Better the devil you know, Wilton. Better the devil you know.

Renaissance of the Daleks is the last story I have to experience from Christopher H Bidmead. Frankly, I didn't know what I was in for, but I'm glad I've finally had the opportunity to listen to this one. Because by god was this great, probably another hot take I know, but Bidmead's writing is just so suited for Doctor Who that it's a shame he wasn't given more opportunities to write for the franchise… if he even did write this one altogether, for that is one of the mysteries of this audio.

A random landing in London and a trip to the Savoy Hotel yield unexpected results for the Fifth Doctor. Tea, scones, an American general who knows far too much, and the threat of a Dalek invasion of Earth. Meanwhile, the Doctor's companion Nyssa is in Rhodes during the time of the Crusades, where her position proves to be distinctly precarious. It seems the Doctor's deadliest foes have woven a tangled web indeed. And in order to defeat them, he must cross the forbidden barriers of time and walk into the very centre of their latest, most outlandish scheme of conquest.

From what I gather, Bidmead's original scripts were about half-an-hour too long, had twice as many characters and didn't make a lick of sense to director John Ainsworth and Nicholas Briggs. Nick then cut down the script and eliminated or combine many of the characters to cut costs and enable the two of them to make sense of what Bidmead had written. Aside from some minor touch ups to the script, Briggs rewrote the entire climax of the story due to the apparent destruction of the TARDIS not making much sense, which even after listening to the finalised story it still doesn't quite work and I highly doubt Bidmead would have made it work. It essentially boils down to what the Chase wanted to be combined with a dose of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, saying that I highly prefer this story to both of those former ones.

Vietnam, Crusades, alternative realities, PTSD, deadly toy Daleks, the Omniverse junction, wormholes to different times, a City made of Daleks, conditioned human Daleks – you certainly cannot accuse Renaissance of the Daleks of not being ambitious! I honestly don't see what is so confusing about this story since everything (the time tracks, the toy Daleks, the whispering voices) is explained and tied up in the last episode and with some swagger I might say! Like the Hollows of Time, this is a massively overhated story that threatens to do something vastly different with the Daleks for once. The cast are great, with Peter Davison being on top form as always, even if the side characters are a little undeveloped at points, with one of the major highlights being the Greylish and the very reserved performance by Briggs. Andy Hardwick's score is much darker than his usual foray into the world of audio, there's some really poignant use of drums as the story goes on, there's some definite stirrings of what the TV Movie's music is here and it's easily one of the more interesting scores I've heard in a while.

Overall, a very overhated story that cements to me that Bidmead was a squandered gift when it came to Doctor Who. Renaissance of the Daleks is great and one I would gladly re-listen to soon.

What am I thinking? Well, I've got a TARDIS full of strangers and… yes, the TARDIS has been locked on course to an undisclosed destination by a couple of toy Daleks!