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

Previous Story: The Juggernauts

This is such a bizarre story - I'd almost call it a non-story. There's no real conflict. Mel is sent back in time to the 1700s and she loses her memory. Based on historical records she's fated to die at the house. This seems like a really interesting premise right? You might be thinking, what time-travel shenanigans will be needed to get her out of this mess? Well the historical records weren't true, they were just made up. There never were any historical records, it was just speculation. To resolve this big issue all it takes is for the Doctor to realise "maybe those rumours were just... rumours" and that's it.

It's also a bit of a weird story for Mel. In the 1700s she runs into this man who recently lost his wife. He takes her in and cares for her and eventually becomes really obsessed with her. It's revealed he's not a nice man at all and just wants to marry Mel and the worst part is the Doctor genuinely considers allowing this. Notice how I said the Doctor, not Mel. She doesn't really get a choice. She doesn't get many choices at all actually. She's just not much of a character in the story. Beyond living at this house for 6 months she doesn't actually do anything in the story. And at the end, when she finally gets back to the TARDIS, she basically shrugs off the 6 months of believing she was stranded in the 1700s, no memory of her life and constantly being "treated" with laudanum. This should be a traumatic experience and she just... doesn't care.

I enjoyed the vibes, and the setting but other than that it was a really strange story.

Next Story: Thicker than Water