Do you know those stage productions which are deliberately artificial? Shakespeare but all lines are spoken facing the audience, that kind of thing? I think the term is the ‘distancing effect’. This story is absolutely full of it, and for me personally that was the highlight. Extremely tight camera angles on corridors; characters saying Important Things, not so much to each other but to the room; a clearly-stated Message (drugs are bad, kids!); a bewildering choice of Dutch/South African accent; the camera left on a scene just a little too long whenever K9 does something… I could go on. All this has the effect that you are watching Something Special (like Morgus’ addresses to camera in The Caves of Androzani), and the setting – two ships merged in hyperspace, a projection machine that doesn’t so much project as capture, and a decent story about drug trafficking and its effects – has potential for a fantastic episode.

On the other end of the scale, we have full-on camp. The passengers on the Empress are dressed like they’re about to go for a trip to see Niagra Falls on a gay cruise. The customs agents’ uniforms have an inexplicable glittery pattern suggesting they were borrowed Nazi uniforms from a production of Springtime for Hitler, or else they were planning to attend the local Pride parade once their mission was over. The Empress security guards look like they have never had to confront anyone in their lives, and hope never to have to – and of course they don’t die but Die, with Facial Expressions and Gestures. As I said – CAMP. Which is not uncharted territory for Doctor Who, and could also have made for a great, if less memorable, story.

The problem is, these two aspects are diametrically opposed to each other, and nothing truly meshes. The production was beset with problems, including the original director Alan Bromly being fired halfway through, and perhaps it is this which has caused the difference in styles. One minute you have a corridor chase through a ship where all the corridors look suspiciously the same; then we see vrax slowly take hold of Rigg, and the horrors that entails.

All the usual elements are there, with Tom Baker as fantastic as ever and a good supporting performance from Barry Andrews as Stott, who had been accidentally transported not so much from Eden but an episode of The Wire 25 years in the future. It’s just a shame that the serial can’t make up its mind what it wants to be.