STARRING: Simon Williams, Pamela Salem,
Karen Gledhill, Hugh Ross

WITH: 
Carolyn Seymour, Tam Williams, Joanna Bending, 
George Asprey, Robin Weaver, Gunnar Cauthery, 
Christian Edwards, Vincent Carmichael, David Rintoul, 
Claire Calbraith, Andrew Wincott 

---

Written By: Guy Adams, Ian Potter, 
Christopher Hatherall, and John Dorney

Director:Ken Bentley

Sound Design:Rob Harvey

Music:Nicholas Briggs

Cover Art:Simon Holub

Script Editor: John Dorney

Executive Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

 

Duration: 5 hours approx

Product Format:5-disc CD (slipcover box set)/ Digital Release

Producer: David Richardson
 

---

Initial Release: December 2016

General Release: 31 Jan 2017

After the Who Killed Toby Kinsella standalone release, another eagerly awaited full series of adventures for the Counter Measures team is available – being now set in the Seventies time zone. For the most part it continues the fine work of its predecessors.

The box set’s opening story is entitled Nothing to See Here. Starting off with the shock of Gilmore being involved in violent armed robbery, it soon is made clear that the rest of the Group were fully aware of his choice to risk his safety by going undercover. The main story concerns invisibility and the threat of long-term use of this ‘special ability’ that causes loss to one’s mental equilibrium, and overall identity. The themes and plot mostly concern just how vulnerable a seemingly rock-solid soldier like Ian can be, when under the influence of an unprecedented invention, with unknown powers.

Guy Adams has provided a serviceable enough script and storyline, although it never quite goes beyond third gear in terms of tension and jeopardy. The majority of the antagonists are not quite imposing enough, and the deranged main adversary evokes more pity and concern for his safety than anything else.

The second story of the four is the work of Ian Potter - who has particular experience in the Companion Chronicles range - and is evocatively called Troubled Waters. With a relatively limited cast, the story makes good use of a submarine location (with latent nuclear capabilities), and explores aspects of distrust, claustrophobia and distorted views of the 'best possible' future for mankind. 

Coupled with a strong central mystery over why the submarine has gone ‘off grid’ and what caused its crew to mysteriously vanish, the listener is fully engaged with this play’s unveiling of various answers. It builds well on the core theme of identity from the prior story, and sees all of the main quartet of regulars having their integrity and defining characteristics assaulted.

The penultimate story of the set sees another sharp change in setting and story inspiration. Christopher Hatherall’s The Phoenix Strain has both a connection to The Birds – one of the seminal Hitchcock movies – and feature films from the time the story is set in, concerning animals running amok. Whilst involving vicious birds, there is also a theme of chemical engineering, designed against a very specific ‘enemy of the state’.

Operating on a much larger scale of action than the first two stories, this involves several antagonists. They have rather dubious principles, but are not directly connected to one another, and their agendas and methods are very dissimilar. The play does well in keeping followers uncertain over just which of these troublemakers actually has the more troublesome moral code.

This story really works well on initial listen, and has enough meat on its bones to stand up to repeated exposure. It perhaps is the most seamless of the four adventures, in terms of reflecting popular culture of the decade in question. There were many 'disaster movies' working their influence on the general public, and somehow they proved to have a winning mixture of paranoia and thrills, that kept justifying more being made in double-quick time.

The concluding story for this collection shares its title with the prototype of what ending up becoming the immortally beloved City of Death. However, A Gamble With Time is markedly different in overall story beats, and how the time travel trope is used. Allowing our four regulars to all go undercover as they investigate dealings between Gus Kalworowsky and Lady Suzanne Clare, twists and turns are unleashed with each successive track. Despite appearing to be harmless to most onlookers, Clare is actually a ruthless arms dealer who is intrigued by Gus’ supposedly alien time travel technology. One aspect that is kept from David Fisher’s markedly altered proposal, is the setting of a casino.

John Dorney's story just pips its predecessor to the post of being the standout, and features well-drawn characters played with full gusto by the supporting cast. Clare is one of the best Big Finish villains to originate, from a line that is divergent from the main Doctor Who releases.  She seems always one step ahead of even the smartest of people, and the ending is left open for her to wreak havoc in future.

