15 years of producing licensed Doctor Who dramas with its Worlds of Doctor Who release. This year, BF has decided to mark its 200th release in the Doctor Who “main range” with its “locum Doctors” trilogy. It’s a milestone that’s pretty dubious, to be honest, considering BF’s Doctor Who output in the last 15 years truly exceeds 200 releases and does not encompass the Fourth Doctor adventures (with Tom Baker) or the Eighth Doctor adventures (Paul McGann’s Doctor started in the “main range” before getting his own series). By my estimation, coupled with various spin-offs, BF is really celebrating something like its “500th” release, not its 200th! But hey, any excuse for a party ...

The “locum Doctors” concept has already seen the Seventh and Sixth Doctors involuntarily replace the Third and Second Doctors in the 198th and 199th releases The Defectors and Last of the Cybermen. In both tales, each Doctor found himself forced to resolve the situation by directly contradicting the position of his predecessor and by extension threatening to unravel his entire time stream. In The Secret History, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) finds himself transplanted into the First Doctor’s era and reunited with companions Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) – just in time for the TARDIS to materialise in Italy in the sixth century AD as Byzantine general Belisarius (Giles Watling) begins his conquest of Italy.

Just as The Defectors and Last of the Cybermen were homages to the Pertwee and Troughton eras, so The Secret History also honours the Hartnell era through an historical tale that sees the TARDIS crew interact with characters based on personalities from that period, eg Belisarius, his secretary Procopius (played by Tony Millan, whom the Doctor recognises as the author of the tomes The Wars of Justinian and The Secret History) and the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora (Tim Wallers and Sarah Woodward). Indeed, the story starts with the tried and trusted Hartnell era formula of the Doctor and his companions arriving in a period setting and then being separated and forced to participate in events against their will. In this instance, Steven is taken prisoner by the invading Roman forces and transported from Italy to the Roman capital Constantinople. The Fifth Doctor and Vicki have little choice but to follow and by the time they arrive in Constantinople, the Doctor is arrested by Justinian on suspicion of being a Persian spy. He subsequently spends much of the second episode in prison and is largely absent from events (not unlike the First Doctor who could also disappear from the odd TV episode whenever William Hartnell took a week’s holiday!). This leaves Vicki to delve deeper into the mystery while Steven is recruited at the Hippodrome – first as a stablehand, then as a painter and finally as a driver in the local chariot races between the (historically accurate) rival green and blue teams as the regular drivers are struck down by the first bout of the Justinian plague. Vicki is particularly a great foil for the brazen Belisarius (“What d’you mean ‘we’?” he blurts out when he realises Vicki has invited herself to accompany him to an audience with the Emperor), continuing a humorous trait of the Hartnell historical – the Doctor and his companions would often provide much needed light relief amongst some of the earnest and unrefined figures they encountered in period settings. Writer Eddie Robson cleverly echoes the same approach.

However, it is from the second episode on that the serial really strays from the traditional Hartnell pure historical tale. Indeed, The Secret History becomes a SF story with a period setting as extra-terrestrial entities not unlike the modern TV series’ Weeping Angels seize control of Justinian and Theodora (and by extension the Roman Empire) and an old adversary of the Doctor’s under the alias of Quintus, aided by his time-sensitive assistant Sophia (Lysette Anthony), finally plays his hand and manoeuvres the Doctor into a trap that imperils his very existence. The final episode could not be more unpredictable from the first three as history (at least as the Doctor knows it) assumes an entirely different course.

The main story aside, Robson is excellent at portraying the politics of the Byzantine era, along with the exuberant, flamboyant personalities that inhabit it. Wallers’ Justinian is pompous, sleazy and paranoid while Watling’s Belisarius is ostentatious, authoritative, dutiful and dry-humoured, making them perfect rivals for the future of the Roman Empire. Woodward’s Theodora is also haughty, with some cutting dialogue for her husband, whom she clearly enjoys antagonising. Millan’s Procopious is unsurprisingly scholarly, a little cowardly and in Belisarius’ words “a complex chap”, given his misogynistic views of the Empress (“Her soul is a cesspool!”) and of women in general (“No man should trust himself around beautiful women!”). Millan also deserves another mention for his gruff, rough diamond performance as Hippodrome proprietor Yazid who is such a complete contrast to the quietly spoken Procopious that it is easy to assume the parts were taken up by separate actors.

Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves reprise the roles of Vicki and Steven almost effortlessly, as if 50 years haven’t elapsed at all since their time in the TV series. Both actors obviously put a lot of youthful inflection into their performances to convey their younger characters but they never sound too old or unconvincing. Peter Davison, of course, continues to be as excellent as ever as the more “fretful” (in Vicki’s words) Fifth Doctor, displaying the vulnerability that was typical of the character in his era on television and far less of the assuredness and arrogance of his first incarnation. Davison’s expression of fear when his Doctor is presented with a solution that could save a man’s life (and by extension change the course of history altogether) is particularly noteworthy:

Belisarius: Doctor, is he saying that you could save this man’s life?

The Doctor: I’m afraid so.

Belisarius: Afraid? What are you afraid of?

The Doctor: Everything. Don’t you see? It would change everything.

Of course, it is precisely the Fifth Doctor’s character traits that the villainous Quintus exploits to spring his trap. The villain’s true identity (I hesitate to even name the actor who plays the part for fear of giving the character away) will either be a pleasant surprise or an unsatisfactory revelation to the listener (in fact, my suspicions about who might be behind the Doctor’s translocations throughout his time stream proved correct before I even listened to The Secret History, and the cowled figure on the cover sleeve – even though there’s no implication in the story that the villain actually wears a cowl! – did little to allay that suspicion). To this reviewer, it’s not exactly a bold revelation and the villain concerned is wearing a bit thin but nevertheless the actor who plays him (a renowned British comedian that we all would have loved on TV as we grew up in the 1970s – well, at least in Britain and Australia), delivers an excellent performance, offering the right balance of humour, charm, mischief and fervour.

While this trilogy fits with Quintus’ modus operandi (he even gets to fulfil every Doctor Who fan’s wish in the final episode!), I find it deliciously ironic that, given this is the “official” 200th release in the Doctor Who “main range”, the antagonist is driven to usurp and destroy the Doctor out of revenge for events that actually occurred in serials that are not counted by BF as part of the “main range”. Again, this illustrates to me that for all the pomp and ceremony, The Secret History is no more remarkable than any other BF Doctor Who release. “Main range” or not, it’s all Doctor Who!

That said, The Secret History is an entertaining and at times fun tale, with the right blend of drama and humour befitting a Hartnell era historical, and as long-time BF listeners can expect, excellent sound production values and performances. You really do believe that you could be accompanying the Doctor, Steven and Vicki around sixth century Ravenna and Constantinople, and the incidental music and sound effects, including the TARDIS interior noises, also create the impression that you are experiencing a “lost” Hartnell era tale, albeit with Peter Davison as the Doctor!

However, when compared to the rest of the “locum Doctors” trilogy, The Secret History is the weakest link (with The Defectors the highlight of the bunch). This is partly because unlike The Defectors or Last of the Cybermen, The Secret History ceases to be a story in its own right about half-way through and becomes a closing, convoluted chapter to a broader saga. It’s also dependent on whether you feel you get the pay-off that the trilogy promises – it doesn’t necessarily convince nor does the villain impress either, despite the threat he poses to our hero’s survival.

 

 

 

Sometimes, Doctor Who is slightly dark. Sometimes that darkness is offset by black humour. Other times it's not, and it's just plain bleak. This is one of those times.

 

The Entropy Plague wraps up both Big Finish's new E-Space Trilogy, and the story of the older Nyssa. Rather than picking straight up from Equilibrium's cliffhanger, it does something different. It opens with the Doctor sombrely visiting Nyssa's son Adric to deliver some bad news, and the story unfolds in flashback, with all four members of the TARDIS crew 'narrating' in turn. We know right from the off that something has gone terribly wrong, and that Nyssa isn't coming back.

 

The TARDIS crew, in pursuit of the kidnapped Tegan, arrives on Apollyon, a world that knows it is dying, a world with no power, wracked with entropy - patrolled by steam-powered robots and menaced by horrifying 'Sandmen'.

Here, fruit rots within minutes, and desperate citizens offer themselves up as 'tributes' to amoral scientist Pallister (Robert Duncan) in an attempt to get off-world. Pallister guards a portal - a way out of the CVE and back into N-Space, but it's powered by human life-force. The tributes are quite literally sacrifices, procured for Pallister by a group of space pirates led by one Captain Branarack.

