It’s funny how, as fans, we tend to label stories in our heads. Often these labels rear their heads in online discussions where people defend or attack various stories based, not on a considered opinion of what’s under discussion, but on gut feelings, half-remembered scenes and our emotional reaction to the story. Very often, this isn’t fair to the story and if fans took a step back a lot of arguments online could probably be avoided.

I’d labelled The Roof of the World as ‘dull and frustrating’ in my head. I remembered it as a story where not a lot happened and it’s ‘monster’ was ill-defined – almost obtusely.

As I’ve found time and again during this marathon (so much so, you think I’d have learned by now), returning to stories I’ve mentally dismissed often yields happier experiences than I expect. The Roof the World is another of these.

The Doctor, Peri and Erimem pitch up in Tibet in 1917 and head off for a cricket match. It’s the height of the Raj and I’m not sure we meet a single native as the guest cast is populated by British gentry, journalists and dead Pharaohs. It feels a universe removed from the 1917 we left Indiana Jones surviving. The Great War seems a distant event which is having no impact on the lives of these explorers and their desire to conquer the mountains of Tibet. After a few months absorbing the horrors of the First World War, it’s seems very odd – almost disrespectful – to stop here for a spot of cricket.

The cricket, though, is soon forgotten as a dark cloud descends on the hotel where everyone is staying. The cloud seems alive, kills people and seems to have a strange relationship with Erimem. The end of episode 1 cliffhanger leads into an unusual episode 2 which finds us solely in the company of Erimem – supposedly dead. This episode allows Davison and Bryant, in particular, to flex their acting muscles. Erimem is presented with situations where the Doctor and Peri taunt her, scold her, die in horrible ways and generally push her towards accepting the deal the entity in the cloud wants her to take.

The start of episode 3 reveals that all of episode 2 has occured in the few moments of the episode 1 cliffhanger and we find ourselves back in the midst of the action with the Doctor trying to ascertain what the cloud is and what it wants.

It transpires that the cloud is a manifestation of the Old Ones. Back on my first listen this was an aspect which frustrated me. The background of the Old Ones is never really explored or explained and it’s odd that Adrian Riglesford, the writer (yes, that Adrian Riglesford of the notorious factual error-ridden books from the 90s and The Dark Dimension), doesn’t tie them in with the Great Old Ones which have, for quite a few years, been established and developed in the Doctor Who expanded universe (The Great Intelligence, the Animus, Fenric etc, and tying them in with each other as well as with HP Lovecraft’s writings). These Old Ones, what we are told of them, seem to have a very similar modus operandi and it makes for an odd feeling of them not being the same, whilst being very similar. I imagine for those not steeped in Who lore, particularly that explored in the New and Missing Adventures, that this isn’t a problem but it seems odd for Riglesford – who was an active Doctor Who writer in the 90s – to not even hint at a connection with his creation. That said, TARDIS wiki, links this story in with all the other ‘Great Old Ones’ as there’s nothing particularly contradictory about making these the same.

The Doctor and Peri go on a mission to rescue Erimem with the aid of General Bruce, an explorer, and his personal assistant/correspondent John Matthews (played by Big Finish favourite and alumni of Young Sherlock Holmes, Alan Cox). Matthews makes a good addition to the team and has some great interplay with Peri. There’s also the almost traditional 5th Doctor trope of showing the locals the inside of the TARDIS. All this gives the last couple of episodes some fun scenes and despite my recollections from my first listen, I found myself rather enjoying it.

Historically, as I say, this is a weird one because it feels so removed from the events in Europe so far depicted in Young Indiana Jones and the smattering of Doctor Who stories such as The Weeping Angel of Mons and The Great War. It’s a far gentler visit to this period of Earth history and gives an odd perspective that not everywhere in the world was consumed by the ‘world war’. There is a reference to Bruce receiving permission to travel through war zones but that is about it.

The Roof of the World isn’t as bad as I remember it. It isn’t going to be a Big Finish classic but there’s strong stuff for the regulars to do and the guest cast integrate well. The ‘monster’ is a little frustrating but overall this works well on building a bit of Erimem’s background (although it does rely, again, on the oft used trope in this era of audios where the possibility of Erimem leaving happens almost every story).