A really wonderful, sincere, and simple story depicting the meeting of Susan and the Eighth Doctor. Something like this, I would argue, basically demands a relatively simple plot so we have a lot of character time and that's exactly what we get!  It pays off magnificently, in my opinion. Susan doesn't feel like she's been sitting on her hands this whole time - she's been living a life with a lot of story to it. That's the main focus here, with the stuff around a post-invasion Earth still recovering and dealing with a new threat largely in the backseat of this audio.  I think is for the best.  That side of it was kind of boring, to be honest.  The focus and attraction of this story is what matters, and that's the Doctor meeting Susan and her new son, Alex.

The casting of Alex Campbell with Paul McGann's real life son was brilliant, and it leads to a lot of weighty scenes that gave me a strong desire to pursue more stories featuring this character. As a holiday-release special, this one sat really well with me. It felt, largely, wholesome and fun, with a touch of that Eighth Doctor blunt detached sensibilities at the end. It's an interesting side of his character that always leaves me thinking. This is a man who has shown many times he is willing to walk away from family and this story doesn't shy away from that or how alien he can be, as much as the Doctor himself might try to romanticize this behaviour, it is a real character flaw and I love when it is explored well. I definitely enjoyed and would recommend this one but you need a strong sense of both the Eighth Doctor and Susan Foreman, so it certainly isn't for beginners.