This set of mysteries is notable for having a very loose structure in terms of inter-story continuity. Whilst presumably listeners are meant to approach the quartet in chronological order, in practice there is little to no difference rendered by selecting an arbitrary sequence instead. 

The main cast continue to provide excellent portrayals, and clearly enjoy the different situations and character moments that they each receive. This is a particularly good collection in terms of advancing the Gilmore/Jensen relationship. Williams and Salem clearly know how best to convey chemistry and connection, through this particular form of audio adventure.

Sir Toby is notably more benign following the events of the Who Killed.. two-part release, from earlier in 2016. Ross still plays the role with depth, and in an intriguing manner, but his darker edges are less conspicuous. His challenging of Lord Balfour is particularly riveting. Yet we also see this calculating political being take a moral high ground, rather than being more pragmatic, as so often was the case in his earlier stories.

Perhaps Gledhill's Allison has the least notable material, apart from her undercover work in Gamble, and the brainwashing/’romance’ she is subjugated to in Troubled Waters is just a bit too similar to previous stories, in the original Counter Measures range. Also, I continue to find much of the music a little too harsh, and the main theme is something I personally choose to skip.

However, other fans of both Doctor Who and of these characters that first showed up in a top-drawer 1988 TV serial, may enjoy the compiled music that features as one of the bonus tracks. The behind the scenes material continues to be enjoyable, with a particularly nicely done ‘as live’ insight into how happy the regulars were to hear they would be recording further original stories, after this current run.

This set does a fine job of building on the foundations of the first story, which brought the Counter Measures team into the markedly different decade of the Seventies. It demonstrates with some flair just how much there is still to be uncovered, by this group of smart and enterprising talents – whether political, scientific or military.

Written by Phil Mulryne
 

Directed by Barnaby Edwards

 

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Clive Merrison (George Augustus), Philip Jackson (Mr Peabody), Lorelei King (The Red Queen), Tim Bentinck (Wakefield/ Cabby/ Stonegood), Alison Thea-Skot (Marjorie Stonegood/ Computer), Olly McCauley (Edward/The Knave)

 

Big Finish Productions - Released February 2017

The second of this trilogy of plays opens with the season 19 TARDIS crew very much in their fractious time-travelling youth hostel mode forcing the Doctor to take on the role of headmaster as he intervenes in yet another row between Adric and Tegan. The Doctor manages to get the TARDIS to London but not Heathrow and over 100 years too early for Tegan as they four travellers soon realise that they have arrived at a gentleman’s club in Pall Mall. The Contingency Club seems at first much like most of its neighbours, but the unusual initiation ceremony and the fact that it’s inhabitants don’t seem bothered by the strange appearance of the new arrivals or indeed the fact that two of them are women soon indicates that something is amiss. And then there are the waiters, all called Edward and all identical.

The TARDIS crew quickly split into pairs as Nyssa and Adric team up with a resourceful young woman called Marjorie (played by Alison Thea-Skot) who is looking for her engineer father after he recently disappeared shortly after being admitted as a member of the club. The Doctor and Tegan meanwhile end up in the company of George Augustus, a journalist who has been rejected from club membership. Augustus is played by Clive Merrison whose radio performances as Sherlock Holmes make him perfect casting for this role, especially when the full extent of his agenda becomes clear. They are also joined by another radio veteran who has become something a regular fixture with the Big Finish rep in recent years, Tim Bentinck, the familiar voice of Radio 4’s David Archer, plays a trio of key roles, most notably a cab driver.

At the heart of the story is the mysterious Red Queen, voiced by Lorelei King, who provided the voice over for 2012 TV episode A Town Called Mercy. She is the central character to this story and provides a worthy adversary for Peter Davison’s Doctor, with able assistance from Philip Jackson as the sinister Peabody. Phil Mulryne’s tale evokes the stuffy drawing room atmosphere of the clubs of St James with just enough sci-fi thrown in for good measure. It might’ve been nice to have the traumatic events of TheStarMen referenced in some way but this is a minor criticism. Overall, another enjoyable outing for the crowded TARDIS which once again gives all four leads the chance to shine. We can only look forward to their next trip to the planet Zaltys.