 

The pirates are quite cartoonish, with their broad West Country accents and constant leering they just don't quite sit right with the rest of the story - which is so bleak that they don't even provide any form of light relief. The sneaky Pallister, on the other hand, is excellently played by Duncan. There's not a lot to him as a villain apart from standard-issue amorality and self-preservation, but Duncan runs with it and makes him compelling. Catherine Skinner also does well as the plucky Cherryanne.

 

The episodic flashback format is unusual, but works pretty well. Ken Bentley does a fine job of directing as always, and the sound design is superb with its hissing Sandmen and steam-driven Sentinels.

Writer Jonathan Morris really excels on two fronts. The first is a fine bit of world-building - vividly binding together not only themes from the rest of the trilogy but nods to Warriors Gate, The Keeper of Traken, and Logopolis, with a soupcon of the mexican day of the dead thrown in against a backdrop of dying stars. The second is in some fine material for both the Doctor and Nyssa, with the former starting off on rattling form - charming and cunning, until he realises how hopeless their situation is, and attempts to sacrifice himself by staying behind in E-Space. Peter Davison makes this all sound effortless, his Doctor is lining himself up here to do basically the same as his much older self will one day volunteer for on Trenzalore, he sells it well with a tiny hint of regret, and a sense of responsibility for dragging everyone into this.

Meanwhile, Sarah Sutton quietly steals the show - as wise, gentle Nyssa calmly and gracefully steps into the breach to save E-Space, at the expense of her freedom, leaving her friends and family bereft. This looks to be her final bow, her final speech is beautifully written and tear-jerking. Although it ends with a slight note of hope, this looks like more of a full stop than a comma. Nyssa has had more character development on audio than she ever did on TV, and her character has really grown.

Tegan and Turlough slightly fall by the wayside for parts of the story due to various collapses and captures, but have valuable contributions to make, with Tegan the angry voice of humanity and reason, while Turlough's trademark selfish nature twists well into upset frustration when his friends try to sacrifice themselves. It's a nice added dimension to his character, and it really adds to the story. 

Knowing Big Finish, this might not necessarily be goodbye for Nyssa, but if it is, it's a beautiful, sad send-off for an underrated companion - one of the Doctor's best friends. The Entropy Plague isn't always an easy ride, but goodbyes aren't always easy.

 

Picking up where Mistfall left off, Big Finish's new E-Space Trilogy throws the TARDIS crew into a snow globe, as they crash into the icy world of Isenfell - a land of howling storms, black ice, hunters, and snow beasts.

Accepting an invitation of dinner from the imperious Queen Karlina, it soon becomes apparent that all is not well, and Isenfell has a particularly draconian door policy - quite literally one in, one out. Not that this should be too much of a surprise for the Fifth Doctor and friends, invitations to dinner never end particularly well for them, and, as we know, nothing is straightforward in E-Space.

Matt Fitton's script features some fine world-building, and Isenfell is a good combination of quasi-medieval society and Davison-era hard SF. Underneath the fairytale chintz and courtesy of their hosts Karlina (Annette Badland) and Balancer Skarsgard (Nickolas Grace), this world is sick and crumbling - only kept in check by a strict control on the population. Badland and Grace give strong, layered performances, with Badland almost unrecognisable as the former Margaret Slitheen.

As Tegan and Nyssa discover, parents are hiding their young in caves below the surface to avoid the 'balancing'. It gives Nyssa a chance to reflect on how much she misses her own children, in between helping the Doctor unravel Isenfell's mysteries and try and save its people from armageddon. Indeed this is slightly more Nyssa's story than anyone else's.

It's not all bad news though, Turlough gets a bit of female attention for a change, and gets to spend four episodes being scared half to death by the attentions of the barking mad Princess Inger. That said, he doesn't get a lot else to do. The TARDIS crew are split up for much of the story, and Davison and Sarah Sutton get the best scenes together, as Nyssa quietly empathises with the Doctor's desperate struggle to save Isenfell, while everything goes to hell around them. There are no real villains here. Both Karlina and Skarsgard do questionable things, but get their redemption, and Isenfell is saved, but we close as we open - on a cliffhanger, with Tegan in the hold of a mysterious spacecraft, kidnapped for reasons unknown.

