Talons could have been a 5-star story, if it wasn't for its fatal flaw.

Ignoring said flaw, Talons is a story about the Doctor and Leela arriving in Victorian London, and ending up caught in the investigations of the murders of several women and a man, with strong supporting casts. It turns out that the enemies of the story have been working for a man from the future, a Time Agent called Greel (I wonder if Time Agents will ever appear again... Maybe one will get a spin off show dedicated to him). There's strong dialogue, a captivating plot, and a hilariously bad rat. An all-time Doctor Who classic, with some wonderful location footage.

I've actually been to the location of the fight between The Doctor/Leela and the four men. It's no longer run-down and is now the entrance to the Clink Museum. Yes, The Doctor and Leela are fighting in front of an abandoned medieval prison.

One scene I find heart-warming is the one with Litefoot and Leela, where he ends up copying her style of eating, munching on a leg of lamb, after she accepts a knife but turns down a fork.

There's also racism.

Except for Magnus Greel, all the serial's enemies are Chinese. And all Chinese characters are enemies. The direct subordinate to Greel is Chang, who is possibly the worst example of yellowface I have ever seen, as you can practically see where John Bennet's face ends and the prosthetics begin. This is even more apparent when side-on, as his face juts out from... Well, his face.

I have no issue with Victorian characters being racist, given the era, but it's rather odd when the Doctor seems to be going along with the racism. This includes, according to other criticisms I have seen, the Doctor speaking nonsense to the Chinese man after saying he speaks Chinese. Google Translate also seems to back this up, by giving up the translation halfway through, and up to then translating it as 'How are you? Nickname iMac or anabatic o mono RA put C' If that's accurate, then no wonder the man gives him a confused, distrustful look.

It would be easy to dismiss this as criticising a 70s story by the standards of today, so I think it's worth noting that the serial was criticised for its racism even when it aired, or didn't air. Canadian broadcaster TVO refused to air the serial in its entirety, after receiving a complaint from the Chinese-Canadian National Council for Equality. This isn't a case of the serial ageing badly due to unfortunate choices.

If you can compartmentalise the racism and the rest of the episode, it is brilliant. If you can't, I really don't think this is an episode you'll enjoy.