TheContingencyClub is available now from Big Finish and on general release from March 31st 2017.

Writers: George Mann + Cavan Scott

Art: Ivan Rodriguez, Walter Geovanni, with Alessandro Vitti

Colorist: Nicola Righi With Enrica Eren Angiolini

Letterer: Richard Starkings
And Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt

Senior Designer: Andrew Leung 

Senior Editor: Andrew James

Assistant Editors: Jessica Burton
& Amoona Saohin

Designer: Rob Farmer

Published :7th March 2017

The most recent incarnations of the Doctor must combat the might of the Cyberiad - an overwhelming force that links the minds of Cybermen through all of time. The Tenth Doctor is forced to use a super-powered, and truly gigantic machine, as part of a combat alliance with Sontarans (who are normally his sworn enemies). The Ninth Doctor is on the back foot as he seemingly loses Rose forever, and his faithful time ship into the bargain. The London of 2006 that was established as relatively safe is now totally overcome by the silver giants. And as for the Eleventh Doctor, both he and Alice face a change of evolution back in the ancient time zone of ‘Prehistoric’ Earth. A change that contradicts established knowledge concerning the fate of the Silurian race.

But it is the Twelfth Doctor who is facing the eye of the storm and discovering what his Cybermen nemeses are intending to do, not only with the wider cosmos, but with the  temporal flow of causality itself. It soon becomes clear that this Doctor’s apparent triumph over Rassilon (in Hell Bent) was only short-lived. The alternately legendary and reviled keystone figure in Gallifrey’s history (depending on when in his elongated lifespan) is now truly betraying his own kind, by allowing the Cybermen to have access to the higher technology of his race. In return for this 'sharing' of superior knowledge, the former Lord President is accepting some Cyber ‘enhancements’ to his own person.

The initial two issues of this arc were separately reviewed on this site last year, and the consensus was that the initial foundations were promising.

So the logical question is: does the conclusion deliver?

In a nutshell - this is a satisfying romp  for the general time required to read through it. And as a collected edition it also perhaps reads in the best way, for one to enjoy such a large scale and ambitious type of story. When this story was first being released every month (or every other month) in the second half of 2016, sometimes the wait between issues highlighted how sparse was the material that most of the starring Doctors were given. 

The key premise of the Cybermen looking to master both space and time is perhaps not new when one is to consider the likes of Attack of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis, but with all due respect to those 1980s stories, the ideas at work here are that much stronger. Also, the limitless 'budget' of comics is also put to better use than was ever the case with those TV outings’ resources. The Doctor rarely is put under such immediate pressure as in this tale, and it is refreshing to have his other selves being so helpless and threatening to drag down the ‘present’ (Capaldi) incumbent. There are plenty of moments of high drama, with full-on ‘shock effect’ as various associates, or close friends of the Doctor(s) are seemingly slain, or coldly assimilated by the impassive forces of the Cybermen.

The biggest stumbling block for this distinctly ambitious story is that the jeopardy is raised to such intense levels that the final method of bringing things to a close verges on deus ex machina. Yet it does see some welcome character development for one of the main antagonists, that arguably was not the most easy to anticipate based on much of the previous storyline. If one were to look for how strong the conclusion is overall, such as by comparing it with the prior year’s Titan comic event, then it is clear that the ending Paul Cornell devised for his Four Doctors story was just that margin more satisfying and neat.  

Also, whilst it was brave to force the Twelfth Doctor to be the one regeneration to have the key to the puzzle, it is a little frustrating that the Doctor’s various companions are so passive here – again Cornell’s story was mindful of keeping the considerable precedent of the assistant role being crucial to the Doctor’s fortunes. As an introduction to those not so familiar with Doctors of past times – even in the recent decades – this adventure does fine work in maintaining key defining traits. The Eleventh Doctor is as light hearted and unflappable in the face of danger, as the most striking turns Matt Smith contributed on-screen. The Tenth Doctor has those hints of darkness and fury, such is the relatively short period that has occurred since the Time War. The Ninth Doctor’s relatively macho and assertive nature is well captured, and despite the human casualties that assault his senses, he still has that firm core belief in his ability to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat. Titan had also done a fine job in their ongoing regular comic lines to introduce teasers for this saga by having Doctors from the classic era of 1963-1989 pop up , and this is executed well in the main story by having further glimpses of the TV Time Lords of yesteryear..There are also some other pleasing references that operate in relieving the often relentlessly grim vibe – such as the mention of the 'Kessel Run' by the Ecclestone version of the Doctor.