Excellently directed by Ken Bentley, with some strong, evocative sound design, Equilibrium is another strong offering from Big Finish. Next stop: The Entropy Plague, and the conclusion of this trilogy. 

 

The TARDIS and it's youthful looking inhabitants must cope with a surprise return to E Space, which leads to a dramatic re-acquaintance with the planet Alzarius. Tme has moved on since the events of the original adventure involving the Fourth Doctor, and his devoted team of Romana and K9. They are not alone in touching down on this dangerous planet, as a race of people has come to obtain what they feel is their right, and the well-established Marshmen are also poised to rise once again from their slumber...

 

1980's Full Circle was for myself, and a good number of Tom Baker fans the story where his final season really sparked to life, after two enjoyable but confused efforts. Even to this day many of it's bold ideas and surprise twists impress greatly, and there was a lot of skill behind the camera too, as Peter Grimwade made his directorial debut after being a production assistant on some of the highlights of the 1970s era. It scarcely seems believable that a talented but still inexperienced 17 year old in the form of Andrew Smith was able to outshine many an old hand who had written for the enduring series, but he still firmly acknowledges the help of script-editor Christopher H Bimead.

Some cynics may knock the story regardless for introducing Adric to the Who mythos. In all fairness he never really was utilised as well as even the average companions on the show, with some rather forced shiftiness that was much better done with his eventual successor Turlough. But many mainstream viewers, of whom quite a few were a similar age to the doomed Alzarian, welcomed the rare presence of a male on the Tardis crew. Of course there is always the debate over K9's status given the strong voice acting efforts of John Leeson and David Brierly...

This new story begins with quite a bit of Adric referencing, and certainly Nyssa is quick to spell out the danger of the Marshmen who deprived her dear friend of his one remaining relative. Perhaps though something is missed in deliberately setting this story in the Big Finish timeline where Turlough has come on board, and not having Adric himself forced to re-visit the events that changed his life forever.

Also this is a fundamentally traditional tale - when so many of the best Big Finish productions try to do something a little bit daring. And at times some moments are nothing more than obvious recycling of the source material However the strong backstory and lore created by Andrew Smith does mean that fascinating themes are revisited with new characters, and some moral dilemmas play out with urgency. For those who know Smith's novelisation, there was a lot of thought put into the inter-connected lifeforms on Alzarius and the motivations of character, which did not always survice in the final cut that was demanded by scheduled television such as Doctor Who. This audio drama allows for some of this pruning to be addressed by having new scenarios and types of personality to affect the consequences.The plot is reasonably coherent with some decent obstacles that present themselves as events progress.{C}

Doctor and tenants get the better share... One of those stories where crewe of  4 feels 1 too many at least.The {C}

 

The world created by smith has some real potential, and by having both a clear villain and a shades of grey antagonist in the form of the marsh leader here is some good thematic exploration.For this story to really stand out though, it needed some above average performances from the regulars, or that elusive je ne sais quoi that seems to  make the listener re-examine a person they thought they knew already, in a somewhat different light. Nyssa has been afforded so many 'extra' stories from this busy audio production company, that perhaps even the strongest efforts from Sarah Sutton are blunted, as such an introverted and controlled personality can only be prodded without slipping out of realistic parameters altogether.

In a similar vein, there is no guest star that can be made out as weakening the dramatic effect, but also there isn't a really scene stealing effort either. Jemma Redgrave is certainly credible as a leader, much as she is in the latest on-screen Doctor Who as Kate Stewart. Nigel Carrington is a serviceable villain, who has some sympathetic motives at the core of his actions. The 1980s Fifth Doctor stories tended to have some very striking guest characters, and/or 'celebrity casting' as was much the preference by producer John Nathan Turner, and this production is arguably a contrast in 'playing it safe'.

The dialogue is functional but never that memorable, quirky or revelatory in terms of a particular character's real motives. "Tell Dexeter.. We've come full circle", "Not an alibi, Deciders!!", and even the Marsh-Child bringing on the Tom Baker embellishment 'How odd, I normally get on terribly well with children; none of these are really rivalled by the spoken material this release contains.

