An emotive, captivating, well-realised and well characterised pure historical. Exploring an interesting sci-fi concept, and the framing of the story, is fantastic, and works really hard to build the setting. The in depth exploration of the characters of Pompeii is fascinating, lending a real sense of peril as the story unfolds, and feeling for those involved. The Seventh Doctor and Mel work really well, especially in developing the character of an underutilised and often one-dimensional character, and beginning to add a greater depth.