The visuals are mostly effective from the artwork team that contributed to this mini-arc, and the wealth of time and space is no doubt a cause for excitement for both casual reader and loyal monthly purchaser alike.  The main artists – Ivan Rodriguez and Walter Geovanni – are able to put their personal stamp on a wealth of familiar faces, along with those newly introduced for this particular story. There is good further art support from Alessandro Vitti, and the main colouring work from Nicola Righi is typically lively and effective in conveying the mood intended by co-writers Scott and Mann.

Overall, readers can do far worse than give this graphic novel some time and careful attention as they uncover the myriad threads concerning Doctors past and present, as well as the turbulence that is Gallifrey in the future. It perhaps is not up there with some of the very best stories from Titan, but as an adventure featuring the second most recognised monster of the show, and one that makes some interesting use of the different Doctors from television screens in the last 12 or so years, it is definitely worth a look. It remains to be seen if Series 10's concluding episodes make equal or better use of the (potentially infinite) Cybermen concept; one that is now more than Fifty Years of age.

Producer Ian Atkins, Script Editor Ian Atkins
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Written By: Joshua Wanisko, Directed By: Neil Gardner

Cast

Nicholas Briggs (Narrator)

So, here we have Forever Fallen – an audio story that is published for free by Big Finish as part of a competition held in the memory of Paul Spragg, who was a very popular employee at Big Finish, and of course a massive Who Fan. The competition encouraged writers to submit a story to Big Finish, Joshua Wanisko’s Forever Fallen (here read by Nicholas Briggs himself) was the winner.

The story fits perfectly into the latter year of the Seventh Doctor, who as we know has become a master at manipulating others. Here we find his attention turning onto the usual power crazed megalomaniac, just before he gives the order to destroy a planet and unleash the power of his android army. So far, so Doctor Who........however, what happens next is quite a charming surprise as the Doctor and Ace nurture  their new charge over a series of yearly meetings, sensitively showing him the error of his ways.

I was never a really a massive fan of McCoy’s portrayal of the seventh Doctor. Like a sizeable portion of fandom, I thought that the stories were getting a bit ridiculous, and it was being purposefully made a laughing stock by the BBC at that time, forcing it down a route that could only end in it's inevitable cancelation. For me this was made more evident when the writing did try to take a serious turn towards the mysterious However, Forever Fallen comes off as a nice little morality tale set bang in the middle of this (for me) troubled era of the program. Briggs narrates well, but does come off a little serious at times. I did though wonder whether this was more to do with the reasoning behind why the story was released and to give it a more somber and serious air, rather than let loose with a series of possibly over the top characterisations.

If you are a fan of the era, you will love Forever Fallen. I look forward to seeing further work from the author.

Forever Fallen is available to download now, for free, from Big Finish, and is a perfect opportunity for those new to this great range to give them a try.

Writer - Paul Cornell
Artist - Christopher Jones
Colorist - Hi-Fi

Letters  - Richard Starkings + Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt

(Alastair Lethbidge Stewart -Created By Mervyn Haisman +
Henry Lincoln,appearing courtesy of Candy Jar Books --
with thanks to Hannah Haisman,
Henry Lincoln,and Andy Frankham-Allen) 

Editor - John Freeman
Assistant Editors - Jessica Burton + Amoona Saohin
Senior Designer - Andrew Leung

Published November 30th 2016, TITAN COMICS

Jo Grant’s mind is a fascinating place. But the Third Doctor needs to work hard to achieve some kind of progress in the fight against the metallic aliens that are threatening both Great Britain, and planet Earth itself. If he fails, he and his best friend remain trapped on the metaphysical plane of existence for all of eternity. Meanwhile the Master remains free, and a mystery emerges over just what the Second Doctor's plan involves.

