I’m not a huge Daleks fans at all, especially on audio where I find I zone out if they have lots of dialogue. But something about this series just works.

The humans characters are great - Alby with his ‘everyman’ attitude but with secrets under the surface and knowing more than he lets on. Kalendorf, another man with secrets and powers and Suz - a woman thrust into an unenviable position.

The three main cast members, Mark McDonnell, Sarah Mowat and the incomparable Gareth Thomas give their all and Nick Briggs is on his A game as the many different Daleks (I’m especially fond of the booming Emperor).

The humans are what makes this work - their plight (which rattles along giving the audience hardly time to draw breath) is horrific. Suz and Kalendorf are literally at the rock face of Dalek occupation. Alby meanwhile is thrown from near death situation to near death situation. Self-preservation almost makes him seem selfish but his knowledge of the Daleks means he knows he has to play the long game if he is to survive long enough to find Suz and complete his mission.

But what surprises me here is the Daleks. As I say, they often lose me on audio but this group are fascinating. This is the scheming Daleks of David Whitaker. Their manipulation of Suz is astounding but the subtle in-fighting gives them an edge rarely seen in the Daleks. Lower ranked Daleks questioning how Suz is being allowed to dictate Dalek policy and being shouted down by the Supreme but then the Emperor shouting down the Supreme - the hierarchy is fascinating and really makes their scenes something worth listening to.

Even though I’ve listened to this before, I can’t actually remember many of the details as to where the story goes so I’m looking forward to exploring this world again.

(It would help, though, if they didn’t have Nick Briggs and Ian Brooker obviously playing so many different parts in the same episode though…)