But the time passes smoothly enough, and the cliff-hangers are played out with the required 'hook' fans are entitled to expect. Sound effects are very good, and the music fully captures the spirit of the original sublime accompaniment that Paddy Kingsland produced for 'Full Circle'. The documentary also is quite a good listen with some very nice 'off-the-cuff' remarks that show how much of a bond the regular cast have had over the years (both back when they first worked together, and for this new era of plentiful avenues of original Doctor Who).

I cannot put my hand on heart and say that this is an unmissable product, but it still may be worth several hours of your time if you are the type of aficionado that enjoys a sequel that keeps closely to the spirit of the original.  The final stages do not disappoint in getting the immediate jeopardy wrapped up, and then urging the listener on to the next part of this 'Return to E-Space' trilogy. it could well be a quite bumpy ride in this unknown universe for our four heroes...

 

 

 

This box set sees the reunion on audio for the first time since 1982 of fifth Doctor Peter Davison’s original team of companions; Janet Fielding as Tegan, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and the much anticipated return of Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. Consisting of two brand new four part stories both set during season 19 it is very much a box set of two halves. As this is no longer a brand new release I am considering this review fair game for any spoilers that follow.

Jonathan Morris’ Psychodrome is set in the immediate aftermath of the TV story Castrovalva with the Doctor’s companions still coming to terms with having been brought together and witnessing the Doctor’s recent regeneration. Morris cleverly plays with the fact that the four characters don’t know each other very well yet as established by the opening scenes. The first obvious comment to make is that Waterhouse is still finding his voice in this play as he faces the challenge of recreating his juvenile persona. However, after the first few scenes it becomes easier to adjust to this slightly deeper voiced than usual version of Adric, especially in the context of three other regulars who all occasionally sound thirty years older. The script’s clever placing of this story very early in these characters’ established adventures makes it easier to overlook this and enjoy the references and hints of what is to come. On first listen, the plot of what befalls the TARDIS crew when they land becomes a little confusing. This is because they encounter several sets of four characters who are each played by the same four actors. Whilst the actors concerned give solid performances, this does leave the listener with occasional moments of vocal confusion until the explanation of what exactly is going on within the Psychodrome is revealed. A particular mention should go to Robert Whitelock for the triple role of Professor Whitelock, Denyx and King Magus, the last of whom comes to dominate the third and fourth episodes of this story. An exciting misdirection occurs at the end of part two when it is suggested that Magus might infact be a new iteration of The Master but whilst Whitelock does have elements of the Ainley incarnation to his performance the reality is that Magus is a composite of Nyssa’s imagined view of both the Doctor and the Master allows for a more satisfying resolution. The only slight disappointment is in Magus’ final scene where Morris gives him the rather too knowing final line “is this death?” The listener is left feeling that this story has been a little too clever for it’s own good and perhaps there should’ve been another way.

John Dorney’s Iterations of I is set later in the season, in the aftermath of Black Orchid, and picks up the season’s arc with Adric attempting to rectify the Doctor’s continuing failure to return Tegan to Heathrow in 1981. The travellers find themselves separated from the TARDIS after landing on a remote island where they are forced to take shelter in a seemingly abandoned old house. Featuring a small cast including Being Human star Sinead Keenan the stories setting of Autumn 1981 is cleverly and quickly established and becomes a virtue of the story as the Doctor, by this stage bereft of his sonic screwdriver and stuck in a world that is still years away from inventing mobile phones is forced to make use of the limited technologies available such as a pocket calculator.

The main enemy of the story, the I, are a unique invention in that they exist in a dimension of numerical information and thus when they start to kill it becomes quite frightening. The Doctor’s technologically minded companions Nyssa and Adric come into their own as they come to terms with the mystery contained within the old computers. This story also takes an opportunity to foreshadow Adric’s impending exit in Earthshock with an touching scene in which he and the Doctor discover some graves. Towards the end of the story Adric is injured but the revelation that Alzarians heal faster than Humans allows for some fun action scenes. Waterhouse’s recreation of Adric seems more comfortable in this story which leads this listener to hope that our favourite Alzarian may yet return for more audio adventures. Overall this second story is a much more satisfying listen than Psychodrome although both stories very strongly evoke the feeling of season 19. This feeling is reinforced by clever use of music and sound design which feels very much of the period. Whilst not always hitting the mark, the Fifth Doctor box set is a rewarding listen and fans of the early Davison era will certainly be left wanting more.