This middle issue of the miniseries effectively acts as wrapping up what seemed to be the main story, and proceeding to establish what the true narrative actually is. It perhaps lacks the overt excitement and startling visual work of issues one and two, but the closing revelation – featuring the return of a long-forgotten foe - more than makes up for it.

The Third Doctor makes a partial breakthrough in managing to convince a faction of the Micro Machines to be on his side. This action that relied on tact and emotional smarts helps the UNIT forces that had been scratching their heads as they faced a standoff with these metallic creatures over in Fairford. The actual story behind what the Second Doctor is doing on Earth during the Third Doctor/UNIT years is revealed to a small extent, but with two further instalments to go, readers are left kept waiting for full answers.

Once again the original Master, complete with beard and a mixture of dark and greying hair, manages to be the most arrestingly compelling character. He this time manages to impersonate the Brigadier, but the manner in which this is kept a surprise is somewhat more subtle than some other such attempts. Also, the writer has done some fine work in this ongoing story to suggest just how versatile this most dangerous of renegade Time Lords can be, when it comes to creating gadgets and managing to infiltrate supposedly top-secret organisations

Humour continues to be very good here too. Cornell has proven time again with his TV scripts, novels and comic book stories how he can find the appropriate tone to make a story and its characters’ actions properly flow. I liked the way Jo triumphantly displayed a tome entitled ‘Everything I’ve Learned in the last Three Years’, which is a knowing acknowledgement of her good character development under the control of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks. It also manages to poke a little fun at the UNIT dating confusion that close followers of the show sometimes find so controversial.

There also is a well-done fight between the Master and his ‘most worthy of opponents’, as they trade off barbed witticisms and talk of the virtues of their respective “Martian Kendo” and “Mercurian Kung Fu” martial art skills. This manages to show that the Third Doctor’s love of “Venusian Aikido” has served him well in certain situations, but as a man of action he sometimes needs to up the ante.

On a slightly more negative note, the art is just a touch less effective this time round. A good portion of the action is set indoors, and without the use of some creative backgrounds or alternate perspective, this leads to a few too many panels looking a little stilted. Even the sections in Jo’s mind are a little too low-key after being so striking in the previous issue, but a couple of passage at least show good use of the crystalline cave, where the Doctor negotiates with the Micro Machines' ‘hive mind’. I also cannot fathom why Mike has been made to look the way he does; being more evocative of the one-off UNIT captains that featured, until he made his debut at the start of Season 8.

However this does not seriously prevent the story from working its charms, and the Third Doctor continues to be as authoritative and engaging as Jon Pertwee so consistently portrayed him on-screen. The twist that so stunningly closes the issues also manages to make sense, in terms of linking with the clues that had been carefully placed thus far. The final two ‘episodes’ look to be upping the pace, and the stakes, in truly epic fashion..

BONUS:

Variant covers are featured for this issue, as well as previews of Issue Four's cover and its variants. There are 'behind-the-scenes' examples of Jones' pencil and ink work for two different pages of the story.

Series Three - Episode 12 - "The Sound Of Drums".

STARRING:

David Tennant , Freema Agyeman , John Barrowman, 
WITH John Simm and Alexandra Moen 

ALSO FEATURING: Adjoa Andoh, Trevor Laird,
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Reggie Yates, Elize du Toit,
Nichola McAuliffe, Nicholas Gecks, 
Colin Stinton, Olivia Hill, Daniel Ming,
Lachele Carl, Sharon Osbourne. 

ALSO WITH VOICE WORK BY:
Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan, and Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis 

WITH CAMEOS by McFly, and Ann Widdecombe. 

---

Written By - Russell T Davies,

Script Editor - Simon Winstone

Directed By - Colin Teague
Music - Murray Gold
Produced By - Phil Collinson

Executive Producers - Russell T. Davies + Julie Gardner

Originally Transmitted 23rd June 2007, BBC 1

This middle component of the storyline that saw out the 2007 run of modern Doctor Who is a dynamic, compelling slice of action and political satire. As good as it had been to have the likes of Autons and Macra come back from days long gone, and especially welcome to see the Who staple monsters that are the Daleks and the Cybermen return with a vengeance, the show badly needed the most masterly of humanoid villains to keep the Doctor on his toes.

