Note to self, remember to say hello when walking into an empty room.

• Dundee, Scotland, 2004. The migration of the Serapheem mysteriously passes the Earth far earlier than usual. At the same time, dozens of teenagers have seemingly vanished all in one night. Detective Jana Lee is on the case. And the Doctor is sticking his nose in. As usual.

Girl Deconstructed is a remarkably simple and concise story, all about not taking loved ones for granted, talking to people about anything and everything, and a unique modern twist on a ghost story. According to the behind-the-scenes interviews, all three writers for this box set agreed to do a typical present, past and future story, echoing the pattern of the RTD series. In that respect, Girl, Deconstructed is the simple earthbound story of this set, where the sci-fi elements take a back seat to the characters and drama.

I think one of Lisa McMullin’s biggest strengths with this story is the humour. There are so many, quips and jokes in this audio to count. It never feels like the humour distracts from the stakes of the story, that being a missing persons case, and nearly every joke lands. Shout out to the two Doctors scene in particular. Jana Lee also makes for a likable companion surrogate, slowly starting to believe the Doctor the longer the story goes on. She also gets a great scene with the Doctor when she asks the obvious, “why can’t we go back in time and stop blank” and the Doctor tells her how her future will change. Also, shout out to Christopher Eccleston monologues. That man could read the phone book and make it sound interesting.

One thing I will critique is the pacing. This story is very quick and concise, the shortest story in the box set at (basically) 48-minutes. While this does help the story fly by at a rapid pace, it also means that we don’t spend as long on some aspects that I think the story should. Namely the family drama between Marnie and her father Kurt. It just feels like there should be more scenes and more focus on the idea of a teenager who can watch their parent without knowing. We do get a good scene at the start and one in the middle. But I can’t help but feel like there should be more, though that’s entirely subjective. Additionally, the ending itself is a bit…on the nose. Don’t get me wrong, the story’s heart is in the right place with what it wants to say, but the final monologue from Douglas feels a bit “here is the message of the story in case you missed it”.

I don’t want to sound too negative in this review because Girl, Deconstructed is a very good and very snappy story. I just have a few little nit-picks with it that hold it back just a touch. A great start to a great box set.