This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Question Marks

I love a good spy thriller and this checks all the boxes of one while doing it in a way that only Doctor Who could pull off. For a start, if you'd told me that Laika the space dog would be the main villain of the story, I'd have called you insane. It's an idea that's so bizarre that it shouldn't work and yet it does. The plot here is fascinating and ridiculous, I don't want to end up summarising it so all I'll say is that the way it blends often serious spy-thriller tropes with the absurd sci-fi plots of Doctor Who is fantastic.

The performances are great, Baker and Bryant are great as always here and the supporting cast are all distinctly memorable. I will say, the accents were really inconsistent, some Russian characters would flip back and forth from attempted Russian accents and more standard English or American ones. I'd rather they stuck to one, but it's a minor nitpick honestly as it doesn't at all detract from the story.

I love the way real life events were woven into this story, JFK's assassination being a cliffhanger for example. It was a fun way to tie back into the fact that this is an anniversary story. Overall, I really liked this one. Not as much as Fanfare for the Common Men (the other story in this trilogy that I've listened to) but very close.

Next Story: Breaking Bubbles