John Simm's Master can be best likened to 'The Joker from Batman. He is utterly unhinged, and without remorse for the crimes he commits.  He actively enjoys causing chaos and misery. But such is this prolific performer's calibre of acting, the viewer cannot help but like him on some level. This is a quality inherent in all the more effective Masters – with other notable names being those of Delgado, Ainley, Jacobi (albeit mainly resting on the fake Yana persona), and Gomez.

Of course I will acknowledge the pure villainous qualities of the 'decayed' Master that showed up in the Tom Baker era, and in places also in the 1996 TV Movie. To my mind though, the ideal variant has some level of dark charm, and humorous edginess.

A great idea that makes this episode work, is putting the TARDIS crew firmly on the back foot. They do not even have their magic ship as a 'home base', and arrive late on the scene as the Master Plan has already unfolded to near finality. 'Harold Saxon' has become the British Prime Minister, and virtually the whole population are enthralled by his charisma and decidedly alternate style to politics.

The manner in which he sweeps aside all dissenting voices in his Cabinet through the method of poisonous gas, and tapping his hand on the table to the 'Sound of Drums' is a fine scene. He even gives some warning to his victims, but in such a way that he is comically obtuse, thus catching some of the supposed smartest people in the land completely off-guard.

It is hard to tell which is the more disturbing death in these 10 Downing Street sections: the prolonged suffocation of senior politicians by gas, or the way the Toclafane slice-and-dice Vivien Rook - a reporter rather too bold and determined for her own good.

                                   "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you. Kill him!"

By contrast, the execution of the American President is played very much as black comedy. We have a boisterous and self-important world leader, and one perhaps looking down on Britain; no doubt due to the "ass" elected by the population. In this day and age, with such a controversial new president in charge this scene plays out on a different level. Even the very current affairs savvy Davies could not have anticipated this dimension his work would take.

Having a wife by the Master's side is a neat spin on an antagonist that was normally a lone wolf. Whilst he may have temporary stooges to help him (and usually hypnotised ones at that), this is the first time it appears he has a stone cold lover to endorse his villainy. In the Colin Baker portion of the Classic Series, there were tentative alliances with The Rani and Glitz respectively. However, in Lucy the Master has someone who seems to love his unending ambition, ruthlessness and even his sadism. (But of course there are limits to what evil a spouse can put up with, and this is explored effectively in the concluding episode).                                                                                                                                
The telephone conversation scene gives both Simm and Tennant a chance to share screentime equally. When they finally meet in the same frame the effect is even more marked.  However, whilst the Tenth Doctor swansong The End Of Time is inferior to this Series Three closer, it is ahead in terms of offering decent one-on-one material for two of Britain's most respected screen actors.

The 'Toclafane' - a name from young Gallifreyan fairy tales – essentially act as the Master’s force of marauding assassins. But they are a pretty neat invention, in that they combine a distinct monster look with some semblance of a disturbingly imbalanced personality. Having multiple voices to breathe life into them is also a great production choice. The story behind who these creatures are is kept mysterious for now in this particular outing. If one were to be overly critical, they could be accused of looking somewhat like the confectionary Maltesers - especially when the pulsating Voodoo Child track plays out for a distinctly long stretch. Using a piece of popular chart music was a bold move by Davies and can perhaps be seen as risking dating the production. But taken as a suitably offbeat piece of rhythmical noise, that the Master would choose to celebrate his crowning moment with, it is more than appropriate. Also, this is one of the few moments in the show at the time when composer Murray Gold is not providing persistently stirring backing music to the onscreen drama. 

