I enjoyed The Devouring overall, but definitely acknowledge it has faults. It's not the most complicated story and some of the dialogue felt a bit over the top for my tastes. And the villain is very simple and uncomplicated. I do think it works well enough to introduce a companion I'm pretty excited for overall.

Little things hold it back a bit. I'm not sure why Audacity's husband couldn't come along if she had to leave forever in the TARDIS, for example. What's worse is the character writing around Audacity herself. It does this thing where Audacity verbally explains her independence and strong sense of will rather than demonstrates it. This feels like a show, don't tell moment - amusing because, yes, this is an audio only production, but there are lots of easy ways to demonstrate Audacity kind of marches to her own drum beat without her having to outright announce it as such. It's not even hard given it's the Victorian era to convey that she would be quite scandalous - her interest in science, having a telescope, it's already clearly there in the script. Everything else is just overkill - I feel like we, as an audience, learn almost everything we need to know about Audacity right away and the rest of the episode is just beating us over the head with that knowledge. The only thing we do learn that isn't immediately apparent is some of the intricacies about her relationship with Ignatius, and that whole dynamic was definitely a highlight for me.  Like I said, the husband could have been a good companion too, and we don't often get married companions.  It could have been interesting is all.

Still, it's salvaged by just being an easy listen. I liked both of the Montagues and I liked some of the other characters in the setting. It was fun and pleasant in a way that reminds me a lot of the other companion introductions - focused on the new companion more than anything else. The Doctor doesn't feel like a huge presence in the story for that reason, feeling more like a supporting character. This is Audacity's story and Montague feels like a character with a lot of potential. Jaye Griffiths absolutely elevates the material for me and is a huge part of why I'm sold on her and even, to a degree, the Devouring.