Series Three did a serviceable job of giving the viewer a clan of relatives to make Martha’s attachment to Earth mean something, and managed to be both similar enough but also distinctly different from the dynamic that Rose Tyler had in terms of her original 'home'. Furthermore, some good groundwork was done in terms of exploring just why Martha eventually chose not to remain by the Doctor's side full time. Adjoa Andoh is probably the best performer out of this family group, and combines steely determination with a subtle sense of really caring for all those closest to her. She would justifiably return in Series Four's closing pair of episodes, as well. Trevor Laird is notably stronger in his acting, than the very tired and ineffectual henchman role that was part of 1986's Mindwarp. He makes for a devoted father figure, and shows some real bravery in helping the Doctor's party evade capture. Reggie Yates is the kind of casting choice that peppered the 1980s under John Nathan-Turner's watch, and is engaging enough. It is a rather generic brother role as Leo, however, and there is virtually no character development that the show normally pulled off so well by now. Also, for whatever reason, Yates barely features in this episode, and contributes even less in the following one. Martha's other sibling Tish, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw is perhaps the best used recurring character in terms of the Saxon Arc itself, and is performed with conviction throughout. Much like Freema Agyeman, Mbatha-Raw has had a very fine career post-Doctor Who.

Martha herself remains a solid companion, with Ageyman really selling the reveal that the Master is the most powerful man in the country. The response to the startling impact of her 'normal' world being so drastically changed is a strong core theme of this multiparter, and plays out with full effect in the ensuing Last Of The Time Lords. As this episode comes to its cliff-hanger ending, the viewer is utterly captivated as to how Dr Jones will cope without her near-immortal mentor. Like Rose she is capable and independent, but has usually needed some superior experience and incredible intellect from the Doctor to overcome the problem at hand. This particular challenge is mountainous to put it mildly.

Captain Jack perhaps is just more along for the ride after some very good material in the preceding episode where he sought some kind of acknowledgement from the Doctor. Of course, he does helps with the escape back to present day Earth - conveyed in a frenetic flash back - and he also gets to do a (very deliberate) plug for his own spin off Torchwood. Otherwise he is arguably surplus to immediate story requirements, and also suffers yet another helpless 'death' - this time at the hands of the Master, and his upgraded sonic screwdriver. This disconcerting cycle of painful demise and lurching back to life in traumatic fashion has been echoed in more recent times in the Forever TV series. Whilst short-lived at just one season, that particular show had a lead character - Henry Morgan - that has some minor similarities with the Jack Harkness character.

Pacing in this story is mostly good, and the episode packs a lot into its duration (which is slightly longer than the average of most episodes that year). The climax plays out for a good ten minutes, and thus is both truly riveting and furthers the long-running story concerning Harold Saxon, that first was glimpsed back in Love And Monsters. Most of the earlier sections are breathless chasing or exposition, with some detail on the Master's raison d'etre, and what he means to the Doctor. The whole thing could so easily be rushed, but in the hands of the dependable Colin Teague, it all comes together sufficiently well.

One recurring plot point which was a little less welcome was the call-back to The Lazarus Experiment, which many still regard as the weakest story of the run of thirteen episodes. Having the Doctor rendered helpless was a good idea on paper, but the choice here is to make him look like an especially ancient-looking man. Whilst showcasing good make up it never really adds much to the overall story, and would lead to the regrettable 'Harry Potter' CGI imp the following week. Perhaps something different, which rendered our main man immobile and slow of wits, would have worked better. 

Although much of the episode is focused on action, satire or re-establishing the Doctor-Master rivalry, the most moving and powerful portion concerns some exposition and visual display of Gallifrey and its orange skies. This is portrayed so much better on a respectable TV budget, compared to the closest precedent in the six-part 1970s serial The Invasion of Time. The narrated flashback makes use again of the poignant music Gold previously used in Utopia, and this backing track seems even more appropriate, as the key to the scene is making the viewer care for the Master through showing him in the form of a mere innocent child. Some mysterious and anonymous Time Lords also feature, with the scene notably breaking the ethnic onscreen barrier which for so long had been a minus point concerning the Doctors home world TV stories.

SUMMARY :

Whilst a little lacking in fully combining both fun adventure and true depth in terms of themes and moral lessons, this is still a good episode in a generally strong second full season for the Tenth Doctor. In comparison to the prior Utopia, it is a small step down in most respects, but many other stories would also struggle to compare favourably. Taken on its own merits, it is still a great watch, and has stood the test of time well. Back in mid-2007, the season finale was set up with a very dark and intriguing premise, and most regular viewers at the time were left desperate to see how it played out.